Larry Perkins

Larry Perkins
Nationality	Australian
Born	Larry Clifton Perkins (1950-03-18) 18 March 1950 (age 68) Murrayville, Victoria, Australia
Retired	2003
Related to	Jack Perkins (son)
ATCC / V8 Supercar
Years active	1981, 1985–2003
Teams	Holden Dealer Team Perkins Engineering
Starts	160
Wins	4
Best finish	4th in 1994, 1995 & 1998 Australian Touring Car Championship
Championship titles
1975 1979 1979	European Formula Three Championship Australian Formula 5000 Championship Australian Rallycross Championship

Sign proclaiming Cowangie to be the "Hometown of Larry Perkins"

The 1984 Bathurst 1000 winning Holden Commodore

Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950 in Murrayville, Victoria)^[1] is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia.

Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Eddie Perkins who had won the 1956 RedeX Round Australia Trial, developed a love for cars from a young age and loved tinkering with the farm machinery. In 1970 he was recruited as a mechanic/driver for Harry Firth's Holden Dealer Team, and although he didn't do much road racing for the team, he did race in Rallycross alongside team driver Peter Brock, and was also involved with the development of the stillborn Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 V8 project which was canned in mid-1972 by the "Supercar scare".

Racing career[edit]

After winning the TAA Formula Ford "Driver To Europe" Series in 1971 and the Australian Formula 2 Championship in 1972 (both times in an Elfin 600), Perkins travelled to Europe where he won the 1975 European Formula Three Championship. He also raced in Formula One during the 1974, 1976 and 1977 seasons. After failing to secure a permanent drive in Formula One he returned to Australia, winning the Rothmans International Series in 1979 in an Elfin MR8 for the Ansett Team Elfin factory team run by Elfin Sports Cars founder Garrie Cooper, and the 1979 Australian Rallycross Championship in a Volkswagen Beetle.^[2] During 1982 and 1983 he worked with brother Garry on the construction of The Quiet Achiever solar car. He was one of the drivers of the car during the transcontinental solar crossing of Australia, the car using only a photovoltaic solar cell source.^[3] During these years he met with success in Australian Touring Cars and in 1988 he returned to Europe to race at the Le Mans 24 Hour with Tom Walkinshaw Racing, finishing 4th.

After returning home from Europe, Perkins made his Bathurst 1000 debut in 1977 in a Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback where he finished third with Peter Janson. He went on to win the race six times (1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1997), with co-drivers Peter Brock (1982–84), John Harvey (1983) (all for the Holden Dealer Team which by then was owned by Brock with Perkins in charge of race car building and preparation), Gregg Hansford (1993) and in his last two wins in 1995 and 1997 with Russell Ingall, winning each time in an Australian developed Holden Commodore.

Arguably his most memorable win was in the 1995 Tooheys 1000 in which he dropped to last place after a pit stop at the end of the first lap to replace a flat tyre, and subsequently gained the lead with less than 10 laps remaining after the Ford Falcon of Glenn Seton retired having dropped a valve in the engine. Perkins and co-driver Russell Ingall thus became only the second driving combination in the history of the race to recover from last place to win the event. Perkins has however, never won an Australian Touring Car Championship, his best championship results being three fourth places.

Retirement and legacy[edit]

Perkins retired from driving in 2003, aged 53 and was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2008. In addition to his racing credentials as a driver he is an accomplished automotive engineer and engine-builder having built many race cars for both his own team and for other racing teams. He is well known for his outgoing and humorous personality. His nickname is "LP", but he is often referred to as "Lightning Larry" or "Larrikin Larry". Larry is the father of V8 Supercar race winner Jack Perkins.

On 7 December 2017, the "Larry Perkins Trophy" was named in his honour. It is awarded to the driver who accumulates the most points across the four races at the Melbourne 400, the Supercars event supporting the Australian Grand Prix.^[4]

In 2018 Perkins and his brother Peter discovered the lost cache of equipment left behind in the Simpson Desert by explorers Henry Vere Barclay and Ronald MacPherson in 1904. The explorers had been forced to abandon the load, which included camel tanks, tools, scientific equipment and personal belongings, in order to cross sandhills to get to a water source. The Perkins' discovery was described as a "highly significant archaeological find".^[5]

Racing record[edit]

Career summary[edit]

Complete Formula One World Championship results[edit]

(key)

Complete World Sportscar Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1984	Team Australia John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956B	MNZ	SIL 21	LMS Ret	NUR	BRA	MOS	SPA	IMO	FJI	KYL	SAN	NC	0
1988	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Jaguar XJR-9 LM	JRZ	JAR	MON	SIL	LMS 4	BRN	BRA	NUR	SPA	FJI	SAN	29th	30

Complete World Touring Car Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Enzed Team Perkins	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA	BNO	SIL	BAT Ret				NC	0
		Holden VL Commodore SS Group A									CLD ovr:6 cls:3	WEL ovr:11 cls:7	FJI

† Not eligible for series points

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	DC	Points
1988	Holden Special Vehicles	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	BAT Ret	WEL 2	PUK 3	FJI	6	27

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results[edit]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1978	Charles Ivey Racing	Gordon Spice John Rulon-Miller	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	IMSA +2.5	278	14th	2nd
1984	Team Australia John Fitzpatrick Racing	Peter Brock	Porsche 956B	C	145	DNF	DNF
1988	Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Derek Daly Kevin Cogan	Jaguar XJR-9LM	C1	383	4th	4th

Complete Bathurst 1000 results[edit]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1977	NGK Janson	Peter Janson	Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback	3001cc – 6000cc	162	3rd	3rd
1979	Cadbury Schweppes Racing	Peter Janson	Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback	A	157	2nd	2nd
1980	Cadbury Schweppes Racing	Peter Janson	Holden VC Commodore	3001-6000cc	162	2nd	2nd
1981	Cadbury Schweppes Racing	Peter Janson	Holden VC Commodore	8 Cylinder & Over	67	DNF	DNF
1982	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock	Holden VH Commodore SS	A	163	1st	1st
1983	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey Peter Brock Phil Brock	Holden VH Commodore SS	A	163	1st	1st
		Peter Brock	Holden VH Commodore SS	A	8	DNF	DNF
1984	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock	Holden VK Commodore	Group C	163	1st	1st
1985	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford Mustang GT	A	159	7th	7th
			Ford Mustang GT	A	-	DNS	DNS
1986	Enzed Team Perkins	David Parsons	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	C	140	25th	18th
1987	Enzed Team Perkins	Denny Hulme	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	1	2	DNF	DNF
1988	Holden Special Vehicles	Denny Hulme Tom Walkinshaw	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	A	137	DNF	DNF
1989	Holden Racing Team	Tomas Mezera	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	A	158	6th	6th
1990	Perkins Engineering	Tomas Mezera	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	1	161	3rd	3rd
1991	Mobil 1 Racing	Tomas Mezera	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	1	65	DNF	DNF
1992	Perkins Engineering	Steve Harrington	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	A	135	9th	8th
1993	Castrol Perkins Racing	Gregg Hansford	Holden VP Commodore	A	161	1st	1st
1994	Castrol Perkins Racing	Gregg Hansford	Holden VP Commodore	A	161	3rd	3rd
1995	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VR Commodore	A	161	1st	1st
1996	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VP Commodore		160	6th	6th
1997	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VS Commodore	L1	161	1st	1st
1998	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VT Commodore	OC	161	2nd	2nd
1999	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VT Commodore		161	7th	7th
2000	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VT Commodore		159	11th	11th
2001	Castrol Perkins Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden VX Commodore		161	8th	8th
2002	Castrol Perkins Racing	Paul Dumbrell	Holden VX Commodore		161	5th	5th
2003	Castrol Perkins Racing	Steven Richards	Holden VY Commodore		161	4th	4th

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Larry Perkins Comprehensive Biography and Race Record