From a plain white Commodore in 1990 to three Bathurst 1000 wins, the team carried the number 11 and a famous name for two decades before handing its work to Kelly Racing.
Perkins Engineering was Larry Perkins's Australian V8 Supercar team, active from 1986 to 2008. It won the Bathurst 1000 in 1993, 1995 and 1997, carried the number 11 on its cars throughout, and then passed its staff and equipment to Kelly Racing.
Perkins Engineering was the racing team of Larry Perkins, the driver and engineer who ran it from 1986 until 2008. It competed in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship, won the Bathurst 1000 three times and became known for the number 11 painted on its cars. From 2009 the operation shrank to a supply role for Kelly Racing, a newly formed squad.
Perkins was as much an engineer as a driver. He had worked in the chief engineer's role at the Holden Dealer Team, and cars built and driven under his direction won at Bathurst in 1982, 1983 and 1984. When he ran his own squad he brought the same hands-on approach, which is why its story is so closely tied to his own career.
How did the team get going in 1988 and 1990?
The team's racing history began in earnest in 1988, when Perkins and Denny Hulme finished one-two in a Group A support event at the Adelaide Grand Prix in November. After fuel pick-up trouble struck the Sierras of Johnson and Bowe, Perkins and Hulme eased to a comfortable second half of the race.
For 1990 the team built a white VL Commodore in Group A specification. Apart from some minor backing from long-time supporters such as Castrol, its main sponsor was Perkins Engineering itself, and the car ran that way all season. Tomas Mezera co-drove in the endurance races. After a good result at the 1990 Sandown 500, the pair took third at Bathurst, narrowly missing a win after a safety car mix-up left Perkins held up in the pit lane.
A few weeks later the car won the 1990 Nissan Sydney 500 at the newly opened Eastern Creek Raceway. Perkins had qualified it second, behind the Nissan GT-R and ahead of the leading Sierras, which showed how much speed he was getting out of the two-year-old Commodore.
A team built around one engineer-driver, its number 11 and three Bathurst wins, which then handed its people and cars to a new squad.
What happened in 1991 with Peter Brock?
In 1991 a deal brought Peter Brock's sponsorship and his Mobil 1 Racing team into Perkins Engineering, which ran two VN Commodores for Brock and Perkins. Early results were slim, and the team's biggest problem was a shortage of good Bridgestone tyres early in the season. Brock ended the championship sixth, while Perkins managed only eleventh.
At Bathurst that year both cars qualified in the top ten. Brock and Andrew Miedecke finished seventh after an electrical gremlin-hit race, while the Perkins and Mezera car dropped out after 65 laps when oil pressure vanished. Perkins later argued that his contract with Brock's team and sponsor stopped him from finishing ahead of Brock on track, which left his own season in the shadows.
When the two drivers parted ways at the end of 1991, the VN cars ended up with Brock's Advantage Racing outfit. Perkins Engineering was left without a backer, and the 1990 car came back into service, repainted red after a spell with a Sydney veteran, with Perkins Engineering as its name on the door.
How did the Bob Jane colours change the team in 1992?
Bob Jane T-Marts backed the team for endurance and support races in 1992, and the car ran in yellow and blue. Driving with Steve Harrington, Perkins won the Sandown 500 that year, a late-race fight that showed the older VL still had life. The rival was a BMW M3 driven by Tony Longhurst and Paul Morris.
At Bathurst that year the car was put on the front row, but alternator and tyre problems in the rain, which eventually forced an early finish, left the pair ninth. His 1992 Bathurst qualifying lap, 2:14.08, was just 0.74 seconds better than 1990's, while rivals such as the Sierras and the twin-turbo Nissan had gained two or three seconds a lap. Even so, the speed of the older Commodore raised questions about its legality.
Why was 1993 the team's breakthrough year?
Castrol, a long-time supporter, became the major sponsor in 1993, bringing far more money than the team had been used to. The new VP Commodore was still being built when the season began, so the old 1990 car was repainted in Castrol colours and used as a stopgap.
The new car made its early debut at Phillip Island after the VL was damaged in a rollover at Symmons Plains. Perkins chose a Holden V8 rather than the Chevrolet engines used by the other leading Holden teams, and the car was quickest in every practice and qualifying session bar one. Perkins then set his second pole position in the race, and he won after a lengthy duel with Jim Richards and Mark Skaife, with Gregg Hansford sharing the driving.
That victory was the team's first Bathurst 1000 win. Perkins had been chief engineer when Brock set the Bathurst pole in 1983, and by 1993 he was winning the race himself.
What happened in 1994 and 1995?
The 1993 rules were revised for 1994, and Mark Skaife won the championship on the reworked package. The Perkins Castrol car was less suited to the endurance races, where Dick Johnson and John Bowe won both Sandown and Bathurst in a Shell Falcon. Perkins and Hansford finished third at Bathurst and were the second Holden on both occasions.
Castrol then asked the team to expand to two cars for 1995, but Perkins resisted, and Hansford was expected to drive the second car. Hansford lost his life during a Super Touring event at Phillip Island a few weeks later, and the team lost its preferred endurance co-driver. Russell Ingall, then based in England, was chosen to fill the seat.
At the 1995 Tooheys 1000 Perkins and Ingall were last after one lap, when a flat tyre from a valve torn out at the start left them in the pits. They fought back to the front, aided by safety car periods, and Glenn Seton's engine failed on lap 152 while he held a ten-second lead.
How did the Castrol years of 1996 to 1998 play out?
Castrol hired John Clarke in 1996, and the Cougars programme for women racers followed. By 1997 the team had expanded to two cars on the back of extra money. The Cougars car, shared by Kerryn Brewer and Melinda Price, finished 13th in two Bathurst 1000 attempts.
The 1997 season was one of the team's best in the championship. Ingall finished second and Perkins fourth, and the team swept one-two finishes in the Melbourne Grand Prix support races and at the Phillip Island meeting. It then won Bathurst again, the third win in the team's history. In 1998 the team started with a pair of VS Commodores, and the championship was decided on the final round, where a poor start by Ingall lost too many points to Craig Lowndes.
What did the team achieve from 1999 to 2002?
The 1999 season brought a change of approach. The Cougars programme ended, and the team began running a Coca-Cola Commodore for Wayne Gardner, which meant three cars to look after. Marcos Ambrose also tested for the team but was not hired, as his wage demands were too high.
From 2000 the endurance races counted towards the championship, so the team needed both cars at Bathurst. Perkins and Ingall finished 11th there that year. In 2001 they ran two cars again and finished eighth at Bathurst, while the team's second place in a controversial Queensland 500 finish drew attention. Steven Richards joined for 2002 in a third car, and Ingall and Richards finished second at Bathurst.
Why did Larry Perkins step back from driving?
Ingall left at the end of 2002 after eight seasons, joining Stone Brothers, and Perkins said he would give up full-time driving. For 2003 Richards and Paul Dumbrell took the team's seats. Perkins returned for the endurance races with Richards, but he damaged the No. 11 Holden VY at The Cutting in practice.
That accident settled the matter. Perkins retired from driving and shifted towards engineering and management for the squad. In 2004 Tony Longhurst arrived in a third Castrol car under Rod Nash Racing, and Perkins Engineering began to receive data from four cars at once.
What did the team's Bathurst record look like?
| Year | Drivers | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Larry Perkins, Tomas Mezera | Third, behind a safety car mix-up that cost a win |
| 1991 | Peter Brock, Andrew Miedecke | Seventh; the Perkins car retired after 65 laps |
| 1992 | Larry Perkins, Steve Harrington | Ninth after alternator and tyre problems |
| 1993 | Larry Perkins, Gregg Hansford | Win in a Castrol VP Commodore |
| 1995 | Larry Perkins, Russell Ingall | Win after recovering from last place after one lap |
| 1997 | Larry Perkins, Russell Ingall | Win, a reliability-led victory |
| 2003 | Steven Richards, Larry Perkins | Fourth after Perkins damaged the car in practice |
| 2004 | Steven Richards, Jim Richards | 21st, 13 laps behind after hitting a kangaroo |
Why does the number 11 matter?
The racing number 11 became the team's signature. It appeared on its racing cars in every season since 1986, and it is as well known in Australian motorsport as Peter Brock's 05 or Dick Johnson's 17. The story goes that Perkins chose it because spare stickers were easy to make.
The number almost slipped away in 2005. At the end of 2004 Perkins sold two Level 1 licences to Craig Gore and bought a Level 2 licence, while leasing a second from Bap Romano. Because numbers attach to licences, Gore's WPS Racing was able to take the No. 11 and No. 8. Fans and Castrol pushed back, and Gore kept No. 8 but returned No. 11 to Perkins Engineering, which ran it with No. 24 on the Romano licence.
How did the team end, and who inherited it?
In 2005 Castrol ended its sponsorship, and Jack Daniel's stepped in. The team ran four cars in 2005, and by 2006 Richards and Paul Dumbrell were driving Holden VZ Commodores. At the end of 2006 Richards and Dumbrell both left, and the team signed Todd Kelly for 2008 and 2009.
Holden's decision to cut support for Commodore teams for 2009 led Larry Perkins to reduce his involvement at the end of 2008. He struck a deal with John and Margaret Kelly, parents of Todd, who had driven for the team in 2008, to provide engineering for the new Kelly Racing. Staff, equipment, sponsors and the team's VE Commodores moved across, and Jack Daniel's went with them. Perkins kept the franchises and became the entrant for the third and fourth cars at Kelly Racing. In January 2013 he sold those franchises to Kelly Racing and left the Moorabbin workshop.
