The Australian Sports Sedan Championship went through a boom period during the 1970s, but a downturn followed in the 1980s as a lawnmower dealer became synonymous with the category.
Having spawned from a rather amateur beginning, Sports Sedans had become a very professional category as big money series during the 1970s enticed stars such as John McCormack, Frank Gardner, Allan Moffat, Bill Brown, Colin Bond, Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan, Bob Jane and more to do battle for thousands of dollars.
Professionalism rose, but failed to stop the amazing array of combinations and ingenuity of construction for the heavily modified Sports Sedans.
It did slow down in the 1980s when the Sports Sedans were combined with entries from the Australian GT Championship under this moniker leaving further modifications to be made against the European thoroughbreds led by Alan Hamilton’s Porsche team.
One of the drivers to take up the challenge to these overseas developed beasts was lawnmower salesman Bob Jolly.
Jolly had raced Holden Torana GTR XU-1s in the late-1970s to the early-1980s before deciding to take the plunge and build a wild Holden Commodore Sports Sedan.
Based at his mower store in Reservoir, Victoria, Jolly constructed a couple of space frame Commodores featuring awesome aero and big power to compete alongside the Porsches.
A Chevrolet engine was installed as close to the centre as possible, the body was stripped, big tyres installed and suspension geometry borrowed from Formula 5000s fitted to get the power down to the ground.
Jolly in fact purchased Tony Parkinson’s big-winged Commodore and developed it for a further 10-years before upgrading to VS version during the mid-1990s.
Sports Sedans was rebuilding itself as a national category during this time and was not around as a title for a decade before returning in 1991.
Jolly was a supporter throughout and the new VS was state of the art in constructor, which he used to great success by finishing fifth in the 1996 national title.
Using an extensive modified Chevrolet 5.0-litre engine featuring Crane lifters and push rods, ex-HRT alloy cylinder heads producing in excessive of 640bhp.
A Nissan Lola Transaxle with rocker-arm suspension, hand built coilover shocks, Koni shocks.
Sending power to the wheels was a Hewland gearbox strengthened to withstand 1000bhp, while the big BBS racing rims enclosed the 13.5” Harrop discs, plus the six and four-pot AP Racing calipers.
A strong roll cage, SAAS driver’s seat, harness and window net provided the sparse interior in addition to the fuel cell in the passenger area.
Use of fibreglass and lexan ensures throughout the Commodore ensures a light body, while the engine was shifted to back for better weight distribution.
Jolly was competing all the way to the 2000s in his new VS, but this has since been used as a base for a Holden Cruze Sports Sedan, while his original VK was racing up until a decade ago.
Sadly, Jolly passed away in 2023 although his mower shop still resides in Reservoir.