Tasman Racing car restored!
TP Restorations and Replicas had the privilege of restoring chassis TM 02 (also known as ARC 14), back to the livery it ran in the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series for the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.
Raced by Jason Richards and Jamie Whincup to second place and challenging for the win on the Sunday. It was the best result for the two drivers to that point in their careers after notching up their first career podiums the race before at Sandown, Victoria
The Dodo car finished third in that year’s Sandown 500 – marking the first V8 Supercar podium finish for either driver – and then finished runner-up at Bathurst as Richards chased Mark Skaife’s HRT Commodore to the finish line.
The very same car was also the same chassis that Richards was driving when barrel rolled down the road in a frightening accident at Queensland Raceway earlier in the year.
Tim Pattinson from TP Restorations & Replicas has undertaken the work and turned the clock back for the car and its owner, Marty Miller.
Pattinson used original files from the team’s original signwriter, along with sourcing series and event logos from Supercars, to restore the chassis back to how it raced at Mount Panorama back in 2005.
“It was a project first mooted back in May and the car arrived in Melbourne during lockdown in late August and was completed in time for Challenge Bathurst.
The restoration project was filmed over five days at two different locations, a workshop in the south-east of Melbourne and also Sandown Raceway, the site of the car’s podium finish in 2005.
“It has been a great privilege and honour to recreate this car for the owner,” says Pattinson.
“Marty allowed me to have his car and do whatever was required to get it back to how it was when the Tasman boys achieved great things at Bathurst back in 2005.
“It has also been an honour to do the best job possible for Charlotte (Richards, Jason’s wife) and Jamie (Whincup).”
The car now sits on display at the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama, so fans will be able to see it during Repco Bathurst 1000 race week.
