John Harvey (racing driver)

John Francis Harvey OAM (21 February 1938 – 5 December 2020) was an Australian racing driver. He was a top Speedcar driver for many years in the 1950s and 1960s, winning many championship races including the NSW Championship for three successive years and the Victorian Championship twice before turning his skills to road racing where he had a long and successful career until his retirement at the end of 1988. In 1987 John made history driving the General Motors Sunraycer to victory in the inaugural World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide, the first international race for purely solar powered cars.

John Harvey
NationalityAustralian
Born(1938-02-21)21 February 1938
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died5 December 2020(2020-12-05) (aged 82)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Retired1988
Australian Touring Car Championship
Years active1965–1986
TeamsHolden Dealer Team
Wins2
Best finish3rd in 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship
Previous series
1965–70
1966
1966–72
1969–72
Australian Drivers' Champ.
Australian 1½ Litre Champ.
Tasman Series
Australian Sports Car Champ.
Championship titles
1966
1971
1972
1983
Australian 1½ Litre Champ.
Australian Sports Car Champ.
Australian Sports Car Champ.
Bathurst 1000
Awards
Medal of the Order of Australia, 2020

Career

Despite being regarded as one of the best Speedcar drivers in Australia, Harvey switched from speedway to road racing in 1964 following the deaths of a few friends in Speedcar racing, as well as a contentious 6-month suspension received from the Sydney-based National Speedcar Club officials after he was alleged to spin fellow driver Al Staples in a scratch race at the Sydney Showground Speedway. Although this decision was later reverted to no suspension at the drivers meeting, Harvey decided to opt out of Speedway to go road racing. He would make a short lived comeback to racing speedcars in 1974 at the Liverpool Speedway in western Sydney after the track promoters changed the 440-metre (480 yd) D-shaped oval from a dirt track to a bitumen track, once again racing for the same car owner he had in the 1960s, Ronald Mackay.

Harvey drove cars such as the Austin Cooper S and Brabham BT14 Ford 1.5 litre. Harvey won the 1966 Australian 1½ Litre Championship in the Brabham and in the same year finished runner up in the Australian Drivers' Championship for 2.5 litre Australian National Formula cars in the same car, competing against much more powerful machinery, also winning the NSW 1.5 litre Road Racing Championship. He began an involvement with Bob Jane’s racing team in 1967 and moved to Melbourne. Harvey won the 1971 and 1972 Australian Sports Car Championships driving the McLaren M6B Repco V8 for Bob Jane. He drove Jane's Repco V8 powered Holden Torana in Sports Sedan racing in the early 1970s, winning both the Toby Lee Series at Oran Park and the Marlboro Series at Calder Park Raceway in 1973.

Reproduction of the 1976 Bathurst Bond/Harvey Torana

In 1976, Harvey won the first round of the Australian Touring Car Championship in a one-off drive in a B&D Autos-sponsored Torana L34 at Symmons Plains. Later in the year Harvey was signed up to co-drive with Colin Bond in the Holden Dealer Team Torana L34 which finished a close second in the Bathurst 1000.

The race winning #7 Holden was accidentally credited with an extra lap, putting it ahead of the #1 Holden. The error was picked up after the race and the relevant race official offered the Holden Dealer Team, the official factory team, the right to appeal. However, the #7 car was entered by Ron Hodgson Motors, one of Holden's biggest dealerships. The Holden hierarchy decided it would be good 'politic' to let Bob Morris and British sportscar racer John Fitzpatrick keep the win. Holden apologised to John Harvey for this at a testimonial dinner in 2002.

With Bond leaving the Holden team at the end of 1976, Harvey then became the lead driver for the 1977 season.

In 1978, Peter Brock re-joined the Holden Dealer Team and became No.1 driver with Harvey driving the No.2 car. This established the pattern for almost a decade. The Harvey car effectively becoming Brock’s backup, notably winning the 1978 Rothmans 500 event at Oran Park teamed with Charlie O'Brien. In 1980 Peter Brock took over the Holden Dealer Team, deciding John Harvey would not contest the ATCC races and contest only the endurance races at the end of the year. Peter Brock teamed with John Harvey (1980, 1981) for the CRC 300, winning both. This arrangement continued until the advent of Group A in Australia in 1985, though Harvey did run in rounds of the 1984 ATCC, driving Brock's #05 when Brock and Perkins were attempting to win Le Mans. Harvey would then run selected rounds in the 1985 ATCC, as well as rounds of the 1986 ATCC.

Harvey's biggest win came with the HDT at the 1983 James Hardie 1000. Originally to be partnered with Brock's brother Phil, Harvey qualified his #25 Holden VH Commodore (the car in which Brock and Perkins had won the 1982 race) in 5th place (Brock claimed pole in #05). After just eight laps, Brock's car blew its engine, seemingly putting him and Perkins out of the race. However, due to the pair being cross-entered in #25, Brock and Perkins then took over from Harvey for the rest of the race (leaving Phil Brock without a drive). The race win was controversial at the time as many felt Brock and Perkins should not have been allowed to move into the HDT's second car after theirs retired. Under race rules at the time however, cross-entering was allowed and had actually been used in previous 1000s, though this was the first time drivers had moved from one car to another and had gone on to win the race.

Harvey would go on to finish second at Bathurst the following year in the last race for the Group C touring cars in what was a 1-2 form finish for the Dealer Team with Brock/Perkins bringing in their VK Commodore home first in front of Harvey's co-driver, 25-year-old Tasmanian David “Skippy” Parsons. Harvey would finish second again two years later for the HDT. Driving a VK Commodore SS Group A, he teamed with HDT driver/engineer Neal Lowe to finish second behind the Commodore of Allan Grice and Graeme Bailey.

Harvey won the 1986 Pukekohe 500 with Neal Lowe in their new Group A SS VK Commodore, and the pair finished second to HDT teammates Brock and Allan Moffat at the 1987 Nissan 500 Wellington.

Harvey split with Brock by 1987, being unhappy with Brock’s flirtation with ‘New Age’ ideas like his ‘Energy Polariser’. Harvey told his side of the story of the split in Bill Tuckey’s 1987 book The Rise and Fall of Peter Brock.

In March 1987, Harvey teamed up with Allan Moffat to drive their HDT built (and covertly bought by Moffat) Holden VL Commodore SS Group A to victory in the first round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship at the famous Monza circuit in Italy. After finishing seventh, the pair were promoted as the first six BMW Motorsport backed BMW M3's were disqualified from the race for being some 50–80 kg underweight (after a protest from a privateer M3 team, the works M3's were found to have been fitted with lightweight carbon-fibre and kevlar body panels). Later at the Spa 24 Hours in August, Moffat and Harvey achieved a class win and finished 4th outright behind the works BMW Team M3's. Sydney driver Tony Mulvihill had also been listed to drive the #5 Rothmans sponsored Commodore at Spa, though he was caught out by the notorious Ardennes weather in qualifying and failed to qualify for the race. This forced Moffat and Harvey to drive the 24 hours with just the two of them while most other teams used at least 3 drivers.

After Moffat abandoned the Commodore in favor of Andy Rouse's Ford Sierra RS500, Harvey missed the 1987 James Hardie 1000 which was a round of the WTCC. It was the first Bathurst race Harvey had missed since 1972. The race was also the 9th and last Bathurst 1000 win for his longtime teammate Peter Brock.

Shortly after the Brock breakup John was appointed lead driver of the GM Sunraycer team and made two trips to the US for testing and race team preparation. He was recommended for his professionalism and discipline by Ray Borrett (Holden’s reliability and “skunkworks” motor sport engineer). Ray was involved in  the development of Sunraycer in the US and became the race team manager.

Harvey's last Bathurst 1000 was in 1988 where he teamed with Kevin Bartlett in a Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV to finish in 14th after qualifying 22nd. Early in the race, Harvey had been dicing with Brock, now racing a BMW M3. Harvey almost didn't get to drive in the 1988 race. At the time he was working for the Tom Walkinshaw owned Holden Special Vehicles and Walkinshaw had a rule that barring himself, senior management could not participate in dangerous activities such as being a race driver. Walkinshaw finally relented and let Harvey race at Bathurst, originally offering him the lead driver role in the HSV team's 3rd car, something which Harvey turned down stating that "I had been the number two behind Brock for eight years and I wasn't about to become the number three".

During Round 7 of the 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship at Sandown, and despite being part of the management team at HSV, Harvey was on hand to be part of Allan Moffat's team for the weekend (complete with a Moffat team ANZ Bank jacket). From 1988 Moffat was racing a Ford Sierra RS500 built by Swiss ace Ruedi Eggenberger. Ironically, Harvey's old HDT teammate Larry Perkins through his Perkins Engineering was running the factory backed Holden team in the 1988 ATCC under the name of Holden Special Vehicles.

In February 1988, Harvey drove the new VL Commodore SS Group A SV which was the pace car driver for the first ever NASCAR race held outside of North America, the Goodyear NASCAR 500 held at the then new, A$54 million Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne.

Following the 1988 Tooheys 1000, Harvey retired from competitive motor sport to concentrate on his work with Holden and HSV.

In 2018, CAMS awarded Harvey a place in the Motor Sport Hall of Fame.

In the 2020 Australia Day Honours, Harvey was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to motor sports.[1]

Death

Harvey died on 5 December 2020, aged 82, from a battle with lung cancer.[2]

Career results

Season Series Position Car Team
1965 Australian Drivers' Championship 10th Brabham BT14 Ford RC Phillips Sports Cars
Australian Touring Car Championship 7th Austin Cooper S
1966 Australian Drivers' Championship 2nd Brabham BT14 Ford RC Phillips Sports Cars
Australian 1½ Litre Championship 1st
Australian Touring Car Championship 4th Austin Cooper S
1967 Tasman Series 10th Brabham BT14 Ford
Australian Drivers' Championship 4th Brabham BT14 Ford
Brabham BT11 Climax
1969 Australian Drivers' Championship 4th Brabham BT23E Repco
1970 Tasman Series 12th Brabham BT23E Repco
Australian Drivers' Championship 3rd Brabham BT23E Repco
1971 Australian Sports Car Championship 1st McLaren M6B Repco Bob Jane Racing
1972 Australian Sports Car Championship 1st McLaren M6B Repco Bob Jane Racing
Australian Touring Car Championship 9th Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350
1973 Toby Lee Series 1st Holden LJ Torana-Repco Bob Jane Racing
1976 Australian Touring Car Championship 11th Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 B&D Autos
Holden Dealer Team
1977 Australian Touring Car Championship 6th Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34
Holden LX Torana SS A9X
Holden Dealer Team
1978 Australian Touring Car Championship 8th Holden LX Torana SS A9X Holden Dealer Team
1979 Australian Touring Car Championship 3rd Holden LX Torana SS A9X Holden Dealer Team
1982 Australian Endurance Championship 24th Holden VH Commodore SS Marlboro Holden Dealer Team
1983 Australian Endurance Championship 11th Holden VH Commodore SS Marlboro Holden Dealer Team
1984 Australian Touring Car Championship 33rd Holden VH Commodore SS Marlboro Holden Dealer Team
Australian Endurance Championship 4th
1985 Australian Touring Car Championship 19th Holden VK Commodore Mobil Holden Dealer Team
Australian Endurance Championship NC
1986 Australian Touring Car Championship 11th Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Mobil Holden Dealer Team
Australian Endurance Championship 8th
South Pacific Touring Car Championship 15th
1987 World Touring Car Championship NC Holden VL Commodore SS Group A Allan Moffat Racing
1987 World Solar Challenge 1st GM Sunraycer General Motors
1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship NC Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV Bob Forbes Racing

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1965 Austin Cooper S SAN
7
7th -
1966 Austin Cooper S BAT
4
4th -
1972 Bob Jane Racing Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350 SYM CAL BAT
4
SAN AIR WAR SUR ORA 9th 9
1976 B&D Autos Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 SYM
1
CAL ORA 11th 23
Holden Dealer Team SAN
4
AMA
4
AIR
3
LAK SAN AIR SUR PHI
Ret
1977 Holden Dealer Team Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34
Holden LX Torana SS A9X
SYM
8
CAL
4
ORA
2
AMA
Ret
SAN
3
AIR
5
LAK
3
SAN
Ret
AIR
3
SUR PHI
4
6th 40
1978 Holden Dealer Team Holden LX Torana SS A9X SYM
3
ORA
Ret
AMA SAN
4
WAN
2
CAL LAK
Ret
AIR 8th 19
1979 Holden Dealer Team Holden LX Torana SS A9X SYM
1
CAL
3
ORA
4
SAN
6
WAN
2
SUR
3
LAK
2
AIR
3
3rd 54
1984 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Holden VH Commodore SS SAN SYM WAN SUR
Ret
ORA LAK
9
AIR 33rd 9
1985 Mobil Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore WIN SAN SYM WAN AIR CAL
5
SUR LAK AMA ORA
5
19th 30
1986 Mobil Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore SS Group A AMA
Ret
SYM
3
SAN
6
AIR
5
WAN
Ret
SUR CAL
6
LAK WIN ORA 11th 61

Complete FIA European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points
1986 Mobil Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore SS Group A MNZ DON HOC MIS AND BNO ZEL NUR SPA
22
SIL NOG ZOL JAR EST NC 0

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1987 Allan Moffat Racing Holden VL Commodore SS Group A MNZ
1
JAR
Ret
DIJ
Ret
NUR SPA
ovr:4
cls:1
BNO SIL BAT CLD WEL FJI NC 0

† Not registered for series & points

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 DC Points
1988 Bob Forbes Racing Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV BAT
14
WEL PUK FJI NC 0

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1965 BMC John French Morris Cooper S C 24 DNF DNF
1966 Kevin Bartlett Volvo 122S D 118 15th 4th
1971 Bob Jane Racing Team Bob Jane Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 D 50 DNF DNF
1973 Bob Jane Racing Bob Jane Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 D 161 4th 4th
1974 Norman G Booth Pty Ltd Jim Hunter Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 3001 – 6000cc 7 DNF DNF
1975 Massey Holden Peter Janson Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 D 143 DNF DNF
1976 Holden Dealer Team Colin Bond Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 3001cc - 6000cc 163 2nd 2nd
1977 Holden Dealer Team Wayne Negus Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback 3001cc - 6000cc 91 DNF DNF
1978 Holden Dealer Team Charlie O'Brien Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback A 139 19th 9th
1979 Holden Dealer Team Ron Harrop Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback A 57 DNF DNF
1980 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Ron Harrop Holden VC Commodore 3001-6000cc 78 DNF DNF
1981 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Vern Schuppan Holden VC Commodore 8 Cylinder & Over 37 DNF DNF
1982 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Gary Scott Holden VH Commodore SS A 162 3rd 3rd
1983 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock
Larry Perkins
Phil Brock
Holden VH Commodore SS A 163 1st 1st
1984 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team David Parsons Holden VK Commodore Group C 161 2nd 2nd
1985 Mobil Holden Dealer Team David Parsons Holden VK Commodore C 96 DNF DNF
1986 Mobil Holden Dealer Team Neal Lowe Holden VK Commodore SS Group A C 163 2nd 2nd
1988 Bob Forbes Racing Kevin Bartlett Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV A 140 14th 10th

Complete Sandown Endurance results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1973 Bob Jane Racing drove solo Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 D 57 DNF DNF
1977 Holden Dealer Team drove solo Holden Torana LX SS A9X Hatchback A NA DNF DNF
1978 Holden Dealer Team drove solo Holden Torana LX SS A9X Hatchback 6000cc 128 2nd 2nd
1979 Holden Dealer Team drove solo Holden Torana LX SS A9X Hatchback A 128 2nd 2nd
1981 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Vern Schuppan Holden VC Commodore A 117 4th 4th
1982 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Gary Scott Holden VH Commodore SS D 108 4th 4th
1983 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock Holden VH Commodore SS Over 3000cc 127 DSQ DSQ
1984 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team David Parsons Holden VK Commodore Over 3000cc 127 3rd 3rd
1985 Mobil Holden Dealer Team David Parsons Holden VK Commodore A 78 DNF DNF
1986 Mobil Holden Dealer Team Neal Lowe Holden VK Commodore SS Group A B 125 8th 8th

Complete Spa 24 Hours results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1986 Mobil Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock
Allan Moffat
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Div.3 412 22nd 10th
1987 Allan Moffat Racing Allan Moffat
Tony Mulvihill
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A Div.3 468 4th 1st

References

  1. "Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) entry for Mr John Francis HARVEY". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020. For service to motor sports.
  2. Savage, Nic (6 December 2020). "Bathurst 1000 champion John Harvey dead at 82". News.com.au. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  • Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999 (Chevron) © 2000
  • Australian Competition Yearbook 1974
  • Ten Top Drivers (Forsyth Publications) 1979
  • The Rise and Fall of Peter Brock (Bill Tuckey) 1987
  • Sunraycer Bill Tuckey, Chevron Publishing Group.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Peter Brock
Larry Perkins
Winner of the Bathurst 1000
1983
(with Peter Brock and Larry Perkins)
Succeeded by
Peter Brock
Larry Perkins
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