Brock remembered as a legend
REPORTER: Jacki Quist
BROADCAST DATE: September 8, 2006

Peter was known for putting safety first The late Peter Brock's dominance of Australian motor sport spanned three decades and he even had to build the first car he raced himself.

The nine-time Bathurst 1000 winner and Australian motor racing legend was killed today while competing in the Targa West Tarmac Rally in Western Australia.

His car ran off the road and hit a tree at high speed.

Racing legend Bob Jane echoed the sentiments of the motor racing world now reeling after the sudden death of Peter Brock.

"People have been crying on the phone," he said.

For more than 30 years, Brock had been the face of Australian motor sport.

He had nearly as many nicknames as chequered flags, Brockie, King of the Mountain but mainly it was just Peter Perfect.

Brock's great-uncle founded Australia's first motor race in 1905.

He had his first Bathurst 1000 win in 1972 and over the years the cars would change but not the results.



ADVERTISEMENT


However, it was after he retired that the first cracks appeared in the Peter Perfect facade.

He left wife Beverley for Julie Bamford and received his first taste of public disapproval.

"Bev's a marvellous woman who has been a marvellous mother and all those things but if you grow apart, you grow apart," Brock said at the time.

In the years since, he went back to his first racing love - rallying.

He competed in the Targa Tasmania and this year he travelled to England with a piece of Australian motoring history, a 1948 Holden Humpy.

It was the model before the FJ and he came 4th.

The 61-year-old only returned to compete in Western Australia in the same Chevy he had raced in Tasmania.

seven.com.au/todaytonight/story/?id=29780

RIP mate