New car news

09 June 2011 - 13:00

Brock at Le Mans

It's 1984, and Advance Australia Fair was officially proclaimed our national anthem, green and gold our national colours and the dollar coin is introduced. And local racing icons Peter Brock and Larry Perkins travelled to Le Mans in France to have a tilt at the biggest race of them all, the Le Mans 24 Hour.

Click here to see the entire 2011 Le Mans field

Perkins had driven the track before, Brock hadn't. In their leased Porsche 956, the duo were sitting inside the top ten at the 18-hour mark when disaster struck. A non-factory suspension component failed on the car, pitching Perkins - who was running four seconds a lap quicker than a more circumspect Brock - into a fence at the better part of 350km/h on the fearsome La Sarthe straight. The dream was over.

Some say that the failure to make an impact at the world's biggest event hit Brock hard, perhaps leading him into a series of personal and business disasters from which he would never really recover. Former F1 racer Perkins was devastated, as well, returning home to continue his touring car career.

Sadly, there are no Aussies running in this years' event after the withdrawal of David Brabham's Highcroft Racing team just a month out from the event. Brabham won the event with Peugeot in 2009.