Vale George Shepheard
Australian motorsport has lost one of its true all-rounders. George Shepheard died on Friday night (17 October) aged 83 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
Shepheard was a heavyweight in both rallying and circuit racing, first rising to prominence co-driving Colin Bond in the Australian Rally Championship.
Schoolmates-turned-teammates, the pair won three Australian Rally Championship crowns between 1971 and 1974 in the Holden Dealer Team Torana GTR XU-1.
Colin Bond with co-driver George Shepheard alongside in their HDT Torana GTR were regular winners and claimed three Australian Rally Championships together.
After a stint running his own workshop and contracting across rival brands, Shepheard returned to Holden at the end of the decade to engineer the VB Commodore’s all-conquering 1979 Repco Reliability Trial program for the Holden Dealer Team which helped further grow the legend of Peter Brock.
Not only did Brock win alongside Matt Phillip and Noel Richards, but the HDT swept the entire podium after the 20,000-kilometre marathon lapping Australia, which finished with the winners being greeted by 10,000 people at Melbourne Showgrounds.
The key to success was the meticulous preparation with a 3000km test, which ensured the cars that cost around a hefty $750,000 AUD at the time, were essentially bulletproof.
“I didn’t think that he would win,” said Shepheard admitted to Auto Action about Brock.
“But having done a lot of testing him and got to know him and the way he thought about things, I thought he could win I but didn’t think he would.
“Being as rough as what it was, the person I would have out my money on would have been Fergie (Ferguson).”
Into the 1980s, Shepheard turned his attention to touring cars and went to the top again.
He helped Bob Morris build the XD Falcon, which finished a close second at the 1981 Great Race until the race ended with the Skyline smash.
Shepheard then moved to Queensland to team up with Dick Johnson – who had won the 1981 race – where more success followed.
In 1983, more drama followed at the mountain as he oversaw the unforgettable overnight build of a new Falcon after Johnson went into the trees in the Hardies Heroes and wrote off the original chassis.
A year later the pair went all the way to the Australian Touring Car Championship title.
He then moved to head the Mitsubishi Ralliart Starion Group, which included a win in the Guia touring car classic at the Macau Grand Prix.
He completed a Round Australia double in the 1995 Mobil 1 Trial, with Ed Ordynski and Ross Runnalls behind the wheel of a VR Commodore.
During the same period, Shepheard was the Team Principal of the Volvo Dealer Racing squad that competed in the Australian Super Touring Championship.
Superstars Brock and Jim Richards drove the Volvo S60s with the latter teaming up with Rickard Rydell to win SuperTouring variety of the Bathurst 1000.
After the turn of the century, Shepheard returned to his rallying roots with great success.
He won the Queensland Rally Championship three times.
In more recent years, Shepheard was still involved in the family business, GSA Wholesale Suspension.
Auto Action sends its condolences to Shepheard’s family and friends.
Main Image caption: George Shepheard is seen sitting between Shekar Mehta & Rauno Aaltonen with HDT Repco Trial Commodore.
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