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BATHURST, Australia — Written October 17, 2025. As the Repco Bathurst 1000 returns to Mount Panorama, the annual “Peter’s Pitlane” tribute is again honoring the career of nine-time Bathurst winner Peter Brock. Among the cars assembled for this year’s display is arguably the most intriguing of all: the #05 Mobil Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore that Brock shared with longtime rival Allan Moffat in the 1986 James Hardie 1000. It remains the only Bathurst entry ever co-driven by the two icons, a chapter of the Mountain’s history that still fascinates touring car fans decades later.
Holden loyalists barely had time to finish breakfast in late 1985 when news broke that Brock had signed a surprising new co-driver for his Holden Dealer Team campaign. The announcement that Ford-and-later-Mazda nemesis Allan Moffat would share the cockpit sent shockwaves through Australian motorsport.
Moffat found himself without a drive after Mazda pulled out of the sport, leaving the decorated veteran free for a fresh challenge. The timing worked for both parties: Brock wanted a proven co-driver for an ambitious assault on the 1986 European Touring Car Championship and the domestic endurance races, and Moffat wanted competitive machinery. The odd couple got their partnership off to a flying start with a win on the streets of Wellington, New Zealand, before heading to Europe for the continental rounds. All of it was preparation for the jewel in the crown — the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst in October.
Dubbed “HDT 14,” the #05 VK Commodore was not just a fresh body shell for the team. It was the first Group A Commodore homologation special — an evolution of the previous year’s car built with a new 4.9-liter V8, a five-speed gearbox, and subtle aerodynamic touches anchored by a rear boot-lid spoiler.
The capacity change was deliberate. Dropping below the traditional five-liter engine threshold allowed the Commodore to shed a useful 75 kilograms under the era’s rules. For American readers, it helps to frame the machine as a product of General Motors’ Australian arm: Holden was GM’s local brand, and the VK represented the GMH engineering answer to the turbocharged Nissan Skylines and turbo Fords of the day. In the Group A rulebook that governed touring car racing worldwide, such details mattered as much as outright horsepower.
The car’s public debut came at Sandown’s Castrol 500. That event, run on the circuit’s famously disliked infield layout at the time, turned into a Nissan Skyline benefit — the Fred Gibson-run squad left with a 1-2 result. Yet there was encouragement inside the HDT camp: Brock put the #05 Commodore on pole in the Saturday Shootout. Race day, by contrast, proved tricky for the pair, who wrestled a difficult handling car and finished fourth, one lap behind winners George Fury and Glenn Seton. The Bathurst view, however, was still the one that mattered.
Bathurst 1986 nearly killed the project before the race began. During Friday practice, Allan Moffat slammed the #05 hard into the concrete wall at McPhillamy Park — one of the most violent accidents of the decade at the circuit. The smashed chassis was immediately taken into town, while a show car in Melbourne was stripped for parts and flown in.
The crew removed virtually everything forward of the firewall and replaced it all. Less than 24 hours after Moffat’s impact, Brock was driving the repaired car back to the circuit under police escort. That overnight rebuild remains one of the great unsung crew performances in Bathurst history.
Because the car missed Saturday morning’s Hardies Heroes Top 10 Shootout, it was placed 11th on the grid. It was hardly a handicap. Within three laps, Brock had sliced from 11th to second, sitting directly behind eventual winner Allan Grice and demonstrating the reconstructed Commodore was just as quick as before the accident. On merit, the #05 looked like a genuine contender.
The Great Race ultimately delivered a fifth-place finish for Brock and Moffat, but the result came only after a frustrating six-minute delay. The cause was the notorious speed humps then in place in the pit lane — specifically, the oil cooler, which split after the car’s low-slung rake proved too much for the bumpy lane surface.
Post-race analysis revealed that the exhausted crew, amid the frantic repair after Moffat’s crash, had not checked the rebuilt car’s ground clearance. At race pace, the humps were just uncomfortable enough to cause the damage. It was a mundane oversight that curtailed what could have been a far stronger result, but it did nothing to diminish the legend of the chassis.
After Bathurst, the #05 remained Brock’s primary weapon for the rest of the 1986 season and into early 1987, when the HDT boss used it for additional development work. Then came another twist: teammate Gary Scott crashed the car during private practice at Lakeside, forcing yet another rebuild.
This time the car returned as a VL Commodore and was raced by Neil Crompton in Mobil HDT Racing colors at Oran Park alongside Jon Crooke later that year. The duo matched the Brock/Moffat result from the same Sandown race the year before, finishing fourth in the Castrol 500 at Sandown. The old warhorse had one final impressive chapter, then faded into preservation.
In retirement, Brock and Moffat spoke openly about the unlikely warmth that grew between them. Reflecting in 1997, Brock said he discovered the pair got along remarkably well, calling Moffat a solid contributor to the team’s objectives and “terrific to work with.” He even joked their relationship was “The Odd Couple” in many ways, given their years as bitter rivals.
“Now we are quite firm friends,” Brock said. “In fact, Moffat’s probably my closest friend in motor sport.”
Time has given that friendship even deeper meaning: Peter Brock passed away in 2006, and Allan Moffat died in February 2024. The fact this car still exists, restored and displayed, carries a tribute to both men — not just for the dramatic weekend they shared in 1986, but for the respect they developed long after the engines were switched off.
Brock’s nine Bathurst victories were spread across multiple chassis and teams, from early Toranas through the HDT Commodores that dominate the memories of the Group A era. The “Peter’s Pitlane” display at Mount Panorama is designed to bring those machines back within touching distance of spectators, mixing hero cars with storytelling for a modern audience.
For American motorsport fans, the appeal may be less familiar but no less compelling. Australian touring car racing of the 1980s was a ferocious, factory-backed battleground where road-going sedans were transformed into race-winning weapons. The 1986 #05 VK Commodore embodies that era’s extremes — an international campaign, a spectacular crash, a frantic rebuild, and a finish that was heroic despite the outcome.
Holden itself is no longer in production — General Motors retired the brand in 2020 — yet Brock-era HDT machines remain coveted collector pieces and perennial favorites in historic racing. The fact that this specific chassis, with its unique co-driver pairing and dramatic race history, is part of the Peter’s Pitlane display makes it one of the must-see entries at this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000. The event takes place at Mount Panorama on October 8–11, and fans attending the circuit will get a rare, up-close look at a car that almost didn’t make the race at all — and then almost won it.
