ONE of the leading privateer Holdens of the early five-litre V8 era will this month return to the scene of its maiden race, with its first ever driver at the wheel.

David Attard will pilot the Alcair Air Conditioning Commodore he raced throughout the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and endurance races, at the upcoming Apex Steel Muscle Car Masters.

Attard and the Alcair Commodore will run in the 5-Litre Super Sprint class for early-model V8 Supercars across the reborn Sydney Motorsport Park event from August 29-30.

Built in late 1994 as a re-shell of the Diet Coke Commodore crashed by Paul Morris in a Lakeside testing accident, the car has long been in the custodianship of original owners, John and Wendy Alcorn of Alcair Air Conditioning.

Originally a Perkins Engineering chassis, it was first raced by Attard as a VP Commodore in the 1995 Winfield Triple Challenge pre-season event at Eastern Creek, where the former Sports Sedan racer impressed on his touring car racing debut to finish as highest placed privateer.

Attard drove the car for the entirety of the ’95 ATCC, winning the Privateers Cup trophy, and was joined for the Sandown and Bathurst enduros by Greg Crick who became the car’s primary driver from the ’95 Grand Prix support races in Adelaide through to the end of 1998.

Attard (pictured left with car preparer, the late Bob Tindal) won the Privateers’ Cup in 1995. Pic: AN1 Images/Graeme Neander

In that time, the car was upgraded from VP to VR and then VS specification and was notably raced by Steve Johnson for two rounds – Phillip Island and Sandown – in 1997.

It was also the first ever Supercar driven by future two-time champion Marcos Ambrose, who subbed for an unavailable Johnson in practice at Sandown.

Later sold to the Northern Territorian family of then-teenager Layton Crambrook, who raced the car in a distinctive black, teal and yellow livery throughout the back end of the 1999 season, it was last raced in that year’s FAI 1000 by Crambrook and Dean Crosswell.

Alcorn reacquired the car in the early 2000s and after a restoration back to its Alcair guise, returned to the track at Muscle Car Masters in the mid-2010s with Attard behind the wheel.

Last held under the title in 2019, Muscle Car Masters promises a return to its former glory with a stacked list of heritage and V8-flavoured racing categories.

Last held under the title in 2019, Muscle Car Masters promises a return to its former glory with a stacked list of heritage and V8-flavoured racing categories.

That line-up includes Touring Car Masters, the National Sports Sedan Series, Heritage Touring Cars (Group C & A), Group N Historic Touring Cars, Five-Litre Touring Cars, Group S Historic Sports Cars, HQ Holdens and the 1960s & ‘70s-oriented Australian Trans Am category.

Tickets to the Apex Steel Muscle Car Masters are available here.

V8 Sleuth is the Official Media Partner of the Apex Steel Muscle Car Masters