Peter Molloy Honoured

One of Peter Molloy’s first bosses told him: “as long as your arse points towards the ground you won’t make a mechanic”. Thankfully for the subsequent history of Australian motor racing, Molloy ignored him.

Otherwise, we might not have seen Brian Foley make his name in a Mini Cooper, John Harvey successfully transfer from speedway to road racing and Neil Allen lap Mt Panorama Bathurst in a McLaren-Chev in an outright record 2 minutes 9.8 seconds in 1969 – the flat-plane crankshaft setting up vibrations that shook the mirrors off the car.

Molloy would go on to guide Warwick Brown in Formula 5000 and Wayne Gardner in his first Superbike rides, including Gardner liberating the bike from the van to win a race he hadn’t entered.

Peter’s engine building credits would include title-winning Chev F5000 engines and the Ford engines that ran 1-2 in the 1977 Bathurst 1000, and well as a special creation that held the Bridge-to-Bridge water-ski race record for 13 years.

The Historic Sports and Racing Car Association of NSW honoured Molloy on Friday, August 7 with a dinner. Somehow, it was kept secret from the guest of honour. A who’s who attended, including Neil Allen, Bill Brown, Warwick Brown, Brian Foley, Wayne Gardner, Frank Matich, John McCormack, Bob Holden, Bob Morris, John Leffler and Warren Willing.

Molloy has been involved in racing since the beginning of the 1960s, but shows no sign of slowing down. He recently rode a Honda 250 at 119mph on the Lake Gairdner salt flats.

Not a bad career for a guy once sacked for kicking his boss in the shins.

Don Cox

Images: deejay51.com, aussieroadracing