2014 Sinclair Ford FPV GTF Launch
AMCS attended a terrific launch night dubbed The Australian Motorsport Royal family Reunion Tour hosted by Sinclair Ford's Hammo Urquhart in their Penrith, NSW showroom. Partly to introduce the new and sadly last FPV GT F Falcon as well as to introduce us to the passionate people at Ford and Prodrive who build these wonderful cars and partly to listen to some great racing tales in the company of Aussie Motor racing Royalty.
The night began with Hammo introducing FPV GT F Program Manager Justin Capicchiano a young vibrant Ford executive who obviously loves his job building GTs. We learned about his love for cars and the work involved in getting this final GT across the line. We also heard some great stories from ProDrive Engineering Director, Bernie Quinn - his first taste of GT muscle when his uncle rocked up to his house in 1969 in a brand new Candy Apple red Windsor XW GT, and to his now dream come true job working on the development of the legendary Miami Supercharged V8 and '351' version in the GT F.
We then were thoroughly entertained by the legends of Australian motorsport, Dick Johnson and John Bowe. Dick Johnson spoke of their long and successful relationship both on and off the track and kept us spell bound listening to stories of racing at Bathurst and around the globe. We heard about dynoing a Ford Sierra with the turbos diconnected at 90HP and then fine tuning it with the turbos connected to 680HP. We heard stories about racing with Brocky, Grice, Bob Forbes, Moffat. About the ROC smash up derby in Brocks new VC Brock. About Bowe nudging Brock under brakes and Brock rotating his head 360 degrees to stare him down. About how Johnson, the optimist thought they'd win the race by three minutes and Bowe, the pessimist, thought they'd loose by 3 minutes. In the end - the winners - and always a perfect partnership.
Johnson spoke of his trials with the ups and downs of motor sport, the rock, the generosity of the Aussie public, the support of Ford and made a very pertinent observation that you just have to stick with it and give it your best shot always. Bloody good advise for us all.
A truly fascinating evening. We look forward to seeing what Ford Australia has in store for us in the future while looking back at the great Aussie Muscle cars that Ford have given us since 1967.
