Seven-time Bathurst winner Jim Richards will return to his Ford roots when he attends the 19th Annual Kiwanis all Ford Day on February 21, 2010 as a special guest.
Appropriately, Richards will bring his 550hp (410kW) racing Shannons 1964 Falcon Sprint to join the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Ford Falcon being held at the event. The Falcon Sprint will be one of 1,200 Fords show cars of all models expected at the 2010 All Ford Day, which will be staged at the Deakin University Sports Grounds at Waurn Ponds, Geelong.
Over 30 Ford car clubs will be displaying, along with individual show cars – all vying for trophies.
Richards started racing a Ford 105E (slope-back) Anglia in his native New Zealand in the early 1960s before graduating to his famous ‘Sidchrome Mustang’, which he brought to Australia when he came here to live in the mid-1970s. He then raced a lightweight Falcon XC-based Sports Sedan in the early 1980s.
Away from the racetrack, Richards has owned a string of Ford road cars over the years, including a rally Escort RS 2000 and an XY Falcon GT.
After initially racing a Mustang in the Biante Touring Car Masters, he swapped to his current Shannons Falcon Sprint, finishing fourth outright in the 2009 Championship.
As well as Ford vehicle of all types, the 2010 Kiwanis All Ford Day will include a Shannons Memorabilia Auction, autograph signings by Ford V8 Supercar stars, trade stalls, V8 Supercar merchandise sales, a (Ford) Bathurst Driving Simulator, a Ford Discovery Centre Display, kid’s rides and a live band.
For more information, or to enter your car, visit www.allfordday.org . All profits are donated to more than 16 Geelong charities, Community Projects and other needy causes.
With Shannons
I’m there. Sounds like a great day.
Who cares about jim richards, good driver, but real a$$hole. Just another camp jumper
Have you ever met Jim???
He is as his nickname goes…….A gentleman.
A camp jumper doesnt make anyone an a$$hole, he can drive anything and just enjoys driving rather than siding with fan boys
Ben, obviously you’ve never met the man.
ben – Gentleman Jim is one of the cleanest fairest race car drivres out there – infact a number of the current V8 Supercar drivers {#888] could learn alot from him.
He was totally justified with his “Pack of @ssholes” speech that he made back in 1992 – Because if the Ford fans who were booing him actually read the rules they would have realised that when a Race is Red Flagged they go back to the last completed lap.. at which point the GT-R was leading.
Come on wheelie,
I also reckon Jims comment was justified, but dont blame the fans because a rule states a crashed car can win. Care to add Jims thought that he also thought he shouldnt have won??
Also whats wrong with 888′s driving standards??? Certainly not the worst.
I think you got sick of them winning. I reckon your tune will change on them next year
It’s true Jim said that he didn’t think that a crashed car should win but he then added that they’re the rules..
As for my comments about 888 – I wasn’t picking on 888 [the team] more the driver of car 888.. who it seems has lost the ability to pass a car both cleanly and safely
I mean Whincup finished on the podium in nearly every race last season but his team mate Craig “He’s blocking me” Lowndes didn’t – whereas the HRT duo had almost the same number of poduium finishes
The under arm ball bowled against the kiwis many years ago was with in the rules.
Goes against logic, but still legal and apparently fair????
Not hard to see why people get upset when technicalities over rule logic.
I wouldnt exactlly call it a lack of knowledge on the fans part, perhaps disgust at the rules…..
The way 888 built and tuned their cars is what made them the most dominant team in the field so you would think that both cars would have had an equal chance of winning a race or finishing 1-2
When Lowndes was with HRT he and Skaife shared the number of race wins and often finished 1-2; which shows he if he could win races or finish on the podium back then why can’t he do it now? – that is my point
Having said that; they have given their FGs and all their spare parts etc to DJR – which means that they could win the championship next year.. whilst 888 come to grips with their new VEs
Lowndes is a lot older than he was in the HRT days.
How come when Tander won the championship, Skaiffe was a 20th placer???
Yes Lowndes is older than what he was when he was with HRT –
However; when he was with HRT Lowndes had the skill to make a clean pass and win races – as evident by his championship win.
Yet since moving to Ford; particularly over the last couple of seasons [with 888] he has jumped on the radio and accused the driver in front of him of Blocking instead of looking for an opportunity to pass.. So what happened?
I mean as Jim Richards [who is nearly twice as old as Lowndes] has shown; he still has the skill and ability to jump into a car and even if its not 100% as it should be he still manages to make his way through the field to win races if not finish on the podium.. So why doesn’t Lowndes?
Jim doesnt race in V8SC.
V8SC is a different game nowdays too.
Jim is a great driver and all, but I highly doubt he would dominate in V8SC either.
We will see next year when your Lowndes tune changes.
Oh and with some of Lowndes radio calls RE blocking do you not think he had a case.
Remember the recent Bargwana call???
Even Skaiffe said Brags should have been ripped out of the car.
And what about the Tander call when the championship was on the line a few years back. Apparently Tanders car was stalling but after the drive through it seemed fine……
You’re right.. I don’t think Jim Would be so successful in the current V8 Supercars field either.. However when he was competing in the V8s he was a master.
He left the category at the right time when he had won enough Races Championships and Bathurst Enduros – he had nohing else to prove and thought he would try his hand at something else something different.. and since then has shown he is just as good in a High-Tech Porsche as he was in a V8 Dinosaur.
I don’t think he races to win any more but more for the enjoyment/excitement.
Craig is older now and has children which means the risk factor comes into his driving.
A number of the drivers have families yet they still race to win and make clean passes etc.
Not only that but the cars are a lot safer these days – I mean after Craigs Roll at Calder in 1998 he ended up with just a fractured lower leg and some bruising..and he was back racing 3-4 weeks later..
Craig does has the ability to drive the wheels off of it – I’m not disputing that.
It’s just the constant calls over the radio that he’s being blocked by someone who is on the same lap on the racing line fighting for position that I don’t like.. that is all.
Yep the Bargs incident was just plain whinging wasnt it…..
Its all good mate, he is on your side next year where I bet he will become the cleanest racer ;-)
Craig still shows his true natural ability when he wants to.
Ever notice when something is on the line he absolutely drives its wheels off
Even though I am a Holden man I actually think that Winterbottom is probably [one of if not] the cleanest driver [in the the top 10] as at the end of the race his has fewer dents or loose panels than the rest of the field – if any..
I think DJR will do well next year.. they [JC] could even win the championship – as they’ll have all 888 racings old gear.. I think 888 racing will struggle in their first year with Holden despite all the factory support
Um, I think Jnr takes the prize for the least panel damage of the top 10′s.
Ok something I finally agree on with you on the subject
I do honestly think DJR is a real chance next year.
There is also whispers Ford is considering returning their funding.
When JC took out the win MB was hovvering around their garage.
SJ has always been a top ten’r, the team as a whole has just been missing that extra dollars to put them right up the front.
Its good to see an actual race team looking strong rather than engineering firm.
Now back to the disagrees……
I dont think 888 will struggle.
They are professional and something like 80% of the technical gear will carry over.
I dont see the transition of FG to VE beng any harder for them than BF to FG was.
It might be even easier with the extra Holden money thrown in…..
Winterbottoms problem is he isnt aggressive often enough
Take a look at the regular winners and they all have an aggressive streak when needed.
Tander
Lowndes
Whincup
Ingall
I could go on….
Take a look at those in good equipment like RK who cant fight for a position to save himself.
I could probably say MW hasnt really fought any good battles for his win. Most of his have come as a result of blistering car speed
I cant believe i am about to go into bat for Andrew M but here goes. I have met Jimmy Richards before and he aint no assh…e, that trophy belong to you Ben you f..ing loser
Hows my old sparring mate Forza doin???
Looks like Jimmy is neutral ground hey???
When I actually met Jim I was surprised at the amount of time he had for others.
I met Jim when he was trying to sort out a brake issue on Alex’s porsche, and he still had all the time in the world for a quick meet and greet.
Who cares
usually those that click on the article to find out more.
The exception is you and your weird ways
No I like Jim Richards I just don`t like Ford or boring V8 supercar racing.
He isn’t competing in V8 Supercars – its what’s known as the “Biante” Historic Racing Category:
With the cars from Australian Touring Car Championships off the 60-70-80s when the cars were actual production cars – off of the showroom floor [with a roll cage bolted in] which most teams drove to the racetrack Cars such as XY GTs Monaros Chargers Toranas etc..
I never said he was competing in V8 supercars
V8 Supercars is a lot closer more exciting and more competitive than the more High tech F1..
For example the whole 32 car V8 Supercar field is often covered by less than 2-3 seconds [in Qualifying]
Going well thanks Andy, looks like your right mate, we have found neutral territory. As for your mate Jon, you are right about that woodie also.
Gee so many suck holes on here. Pathetic bogans.
Whats wrong mate???
Didnt get what you hoped for under the tree yesterday???
I dont like talking about shopping, so I dont get involved when I hear a conversation on it.
Ill give the same advice to you when the subject isnt of your liking….
all the best to you Andy M, as for Jon, you call me a bogan? Jon has a H in it you woodie
You really are a BOGAN if you think the only way to spell Jon is John. Oh the uneducated bogans of Australia, why are they still dragging this country down. They really are the dog sh#it of this world.
Too right Jon!!
My name too gets frequently edited to include a H, usually by muppets of the common bogan variety!!
John and Thomas79 in the same article …i’m in mis-information heaven
And here come the rest of the Bogan Brigade. I`m starting to smell dog sh#t, damn I have stepped in some. Its everywhere on this site, car advice can you clean them up?
I think whats being implied is that Jon without the H is tha bogan way to spell it…..
Lol Jon,
I on the other hand get the whiff of a leaking coolant, and see oil puddle forming….
Time to get out of here, before bogans start burning down the couch (In Bathurst fashion)…
No Tomas, you are just worried people will start picking on your name for also being the Bogan way by not including the “H”
Its proven that silent letters trouble the uneducated
No Ondrej M, I’m not worried about bogans using a H in my name!!
If you look at this site, you/they use it more of then then not!!
Yes, silent letters do trouble the uneducated, and so does the concept of names having multiple variants!!!
Thats right,
I do find a person with a Bogan versioned name continuously calling others Bogans troubling/ironic
Hmm… How ironic… calling foreign version of local name bogan!!
Good to hear Forza.
All the best for the upcoming year…..
Jim would consider hustling if you offer him the right money. Thus the name ‘Gentleman Jim’.
Tom, or Thom or whatever
International or Australian you are still a bogan pal