Shrike (racing car)

Shrike is a racing car developed in Australia by the students of the Croydon Park Institute of TAFE in Adelaide in 1988 and 1989. It was developed for the then new Formula Holden category which mandated an aluminium tub monocoque, powered by a Buick sourced 3.8 litre Holden V6 engine, as used in the Holden VN Commodore at that time.

The car proved to be instantly competitive in the Australian Drivers' Championship against designs from Elfin (then another Adelaide based company), Cheetah, and imported Formula 3000 chassis such as those made by Ralt, Reynard and Lola.

Concept

The Shrike (named after the bird on the Flag of South Australia, the Piping shrike with the cars emblem being a modified version of the bird on the flag) was the brainchild of automotive engineering lecturer at Croyden Park, Ted Noack. His concept was to utilise the newly acquired skills of the TAFE students to help build and race the cars. In a stroke of genius, Noack was able to convince the then South Australian state Minister of Education Greg Crafter to fund the Shrike project as part of a technical education syllabus.[1]

The Shrike made its first public appearance in a demonstration run during the 1988 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide driven by Adelaide's own 1983 Australian Formula 2 champion, Ian Richards.[2]

Racing

The Shrike made its racing debut at the inaugural round of Formula Holden in 1989 at the Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia with Arthur Abrahams and Peter Doulman doing the driving.

Adelaide based driver Mark Poole placed second in the 1990 Australian Drivers' Championship at the wheel of a Clipsal sponsored Shrike. Poole won Round 3 of the championship at Sydney's tight Amaroo Park circuit, as well as Round 6 at the fast Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, proving that the car could win on almost any type of circuit. Poole went into the final round of the series at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix meeting at the Adelaide Street Circuit only one point behind Ralt driver Simon Kane. However, a DNF for the Shrike due to a holed radiator handed the title to Kane who finished the race in second place behind Channel 7 motor sport commentator and series contender Neil Crompton.[3]

Australia's 1987 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Wayne Gardner was also to have driven a Shrike in the race at the 1990 AGP, but a qualifying crash into the wall just past the chicane at the end of the pit straight ended his chances. Gardner had spun on coolant that had been dropped by the Ralt RT20 of Drew Price, though he was hopeful of having the car repaired for the race.

Complete Australian Drivers' Championship results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)