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Phillip Island Classic to honour Holden Torana L34

Colin Bond in his HDT SLR5000/L34 Torana at Phillip Island in the 1975 Australian Manufacturers Championship. Photo: GEOFF SELTON / AUTO ACTION ARCHIVE

By Mark Bisset

Date posted: March 1, 2024

HOW time flies! It’s nearly 50 years since Holden’s Torana SL/R 5000 L34 took to the tracks and thrilled Australian racegoers with the raucous, barking howl of its Repco-Holden F5000 influenced 308 V8.

Allan Grice teased race fans with the L34’s potential when he ran a 310bhp SL/R 5000 in some high-speed demonstration laps at Amaroo Park on Sunday April 19, 1974.

Peter Brock then reinforced the SL/R 5000’s pace by winning the final two ATCC rounds in May/June at Surfers Paradise and Adelaide International in his Holden Dealer Team car.

By mid-1974 enough L34s were built (total build numbers 263) to allow CAMS homologation and therefore competition in the Adelaide and Sandown Manufacturers Championship rounds in advance of the Bathurst 1000.

A celebration of Holden’s Torana SL/R 5000 L34 will be part of the Phillip Island Classic this March. Photos: CRAIG POOLE

On August 25, Colin Bond famously won at Adelaide International on an L34 wing-and-a-gearbox-prayer debut. Bondy then won the 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship with Peter Brock and Brian Sampson delivering the Mount Panorama goods.

The ’75 rout was complete when The General took the Australian Manufacturers Championship: the L34 won four of the five rounds.

Things were a lot tougher in 1976 when the Allan Moffat/Colin Bond Ford Falcon XB GT 351 ruled the roost, except at Bathurst where Bob Morris and John Fitzpatrick won a close finishing tear jerker of a race in their L34.

It’s fitting that the life and times of the L34 are being celebrated en-masse at the Phillip Island Classic as the fast but fragile – axles, gearbox and differential – cars won there a few times.

Born in the 70s, the Torana SL/R 5000 L34 remains a fan favourite.

The car had a mortgage on the PI 500k Manchamp-enduro with three 1974 to 1976 wins back-to-back going to Bond/Brock/Bond respectively.

In a wonderful half-centenary 1974-2024 Phillip Island book-end, Rod Hatfield’s ex-Rod and Russ McRae Dustings of Burwood L34 – third place-getter in the 1974 500K – will be on-circuit throughout the Phillip Island Classic including morning parades on Saturday/Sunday along with 40 other race/road L34s organised by the L34 Fiftieth Anniversary Committee.

The event is hosted by the Victorian Historic Racing Register, and tickets are available at the gate. Don’t forget that patrons under 17 enter free if accompanied by an adult. Gates open Friday 8 March, 8am. Be there!

Visit vhrr.com.au/phillip-island/2024 for more information.

Colin Bond in his HDT SLR5000/L34 Torana at Phillip Island in the 1975 Australian Manufacturers Championship. Photo: GEOFF SELTON / AUTO ACTION ARCHIVE

Colin Bond in his HDT SLR5000/L34 Torana at Phillip Island in the 1975 Australian Manufacturers Championship. Photo: GEOFF SELTON/AUTO ACTION ARCHIVE

There is also lots more loaded into a bumper edition of AUTO ACTION magazine, on sale at newsagents and available digitally here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.

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