O'Brien Aluminium Series

[jd yort]

The O'Brien Aluminium series ran from 1995 to 2000 at the now defunct Oran Park. This era of Sports Sedan racing is considered the glory days of NSW Sports Sedan racing particularly the early years.
The large grids were matched with large crowds and even larger prize money put on the table by the generosity of Ron O'Brien and his company O'Brien Aluminium.

I will attempt in this thread to compile the events, results and youtube footage. As per Thundersports thread, I am no expert in this time period but recall fondly being at most of the meetings with my old man.
So please jump in at anytime.

Thanks to Mr Boost who has uploaded some of these videos onto the forum.

Troy

[jd yort]

Background

The Australian Motorsport landscape was during a period of change in the mid 90's. The GrpA years had come to a close and the V8 Supercar juggernaut was in its infancy.
For Sports Sedans, the mid 90's was a busy if not confusing time. There was a multitude of championships running at a state and at the national level with the the Thundersport / Sports Sedan war still being fought causing some confusion amongst the general punter.
It was a time where categories like Sports Sedans were able to get a spot on a programme as supports for the ATCC circus when it came to town.
Truck racing was booming at Oran Park while in Victoria the Thunderdome was experiencing its halcycon days.

In NSW in 1994 there were multiple championships running amongst the various circuits and clubs. We were fortunate to have Amaroo Park, Eastern Creek, Oran Park all operational and then adding Wakefield Park late in the year. The truck racing had a variety of sponsors including Dunlop Challenge and the Coca Cola Sports Sedan Championship. Details of these challenges / championships are a bit sparse on whether they were one offs or mini series with points allocated.

The ARDC was running the Northern Beaches spares series out of Amaroo Park and the NSWRRC had the Ted Russell Invitation Sports Sedan Series at Oran Park which also had a 6 Cylinder Sports Sedan component.
As part of the NSW Street Sedan Series there was an O'Brien Aluminium / Race & Rally series for Sports Sedans.They were holding meetings at both Eastern Creek and Amaroo Park.

Now on top of all this I believe there may of been an overall award sponsored by O'Brien Aluminium broken down across different classes. Confused yet?

Next I will cover 1995, the first year of the O'Brien Series at OP.

[jd yort]

1995
The three round O'Brien Aluminium series carried $40,000 in prize money.
The series was backed by O'Brien Aluminium, Roman Autotek, SPV Racing, Revolution Race Gear, Race & Rally.
Only qualifying and the overall rd earned rewards for the outright series placings. Television coverage was care of the newly created Speedweek program on SBS with commentary by Gregg McShane. It was always quite interesting to listen to Gregg commentate on races he was actually competing in.

Round1
The first round of the O'Brien series was held on April 4th 1995. It was a good meeting for Des Wall in the Supra.
He took pole (42.94), won Race 1 and Race2 and then took 5th in the reverse grid race. He also took home $2900 in prize money. In all $11,000 was paid out. By meeting close Des was on 48pts and Barry Jameson was 2nd on 37points who took home $1900.

Qualifying as mentioned went to Des, Ivan Mikac qualified 2nd with Jamieson sharing row2 with Paul Barrett in the Rx7.
Graham Smith and Paul Neilson in the V8 Rx7 were on row3. Despite the money on the table Paul Crompton appeared to be the only interstator to appear in his Falcon.

Race1
was won by Wall from Smith then Nielson in the Rx7. Barrett stalled on the grid and Barry Jamieson spun while chasing Des Wall.
It was also the debut of the Litchenberger rx7.



Race 2
Had Mr Boost Snr finishing 3rd behind Jamieson.



Race3
The reverse grid was won by Jamieson who took 5 laps to hit the front. Darren Stewart finished 2nd and Craig Wildrige 3rd.
Des Wall fnished 5th. Bain had led early before Wildrige took the lead.

[jd yort]

Round2
The second round of the 1995 series was held on June 10th & 11th once again supporting the truck meeting.
There was 3 Heats 5,8 and a 10 laps reverse grid. Round2 was an even better meeting for Des in the Supra winning all 3 races to score a maximum 60 points. This took his points tally to 108 over Jamieson who was on 82 points at meeting close.
Bob Jolly from Victoria was present in his Commodore.

Race1
Des won followed by Jamieson and then Ivan Mikac in the Rx7, Bob Jolly came 4th with Graham Smith in the Fiat 5th.
Other cars of interest in the race was Peter O Brien running the ex Colin Bond Caltex Sierra.



Race 2
Race2 was marred by a nasty accident with Peter OB'rien and Paul Nielson making contact. Wall won over Jamieson.



Race3
The reverse grid race saw Jamieson move from 14th to 1st by the end of the 1st lap while Wall went from 15th to 8th at the end of lap one. Des eventually took the win followed by Jamieson, Mikac, Jolly & Graham Smith.

[Nadz44]

Now your talking my era, the best meetings you could go to when sports sedans supported the trucks... What great times.... Shame they will forever be lost now that the greedy bastards sold off the oran park land...

[Nadz44]

Didnt realize the Bill Martin RX7 was actually the Paul Nielson RX7 originally.... And also im pretty sure i noticed Glen Taylor in his blue V8 MG...

[jd yort]

Which I believe was Mark Stinson's prior. Not sure if he built it or not.

[jd yort]

Round3
The final round was held on October 21st and was a Day Night meeting yet again combined with the truck racing. Heavy rain interferred with Qualifying and the racing. This lead to Russell Stenhouse qualifying on pole position in the Torana hatchback followed by Ivan Mikac in the S4 RX7. Graham Smith in the Fiat was 3rd followed by Neilson, Gerwald and Phil Crompton down from Qld in the Falcon.

Race1
Mikac lead away only to spear off the track and into the wall on the outside of the Esses. Paul Neilson stalled on the grid in the Barry Jameson Falcon but fortunately was not cleaned up as the field streamed through. John Gerwald took the win in his Ford cortina followed by Dean Randle who was up from Vic running the Saab. Krause was 3rd followed by Neilson, McShane, Smith and Adler in the Porsche. Unsure of what happened to Des.
Drive of the race was Peter Lawrence in a VK Commodore who went from 15th to 2nd by the end of the 1st lap to harass Gerwald for the entire race before going to deep under brakes on the last lap trying to take the win.

Race2
Neilson in the Falcon won followed by Lichtenberger and Stand Adler. Krause was 4th followed by Gerwald. Des Retired.

Race3
The Porsche of Adler made the jump in the wet conditions at the start leading away Neilson, Litchenberger and Mikac. By lap2 Neilson was in front but by lap4 had lost the lead to Mikac. Ivan went on to win, followed by Neilson, Adler, Krause, Peter Lawrence and Dean Randle. John Gerwald took 6th from Peter O'Brien. Litchenberger failed to finish after being hit by Joe Axisa in the Commodore.

Here is Race1 and Race3 from Speedweek:


Despite having a poor 3rd round, Des accrued enough points to take out the O'Brien Aluminium series. I am not sure who filled the minor placings so if anyone has any further information please let us know. I would think Graham would of been in the top 5 though Nick?

[jd yort]

1996

The series returned in 1996 with $50,000 up for grabs courtesy of O'Brien Aluminium, Roman Autotek, SPV Racing, Race & Rally and Revolution Race Gear.

Once again it was run over 3 rounds at Oran Park supporting the Super Truck racing and coverage on SBS Speedweek.
Each round consisted of 3 heats of 5, 8 and 10 laps respectively with the final 10 lap race being a reverse grid. Each race had equal points allocated.

Round 1
Des Wall returned with the Supra which had received plenty of attention since 95 particularly around the suspension. He put the Supra on pole with a 42.32 lap time of the short circuit.
2nd in qualifying was Paul Neilson in the Barry Jameson Falcon, 3rd Danny Osbourne in the Rx7, 4th Graham Smith followed by John Gerwald in a Commodore, Phil Crompton, Barry Morcom in the ex Darren Pate Commodore / Lexcen, Steve Litchenberger in the Rx7, Mark Smith in the Gemini and Craig Wildridge. Just outside the top 10 was Herbert Gattermier in the 2002 BMW.

Race1
For Race1 Osbourne failed to make the grid. Neilson got the initial jump but Des still lead into turn 1. Neilson soon spun out into the infield and not long after Crompton pulled off at Turn1. Wall was never headed with Graham Smith in the 131 Fiat finishing second with Gerwald finishing. Morcom, Litchenberger and Wildridge in the Capri were 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.
The Falcon of Neilson went off early in the race while Phil Crompton in his Falcon had mechanical issues.

Race1 and Race 2 are here:

(First time on Youtube for Race1 I think)

Race2
In race 2 Smith grabbed the lead early before being overpowered by the Supra. Gerwald was in 3rd followed by Morcom and Peter O'Brien in the ex Caltex Sierra running a Chev v6.
The race was marred by a big accident with the Falcon of Neilson coming through from the back of the grid and tangling with Joe Axisa with both ending up in the wall at Momo.
The finishing positions were as Race1: Wall, Smith, Gerwald, Morcom, Litchenberger and Wildridge.
Crompton finished 7th followed by O'Brien, Clearihan in the ex Edmondson Alfetta, Matulovich in the Cortina, Clark in the Mustang, Tweedie in the ex Peter Jackson Sierra, Leithhead in the Alfa and Rod Brown in the EH Holden.

Race 2 is here again (better quality):


Race3
Race 3 had Kerry Millar in the Falcon on pole with Bob McDonald in 2nd in the ex Colin Bond Caltex Alfa 75. Bill Nabhan in the ex Moffat Rx7 gab the lead by turn one followed by Bruce De Boo in the Bellet with McDonald blowing the start.
By the end of the 2nd lap Ivan mikac in the S4 Rx7 took control. Morcom spun off in the Commodore as O'Brien retired with issues in the Sierra.
Ivan went on to win followed by Phil Crompton in the Falcon, Smith in the 131 and Des Wall in the Supra.
Danny Osbourne came next in the Colourscan S4 Rx7. Litcheberger, John Gerwald, Bill Nabhan. Ric Shaw, Bob Tweedie and Michael Ward in a Commodore filled up the remaining positions.

Here is Race3 from Speedweek:


The overall points after Rd1 had Des Wall 1st, Graham Smith 2nd and John Gerwald 3rd.

[jd yort]

Advertising poster for the 1996 season