RIP Peter Brock

[Firestorm]

For those of you that might know him, he had an accident competing in the Targa West rally here in Western Australia a few hours ago and died.

Was a true motorsport legend.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/09/08/1157222312262.html

Another great aussie down, who's next =/

[Borat]

Gutted.
pretty rough time for aussie right now
Guess I was lucky to have seen him racing.

[Streetspec_iS]

RIP Brocky.

Still can't beleive it. You watch someone like this race while you are growing up, and you just never think it could happen.

[Streetspec_iS]

Rip '05'

[Vedubin01]

[Ray Smoodiver]

Rip 05.

[SchnellerVert]

Wow who's next. Shame, hope it was quick. I have at times gotten nervous to think of my family when pushing a car hard. Not fear of dying but leaving kids without a Dad.

RIP Pete. Long live the Shelby Daytona as it will always be one of my all time favorites.

[M42Technik]

I hate to be rude, but someone give me more insight as to what races he was prominent in. I feel like I should know who he is, but I don't.

Someone fill me in.

[SchnellerVert]

Google his name.

[E30_pilot]

Taken from Wikipedia:

"During his early career, Brock raced some "wild and woolly" creations including the famous blue 6 cylinder Austin A30. Brock rose to public attention in touring car racing, winning the Bathurst 500, Australia's and one of the world's most prestigious endurance races, a total of nine times through the '70s and '80s. As the lead driver for the Holden Dealer Team, in a succession of both 6 and 8 cylinder Holden Toranas and later V8 Commodores, the smooth-talking, clean-cut Brock became a household name that transcended motor racing, as he emerged as one of the best-known modern Australia and New Zealand racing drivers, spoken of among the likes of Sir Jack Brabham.

Brock and the Holden Dealer Team began to work together in partnership. Together, with full factory approval and assistance, they produced a number of high-performance modifications to the Commodores from 1980 to 1988, some of which were "homologation specials", one step away from race cars. It was around this time that Brock began his run of six Bathurst 1000 wins in seven years, including his victory in the 1979 event, which he won by a record six laps. He won a total of nine Bathurst 1000 events and one Bathurst 24 hour event.

Brock also worked with the Victorian authorities in promoting the campaign against drink driving. The most obvious sign of this association was the racecar number "05" which related to the 0.05% blood alcohol limit in Victoria. Most cars he raced in, regardless of the motor racing division, bore this number, including the one in which he died.

Brock developed an interest in New Age-style spirituality through practitioner Eric Dowker. Brock began publicly supporting, and eventually began to fit to HDT specials, a device called the "Energy Polarizer", containing strong permanent magnets, which, it was claimed, improved the performance and handling of vehicles through "aligning the molecules". The overwhelming majority of the Australian motoring community regarded the device as pseudoscience.[1] Brock also recommended tyre pressures of 22psi (150kPa) for his polariser-equipped vehicles, a level which many regarded as near-dangerously low. Holden, fearing the consequences of being associated with the device, cut ties with Brock and set up an alternative racing/modification operation, Holden Special Vehicles.

Brock continued to race in privately-supported teams for some years afterwards, but returned to the factory Holden Racing Team in 1994. Brock retired from full-time driving in 1997.

After his nominal 'retirement' he made two returns to Bathurst (2002 and 2004) and competed in the Nations Cup for highly modified and exotic cars in 2004. In 2002, he returned to top-level touring car racing as a team owner with the entry of "Team Brock" into the V8 Supercar category. However, he sold his share in the team to Kees Weel at the end of 2003.

He occasionally competed in various enthusiast-level motorsport events such as the Targa Tasmania. The team's vehicles are actually constructed by Holden Special Vehicles. His smooth on-camera persona and familiarity to older Australians continued to sell products, including Mobil Oils and Bridgestone tyres, as the controversy of the Energy Polarizer had been largely forgotten."

RIP '05'...