40 replies to this topic

[GMS GAZELLE]

Hello All, I thought this probably the right place to put it out there that the ex Mark Skaife Gibson Motor Sport Gazelle in which he won the 1987 under 2 litre ATCC is not far away from joining the Historic Group A race scene.

I was hoping to have the car ready for the Muscle Car Masters at Eastern Creek in The 1st weekend of September but it's just not going to happen.

There is a chance I may get it to the Skyline Nationals on the following weekend at Goulburn and Wakefield Park but not 100% on this yet.

I will most likely be tapping you guys up for help along the way as even though I am a DATSUNOPHYL this is my 1st Gazelle.

As a parting note for you who are wondering - FJ20E (no turbo) with Holinger internals in the gbox and of course IRS.

You have a great site which I have been reading from outside for a few months now so well done on that.

All the best,
GMS

[and_rej]

Holy moly! Welcome mate!

Would love to see some pictures. I'm sure you'll find everything you need here.

[GMS GAZELLE]

Thanks and I will get some pictures up this week - old and new. Any pictures from others from back in the day would be appreciated as well.

[s12Mike]

Wow! Awesome to have you on board mate! Look forward to seeing some pics of the beast!!
Plenty of info on here and all you need to do is ask! Join the FB group as well for more frequent updates

[Umai Naa!!]

Welcome!

Have a look at this thread: http://s12silvia.com...s-race-gazelle/

Plenty of pics, and the information becomes clearer along the way.

[joe65]

Brian , welcome , bring it out to muscle car masters , running or not , just put it on display , the people will appreciate it , and you will get a kik out of it to , been to the last 4 of them , a truley fantastic weekend .
i gather we will see you at the historic phillip island meeting in late feb / march 1213
Good luck , with it and Welcome .

[GMS GAZELLE]

Welcome!

Have a look at this thread: http://s12silvia.com...s-race-gazelle/

Plenty of pics, and the information becomes clearer along the way.

Thanks Umai,
I had a good read through that thread and will be able to bookend a few of the uncertainties throughout for all and sundry.
Great research you have done which I hope to talk to you more about as it will assist me to finalise my COD paperwork for CAMS.

I'm sure glad a bunch of enthusiasts such as yourselves exist for almost every marque - especially this one just at the moment.

Brian , welcome , bring it out to muscle car masters , running or not , just put it on display , the people will appreciate it , and you will get a kik out of it to , been to the last 4 of them , a truley fantastic weekend .
i gather we will see you at the historic phillip island meeting in late feb / march 1213
Good luck , with it and Welcome .

[Umai Naa!!]

It's a tough car to get any sort of accurate information about.

[castle]

Welcome to the site mate!

I was hoping to see your car at Eastern Creek last weekend at World Time Attack in the Historing Turbo cars section. I saw some photos of it there from last year.

Your car is an icon around here, I'm sure you will be able to answer a lot of questions and fill many gaps in the history of the Gazelle that many people here have wondered about.

I very much look forward to seeing some more pictures of the car and reading more about its history.

Enjoy your stay.

Matt.

[james]

I'll just echo what everyone else is saying..

Welcome and we all love your car!

As the owner of an imported 'RS-X Gazelle', I'd be interested to know the first few letters of your vehicle's VIN to work out exactly what 'it' is.

[Umai Naa!!]

RUS12, most likely.

That is of course if it was ever actually stamped. It was originally brought over by Nissan Australia for evaluation purposes.

[GMS GAZELLE]

Hi and thanks James,
Dean (I think it is) you are correct. This car is 1 of 2 cars brought in for evaluation by Nissan.

Luckily for us a Nissan Dealer by the name of John Giddings was in discussion with Nissan about running in Group A motorsport when he saw them and requested approval to run one of them.

Nissan approved the idea and so John Giddings was actually the first person to race the car.

Gibson Motor Sport then took over the car on the proviso that it was returned to Nissan to be crushed....did that ever happen hmmmm.

Anyway the car continued to be campaigned by a host of privateers and finally ended up as a club car in FJ20ET format with it's final owner in Tasmania.

Fred Gibson then bought the car back in a poor state from Tasmania.

Terry Adheood then picked up the complete GMS collection in 2001 and as others in the stable the Gazelle was put to restoration. It was not 100% completed due to Terry's need to place the Gazelle in his restaurant to replace the now sold GMS Skyline.

Basic specs for the car as per GMS days:
FJ20E with stock plenum
5 speed 1:1 fifth with Holinger internals
IRS
Ventilated Brakes front and rear with 4 spot calipers all corners.
Magnesium uprights
120 litre Group A spec fuel tank
R180 LSD (never run an R200) various ratios
Air jack system
16 inch wheels all round however 17 inch rear wheels were used at Bathurst which explains the odd look in some pictures.

I an yet to put the car on the dyno for the final tune of what is a mild engine configuration at the moment but will let you know know how it comes out.

I will also scale the car for confirmation of weights.

[Umai Naa!!]

Thanks for the info.

I actually worked at the dealership that was previously owned by John Giddings, now called Moss Vale Nissan. One of the guys that crewed for Giddings is now the service manager there. He says he'll find the photos he took during his time on the team one day...

[GMS GAZELLE]

Well that is a happy coincidence,

I'm pretty sure it was Moss Vale Nissan even back then. I have a picture of the transporter at a meeting with the Gazelle beside it at a track meeting - think in New Zealand.

I would appreciate you getting me a contact for him so I could talk to him and / or see if you could push him for some pictures and any other information he may have. As you understand the information is a little but limited for the old girl as she was under 2 litre class car and not an outright car - therefore reporting was a little less frequent.

One of the main things missing are any pictures of the actual set up under the bonnet from the day. It is close to how it should be based on the holes etc that were left before but the tricky thing is knowing which bits were done after the turbo was added...just trying to get it period correct.

I read in one of the other areas - maybe the one you referred me to that you had some copies of entry lists and time sheets?? If that is the case could I trouble you for copies of those either PDF or another format as it will all help to finalise my CAMS paperwork for the COD.

This is turning out to be real good journey into history.

Another picture attached is the colour scheme the car had after GMS which was similar to the black it run when Giddings had it - I will write more on this history in the future. Can you spot her in GMS colours at the track???

[GMS GAZELLE]

Here are some more pictures of various parts of the car as it is - though not finished yet.

[blacky05]

Great to have you on the site. I think this is one of the most exciting threads I have read in a long time. It will be great to see this return to the track!

[joe65]

hip , hip horay to that .

[Candellan]

Nice score. You are the envy of every member of this board as that's the holy grail of Australian Gazelles. Hopefully you'll bring it to Lakeside one day with the Ashwood R32s & the Kruger DR30.

[TDM Racing]

[GMS GAZELLE]

Thanks all. I will definitely be taking it to Lakeside in the future - it's one of my favorite tracks to drive at with the exception of how close you are to major damage at so many places around the circuit...if you get it wrong that is!!! I'm sure we will get alot of the Gibson cars here at the same time on the future including Justin in the EXA Turbo Group C and Carey in the R31. They are all real down to earth motor sport lovers who run the cars as they should be abscissa it's just a matter of time until the stars align with the right event and timing for everyone. A few of the cars will be going to the Skyline Nationals in the second weekend of September at Goulburn and Wakefield Park. Nissan is sponsoring the event as well but check it out online if your interested in doing something else.I'm hoping to get there with mine but won't know for another 2 weeks - keep you in the loop.