HTCAV – Phil Barrow profile

Emotions run deep with certain cars, and it’s often generational, too. Last year, JUST CARS readers met third-generation Blue Oval man David Forbes, who punts the same model XK Falcon that his father raced.

On the other side of the Ford-Holden divide, there’s a similarly one-eyed stalwart, Phil Barrow, who not only races the same sort of car his Dad did, it’s the same car!

Father First

In the early ’60s, Phil’s dad Alan Barrow was one of a legion of ‘Humpy Holden’ men in the Appendix J class. Entries, fuel and tyres were cheap back then, and for a toolmaker like Alan, a bit of head-scratching and backyard fettling got you faster each weekend.

Alan raced the legendary NSW tracks of the period – Catalina Park, Gnoo Blas and Oran Park – but when Appendix J ended in 1965, his FJ morphed into something fiercer; an Improved Touring Car. But the need for speed didn’t stop there.

Even wilder in Sports Racing Closed (the forerunner of Sports Sedans), the Barrow car ran 13 x 8-inch wheels, a hot 192ci Red Motor and an FJ 3-speed gearbox and brakes. In this guise, Phil’s Dad recorded a 2.46 lap at Bathurst. No roll cage, fibreglass bonnet, boot, doors and guards: it must have wambled like a pudding on a plate!

Good sense took over from bravery, however: Alan sold the car, found love and made babies.

Generation Next          

One of those babies was Phil, a real chip off the old block, who at the age of ten was eagerly fitting and turning on machinery in Dad’s shed.

Pining for his racing days, Alan had by this stage hunted down another FJ to race in the revived Appendix J historic class; child labour cut the rust out and rubbed it down ready for paint.

A few years later, Phil – at the tender age of 14 - was in charge of the car’s preparation: the bond was very strong between dad, son and Holden.

After 15 years of racing, the beloved FJ was T-boned at Oran Park in 1996, but Phil had it ready for his dad’s return to the track in just two weeks. But tough old Alan hadn’t mentioned his broken ribs and after a meeting of pain, the ‘succession plan’ was initiated and the car was Phil’s to race…

At 21, Phil was excited and ready for the track. Winding it to over 8000rpm, the impetuosity of youth blew the engine to bits. Not a problem for this shoe-string racer, as he’d been making parts for years – including rods, rockers and pushrods – and was soon back in the fray.

Two years later, the rapid Humpy won its first race at Oran Park; new brake scoops actually keeping the drums alive for a whole ten laps.

Loss and Triumph

In the new millennium, the pairing of man and machine became even more competitive, but sadly, 2006 was a bittersweet year for Phil when his best mate, mentor and racing buddy, dad Alan, lost his battle with cancer. At the same time, Phil had launched an all-out assault on the NSW Historic Touring Car Club Championship – and won it in his father’s name. Amazingly, the car never missed a beat throughout the year. Not so in other years. . . .

Holden Grey Motors are notoriously allergic to high revs and Phil’s days of 8,300 rpm (earning him an astounding 246km/h down ConRod at Bathurst) are over. Today, apart from an occasional 7,500rpm, the engine is happy all day at 7,000. Sporting a pair of 45mm Webers (SU manifolds are too long), the engine puts out 169bhp (126kW) at the wheels and about 200bhp (149kW) at the flywheel. Although improved, the running gear is original, as the class demands.

Humpies weigh around 1,000kg in road form. But a roll cage, heavier drums, springs, sway bar and “wide” 5.5-inch wheels mean the car now tips the scales at 1,100kg.

Often embarrassing newer and more powerful machinery, Phil’s FJ has run a 2.03.80 at Phillip Island, 1.38.00 at Sandown and 1.49.1 at Winton in its current spec.

Love Machine

A magic car in more ways than one, this fabulous family FJ is also a matchmaker. Competing in Victoria around six years ago, Phil met 48/215 racer Rob Southouse, whose step-daughter Kellie (herself a handy Speedway racer) just happened to be gracing the pits… You guessed it: three years later, they married. Phil is now a Victorian resident and baby Noah, not yet three, loves nothing better than to sort a tin full of nuts and bolts. The beat goes on.

Even more reason for Phil to declare: “I have always raced this car and I always will. It’s instant happiness. Whether you have a good or bad day, you just can’t help having a huge smile from ear to ear!

“It’s always been a much-loved car and it pays back in spades.”

A car that brings you happiness in all aspects of your life - now that’s something to write home about.

And it’s an even money bet that young Noah will be the third-generation racing Barrow to benefit from a little FJ magic. Watch this space.

Words: Chris Ralph

Photos: Phil Wisewould, Barrow family