THE underpinnings of an abandoned Holden and Elfin attack on the Bathurst 24 Hour endurance race that didn’t go ahead anyway have resurfaced.
The chassis that was to underpin a Holden-powered Elfin Streamliner in the Mount Panorama enduro sits today in the Garry Rogers Motorsport workshop, 22 years after the project was abandoned.
Elfin’s collaboration with Holden resulted in a concept MS8 Streamliner being revealed earlier that year at the 2004 Melbourne International Motor Show.
After two victories in the 24 Hour via the seven-litre Nations Cup specification Monaros built and run by GRM in 2002 and 2003, plans were made for a V8-powered Elfin Streamliner to fly the flag the following year.
“We had designed and built the whole chassis, it was going to run a sequential gearbox, pretty much a Monaro setup,” recalls GRM chief Barry Rogers of the abandoned project.
However, Holden pulled the budget and the car was never completed.
A check of the bulky Elfin history book, ‘Elfin: The Spirit of Speed’, published in 2020, provides further detail on the project as recalled by Bill Hemming, who co-owned Elfin Sports Cars at the time.
“Initially we did a special wide-body car that would take 12-inch-wide wheels and big splitters; an aerodynamic racing version of the Streamliner,” he recalled.
“Garry Rogers Motorsport was commissioned to design and build the chassis. They went a long way down the line with that. We worked on the basis that Corvettes were winning their class at Le Mans, so something lighter with the same running gear should blitz it.
“But Holden pulled the funding, so that ended. Garry has the chassis, and the body is over at Walkinshaw Performance.”
The Monaros swept all before them in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour and finished first and second. Photo: an1images.com
The chassis was built in GRM’s former Glen Waverley race workshop before being taken to the team’s current home in Dandenong. It spent time hanging from the roof there and later was stored in a shed at Garry Rogers’ farm. Rogers passed away in October last year.
“We brought it back here last November to the workshop and here we are,” Barry Rogers told V8 Sleuth this week.
“Obviously we just don’t have a use or need for it, so we’re going to sell it. If there’s anyone out there interested, get in touch!”
As it turned out, the 2004 Bathurst 24 Hour didn’t go ahead.
Scheduled for November that year, it was abandoned after Ross Palmer’s PROCAR handed back the rights to the event in the wake of its withdrawal from motorsport that year.
The Bathurst Regional Council and CAMS (now Motorsport Australia) had limited time to search for a new promoter, however there were too many obstacles to overcome – including the likelihood of no TV broadcast deal – and the race was shelved.