Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the Repco Bathurst 1000 has welcomed some of New Zealand’s greatest drivers and the forerunner to this success was a top contender in the Tasman Series.
Before Jim Palmer took on the Mountain at Bathurst, he already held an enviable record against the world’s best in the annual Tasman Series finishing a best of fourth in 1966 behind the likes of Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and Jim Clark.
Palmer won three ‘Gold Stars’ in New Zealand between 1963/64 and 1967/68 in a variety of open-wheeler chassis including Cooper, Brabham, Lotus and a Formula 2 McLaren.
Leading the local charge in both the New Zealand Grand Prix and prestigious Lady Wigram Trophy meetings, Palmer was valued highly from teams not only in his own country, but across the Tasman. He nearly drove for Ferrari in the 1967 Tasman Series, which turned into a Scuderia Veloce Brabham once initial plans fell through.
Driving the Scuderia Veloce Brabham at Bathurst led to Jim Palmer setting an outright lap record at the circuit.
Scuderia Veloce was led by McKay, who spearheaded the Holden Dealer Racing Team marking its first foray at Bathurst invited Palmer among other drivers including Australian Formula 1 driver Paul Hawkins, previous Bathurst winner George Reynolds and Brian Muir.
Debuting at the Hardie-Ferodo 500 in 1968 provided a great result for Palmer and Phil West as the pair finished third in one of the new HK Monaro GTS327s, though behind the privateer entry of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland, although the latter completed just a lap.
Although suffering from long-sightedness in his left eye, which prevented him from racing in Australia for a period and stopped him reaching the heights of Formula 1.
Focusing on family and his business, Palmer retired in the early 1970s to run his car dealerships.
A decade after Palmer debuted in 1968, New Zealand ace Jim Richards became the first to win the Bathurst endurance race partnering Peter Brock in the Holden Dealer Team Torana A9X.
Of course, New Zealanders have since enjoyed amazing success at the Mountain including Richards and his son Steve have a combined 12 victories, Greg Murphy’s ‘Lap of The Gods’ in 2003 and his four wins, while Scott McLaughlin once again set records in 2019 as Shane van Gisbergen took emotional victories in 2020 and 2022.
With the next generation of New Zealanders led by Ryan Wood set to join, the story Palmer started is set to continue for years to come.
