MOTORSPORT: Nissan Richards Bathurst tribute
Nissan commemorates 25 years since the Hall of Famer’s Australian Touring Car Championship triumph by donning his favourite HR31 Skyline’s heritage livery at BathurstRacing legend Jim Richards says that the HR31 Skyline, in which he had the bulk of his success on the way to the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship, was his favourite. Indeed, ‘Richo’ was so fond of it that he acquired it recently and now races it in historic events.
Tribute will be paid to Richards’ HR31 and their ATCC triumph 25 years ago, at this year’s Bathurst 1000. The Nissan Altima V8 Supercar of Michael Caruso and Dean Fiore will wear the same livery that the HR31 and Richards’ R32 GT-R did in 1990.
Nissan Australia chief Richard Emery said the livery was a salute to the four-time ATCC champion and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner.
“Jim not only won Nissan our first ATCC crown, he is truly a legend of Australian motorsport,” Emery said.
“It’s fantastic to see the affection that Jim still holds for the Skyline, so much so that he has bought the car and is racing it again.
“The GT-R R32 gets a lot of attention, even to this day, but the achievements of the Skyline HR31 should not be forgotten,” Emery stated.
Richards raced the HR31 Skyline in six of the eight rounds of the 1990 ATCC before switching to the GT-R (in which he and a young Mark Skaife dominated Australian touring car racing until the V8 era) for the final two rounds. Two of his three round wins that season came in the HR31.
In revealing that it was his favourite from the Group A touring car era, Richards said it was “really great” that the livery would appear again at Bathurst.
“I always liked this colour scheme better than the ones that came later. The HR31 was my favourite car actually out of all the ones I’ve driven, even the GT-Rs,” Richards.
“The the races were quite long in 1990… You’d get quite a lot of tyre degradation and the Ford Sierras, with more torque and horsepower, would damage their tyres more than the Nissan. That’s what we took advantage of throughout the season,” he explained
The retro livery continues Nissan Motorsport’s heritage theme. Last year Caruso and Fiore raced in the colours of George Fury’s Bluebird Turbo which scored Nissan’s pole position at Bathurst in 1984.
carsales.com.au Nissan Motorsport Altima will also front the starter at this year’s Bathurst 1000, driven by Todd Kelly and Britain’s Alex Buncombe.
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