Williams' A9X Torana Takes On Mount Panorama

It was a big weekend for the local crew of the Williams Outdoors Racing team with their 650 horsepower-1977 Holden A9X LX Hatchback Torana taking on Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 1000 Touring Car Masters support races.

After being invited to and competing at Bathurst in the TCM support series races in 2025, the team received another invite to compete in the same end of category season races of 2026.

Torana Owner Ray Williams said  "we're just proud to have been invited to be a part of Bathurst again".

Ray and Leslie Williams, the owners of Williams Outdoors in New Norfolk are well known throughout the Derwent Valley. Most who know Ray also know of his love of motor racing as well as hunting and fishing. Ray's experienced driving up the mountain himself and he's also achieved success in Targa Tasmania during the late 90's driving his 1970 EH Holden sedan. Ray's still got that car but has passed driving duties on to son Adam Williams. Adam has also experienced thrills and spills on the mountain and he had a great result in the Torana at Bathurst back in 2024, finishing 8th out of 55 cars in Bathurst's 6 hr Improved Production Car category- final race.

After loading up the Torana last Tuesday, the crew boarded the boat for the mainland and after a bumpy night crossing over Bass Strait, they then drove the long 10 hour trip to Bathurst.

 "The trip took it out of us all and we were pretty tired by the time we got to Bathurst", Adam said.

"It's an exciting place that's for sure, people everywhere". 

"In regards to the car, we fixed fuel pump issues and sorted our brakes and also replaced the clutch before coming over. The car had been running well, but anything can happen and usually does". 

Last year at the same event Adam lost the back end of the Torana at high speed on top of the Mountain in race one. The Torana's front end kissed the wall which left Adam and the car limping back to the pits spilling oil. In a great effort the team rallied, pushing on to finish the remaining races, all the better for the Bathurst experience.

This year, practice and qualifying started early on Friday morning with the Torana not having the best run of it in the heavy traffic. Adam qualified 24th and with the first race a reverse grid scenario, he was in a good position, starting well before the cars ahead of him braked abruptly on a blind corner. Adam braked but hit the back of another car which caused minor cosmetic damage but no mechanical issues. The Torana finished the race and the team repaired the damage and went about preparing for race two on Saturday morning which was wet after 10mm of rain overnight.

The team, without wet tyres decided to sit out race two which also meant they had extra time to tweak the cars performance. 

Race three on Saturday afternoon saw better conditions with Adam driving a great race to get the angry Torana up to 18th position after starting virtually last due to missing the previous race.

Race four early on Sunday morning saw Adam and the Torana again start well from 18th but not long into the race ,motor dramas forced their early retirement.

Adam said" "The car was only running on 7 cylinders instead of 8". 

"We suspect a faulty coil but won't know until we have a proper look at it when we're home".

Overall Adam and the team were disappointed at the end result but they're also grateful to get the opportunity to race again at one of, if not the greatest motor racing tracks in the world.

"The better performing cars are faster and a lot are lighter than us which makes a difference but we hold our own", Adam said.

The Torana was travelling at around 275km/h down Conrod Straight which is nearly as fast as the Supercars during the big race.

Adam said that they're all looking forward to getting home and they'll fix and improve the car with the hope that they get invited to take on the Mountain again in 2027.

The Touring Car Masters series is an iconic racing category which showcases classic touring cars built from 1963-1980 . Five classes race within the one category made up of-

Pro Masters- Top drivers and former champions
Pro AM- Experienced Amateurs chasing trophies 
Pro Sport-Gentleman Racers and Seasoned Competitors
Heritage-Special entries preserving historically significant cars
Invitational-Guest drivers and unique cars.

Muscle cars like Ford Mustangs, Falcon GT (XT/XW/XY) and Falcon XA–XC, XD, Holden Torana's (LC/LJ/LH/LX), Monaros 2 and four door, Valiant Pacers and Chargers (VH/VJ , Chevrolet Camaros, Pontiac Firebirds and much more combine in category to continue the proud tradition of the "golden era" of motor racing in Australia.