Just as it was dominating the Australian Touring Car Championship after responding to Ford’s crushing season of 1977, the Holden Torana A9X was being planned for an overseas attack including the world’s most prestigious endurance race in France.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans featured the likes of Porsche, Mirage, Renault-Alpine and Lola featured in the outright battle, but the Group 4 category was home to a multitude of Porsches, BMW 320is and ‘Batmobile’ 3.0 CSLs in addition to a Ferrari 365 BB entered by North American Racing Team.
There to witness the race was privateer Bob Forbes and prominent Melbourne Holden dealer Warren Smith, with both being inspired to enter an Australian team into the endurance classic using the A9X.
There were many challenges including having to make an A9X durable enough to last 24 hours compared to the seven or so contested in the Hardie-Ferodo Bathurst 1000. Outright victory was ruled out, but the Group 4 regulations were similar in design to Australia’s Group C ruleset.
Forbes commissioned two GMP&A factory shells to be produced, which received closer attention such as extra welding, removal of sound deadening for racing purposes and lightweight panels specifically for Le Mans. Each shell went to the Dulux to be painted in a Grecian White base featuring Chrome Yellow and March 17th Green stripes before being transported to Forbes’ racing headquarters.
Engine work was to be completed on Holden’s 308ci V8 to make 800bhp, though the project never managed to make it to Le Mans due to lack of sponsorship.
Both Toranas did race as Forbes re-built one into his ATCC contender for 1978, while the other was a podium finisher with privateer ‘The Captain’ Peter Janson and Larry Perkins, which has since been lovingly restored.
Unfortunately, this is only a quirk in Holden history and it’s a shame the marque didn’t compete at Le Mans during this period or the latter Monaro era when it dominated the Bathurst 24 Hour. Although Monaro wasn’t built to worldwide regulations, one built to N-GT regulations contested the British GT Championship with limited success, but that’s a story for another day.