The Commodore SS Group A was heavily modified by Holden's official performance tuner, originally the
Holden Dealer Team. The SS Group A existed primarily as a
homologation special, created specifically so a racing optimised version of the Commodore could be utilised for
Group A touring car motor racing. The regulations set down by the international governing body
FISA for Group A motor racing specified that a minimum of 5,000 base models (1,000 in Australia due to the smaller market) and 500 evolution models were to be built to a certain specification prior to said vehicle being allowed to compete. Group A regulations governed many touring car series at the 1980s and 1990s including series in
Australia,
New Zealand,
Great Britain,
Japan,
Italy,
Germany and the
European Touring Car Championship as well as the one-off
1987 World Touring Car Championship. At the time, Group A was also the main category for a number of significant races such as Australia's own
Bathurst 1000, the
Spa 24 Hours at the famed
Spa Grand Prix Circuit in
Belgium, the
RAC Tourist Trophy at
Silverstone in
England and the
Guia Race at
Macau. The Commodore SS Group A model run (starting with the VK) ran from 1985 until 1992. The four models have since become highly collectible amongst Holden and performance enthusiasts. Between August 1984 and early 1985, the less powerful 5044 cc SS Group Three was built. Unique amongst all products produced by both the Holden Dealer Team and Holden Special Vehicles, these cars were referred to as Holdens, rather than as HDTs or HSVs. As the first model to be produced (March 1985 – February 1986) represented Holden's increasing efforts in Group A racing. Available only in blue associated with the corporate colours of the Holden Dealer Team's principle sponsor
Mobil, which gave rise to the cars nickname, the "Blue Meanie". Production began in early 1985, but part supply problems saw the HDT fail to build the required number of 500 and it missed the 1 August deadline for it to be eligible for racing that year. Production still continued and the VK SS Group A was available for motor racing from 1 January 1986. 502 cars were available only through Holden Dealer Team-affiliated Holden dealerships. Visually the VK Group A SS had the addition of a rear spoiler, larger front air dam and a more aggressive front grille over the standard
VK Commodore. Other changes included a double row timing chain (eliminating the car's inherent weakness of 1985, a single row chain), as well as stronger conrods and suspension mountings. Power for the road going Group A SS with its 4.9-litre engine was rated at at 5200 rpm, with a top speed of . Transmission options were four-speed
M21 manual, or optional five-speed Getrag
T5. Although the T5G transmission was not an option with the VK Group A - some cars did get it fitted at the Bertie Street workshop by special arrangement with HDT, and in certain circumstances it was fitted by the dealer. The car was assembled at the
Holden Dandenong Plant by Holden and modified at
Bertie Street Port Melbourne by HDT.
Motor racing Touring Cars The VK Group A SS Commodore was originally intended to be ready for racing in early 1985 to replace the near standard VK competitors had been forced to use. However, after virtually wasting 1984 on other pursuits including the HDT's ill-fated attempt at
Le Mans which took up the focus in the first half of the year, then Holden's desire to send their
Group C touring cars out with a win at
Bathurst, left them little time to get the Commodore road cars ready to be homologated for Group A racing. This, plus delays in parts from suppliers meant that the HDT had not even begun to build the road going Group A cars to pass homologation on 1 January 1985, and did not have enough of them built to be homologated by the next
FISA homologation date of 1 August which meant the new car would not be approved in time for that years
Bathurst, although the
Confederation of Australian Motorsport did relent and allow the Commodores to use the smaller 4.9L V8 in order to save some .
Peter Brock later recalled that after the
1985 James Hardie 1000, long time HDT driver and Brock's right-hand-man at the Special Vehicles operation
John Harvey had remarked that their personal road cars (the SS Group A) were in fact faster and more reliable than the 1985 race cars. As a comparison, the VK Commodores run by the HDT at the 1984 James Hardie 1000 under the old Group C regulations (which saw the cars have much larger wheels and large aerodynamic spoilers front and back) produced over and were recorded at on the long Conrod Straight. The near standard 1985 Group A race cars only produced around and were recorded at on Conrod. This difference was also reflected in lap times with Peter Brock's fastest 1985 qualifying time being 8.811 seconds slower than he was in 1984. In early 1986 the HDT gave the car a dream debut when Brock and new co-driver
Allan Moffat won the
Nissan Mobil 500 at the
Wellington Street Circuit, while team mates Harvey and new team engineer/driver
Neal Lowe won the
Pukekohe 500 in the second race of the New Zealand series a week later. Of note, the two winning HDT Cars were not brand new SS Group A models, instead they were the teams 1985 Bathurst Commodores, upgraded to 1986 specifications. The Holden Dealer Team then took two brand new cars to Europe for the
1986 FIA Touring Car Championship, one for Brock and Moffat, and the other saved for the
Spa 24 Hours and be spare parts if needed. Brock and Moffat joined fellow Commodore privateers
Allan Grice and
Graeme Bailey in Europe, with Grice in particular proving to be a revelation in the Les Small (Roadways Racing) prepared VK, qualifying well and leading a number of races at
Monza,
Donington Park (where both Brock and Grice led) and
Hockenheim. In his dice for the lead at Hockenheim with the factory backed
Volvo 240T's of reigning ETCC champion
Thomas Lindström and former
Formula One driver
Johnny Cecotto, Grice set the touring car lap record for the circuit that wasn't broken until 2000, the year before the old track was re-configured into a shorter, more technical circuit. At Spa for the 24-hour race, with the HDT running their two cars and teaming with the Roadways Commodore of Grice, and after problems including two blown head gaskets in the number 05 car (the same problem had happened when the HDT did a pre-Spa test over 24 hours at
Calder Park), an early lost wheel and later a broken seat for Grice caused by his oversized co-driver, Belgian
Jeweler Michel Delcourt (the Roadways team reported that the HDT refused to lend them a spare seat during the race, forcing them to borrow one from the retired
TWR Rovers), and no oil pressure for the second HDT car at the end of the race, the two teams claimed the prestigious Kings Cup prize. The second HDT car, driven by
New Zealanders Lowe (the team engineer and endurance co-driver for Harvey),
Kent Baigent and
Graeme Bowkett finished 18th outright. The Brock/Moffat/Harvey car finished 22nd while Grice, Delcourt and Belgian Alex Guyaux finished 23rd. In Australia the Group A Commodore became the car of choice for many privateers in the
ATCC with the HDT and ex-
Grand Prix motorcycle racing star, wise-cracking Kiwi
Graeme Crosby being front runners. Brock's former HDT co-driver
Larry Perkins set up
Perkins Engineering, which would eventually build customer Commodores for privateers, appeared with his own VK SS Group A in time for the
Sandown 500. Peter Brock gave the car its first Australian win by winning Round 6 of the series at
Surfers Paradise in what was the last win by a Commodore in the ATCC until Brock won the opening heat of Round 1 of the
1992 championship at Sydney's
Amaroo Park. Despite his European campaign Brock managed to finish 4th in the 1986 ATCC being the only Holden round winner. Better was to come for the Commodore in the endurance races with Grice and Bailey winning the
1986 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst from the HDT pair of John Harvey and Neal Lowe, with Grice becoming the first driver to lap the Mt. Panorama circuit at over in a Group A Touring Car when he was timed at 2:16.16 for the circuit in qualifying (Grice had also been the first to lap Bathurst at over 100 mph in a
Group C touring car in
1982 with a time of 2:17.8, on that occasion driving a
VH Commodore SS). Grice then went on to win the Group A support race at the
1986 Australian Grand Prix in
Adelaide, which doubled as the second round of the 1986 South Pacific Touring Car Championship,. The HDT and Roadways teams also sent their Commodores to
Fuji in Japan for the 1986 Fuji 500. Brock and Moffat were out after 94 laps, while the Grice/Crosby car was running third with only a few laps left when another lost wheel saw them slip to fifth place at the finish. Early on in the race Brock had battled for the lead with
Tom Walkinshaw and
Jeff Allam in their
TWR Jaguar XJ-S V12's which had been brought to Japan despite not having raced since winning the
1985 James Hardie 1000. While the top level teams such as HDT and Roadways (Grice) moved to the VL model Commodore in early 1987, a number of private teams, including Larry Perkins, who claimed his was the fastest Commodore in the world until forced to switch to the VL after crashing at
Bathurst, continued to use the VK due to the increasing costs of running the newer cars with VK's last seen in the ATCC in
1990. Driving his
Lansvale Racing Team Commodore, Sydney based privateer Trevor Ashby gave the VK Group A SS its last major race win when he won Heat 2 of Round 1 of the 1987 AMSCAR series at Amaroo Park on 27 March 1987.
AUSCAR The VK Commodore (with SS Group A bodywork including the single slot front grille) was also a popular choice in
Bob Jane's
AUSCAR racing category which began in 1987. As per AUSCAR rules, the Commodores used the 5.0-litre Holden V8 engine, though they were also permitted to use the Group A developed 4.9-litre V8 if they so desired. However, unlike in Group A racing the reduction in engine size would not see a reduction to the cars minimum weight in AUSCAR. Shocking the male establishment, 18-year-old female driver Terri Sawyer won the first ever AUSCAR race, the AUSCAR 200, at the $54 million
Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne driving a VK Commodore.
Endurance racing and
Larry Perkins won the
1984 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst The VK Commodore won the
Bathurst 1000 on two occasions, in 1984 in
Group C specification with
Peter Brock and
Larry Perkins, and in 1986 in
Group A specification with
Allan Grice and
Graeme Bailey. Brock had two further wins with the Group C car, sharing with Perkins to win the
1984 Castrol 500 at
Sandown prior to Bathurst, and a solo drive to win the Motorcraft 300 at the
Surfers Paradise International Raceway in November 1984 following Bathurst. In Group A racing, Brock and Allan Moffat gave the Group A SS model a dream debut by winning the 1986
Wellington 500 street race in
New Zealand while team drivers John Harvey and Neal Lowe drove their Commodore to win the 1986
Pukekohe 500 at the
Pukekohe Park Raceway. Brock and Moffat repeated their 1986 Wellington win by winning the 1987 race while the VK's last endurance win was when Perkins and
Formula One World Champion
Denny Hulme won the 1987 Pukekohe 500. == References ==