HTCAV – Original Group Nc Mustang

Words: Chris Ralph

Photos: Supplied

Historic Touring Cars have always been a replica category, allowing ‘new old cars’ to be prepared for Motorsport Australia’s Historic 5th Category.
Fifteen years after the pre-1965 Group Nb appeared in 1980, the pre-1973 Group Nc category hit the tracks. New builds now appear regularly but some very special ‘originals’ have been around for almost 30 years. This is one of them.

Touring car racing exploded in popularity between 1965 and 1972 to become Australia’s premier motorsport category, so it was no surprise when cars from that period were included in the original Group N historic touring car regulations.

In July, 1993, Group ‘Nc’ regulations were approved and in the CAMS manual by 1995 when the flag was dropped.

While Group Nb accepted models with a global FIA race history, the new Group Nc would be restricted to ’65-’72 models that had only raced in Australia. There was pushback from the pre-65 racers, but others eagerly plotted their race builds and the first cars soon hit the track.  

Birth of the Warhorse

Rob Bailey, son of Owen Bailey (a well-known 1950s competitor who raced a Talbot Lago at the famous 1956 Australian Grand Prix won by Stirling Moss), knew exactly what he would create as his Group Nc entry – a replica of the Ford Mustangs built in 1967/8 by Carroll Shelby for the 'Trans American Championship,' aka Trans Am, even though Mustangs from this period were raced in Australia.

Shelby built only 26 of these in the day and genuine survivors are stratospheric in terms of pricing, so a replica was the logical way to go for Rob.

Armed with a good Californian Mustang shell, sturdy A4 302 V8 block, GT40 heads and TopLoader transmission, Rob engaged legends Ian Tate to build the engine and Ken Zinner the gearbox.

The car’s build, race prep and years of race crewing would be taken care of by Rian Nott, ace panel man, race car builder and gun driver who had also built a front-running XY GT Falcon for Group Nc. 

With a 4-barrel carby, Rob’s Shelby Mustang Trans Am lookalike made 400hp, but later, four IDA Webers took that to 500hp and 400 lb/ft of torque.  

First hitting the track at Historic Sandown in 1996, it was also driven by Sir Jack Brabham in demonstration races.

Near death of the Warhorse

With Rob’s then business partner and co-owner driving at Calder, hooves clattered and the near-new racer tripped and fell dramatically. End of racing, end of partnership. Rob took the wreck to Nott for a total rebuild, with period McLaren colours replacing the previous Shelby yellow/black scheme.

Rob raced it through to the end of 1998, when the pony went to another stable…

Warhorse driver

UK-born Chris Stephen was many years senior to the (relatively) youthful Bailey, winning his first rally in 1961, then racing and rallying consistently thereafter.

A large, family-run sheep farm in Tasmania producing Superfine Merino wool - recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the finest wool in the world for nine years – funded Chris’s motorsport adventures, with the doughty farmer racing and rallying “whenever he could get behind the wheel”.

With wife Dee as navigator, Chris did three Targa Tasmanias in his Ferrari 365 and three more in his Iso Rivolta, along with a Classic Adelaide or two (plus lap records in Victoria as a Group S car), while a factory-built ex-London to Sydney Falcon handled dirt duties.

Two tough campaigns

With Rian Nott spannering the car he knew so well, the now Victorian-based Chris enjoyed a couple of years of serious Mustang racing either side of the new millennium. Across Victoria, NSW and South Australia, Chris was doing 10-12 meetings each year, with Natsoft data from the period showing wins and podiums amongst the toughest company at most circuits.

True to their roots, Chris and Dee also entered a Classic Adelaide, but the Mustang’s Tilton clutch kept going out of alignment, so it was on to the trailer and off to the wineries.

Warhorse still in the wars

In a dust-up at the Clipsal 500 supports in Adelaide, young Nick Stillwell stuffed the front wheel of his Mini through the Warhorse’s passenger door (“Bib tore strips off him!” says Chris).

Sandown in June 1999 saw the late Brett Wiseman spin his grey Falcon at T1. Chris managed to stop in time but Greg Nicholls in a 289 Mustang didn’t – our brave car and driver were the meat in the sandwich.

These days, Chris gets his kicks driving the Safety Car at historic meetings, fierce eyebrows bristling. “Several hundred kays around Phillip Island in someone else’s car, that’s a good retirement plan!” he chuckles.

Meanwhile, in 2001, our hero horse was off on another adventure…

Time in a top paddock

Warhorse’s third owner was the gentlemanly Mike Bugelly, who quickly adapted to the big car after previously campaigning a Mini.

Known for his mechanical sympathy and relaxed driving style, Mike had a dream run with the Mustang. “It was fabulously reliable,” he recalls, “The only times it didn’t finish a race was from somebody else’s accident”.

Consistency, reliability and Rian Nott spannering won Mike and Mustang the 2002 Victorian State Race Series Championship for Historic Touring Cars.

Mike didn’t actively pursue development during his time with Warhorse, but the second of two engine rebuilds, this time by Dennis Johnson, netted 517hp - enough to carry Mike through to the end of his 12 years of ownership.

Over the journey, Mike drove the car in the 2002 and 2004 Australian F1 Grand Prix support races and brought it home battered on the trailer after the 2008 Muscle Car Masters at Eastern Creek.

“It was fantastic to drive, always up there at the pointy end – but not in the wet!” he remembers, “then it was - ‘just bring it home’…”

In 2013, Warhorse went to a jockey with more serious intent – the old stallion was going from a ‘hands and heels’ rider to one happy to use the whip.

Back into the fray

Chris Stern, a new HTCAV member and ex-Radical racer, came to Group N because he was looking for a class “that does not change their rules and specs every year”.

Soon after purchasing the Bailey/Stephen/Bugelly Mustang, Stern was fired up and ready to go, but after being taken aback by the lack of brakes compared to his previous steed, upgraded to larger Kelsey-Hayes units, added a fresh coat of paint and set off at a gallop.

It must have been a shock to the system for the old nag. “I had three engine rebuilds over the time, which were a disaster,” Chris says, “until The Doctor (Keith Davidson) took over. Never had another engine fault since.”

The current HTCAV President’s highlights with Warhorse include a class second overall at the 2019 OTR SuperSprint at The Bend, running top ten at Bathurst and a couple of placings in the Victorian State Race Series.

Off to a famous stable

In February, 2020, Tino Leo bought Warhorse for his son Dominic, a current HTCAV Committee member.

Presentation is a Leo hallmark, but the traditional ‘Leo Gold’ didn’t sit well with McLaren Papaya, so black paint highlights were replaced with silver.

Due to all the COVID dramas, Dom’s first race wasn’t until November of that year. But 2021 furnished the most fun – second in the Victorian State Race Champs and some great battles at Sandown, including with John Mann’s Camaro and the late Alan McKelvie’s ’68 Mustang. Along the way, Dom recorded the Warhorse’s fastest-ever lap time…

Coincidentally, the second oldest Group Nc car was a Warhorse stablemate – the Monaro Tino bought from Kent Youlden in the late ’90s - later sold on and repurchased.

In another coincidence, the Leos, always looking to get further up the grid, had a conversation with another respected father and son outfit – Jim and Darren Collins - whose white Camaro had won them a cabinet full of trophies and many lap records…

Hot swap

Late last year, a gentlemanly trade took place that saw Darren Collins take over the old Warhorse with a generous budget to go racing, while Dom Leo received a car that has been on pole position more often than not. Everybody happy!

Tino and Dom immediately painted gold stripes on their newly-acquired Camaro, while Jim and Darren took the silver stripes off the Mustang just as swiftly, adding a black bonnet to return Warhorse to its original Shelby Trans Am-style colour scheme.

Looking at the ’68 Trans Am race results over recent years, Darren is super excited about the big challenge: “I’ve always fancied a Mustang, and the Trans Am can rev its head off. Going to be pushing to getting back up the front, and who knows, I might even get a sniff of Dom in the old car…”

And Dom? His times and results in the Warhorse prove he’s no slouch in the driving stakes. “I’ve always been a Blue Oval racer, so I’m still getting my head around driving on the ‘Dark Side’,” he smiles, “but so excited to get behind the wheel of a car with such an impressive record.”

Back into battle

Warhorse with winning driver versus winning faster car with talented up-and-coming driver - it will be fascinating to see how the two compare on the track. Will Camaro cubes see Dom close to Darren’s times? Will Darren’s front-running experience push the Warhorse faster than ever?

You’ll read all about that in the next issue of JUST CARS when we report on the opening race of the 2023 HTCAV season at Sandown. Don’t miss it!