Glenn Seton scores the first V8 touring car race win at Albert Park in 1996. Photo: an1images.com / Graeme Neander.
THERE have been 77 five-liter V8 touring car/V8 Supercars/Supercars races since the first F1-era Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in 1996 (including yesterday’s 2022 opener) – but which car won the very first Supercars race that Saturday afternoon in ’96?
The car in question is chassis GSR6, driven in Ford Credit colors by Glenn Seton who scored pole position and converted it into the first V8 victory at the circuit.
Seton debuted GSR6 at the start of the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship and it was the first all-new EF Falcon (rather than converted EB) built by Glenn Seton Racing.
The car was used by Seton as the #30 EF Falcon for the whole 1995 ATCC. He scored seven race wins and finished runner-up in the championship standings, 27 points behind champion John Bowe.
However, this car is best known for what occurred late in the 1995 Bathurst 1000, when the #30 Peter Jackson Ford’s engine failed while leading within nine laps of the finish, ending the hopes of what would have been a much deserved Bathurst victory for Seton and co-driver David Parsons.
Seton and Parsons at Bathurst 1995. The car came within nine laps of victory. Photo: an1images.com / Graeme Neander
Blue, red and yellow were swapped out for blue, red and white the following year as Ford Credit came onboard as sponsor and Seton used the car throughout the entire 1996 ATCC.
Seton won three championship races and finished third in the championship behind Craig Lowndes and Bowe. The Ford Credit pilot also ran the same chassis in the Sandown 500 and he and Parsons finished a close runner-up to Lowndes’ HRT Commodore.
Seton used this chassis as a spare on the Gold Coast in 1997. Just as well, it didn’t look this pristine by the time the event was over! Photo: an1images.com / Dirk Klynsmith
The car was retained by GSR as a spare chassis in 1997 but was wheeled out for the Gold Coast non-championship event to protect Seton’s primary chassis (GSR7) used throughout his 1997 championship-winning campaign – just as well considering it was involved in a massive multi-car pileup at one of the chicanes!
Rodney Forbes, Neil Crompton and Anthony Tratt all had a steer of GSR6 between 1998 and 1999 before it was sold to Queenslander Charles Ryman, who ran it in the Privateer’s category at Hidden Valley and Queensland Raceway with Wayne Wakefield behind the wheel for both rounds.
Wayne Wakefield at the inaugural Queensland Raceway sprint round in 1999 aboard GSR6. Photo: an1images.com / Dirk Klynsmith
It was then sold to Bill and Luke Sieders towards the end of 1999 and was driven by both throughout the 2000 Konica V8 Lites Series.
The ex-Seton Falcon was sold off in 2001 as a rolling chassis and reappeared in the hands of Rod Smith in Sport Sedans in the Victorian State Series.
Former GSR engine man Scott Owen purchased the car in 2016 with the intent to restore it to its 1995 Peter Jackson Bathurst #30 Seton/Parsons livery and EF specification.
“It’s still sitting with me and I’m still working on collecting the various bits required to restore it,” Owen told V8 Sleuth this week.
“I need a six-speed Holinger gearbox, a complete Harrop diff centre, a radiator and some other bits and pieces.”
Owen says he’d love to hear from any previous owners of the GSR6 Falcon or fans with Peter Jackson/Ford Credit memorabilia or merchandise that relates to his car.
Contact V8 Sleuth here via our website and we’ll pass you onto him!
