Peter Brock Boyhood Dreams  Getting started on the path to a career in racing - the path, in Peter Brock's case, to fame - can come in many ways.   In this instance, the inspiration was fired at the old Altona circuit watching at the age of seven the stars of that bygone era battle it out.  "I'd been interested in things mechanical all along, but I'd say it was that race that fired me up.  The Maybach and Redex Special racing together - Brabham won - that was my inspiration."

Altona, the circuit laid on the edge of a swamp in what was almost a suburb of wasteland, was one of the many circuits that sprung up in the fifties. Just over two miles round, it lasted only a few years before the swamp refilled in the wet weather and broke up the surface.  It's still a vivid memory for Brock. 

Geoff Brock had taken him down there for the day.  He had the local garage at the time and was a sub-dealer for the Holden dealer.  "We had one of the first Holden's in the district," Peter remembers, "and Dad used to drive it el rapido everywhere.  I think he must have been a frustrated racing driver."

Moments that kept the fire alight came in 1956 with the Olympic GP at Albert Park, when Beechey and Lukey in their Customlines turned it on.  "Bob Holden was the last to start, and David McKay was way out in front with the first GT stripes in Australia," Peter recalls. 

It was not then until his friends turned 18 that he was able to rekindle the interest as strongly.  Geoff was no longer so heavily involved, having family responsibilities tying him down, so apart from a couple of early Sandowns it was up to Peter to find his own way from Hurstbridge to the circuits. 

"That’s when I really wanted to know; I became a constant spectator in Victoria. "  Tarrawingee, Winton, Hume Weir, Calder and Sandown were a steady diet feeding the growing enthusiasm   The dreams of a boy were turning into the realistic ambitions of a young man.  A young man so keen that he can recall walking and hitchhiking to Templestowe to see Bruce Walton. 

Realising his ambitions, remembering that youngsters of today enjoy a far higher level of income than did his contemporaries, wasn't so easy.  Apart from everything else, Peter turned 20 the year that National Service was introduced.  But it wasn't all bad.  It was during this period that his last dreams took shape.  Plans were made for a "Sports Racing Closed" car - an Austin A30 with a Holden motor.  No doubt formulating and finalising those plans made the army days shorter. 
 

Article extracted from; 
Peter Brock - Australia's Own Ace Driver by Ray Bell 
Produced and Published by Racing Car News 1979.  More about Brock