Did This Box of Rocks RUIN HDT? Peter Brock VL Calais Sport
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- Опубліковано 20 лют 2023
- Today On The Skid Factory We're checking out Shayne's Peter Brock VL Calais Sport by HDT and talk about the history of the car and the controversy surrounding the Energy Polarizer.
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was a racing team in Australia that competed in touring car racing during the 1970s and 1980s.
In the mid 80s, HDT became embroiled in controversy over a device called the "Energy Polarizer," which was claimed to improve the performance of HDT cars by aligning and “Polarizing” molecules.
There was no scientific evidence to support these claims and executives at Holden rejected it as a legitimate performance product. Holden soon after severed ties with HDT.
Brocks legacy is a decade of tuned Commodores that are now valuable collector
Cars and Shayne’s VL Calais is a prime example.
If you’ve got some insider knowledge or want to share your opinion please comment below!
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Wasn't ready for Beau's voice to be that deep w
Come on Allen machine shop
Smoosh-chine shop
You get a sting and a level and you drill the block out mate
Jk boys 😂
For those who don’t know sarcasm
Junior has the deeeepest voice ever. Get him on Radio
Donated what legends 👏
The Skid factory. The 304 was used in race cars until 1993
My memory of the Polarizer was that Brocky got involved with a Snake Oil chiropractor/salesman/conman by the name of Eric Dowker(?). He was a new-age 'doctor' and had treated Brock and his family for many issues. He convinced Brock that the magnets and crystals aligned molecules to create balance in the car, thereby increasing performance and reliability. I remember all the drama around this when it was made public. It was like Peter Brock had been brainwashed (and hey, I'm an old-school hippy from way back).
Correct
Around the same time he met the woman he left his wife for?
Yep, I remember it well, followed the whole story in detail. Brock was a sublime driver but had some interesting beliefs off the track. I remember when the Walkinshaw Commodore was released and a Brock HDT car was requested for comparison for a magazine test. The Brock car turned up with an auto box and had weird tyre pressures, which the testers weren't allowed to change. Kind of continued to sour the Brock legend for me.
@@greybeard27 100% was some weird shit going on then, it definitely tarnished Brocks career
@@deanadams7198 michele downs ?
Thanks for your support of the leukemia foundation boys. Coming from a father who's son is in the middle of his battle for the second time it's nice to feel the love 👍🏽
good luck mate, I hope he fights and kicks it as soon as he can. stay strong, you're doing a great job.
Mate fight the good fight
He will be alright. Stay positive. I have 2 family members who are survivors ✊
God bless you, your son and your family, I have an uncle fighting lymphoma, they are all fighters!
I have some old modern motor and wheels mags from 86 when the strife went down. Holden were already unhappy due to the polariser but the straw that broke the camels back was Brock not letting Holden's engineers test the Director before it's release to ensure it met the Australian design rules and was a product they could offer their warranty on. He went rogue, he was warned what would happen and still refused.
I saw an interview Brock gave at the time. Brock seemed to assume that the cars were his, my understanding is the dealers actually owned the cars when they left the plant the factory. The Director was a mess, panel fit was just awful. My recollection was the V8 was not available at the release of the VL. I have some knowledge of what happened with Brock & Holden. Walkinshaw was sniffing around & the Holden tendered out the special Vehicles to a number of interested parties . I am aware of 1 at least as well as Walkinshaw. Holden Special Vehicles began operating in Notting Hill.
9:14 Al, the live axle is due to Australian content laws of the time.
You could build Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits of foreign cars and call them Australian made, as long as they had a certain amount of Australian content in them.
Companies like Borg Warner (BTR) axles, PBR brakes, TRW steering racks, VDO instruments and Yazaki electric looms were all common in most Australian made brands.
Is that why the aussie assembled r31 skyline had live axle aswel?
@@marnixhoebers5176 sure is, same as many other cars, Datsuns that had IRS over seas but live axle here
@@marnixhoebers5176
Yes, sure is.
I converted an Aussie 910 Bluebird sedan to the Jap spec SSS Turbo for rallying in the 90s.
Luckily the process was pretty easy.
Located the mounting holes in the chassis under the Aussie mounts, fitted the IRS from the R30 Skyline (Same as Jap 910), the front crossmember from a series 3 Bluebird (CA20C engine here) Same mounts as the Z18ET and then used R31 Aussie front vented discs. 👌
@@tx5brent all the Datsun Z's had IRS
@@Wrayza because they weren't built in Australia as far as I know
I like the way you guys are mixing up the content. Appreciate your effort.
The Polariser thing caused not only a disagreement between Holden and HDT, but also Moffat and Brock and a bunch of other team members. A whole bunch of them quit.
Well, it polarised Brock & Moffat and other team members...so I guess it worked.
Fun Fact2: when a late VK HDT commodore (that had a polariser) was tested by wheels magazine they were told it had to be run with specific (low) tyre pressures.
They tested back to back with another commodore (sans Polarizer) which had std Holden pressures.
The car with the polariser certainly handled the slalom course differently, and apparently it was nothing to do with pressures, but all to do with the Polarizer according to Brock.
From memory the recommendation was lower than the tyre manufacturer suggested as well, so was quite controversial…..
I recall reading the tyre pressure story. Can't remember what car it was though. But they had to run the tyres at something ridiculously low like 15psi.
The comparison with the Walkinshaw Commodore is still available online if you Google it.
@@MrJimibarrett there were a few differences, least not the considerable budget, facilities and expertise the guys at Walkinshaw had, but there was a really obvious massive advantage on the Walkinshaw car too. For the comparison the Brock Commodore was intentionally hobbled by an auto gearbox and the 22psi in the tyres, it might have been closer with a manual gearbox and 30psi in both cars, but the Brock car was never going to come out on top and HDT knew it. The whole episode was handled well by the journo who wrote the article, but when it came out in print it just stunk of sour grapes.
I remember the wheels article, they were clearly torn between dismissing it as a fantasy and wanting it to be true. Later articles laughed at the terrible performance of running tyres with no air haha
The tyre pressure recommended by Brock on the 16” Aero wheels was 22psi cold. We tested this on my HDT Enhanced VK as well as Gil Cameron’s VK (Road & Track Dyno Service). We noted additional grip, but “you could see the tyres wearing”… So we both returned the tyres to regular pressures.
As per what Brockie said in an interview way back when, he proposed that the crystal aligned the molecules which made the fuel burn more efficiently. When it was tested there was no discernible difference. Holden waited for this result prior to severing the ties to Brockie. I saw quite a few interviews and information on this when I was still a young man hahaha...
Yeah but everyone knew that was BS because all the lead in the fuel wasn't magnetized :p
What an epic run-down of the HDT SV story. I've read everything I've ever been able to get my hands on about this story, from magazines, news articles, books, etc and spoken to everyone I could who had first-hand knowledge, including Jim Richards and John Harvey. You got every detail spot-on.
The only thing worth adding is that the IRS issue got particularly thorny when a dealer had the balls to sell a Director as a new car. By that time, you had to pay full freight for a V8 Calais and then have HDT do their thing on it, but a dealer had one done before he registered it for himself. This meant that a Holden dealer had sold a Holden car with suspension that wasn't complied and possibly didn't satisfy ADRs, which was the thing that cemented Brocky on Holden's shit list way more than the vegan doctor and his crystals.
Really love your detailed history lessons on the certain models.
Please do more of them!
There's a book called "The rise & fall of Peter Brock" by Bill Tuckey, which goes deep into the whole Polariser debacle. Great read if you can find a copy.
When Peter Brock was young he and his brother used to hoon around the family farm in a brake-less buggy they made from Austin7 parts. Years later this was saved from destruction by John Needham (Old Car Gearboxes Melb) and hung from his workshop ceiling for many years. After Brocky died, word got around and his brother attended John’s workshop, looked up upon entering and immediately said “That’s It!”… the buggy was purchased.. some time later they needed a second one made for a museum show piece, John and his son Ben built a replica to the exact standard of the original using all original Austin7 parts etc and it is now in a museum I think up in Queensland somewhere. If anyone needs a gearbox fixed for a pre 1974 car then you will find no other place in Australia with more knowledge that Ben and John. They are amazing, they made me a close ratio gearbox for my rally car.
Fun Fact: for the VL Group A - not the Walkinshaw, the red carby one (which was a “Holden” not a HDT technically) you only got a Brocky’s signature on it if you optioned the Polarizer via the “Plus Pack”
Holden thought it was a box of bullshit - so refused to allow them to be fitted - but then Brocky refused to have his signature decals on it - so there was two options. About a 1/3rd were the latter.
Seems every one for sale is a “plus pack” these days. Stickers must not be hard to acquire……!
Peter Bowden is the guy to speak to. He's local too in Mooloolah Valley.
Another interesting thing about Peter Brock is that he is a suspect in an unsolved murder case from the late 70s. No joke.
Great video Al and Woody...! Brocky is an absolute legend despite temporary crystal madness. After the Holden split, he ran an E30 M3 for 88 then moved to the Sierra RS500 Cosworth for 89 and 90. I was very lucky to be able to acquire the 89 Brock Sierra back in 2017 and am happy to report she's still going strong 😎👍
Are you the bloke in the UK with his Cossie, or do I have my wires crossed?
@@piffiiiiiiit Yes sir. I'm very humbled to be the custodian of the old girl.
@@FastAsFunk Mate, that's terrific. I came across a great interview on youtube a while back. Chapeau!
@@piffiiiiiiit Thank you. That's very kind of you to say. I consider myself very lucky indeed, although I know even more now how divisive Brocky in a Ford is for Aussie racing fans...! Copped a load of flak over the years for it like I'm some sort of heretic, but I get it 😆
It was a good thing Brocky raced a Ford at Bathurst first, or else I might have cried when Lowndes went and drove for Gibson.
Love the content mate was great to see this era of Aus motoring history get some air time!
The polarizer was also commonly mounted within that air cowl above the bonnet to the right (looking into the engine bay)
Brocky also had some weird ideas about running super low tyre pressures (22psi) in the polarizer cars - again making Holden hard to justify how to provide warranty on such a car.
Another really crazy-80s item was HDT (and those that got to option up their HDT commodores with Brock himself) would usually be able to 'sneak in' a bit of extra power for those that were willing to pay that little bit extra for the blueprinting option on the engine/carburetor combos. Which was yet another sticking point between HDT and Holden being that they had to warrant cars which went truly above the power figures they were rated at; and had them being driven on the streets most of the time :P (little wonder so many ended up around trees ahaha)
The trusty Trimatic is known as a TH180 (or 3L30) overseas and was in a very strange combination of cars (including a XT130 Corona!)
I recall reading an article in Car Australia or maybe Wheels ( both could be wrong ) about lap times with tyre pressures at 22 psi and 35-38 psi and the quicker lap times were at the higher pressure......ahhh memories....I wish I kept my enormous collection of car mags from that era.
Lower tyre pressure would make the vehicle seem alot quieter & smoother. This would lead someone even further down the rabbit hole in believing that the crystal thing is working.
A book titled ‘The Rise and Fall of Peter Brock” indicates that the split between Holden and Peter had more to do with un tested and uncertified changes Brock made to the Brake Master cylinder and so the the cars were not ADR compliant and GM were fearful of litigation. The Poleriser was also a concern because the claims made about it could not be measured or quantified.
I think HDT and Brocky played fast and loose with ADR regs and some of their engine mods, and got away with it because - well, it's Brocky, and the fact that you were Technically taking delivery of the car and then it was going back to HDT for the mods. But most of these cars, by VK and VL time cost almost Porsche 911 or BMW M series money and you the car you got was still a family car built to a price with a plasticy interior and nowhere near the refinement..
I'm a brocky fan, but this book is a good read.
I was under the impression that Holden weren't allowed to have a factory team, so the basically said "nah the dealers are funding it" and poured money in that way. But that could just be a pub story.
Also, The Dollop have a great podcast episode on Peter Brock. Worth a listern for the laughs and reactions to the crystals
I heard that was a GM rule that no subsidiary was allowed to fund a race team, except chev probably.
Both replies are correct. GM USA put in a rule that no other GM brands can race unless they were US based GM brands (Chev, Buick, Oldsmobile, etc.). As a result, Holden and the dealers gave the USA the proverbial bird and HDT was born. It also happened with Opel and Vauxhall in Europe who funded themselves in many forms of motorsports due to this rule. 👍
They made handy donations.
Oh man the Dollop is fantastic but I haven't heard that episode yet. I know what I'm doing tonight!
@@modernpizza I enjoy the Dollop but that one was all all Brocky bashing and the live audience weren’t on board
Sick car, interesting history to it. Man I wish modern day cars had this sort of character..
and an energy polariser.
A lot of expensive cars purchased back in the HDT Commodore days were part of a salary package & paid for by the owners employer. In the car business a lot can be made in profit from upgrades & accessories. If you had $30,000 to spend on a car paid for by your employer you would spend the whole amount. The poleriser was another upgrade to add to the spec sheet. One of the reasons Australia's car industry went busy is the Government closing the tax loophole regarding a car as part of an employee's salary not being taxed.
Thank you for the detailed content, I'm proud that we had an Aussie car industry with its own history 💪
The knowledge about these cars is slowly being lost, I'm glad that we have this on video for future generations to share our passion.
Keep up the good work fellas 👍
Not only a whole episode, but a great charity bit AND an encore!? You spoil us.
The energy polariser was first unveiled in 1986 and then it was fitted to every HDT director. It was nothing more than a couple of magnets with a bit of crystal in the middle. It was held in place on the vehicle with one self tapping screw. At the beginning of all that Brocky didn't really want anyone to know about it but he used in his car during a race (can't remember what race) but it came unstuck and flew around the cabin. He had to explain it to official's and was almost disqualified because of it. Don't really know what was going through Brockys mind at the time but it made no sense and no provable difference to the cars handling or proformance. Just a load of hippy bulldust...
Anti rust device... rust will ruin handling.
What was going through his mind at the time was the breakdown of his marriage and a new girlfriend who would spend hours every day mediating under a pyramid frame!
Bathurst 1987 Win in the HDT VL proved the Polarizer worked, he Polarized the opposition and took home the Win.
Brockie had too many cones
@666theninja I'm pretty sure his driving skill had something to do with the win but it did go to his head and he ordered that every HDT sold had it installed.
I just think it’s awesome that keeping even the original style heads!! That is some thing that doesn’t happen ever any more!
Peter Brock was Holden and I was a Ford supporter/ nut case. When Brocky split with Holden and started racing under powered BMWs I was for the first time really able to appreciate what a masterful driver he was. Watching him at Winton raceway be competitive and win in a slower less powerful car with him being so smooth is something I'll never forget.
Brocky was the king, the ultimate driver.
Love the story of the guy who brought brocks first race car thinking it must be some sort of rocket only to find it was mostly brocks driving that made the car fast
The add on plastic on the “a” pillar is probably to stop the original plastic trim over the windscreen seal from blowing off at 200+ lol I’m sure plenty of other vl owners can agree!
Its part of the aero kit that came on the directors this car seem to only have half the kit though
Every one of us vl nuts were thinking exactly the same haha
I am well aware of such phenomena! Had to Sikaflex mine down to stop them getting ripped off.
@@URHYNS yep a tube of 227 does wonders lol
@@cammos you’re right there! it likely wasn’t such an issue with new plastics back in the day but time gets to em
"If you can hear it, then it's bad, really bad" spot on
Soo good to see an Aussie icon in the skid factory 🤘
First as always thank you for doing what you do! Love the skid Factory . I remember around 1985 1986 in the US that they were doing things with trying to align fuel molecules with magnets, I remember my dad saying it was a bunch of horse doo-doo. LOL I had a 1970 Maverick where I put a bunch of magnets on the steel fuel line hoping it did something. Obviously it didn't other than help RadioShack sell magnets😂
I have seen mid 2000s japanese imports with very professional looking magnet packs on the fuel hoses.
There’s still “that guy” selling the air intake thingy and his fuel line magnets. @MotoringBox did a great video on them which concluded they were pretty much a load of flog. (My words not his)
@@FuManchu5ltr I remember those. I think they were called "Hiclone" or something. To me they just functioned as an intake restrictor but some folks believed in them.
Did a power steer hose on a 70s gm USA import here in New zealand looking at the carb I found a magnitiser taped around the rubber fuel line. Someone paid money for it as they were made to fit together with the fuel line in the middle
This is my mates car. So happy for him - he’s loved this thing for 25 years that I’ve known him
I think Brock stealing Holden's thunder by offering the IRS before Holden was going to drip feed it to us was THE reason, but the box of hippy rocks was a more palatable reason to snap it off than say publicly "We've been holding off on offering IRS since 78, so our peepee got hurt"
Finally, someone stating it for what it really was!
Wasn’t the bigger issue that he was adding big cams etc the Brock v8s and Holden was getting worried that his motors were far from emissions compliant, and they were fully factory backed and therefore going to be liable
Yep bang on! Brock imported a few Opel Monzas (which had factory IRS) after driving one on an overseas trip and wanted to run it in the race cars - I couldnt imagine the race body / Holden were too pleased with him 'jumping the gun' before them.
He did build a few HDT Monzas from the Opels he imported - basically transplanting the trusty 308/manual box in lieu of the inline 6/auto jobby they came with but leaving the IRS.
Would have been awesome to see what one would do around Bathurst!
@@slalomhokko Honestly hadn't heard that, but it would of been a bit of a deal if the EPA had to slap Holden for it.
@@roccoloops The Hobart Mercury printed a very interesting full page history of the Commodore about the time the VN launched. It mentioned that when Opel was testing the 'VB' Calton/Rekord they decided the 5 link live axle was too sketch with their 3 litre ohc 6 and only sold it with the 1.9 4cyl and developed the semi longitudinal trailing arm irs to be sold with the 6. Where as GMH considered the 5 link live was perfectly fine with a 308 😄
Loved the background on the car etc. Would be keen to see more of this on other unique builds with a smaller scope compared to the longer projects
I got to meet Peter Brock as a teenager at Pukekohe raceway. Still got a autographed program from that event.
I bought a second hand engine off of him, he was a great bloke.
I didn't know about Australia's Peter Brock. America had our own Peter (Pete) Brock. He designed the Stingray Corvette and Daytona Cobra.
I watched a vid on youtube ages ago about the US Pete Brock, it included footage of a Torana being pedalled around Mt Panorama. Lots of "wrong Peter Brock!" comments.
Really? That is a terrible coincidence.
The amount of respect and restraint shown for a piece of 'equipment' that deserves to have the piss absolutely ripped out of it is admirable.
I like your style, boyz
Well done to the lads, stoked to see they're nearly at their target!
I haven't been this excited since the Iron Lion build!
First car was a JE Camira,, added a 1ggze supercharger and extractors. Had more fun in that car than any other car I've had since The sheer look of disgust and denial beating people in the traffic light derby as pure joy.
I crashed my parents one as a lad. From memory, it was front wheel drive without power steering.
The 2l EFI camiras were pretty decent for the time actually. The older carby versions were not great.
Very comprehensive video. Excellent. Great knowledge of the facts. Fantastic, professional.
The energy polariser gives off IDENTICAL vibes as those wrist bands from the early 2000’s😂
I recall stuff in the media at the time, that Brocky was advising customers with cars fitted with the energy polariser, should run only 21 psi in the types. This caused Holden kiniptions, due to that fact that this was well out side the recommended tyre pressures calculated by the tyre manufacturers engineers. Holden felt that because the close association with Brock, that claims like this from Brock, without refutation from Holden, would be seen by the public as Holden approving of the practice. As I understand it, it was outrageous claims like this along with the rest of the snake oil Brocky was peddling about the Energy Polarizer at the time that Caused his business Partner Larry Perkins to up stumps and Leave HDT too. Love Brocky to bits, as great Aussie hero/icon that he was, but he was off his twig thought he mid 80's! Great video... looking forward to see the next one on this little beastie!
Excuse me Al, I had a mullet well into the late 80s and early 90s. I had to, because I owned a HZ Monaro so is was compulsory.🤣😂
Al's knowledgeful on camera presentations are becoming very professional. Love the paint on that car.
I think you summed HDT pretty well. From memory Holden spent something like $280k to test the polariser and found no data to back up any benefit.
Great content, been watching you guys from your first VL vid since you departed from that Moog guy at MCM with no idea, couldn't stand him. Being an HDT guy I would like to add the following:-
1) It wasn't Moffat that left HDT over the Polarizer debarcle but rather Larry Perkins after Bev Brock went haywire with the mystic crap and started hanging cd's in the hdt workshop, Larry being an educated engineering guy wouldn't stand for the crap.
2) Bev Brock was the instigator of the polarizer and should have kept her nose out and stayed at home baking cakes.
3) No Vl sports were ever ordered / delivered with a turbo 400, if auto 304 they were trimatic and would have to have been retro fitted T400 after initial sale by Harrop etc.
4) Polarizers were never mounted on the parcel shelf, they were always in the scuttle tray of the engine bay. A polarizer lightning sticker was attached to the rear window as per hdt instructions and had to be perfectly centered for the box of rocks to work correctly.
The TH400 was fitted by HDT, it is in the sale documents. It also had a Wade 246 cam fitted by HDT. It had a towbar also and we speculate that the original owner might have towed one of those giant 80's speedboats because he was super baller.
I agree. I remember photos of the polarizer being only in the engine bay. Plus i also agree it was Bev Brock behind the idea!
@@theskidfactory Wade supplied cams for the Xu1 too.
So awesome to hear the Holden/hdt stories!! Love it
We fitted an extra. Great gains. My VL had so much torque that the chassis twisted coming off the line.
Lost my mum to chronic myloid leaukimea much respect for your work 🙏🏻🇦🇺 Brockys still my idol 💪🏻
Neat, I love hearing about some odd bits of automotive history like this, where there is a tiff or spat between builders, like Ford vs Ferrari, or the time Soichiro
What a rare car this is. Great to see one. As a big Brocky fan from when I first saw Australian touring car racing the 80s, he certainly did court his fair share of controversy. That said, the bust up with Holden and HDT/Brocky did lead to him running the Sierra RS500 Cosworth in 89 and 90 which arguably was more controversial than the polariser...! Unlike the polariser however, I wholly approved of Brocky in a Sierra 😎😎😎
I'm here to read how to improve the performance of my vehicle through the power of crystals.
The reason why Commodores of that era didn't have IRS is that there was still tariffs on minimum local content & the rear ends were sourced from Borg Warner to keep the local content quota, the local Borg Warner division just didn't make IRS, it's the same as how Australian Datsun 200Bs are mostly Borg Warner solid rear ends but they are IRS everywhere else, Australian Mitsubishi Starions are solid rear axle for similar reasons.
Make sure you run the tyre pressures at 23psi with the Polarizer. 😄
I borrowed one of Brockies mods on my 5ltr VB SLE with a 5 speed Toyota box, 'The hot fuel handling package' which tucked the fuels lines inside the chassis members to stop vapour lock when driving...spirited. 🙂
Killing it boys loving the videos the mix of big builds, small builds and other escapades are awesome! The post credits if that's what you call them are mint 👌
The Boys have raised $4981.19 so far.
Legends
I've been consulting my inner lion. He tells me the energy polariser was designed to increase you chakra radiance and magnify the clarity of your 3rd eye. But my large collection of crystals has been blocking my emotional perception of reality recently so I might be wrong. Peace, love and Limited Slip Diffs!!!
Really looking forward to this series! Epic and rare car. I believe our UK cousin of this car was the Vauxhall Senator
American here. This thing is rad. I wish we got these. One bad sedan!!
Been waiting for another vl on this channel ❤️❤️❤️ I've got two for sale a a8 Calais turbo mockup, and a factory 5 speed manual wagon
It's absolutely a beautiful ride. That red on it really makes it. Great video.
I remember as a 19YO teenager riding in a auto V8 Calais…I remember being very under welded..and thats bad when i drove a 1600cc GTi 4A-GE Corolla!
Turn the Energy polarizer backward, forward, and both again upside down during dyno runs. And make sure the sphere of influence encompasses the dyno rollers just to be sure. Mood of Technician may affect results. If acceleration is poor, but braking is good, the polarizer maybe backward. Also calibration maybe be needed if track/course/Garage is negitive or positve, as the polarizing sphere of influence should be unidirectional. Results may vary. You may also need to use a mood ring on the driver to confirm correct calibration and placement of the Energy polarizer. Caution: do not use Energy polarizer on a building as it can polarize doorways leading to only an exit/entrance condition. Exit condition can result in lose of business, Entrance condition is against health and fire codes. Can be used with Hydroencabulator, TurboEncabulator, or Snycroencabultors. Electroencabulators Requires a magnetic upgrade kit sold separately. Opticalencabulator or Power crystal optional by request only. Not to be confused with magnetized toroidal Fuel polarizer. Not a source of void energy. Void word where prohibited. Thx for the insight and the video. MCM did a good episode about bunk items. i would bet a colabartion would pull so many of these out of air. It could be a series. Would be cool to see stateside scams too.
Happened to be around a uni department in the 80s when Peter Brock was hawking for support from Engineering acedemics for his polariser. I recall did see one apart, I think it pretty much just had a couple permanent magnets in it. Was cool I got to meet him a few times .( although ironically I’m neither a Holden or Aussie v8 fan) but still had huge respect for him and achievements..but sad he got sucked into the mumbo-jumbo of this useless thing why you’d consider a crank chiropractors opinion on engineering a car! is totally beyond me, tainted HDT & his business greatly..
Love to hear what Bocky said himself not a lot of hear say ,from a Ford Fan, fun facts for you Brocky drove a Ford Sierra as you had to if you wanted to win. Can you feature the Brock 1990 XR6 and XR8. He obviously had an open mind. I love all the legends Dick Johnson, Peter Brock, Larry Perkins, John Goss, John Bowe and of course Alan Moffat.
True fact...! Brocky's 89 Sierra is still going strong all these years later 😎👍
My grandfather had an 88 VL, 3ltr 5spd. He purchased whenn brand new. Unfortunately when he got older (83) and struggled with the clutch, a dodgy car salesman talked him into an auto Toyota Corona. He purchased the VL off my grandfather (privately) for only $3000, told him it wasn't worth anything. It was an immaculate, 80km car. Beautiful dark metallic grey. Later on a friend had a modified factory VL turbo, this was early 2000's, was the fastest thing I'd ever been in.
For only 3k your grandfather ripped him off
Whilst 'the Polarizer' has often been cited for the split between Brock and Holden, it was only part of it. Brock wanting to dictate to Holden as to the sale and exporting ambitions of his newly derived Calais Director that hadn't even been subject to any testing to meet design rules etc... was the nail in the coffin for the partnership. Not only could Holden see absolutely no merit, scientific or measurable difference with the Polarizer, but to be told how their business model was to run was the last straw. Spending time with Chiropractor Dr Eric Dowker and a 'Feng Shui' approach to motor racing didn't help his cause very much!!
Man, it is sometimes really hard to believe what some people do believe in, especially if you are working in an industry where physics is the first language.
M2, you touched on a part of the REAL story that caused the final public rift. The public polarizer blowup and the role the Director played in it, were simply a convenient PR campaign facade that GMH imposed on HDT to ditch Brock. The European connection you referred to was the real itch that GMH was scratching. Apparently Brock’s time in the European racing circles allowed him to network, and quickly realise there was massive potential for marketing the high performance GT style HDT cars to the super-rich, and keenly interested, European racing fanboys. His production, and ultimately transgression of IRS’ing the Director with the intention of shipping them into Europe (hence no local ADR testing!!) became known to OPEL, GM’s German/European subsidiary. This was quickly followed by a call to Detroit GM HQ by OPEL asking WTAF is going on this this Aussie renegade supplying GM branded GT’s in Europe?!!
That’s when GMH got the call to “shut him down!”, and the smart move was using a “questionable technology”, which was already drawing much industry and race attention in the media, to fuel the final fire to seperate. It would have been too awkward to venture into the politically sensitive (remember GMH were still getting a shit tone of AusGov industry subsidy at the time, and AusGov would’ve latched onto the “export opportunity” HDT Director actually represented- think about it!) “EXPORT” territory in public press statements.
@@Retinalism i think you answered to me instead of M2...
but i appreciate your explanation.
It wasn’t just the polariser. Brock was doing stuff to engines per customer request which Holden wouldn’t warrant. So HDT warranted them. High output ones and 5.6 litre strokers.
@@BGSF That’s what I said! It wasn’t just the Polarizer as most people cite, it was all of Brock’s activity behind the scenes.
Great work guys, love the idea of modernising older cars so they can be used!
I should stop commenting halfway through videos, but this made me laugh:
Al: It made the molecules align......
Woody:........???? Hang on?????!!
This is how I imagine the conversation went between Brocky and Holden. :P
All Brockie had to do was give people the Polariser, but Dr Dowker who actually did good things for Brockie, helping him give up grog and smoking and eating healthier, wanted to be paid for it.
If Brock just fitted them to the cars and let the owners decide if they wanted to keep it fitted there would have been no issues with it. But when he made them a compulsory $500 option.
The Director, yes it was an amazing car, I knew a bloke who had one, it was top of the line of everything. In this case GMH factory had not tested any of the major options, like the brake changes, independent rear, and a few other mods that Brock was selling them with.
GMH told Brock not to go ahead with the public release of it, Brock thought he was more powerful than the Factory and they had no choice but to cut ties with him.
If Brock had still held the shin dig, called it a Concept Car, the factory would have moved hell and high water to make it work, but without a test mule, they could not guarantee they would comply with the Australian Design Rules, nor guarantee the vehicles would pass all of the reliability tests that the Factory and the Dealers would then have to be responsible for.
The factory would have backed his work so homologation for the new worldwide Group A series would have had Holden on the front row of the world stage.
Which leads to the next sad part of the show. If Brock had got the Director IRS through, motor racing would never have had to ban the Nissan GTR. Ford would have had to up their game with AWD Sierras or maybe developed the Dick Johnson Turbo Falcons. Holden would have up their game with AWD Commodores. Ford and Holden would have moved to OHC V8 engines or Turbo 6s in AWD chassis' to compete against the likes of AWD Audi and Nissans, and V8 BMW Ms, Mercedes AMGs. Maybe they would have developed both to compete against both classes.
All of those advancements would have been developed in the late 80s to mid 90s instead of the 2000s. Holden and Ford would have been competing and regularly beating the best Europe had to offer, that would have ensured better sales, and would have prevented the demise of the Australian Car industry.
Hey Guys, Long time watcher, and first-time commenter, Hey Al or Woody how do you keep track of all the hours and materials that go into these builds...I assume it would be easy to miss some? Cheers
Beautiful VL. My dad owned an Opel Rekord back in the early 80's. Always loved these Opels/Holdens. Brockie was one heck of a driver.
Brocky actually turned out to be Richard Cranium when i met him in the early 2000's.
Let's not forget when Brocky raced a BMW E30 after splitting with Holden.
At least he experienced something of quality then
Brockie also recommended running the tyres at a much lower pressure because the orgon energy from the polariser meant it was fine (or some crap like that) which was just another reason to alarm holden.
I owned an Opel Senator ( known to you as the Holden Commodore) way back in the "90's that had irs and the 3 lt Opel straight 6. She was thirsty but could tow my 2 ton "stock car" with ease. We also had the Opel Commodore that had the live rear axle in it. The Senator handled much better than the Commodore because of the rear suspension.
The 3lt straight 6 had a bit of performance as it stayed with a 2lt Opel Kadette 0-120 kmh and pulled away from 120 onwards. The only Opel that blew it into the weeds performance wise was the 2lt 16v red top engines.
Lotus did a bit of work on the 3lt Opel engine and turned out the Opel Lotus Omega that was the fastest production saloon way back in the day. If memory serves it could do 260 + kmh on the Autobahn.
Btw I am based in South Africa and the one thing I always wanted to see was Brockie racing at Bathurst.
Great episode loved this, Brocky was my hero back in the day, always the rival between Dicky and Peter, but full respect to both drivers - Brocky HDT did some awesome cars - blue meanie..etc etc . Loved this car today rare as !!
The Trimatic was designated the TH180 / 3L30 and originally a European design. It was apparently used in Fiats, Suzukis and even in De Loreans.
Would like to see what Suzuki it was used in
@@crf80fdarkdays late 80s/early 90s Vitara
Anything VL and your views are about to go nuts.. love it ❤❤❤
My best friend in the 80's father, had a VL Calais 5.0 as a company car. We went for cruises in it and blew away old corvettes. Such fun memories
Must of been old!
I don’t know much about these, but my old manager when I worked at Supercheap a decade ago worked on the assembly line and used to tell us great stories about the way they put these old holders together. In hindsight I wish I’d laid more attention, but I was just a dumb teenager at the time
The TH180 actually is what the Trimatic is derived from.
TH200R4 was a 4 speed overdrive box, fully hydraulic, much like the later 700R4 which we got in the VN-VP's, but had the same first, second and third speed ratios as the 350's and 400's, unlike the 700's and later 4L60E which had a fairly short first gear and therefore a large ratio gap between first and second gear. It apparently is stronger than the 700R4 etc. Unfortunately we never got the TH200R4 here.
The polarisation box thingy was stupid to everyone back then. I reckon it would sell like hotcakes now, though. People are sooo gullible.
It would fetch big coin for nostalgia reasons alone lol
I can listen to Al talk all bloody day
i love how you guys cover alot of aussie cars 😁
Yo the polariser from memory watching Brocky talk about it on the tv , was meant to go on the fuel line. The thing was allegedly meant to polarise the fuel molecules with apparently improved atomisation ,fuel economy, saving you fuel and increasing performance.
You guys are real kind.
I’m excited to see this build, owning a 334 pack VK (factory V8 manual Calais) that’s probably slower than a Camry this is going to be exciting
Yeah but not as stylish as a vk😆, to be honest i never shoulda sold my 202 vk loved it , keep on driving it brother 🤘🤠👍
@@dangdang3970 don’t worry no plans of ever getting rid of it 😊
My first ever car was a VL and I regret how I treated it, I turbo'ed it made way to much power for my abilities at the time and crashed it writing the whole car off, I now realize that I should have looked after it. Thanks for sharing the story behind the car I didn't even know about it 👍
A friend of mine had an “SV88” it was a Calais Holden built after the the divorce with HDT but had all the HDT spec options in it. His was the Turbo 6 and a previous owner had retuned the original ECU. It had increased boost pressure and increased fuel rail pressure. I remember riding in it in the early ‘90’s and for the time it had mind blowing performance. It also used more fuel that you would believe possible :-) Eventually it had to be tuned back to standard to make driving affordable.
Never knew about the resin block. I guess the most talented people in the world are often the kookiest as well
Peter Brock WAS conned buy some guru that was hanging around Coning him out of his money no doubt
Looking forward to this build. I remember when all this went down with Holden and HDT. IMHO the VK HDT was the best.
I saw Brocky the morning of the crash in the mall in Perth. Even as a grown man, and a Ford guy, it was pretty exciting. When I got home later I heard the news. We should forgive our heroes their foibles.
This red Calais is my dream car.....the VL Calais will forever hold a place at the top of my dream car list.
Being a big Brock fan, I loved the episode. But Im really interested in how you adapt the crank angle sensor to the Iron Lion. I’ve got a build Im sort of planning (it’s a long way off)and would like to know the options for crank/cam timing for aftermarket ECU’s
I would not recommend using cherry sensors for crank trigger.
The boys over at MCM need some of those energy polarizer things
The "polariser" sounds like it's the same type of voodoo as the fuel line magnets and the little two-wire corrosion preventing boxes.
Also with the body kit on the director, the rear window had to come out to install it. That’s probably why he only had the front a pillar moulds put on. It was a headache to install and took about a week to do.
There is a great book written by Bill Tuckey called "The rise and fall of Peter Brock" ,in it there is great detail on what happened between Brock and Holden in 1987, worth getting a copy if you can