Holden VK Commodore Berlina
Driven by Jock Calder, Jim Rosenthal and Rob Tolano
South Australian radio announcers Rob Tolano and Jock Calder entered the race and enlisted Holden dealer, Jim Rosenthal, to provide a suitable car and to co-drive.
The vehicle was a special Holden VK Commodore that was owned by the Rosenthal Brothers Holden dealership, which was (and still is) based in Berri, South Australia. It was a brand new Berlina with the fuel-injected 3.3 litre six cylinder engine.
The car was sent to Peter Brock (Holden Dealer Team) for some modifications which included an alloy roll cage, 120 litre fuel tank, heavy duty Bilstein shock absorbers, and a 5 speed manual gearbox conversion.
The manual gearbox was chosen for better fuel economy and a higher top speed at lower revs.
The dealership also fitted Globe mag wheels, and a CB radio and radar detector.
The car is a special build and one of only two ever built.
Jim says that his wife was not happy with him participating, which is understandable given that they were expecting their second child at the time.
From the start they chose to take Highway One through Ballarat rather than take the more direct route up the Calder Highway, where they knew the police would be prevalent. From Ballarat they went up the Murray Valley Highway at maximum speed as they found the route was not patrolled.
They swapped drivers every four hours and only stopped for fuel and to report into the radio station for updates.
Unfortunately by Port Augusta, South Australia, Rob had already been caught by the police twice. He made the decision to sit out the rest of the race and retired to the back seat enjoying cigars, sleep and a few drinks. This left Jim and Jock to do the remainder of the driving.
To help them stay awake, Jim had a friend who was a chemist provide them with some special medication, which happened to be hallucinogenic.
Jock was slowing down driving across the Nullarbor because he was seeing large animals crossing the road.
Jim reports feeling the effects from Albany where he recalls driving between tall buildings for 300 kilometres.
They were able to cruise at 160 km/h and the maximum speed they chose to do was 185 km/h. In problem areas, they would drive at 20 km/h over the posted limit to avoid losing their licenses if they were caught.
Jim recalls listening to the truck drivers talking over CB radio about the police following them by air ("pigs in space"), and that they were travelling faster than the plane in the Commodore.
They didn't have any further run-ins with police.
Fuel consumption was around 15 litre per 100 kilometres but they had issues with picking up the last 15 litres of fuel in the long range tank. Jim says they stopped five times for fuel.
They arrived at the finish at sun-up in 18th position, with a race time of 36 hours and 22 minutes.
Jim describes the race as a great experience that will never be repeated.
The car was sold on by the dealership to a customer wanting a HDT Commodore.
Rob Tolano adds some more information about their race...
My earliest recollection of becoming involved with the Run is a meeting I attended held at a restaurant in Berri, South Australia. Also in attendance were two of the Cannonball Cup organisers and Jock Calder, the then breakfast announcer at Radio Station 5RM (I was also working at 5RM, hosting the mid-morning show at the time).
At the meeting the concept was explained along with other details such as timing, departure and arrival points and that the run would be coming through Berri and other parts of the South Australian Riverland.
Following the meeting we spoke to local Holden Dealer Jim Rosenthal, who organised for Peter Brock (through the Holden Dealer Team) to prepare a one off VK Berlina Commodore (refer to Jim's contribution for more information on the vehicle).
While Jim organised the vehicle Jock and I approached the radio station manager about the idea of competing in the run.
Not surprisingly he wasn't all that excited about two of the stations key on-air staff being involved in a race across Australia.
After some negotiation, a compromise was reached whereby Jock and I would take annual leave while competing and therefore the radio station was in no way associated with the event.
Apart from a couple of speeding fines, we made it to Fremantle without incident.
Thanks to sponsorship from the WA Government Tourist Bureau, it was arranged that, following the race, Jock and I would spend a week travelling around Western Australia doing radio reports for 5RM from various tourist attractions.
Each day we would go out and record interviews and comments about various attractions. We then headed back to the hotel room, dismantled the telephone hand set, connect some dodgy wiring from the handset to a cassette tape recorder and send our days work back to the 5RM studios where it was recorded and played on air the following day.
We had a great working holiday, the Tourist Bureau was happy with the work we did and the radio station picked up the sponsorship dollars... a great result all round.
Onya Charlie...
Jim, Jock and I were really pleased to see Charlie Kovacs drive to victory as he was from the Riverland and a good friend.
Incidentally, we found the return trip took less time than going over and no speeding tickets!
Rob Tolano, August 2017
