Touring Car Masters: Jim Richards AMC Javelin delayed

The long-awaited debut of Jim Richards’ AMC Javelin has been delayed, scrapping the chance for a Father’s Day father-son race in the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn at Muscle Car Masters on 4-5 September.

A painstaking process, building the highly-anticipated American muscle car into a front-running Touring Car Masters race car has simply taken longer than the four-time Australian Touring Car Champion expected.

Richards Senior had hoped to have the AMC Javelin ready in time to allow his son, V8 Supercar driver, Steven Richards, the chance to race one of his cars in the Muscle Car Masters Father’s Day event.

Richards now hopes that he and his son can race alongside one another for Father’s Day at next year’s Muscle Car Masters, and aims to have the Javelin ready for competition at a later date this season.

Racing to maintain his championship lead, Richards will continue to pilot his Shannons Falcon Sprint as the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn headlines at the 2010 Muscle Car Masters at Eastern Creek Raceway (NSW) for round four on 4-5 September.

JIM RICHARDS:

“The timeframe for the Javelin is whenever it’s ready. We want it right.

“The Falcon is going well, so there’s no reason to interrupt that. So, even if it’s not ready until the last meeting of the season, we’ll be quite happy.

“There’s been no delays, it’s just the time needed to do it. There’s only one and a half guys working on it; Bruce and me – I’m the half. Everything takes time because we get, for example, one part of the front suspension that needs machining and of course that holds up the rest of it. It all just takes time.

“It’s been longer than we anticipated really, but probably secretly we thought that it would take about this long.

“If it had have been ready, we would have liked to have put Steven in one of the cars for Muscle Car Masters as long as his contract with FPR allowed and he could have driven one of them. Next year, we probably will, depending on what happens.

“As for when the Javelin will be finished; the object of the exercise is to get it going right, not to get it going in any hurry, just when it’s ready.”

The Touring Car Masters is proudly presented by Autobarn, and supported by Biante Model Cars, Shannons Insurance, Rare Spares and official suppliers Hoosier Tires and Australian Sports Marketing.