Brock's last race Holden for sale

This year's Australian International Motor Show in Melbourne will have many star attractions, from the awesome new W12-powered Bentley Continental GT coupe to the latest Mazda BT-50 Freestyle ute.

But for motorsport enthusiasts and in particular fans of Peter Brock, it will be a unique Holden FX race car, parked with other classics along the walkway of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, that will be of most interest.

With its distinctive 'green and gold' livery, the 1953 FX Holden was driven by Australia's highest-profile driver in his last track appearance before his death in 2006.

Conceived by old Holden enthusiast Phil Munday and created by former Holden Dealer Team engine guru Ian Tate, the hotted-up 'Humpy' Holden was built for the nine-time Bathurst winner to race at the 2006 Goodwood Revival in England.

The meeting's organisers initially wanted Brock to campaign his first real racer, the Austin A30, in the St. Mary’s Trophy race for touring cars, but they were persuaded that an early model Holden (in similar colours) would be more symbolic for an iconic Australian Touring Car champion.

Under Revival rules, engine capacity can be increased up to 20 per cent, along with other modifications, so Tate created a 2.4-litre engine with a Vauxhall crankshaft and a Wade-style camshaft, breathing through triple 44mm SU carburettors and Facey extractors and a straight-through exhaust.

Running an 11.5:1 compression ratio, it developed an impressive 140kW through a Muncie four-speed transmission, XU1 Torana hydraulic clutch and a 3.9:1 ratio locked differential.

While Munday's 'ultimate FX' finished just off the podium at Goodwood – Brock qualified fifth and finished fourth in the main St.Mary’s Trophy on the Saturday – his performance in the FX saw him awarded the event's prestigious 'Spirit of Goodwood' trophy.

Tragically, Brock was killed in a tarmac rally accident in Western Australia just a week later, but his 'Goodwood' FX lives on. Since then, it has appeared at a number of car shows and historic race meets, and has earned its own fame as the last circuit-racing Holden campaigned by Brock.

Munday is selling the Brock FX and it will go under the hammer at the Shannons Melbourne Motor Show auction held on the last day of the Motor Show, on July 12.

Shannons is expecting bids in the $300,000-$350,000 range, which should be right on the money considering the high prices paid in the past for significant early model Holdens and ex-Brock race cars,

In 2007 the Holden XU-1 Torana that Brock drove into second place in the 1973 Bathurst race and used to win the 1974 Australian Touring Car Championship was sold for $500,000, while the 1946 Holden 'Prototype No.1' was bought by the National Museum in 2004 for $650,000.

Incidentally, Brock also raced another GM product at the 2006 Goodwood Revival, a high-performance, 1965 Chev V8-powered Corvette Sting Ray coupe. In a twist of fate, that car now also resides in Brock's home state of Victoria after a Melbourne collector purchased it from its British owners in 2010 for a figure believed to be close to $300,000.

The last car ever raced by Brock, a Daytona Cobra replica, which he crashed during the 2006 Targa West rally, was bought by Brock collector Peter Champion in 2010 after a full restoration.

It was on display at Champion's Brock Experience museum in north Queensland alongside other Brock race cars before the museum closed its doors in early-2011.

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