Romano WE84
Encyclopedia
The Romano WE84 was an Australian designed and built closed top racing car built to CAMS Group A Sports Car
specifications. The car began its life as the Kaditcha K583
when it first appeared in the 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship
and was built by the Queensland
based Kaditcha
owner/engineer Barry Lock after he was approached by Brisbane
accountant, property developer, timber mill owner and 'all round sportsman' Bap Romano in 1981 with the idea of building a Le Mans
type coupe.
Bap Romano's ultimate ambition was to take the car to the famous 24 Hour French
classic in an All-Australian challenge. This did not happen for Romano although going on the qualifying performance of the car at the 1984 Sandown 1000 race as part of the 1984 World Endurance Championship held at Melbourne
's Sandown Raceway
against the FIA Group C Sportscars
showed that the car would not have been out of place in Group C2
at Le Mans.
at the end of 1981 and purchased a 3.0L Cosworth DFV
V8 engine
from John Nicholson of Nicholson McLaren Engines. While in England Romano was introduced to the Works Manager at Tyrrell Racing
Neil Davis who took an interest in Romano's plans for the car. The two formed a friendship that saw the K583's suspension designed around components on the 1981
Tyrrell 010
Formula One
car.
The Cosworth was chosen for its proven reliability in racing against the best alternative at the time, the 5.0L Chevrolet
V8 which also carried more weight than the Cosworth (CAMS Group A Sports Car engines were limited to 5,000cc capacity). When purchased the engine was reportedly producing 406 bhp @ 9,450 rpm and was rebuilt to be able to run for 2000 racing miles. This compared to the DFV in Grand Prix racing which required a rebuild after just 350 miles.
By mid-1982 the car was built with full Ground effects aerodynamics and was ready for testing. The car proved ok in testing but the suspension was proving suspect.
at Sandown Raceway
in Melbourne
, Romano had enlisted the services of former Williams
and Tyrrell F1 mechanic Wayne Eckersley to help sort out the car after his faith in Lock had eroded with the suspension failure on the car. Romano, driving in Class B (1600 - 3000cc) suffered a suspension failure in practice and crashed the car forcing it to be a non-starter for both heats on race day.
The car suffered yet another suspension failure during practice and a DNF due to a burnt out coil in Heat 1 of Round 2 of the championship at Adelaide
. The coil was replaced in time for Heat 2 where Romano and the car scored their first win, coming home 5.5 seconds in front of eventual series champion Peter Hopwood driving a Chev powered open top Kaditcha. In the 5 rounds and 10 races of the 1983 championship, Romano and the K583 scored 3 wins, 6 fastest laps and 2 pole positions.
. Under Eckersley's direction the car was transformed and Romano went on to dominate the championship. The car was renamed the Romano WE84 (WE for Wayne Eckersley) and Bap Romano won 4 of the 5 rounds, sat on pole for every round and set fastest race lap in every race he contested. The only round he did not win was Round 1 at Calder
where he was involved in a crash during Heat 1 which destroyed the front of the car causing Romano to be a non-starter in Heat 2. Despite running in Class B which paid more points for a position than his main opposition Chris Clearihan (driving Hopwood's 1983 car) did for a position in Class C, Romano would have still won the 1984 series had they been competing for the same points.
, with Brock to drive the Porsche 956 that he was to drive at the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans
, to a race on any circuit in Australia fair to both cars claiming the WE84 could beat Brock's 956. At the time Brock's Melbourne based Holden Dealer Team
had taken delivery of the Porsche for repainting in the colours of team patron Bob Jane
for publicity purposes and so the team could become familiar with the car after 10 years of running Holden V8's
. Romano claimed in a Brisbane paper that it was 'ridiculous' for Brock to pretend that his 1984 Le Mans challenge was an 'All-Australian' effort since the Porsche was made in Germany
.
and Sports cars. The preparation included adding 70kg of ballast to the 775kg WE84 to bring it in line with the FIA weight scale for cars with a 3.9L, four valves per cylinder engine. Despite Romano purchasing a 3.9L Cosworth DFL with the intent on putting it in before the meeting it was only put in after the first day of practice when it became apparent the 3L DFV was past its best. Enlisted to co-drive with Romano for the race was multiple Australian Drivers' Champion
Alfredo Costanzo
.
After changing the engine to the 560hp 3.9L unit during practice Costanzo and Romano were able to improve their times by around 4 seconds per lap. Following numerous gearbox and brake problems throughout practice as well as battling a severe under-steering problem on Sandown's new slower infield section, Costanzo qualified the car in 13th position (1st in AC) with a 1:38.400, 1.9 seconds in front of Allan Grice
driving his 1984 Australian GT Championship winning 6.0L Chevrolet Monza
but some 6.8 seconds slower than the pole time set by eventual race winner and 1984 World Champion Stefan Bellof
driving his Group C
Rothmans Porsche 956
. Costanzo's time was only 0.4 seconds off the Group C2
pole time set by Englishman
Gordon Spice in a Tiga GC84
powered by the 3.3L version of the same Cosworth DFL powering the WE84. Costanzo's time showed that the Australian designed and built car was capable of mixing it with the best Sports Cars in the world.
More gearbox and drake problems during the race, along with a collision with the Rothmans Porsche of Johnny Dumfries which broke the nose cone from the car saw Romano and Costanzo only complete 106 laps, 100 behind winners Bellof and Derek Bell
. Despite still running at the end, the pair were not classified as finishers due to completing an insufficient number of laps.
Bap Romano's previous challenge had gone unanswered by Peter Brock. However, the 956 that Brock and co-driver Larry Perkins
were to drive at the Sandown 1000 was upgraded to the new 962
model and was in fact driven by the versatile Colin Bond
and co-driven by open wheel racer Andrew Miedecke after Brock and Perkins became unavailable. In a car neither had driven before and with approximately 2-300+ more horsepower than either was used to Bond qualified the Porsche 962 in 11th place with a time of 1:36.000, 2.4 seconds faster than Costanzo qualified the 3.9L Romano Cosworth while Bap Romano was able to set a time in the high 1:39's. Bond and Miedecke ran a steady race and finished finished 6th, 8 laps behind the winning Rothmans Porsche.
. That plus the appearance of other specially built cars such as a Lola T610-Chevrolet for Terry Hook (2nd) and the Mazda 13B powered JWS C2 of Jeff Harris (3rd in 1984 & 1985) saw Romano only finish 6th in his title defense. The series was won by 1982 champion Chris Clearihan driving the Steve Webb owned Kaditcha Chev.
Romano only contested two rounds of the 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship. The 1986 title saw the debut of the John Bowe
driven Veskanda 5.8L Chev built by former ASCC competitor Brenie Van Elsen which dominated the series. The WE84 suffered a bad crash at Amaroo Park
in Sydney when the throttle stuck open as the car drove over Bitupave Hill at the end of the main straight. Going into the left hander before the right hand Dunlop
Loop Romano couldn't slow the car and it drove through the infield, hit a dip and bounced across the track at speed hitting an earth bank front on which not only destroyed the front of the WE84 but also resulted in two broken legs for Romano with emergency crew's taking over an hour to remove Romano from his car where despite his injuries a conscious Romano instructing rescuers where to cut the front of the car so the front wouldn't collapse on top of him. After 3 and a bit seasons of sports car racing in Australia, Romano retired the car following the crash.
by Romano himself. Currently Bap Romano drives the car in historic events including returning Lakeside Park
in Brisbane
26 years after it last competed there, at the Festival of Sports Cars on 22-24 July.
Group A Sports Cars
Group A Sports Cars is an Australian motor racing category that CAMS formulated for sports car racing in Australia. Introduced in 1964, it continues today under the name Group 2A Sports Cars....
specifications. The car began its life as the Kaditcha K583
Kaditcha
Kaditcha was an automobile manufacturer in Australia. The company, formed by Queensland engineer Barry Lock, made open wheel and sports car racing cars, including cars for Formula 5000 and Australian Formula 2...
when it first appeared in the 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship
1983 Australian Sports Car Championship
The 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. The championship, which was the fifteenth Australian Sports Car Championship, was contested over a five round series with two races per round.* Round 1, Sandown Park, Victoria,...
and was built by the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
based Kaditcha
Kaditcha
Kaditcha was an automobile manufacturer in Australia. The company, formed by Queensland engineer Barry Lock, made open wheel and sports car racing cars, including cars for Formula 5000 and Australian Formula 2...
owner/engineer Barry Lock after he was approached by Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
accountant, property developer, timber mill owner and 'all round sportsman' Bap Romano in 1981 with the idea of building a Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...
type coupe.
Bap Romano's ultimate ambition was to take the car to the famous 24 Hour French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
classic in an All-Australian challenge. This did not happen for Romano although going on the qualifying performance of the car at the 1984 Sandown 1000 race as part of the 1984 World Endurance Championship held at Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
's Sandown Raceway
Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. It is considered a power circuit with its front straight being 899m long and back straight 910m long.-History:...
against the FIA Group C Sportscars
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
showed that the car would not have been out of place in Group C2
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
at Le Mans.
Build
Romano travelled to EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at the end of 1981 and purchased a 3.0L Cosworth DFV
Cosworth DFV
The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. Named Four Valve because of the four valves per cylinder, and Double as it was a V8 development of the earlier, four-cylinder FVA , making it a Double Four Valve engine...
V8 engine
V8 engine
A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
from John Nicholson of Nicholson McLaren Engines. While in England Romano was introduced to the Works Manager at Tyrrell Racing
Tyrrell Racing
The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the early 1970s, when it won three drivers' championships and one...
Neil Davis who took an interest in Romano's plans for the car. The two formed a friendship that saw the K583's suspension designed around components on the 1981
1981 Formula One season
The 1981 Formula One season included the 32nd FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on March 15, 1981, and ended on October 17 after fifteen races. Nelson Piquet won the Drivers' Championship, claiming the first of his three Formula One titles...
Tyrrell 010
Tyrrell 010
The Tyrrell 010 is a Formula One racing car that was designed by Maurice Philippe for the Tyrrell team. It was introduced for the season....
Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
car.
The Cosworth was chosen for its proven reliability in racing against the best alternative at the time, the 5.0L Chevrolet
Chevrolet Small-Block engine
The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of automobile V8 engines built by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors using the same basic small engine block...
V8 which also carried more weight than the Cosworth (CAMS Group A Sports Car engines were limited to 5,000cc capacity). When purchased the engine was reportedly producing 406 bhp @ 9,450 rpm and was rebuilt to be able to run for 2000 racing miles. This compared to the DFV in Grand Prix racing which required a rebuild after just 350 miles.
By mid-1982 the car was built with full Ground effects aerodynamics and was ready for testing. The car proved ok in testing but the suspension was proving suspect.
1983
By the time the Kaditcha K583 Cosworth made its debut in Round 1 of the 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship1983 Australian Sports Car Championship
The 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. The championship, which was the fifteenth Australian Sports Car Championship, was contested over a five round series with two races per round.* Round 1, Sandown Park, Victoria,...
at Sandown Raceway
Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. It is considered a power circuit with its front straight being 899m long and back straight 910m long.-History:...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Romano had enlisted the services of former Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
and Tyrrell F1 mechanic Wayne Eckersley to help sort out the car after his faith in Lock had eroded with the suspension failure on the car. Romano, driving in Class B (1600 - 3000cc) suffered a suspension failure in practice and crashed the car forcing it to be a non-starter for both heats on race day.
The car suffered yet another suspension failure during practice and a DNF due to a burnt out coil in Heat 1 of Round 2 of the championship at Adelaide
Adelaide International Raceway
The Adelaide International Raceway is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. It is located on Port Wakefield Road at Virginia, a small town just north of Adelaide, South Australia, and is round the corner from Speedway City...
. The coil was replaced in time for Heat 2 where Romano and the car scored their first win, coming home 5.5 seconds in front of eventual series champion Peter Hopwood driving a Chev powered open top Kaditcha. In the 5 rounds and 10 races of the 1983 championship, Romano and the K583 scored 3 wins, 6 fastest laps and 2 pole positions.
1984
Eckersley rebuilt the car, redesigning the suspension before the start of the 1984 championship1984 Australian Sports Car Championship
The 1984 Australian Sports Car Championship was a national motor racing title for drivers of Sports Cars complying with CAMS Group A regulations....
. Under Eckersley's direction the car was transformed and Romano went on to dominate the championship. The car was renamed the Romano WE84 (WE for Wayne Eckersley) and Bap Romano won 4 of the 5 rounds, sat on pole for every round and set fastest race lap in every race he contested. The only round he did not win was Round 1 at Calder
Calder Park Raceway
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a drag strip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clockwise or counter-clockwise .-History:Calder Park...
where he was involved in a crash during Heat 1 which destroyed the front of the car causing Romano to be a non-starter in Heat 2. Despite running in Class B which paid more points for a position than his main opposition Chris Clearihan (driving Hopwood's 1983 car) did for a position in Class C, Romano would have still won the 1984 series had they been competing for the same points.
1984 Challenge to Peter Brock
In early-mid 1984 Bap Romano, feeling that he had the fastest sports car in Australia (and having proved so in the 1984 ASCC), challenged star Aussie driver Peter BrockPeter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock, AM otherwise known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain" or simply as "Brocky" was one of Australia's best-known and most successful motor racing drivers. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, although he raced vehicles of other...
, with Brock to drive the Porsche 956 that he was to drive at the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans
1984 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the World Endurance Championship....
, to a race on any circuit in Australia fair to both cars claiming the WE84 could beat Brock's 956. At the time Brock's Melbourne based Holden Dealer Team
Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team was Holden’s semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1987, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and sports sedans during the 1970s...
had taken delivery of the Porsche for repainting in the colours of team patron Bob Jane
Bob Jane
Robert "Bob" Jane is an Australian former race car driver and prominent businessman. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Jane is perhaps known best nowadays for his chain of tyre retailers,...
for publicity purposes and so the team could become familiar with the car after 10 years of running Holden V8's
Holden V8 engine
The Holden V8 is an overhead valve V8 engine which was produced by the Australian General Motors subsidiary Holden between 1969 and 2000. The engine was used initially in the Kingswood and Monaro model ranges; it was later utilised in the Torana and Commodore ranges...
. Romano claimed in a Brisbane paper that it was 'ridiculous' for Brock to pretend that his 1984 Le Mans challenge was an 'All-Australian' effort since the Porsche was made in Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
.
1984 Sandown 1000
Following the successful 1984 championship, Eckersley and Romano prepared the car for the Sandown 1000 which was a round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship where it would compete in the special AC Class for Australian based GTAustralian GT Championship
The Australian GT Championship is a CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 title was contested over a single race and those after that year over a series of races...
and Sports cars. The preparation included adding 70kg of ballast to the 775kg WE84 to bring it in line with the FIA weight scale for cars with a 3.9L, four valves per cylinder engine. Despite Romano purchasing a 3.9L Cosworth DFL with the intent on putting it in before the meeting it was only put in after the first day of practice when it became apparent the 3L DFV was past its best. Enlisted to co-drive with Romano for the race was multiple Australian Drivers' Champion
Australian Drivers' Championship
The Australian Drivers' Championship is a motor racing championship which has been contested annually since 1957 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport. Since 2005 this category has been Formula...
Alfredo Costanzo
Alfredo Costanzo
Alfredo Costanzo is a retired Australian racing driver.The Italian-Australian was Australia's foremost domestic open wheeler driver in the late 70s and early 80s, proving equally adapt at winning races in the powerful Formula 5000 class as much as the nimble Formula Pacific cars that replaced them...
.
After changing the engine to the 560hp 3.9L unit during practice Costanzo and Romano were able to improve their times by around 4 seconds per lap. Following numerous gearbox and brake problems throughout practice as well as battling a severe under-steering problem on Sandown's new slower infield section, Costanzo qualified the car in 13th position (1st in AC) with a 1:38.400, 1.9 seconds in front of Allan Grice
Allan Grice
Allan Maxwell Grice OAM , known to motor-racing fans as Gricey, is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 , and as a privateer driver of a Holden in the Australian Touring Car Championship.Grice also had a successful second...
driving his 1984 Australian GT Championship winning 6.0L Chevrolet Monza
Chevrolet Monza
The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact, four-passenger automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1975–1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width and 140 CID inline-4 engine...
but some 6.8 seconds slower than the pole time set by eventual race winner and 1984 World Champion Stefan Bellof
Stefan Bellof
Stefan Bellof was a racing driver who is famous for setting the fastest lap ever on the Nordschleife configuration, at the Nürburgring, setting the time in a Porsche 956 in 1983...
driving his Group C
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
Rothmans Porsche 956
Porsche 956
The Porsche 956 was a Group C sports-prototype racing car designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the FIA World Sportscar Championship...
. Costanzo's time was only 0.4 seconds off the Group C2
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
pole time set by Englishman
Englishman
Englishman may refer to:*English people*Grey Partridge*Jason Englishman, Canadian rock music singer and guitarist*Jenny-Bea Englishman, real name of the Canadien singer Esthero*Erald Briscoe, reggae musician who records under the name Englishman...
Gordon Spice in a Tiga GC84
Tiga Race Cars
Tiga Race Cars Ltd. was a British auto racing constructor and team. The company was founded in 1974 by two former Formula 1 drivers, Australian Tim Schenken and New Zealander Howden Ganley. The company's name was formed by the first two letters of Tim and Ganley...
powered by the 3.3L version of the same Cosworth DFL powering the WE84. Costanzo's time showed that the Australian designed and built car was capable of mixing it with the best Sports Cars in the world.
More gearbox and drake problems during the race, along with a collision with the Rothmans Porsche of Johnny Dumfries which broke the nose cone from the car saw Romano and Costanzo only complete 106 laps, 100 behind winners Bellof and Derek Bell
Derek Bell (auto racer)
Derek Reginald Bell MBE is a former racing driver from England who was extremely successful in sportscar racing, winning five times at Le Mans. He also raced in Formula One for the Ferrari, McLaren, Surtees and Tecno teams...
. Despite still running at the end, the pair were not classified as finishers due to completing an insufficient number of laps.
Bap Romano's previous challenge had gone unanswered by Peter Brock. However, the 956 that Brock and co-driver Larry Perkins
Larry Perkins
Larry Clifton Perkins is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia.-Career:...
were to drive at the Sandown 1000 was upgraded to the new 962
Porsche 962
The Porsche 962 was a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the European Group C formula as the 956 had...
model and was in fact driven by the versatile Colin Bond
Colin Bond
Colin John Bond is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team...
and co-driven by open wheel racer Andrew Miedecke after Brock and Perkins became unavailable. In a car neither had driven before and with approximately 2-300+ more horsepower than either was used to Bond qualified the Porsche 962 in 11th place with a time of 1:36.000, 2.4 seconds faster than Costanzo qualified the 3.9L Romano Cosworth while Bap Romano was able to set a time in the high 1:39's. Bond and Miedecke ran a steady race and finished finished 6th, 8 laps behind the winning Rothmans Porsche.
1985 - 1986
Due to reliability problems with the car and engine Romano only contested 3 rounds of the 1985 Australian Championship1985 Australian Sports Car Championship
The 1985 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. It was the 17th Australian Sports Car Championship and the first to be run concurrently with the Australian GT Championship.-Schedule:...
. That plus the appearance of other specially built cars such as a Lola T610-Chevrolet for Terry Hook (2nd) and the Mazda 13B powered JWS C2 of Jeff Harris (3rd in 1984 & 1985) saw Romano only finish 6th in his title defense. The series was won by 1982 champion Chris Clearihan driving the Steve Webb owned Kaditcha Chev.
Romano only contested two rounds of the 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship. The 1986 title saw the debut of the John Bowe
John Bowe (racing driver)
John Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a 1969 Ford Mustang in the historic series, Touring Car Masters....
driven Veskanda 5.8L Chev built by former ASCC competitor Brenie Van Elsen which dominated the series. The WE84 suffered a bad crash at Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park was a motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It opened in 1967, hosting its first motorcycle meeting on 26 February with a 30 lap production race won by Larry Simons on a BSA Spitfire in heavy rain. The...
in Sydney when the throttle stuck open as the car drove over Bitupave Hill at the end of the main straight. Going into the left hander before the right hand Dunlop
Dunlop Tyres
Dunlop Tyres is a British company owned 75% by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and 25% by Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which bought the right to sell Dunlop-branded road tyres....
Loop Romano couldn't slow the car and it drove through the infield, hit a dip and bounced across the track at speed hitting an earth bank front on which not only destroyed the front of the WE84 but also resulted in two broken legs for Romano with emergency crew's taking over an hour to remove Romano from his car where despite his injuries a conscious Romano instructing rescuers where to cut the front of the car so the front wouldn't collapse on top of him. After 3 and a bit seasons of sports car racing in Australia, Romano retired the car following the crash.
Rebuild
Bap Romano retained the car and commissioned the cars original builder Barry Lock to build a replacement chassis to replace the one written off in the 1986 Amaroo crash. This was done by 2001 and by 2010 the WE84 had been completely rebuilt and track tested at Queensland RacewayQueensland Raceway
Queensland Raceway nicknamed "the paperclip" is a motor racing circuit located near Ipswich in Queensland, Australia.The circuit plays host to V8 Supercars, the Australian Superbike Championship, Drifting as well as club level racing and ride days....
by Romano himself. Currently Bap Romano drives the car in historic events including returning Lakeside Park
Lakeside International Raceway
Lakeside Park, formerly known as Lakeside International Raceway is a motor racing circuit located at Pine Rivers north of Brisbane and lies adjacent to Lake Kurwongbah....
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
26 years after it last competed there, at the Festival of Sports Cars on 22-24 July.