To Kiwi's the Nissan-Mobil 500 was the premier events on their motorsport Calender and brought out huge crowds. This street circuit was a difficult place for drivers to master as it weaves its way around two wharfs via a roadway bound by unforgiving Armco and concrete fences. Add to this an extremely narrow bridge (that connects the two wharfs the circuit lays on), unpredictable weather and you have a place where non-stop on-track action is assured. The 1987 race was no exception.

Over the years the Nissan-Mobil Series had attracted many Australia drivers and teams. Mostly because the timing of the NZ event (early each year) meant the Aussie's were in the off-season and gave them an opportunity to keep their cars and reflexes tuned on track. However in 1987, there is a significant increase of interest by Europeans because of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship scheduled for later in the year. Obviously, they also wanted to test their cars and evaluate the threat from the Aussie teams. Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) went to the additional trouble of obtaining a reprieve for the V12 Jags by extending the homologation life of the cats by five weeks so they could compete in this race. As he was busy preparing Rovers for the Championship, he was keen to see whether his rivals have closed the gap on his team.

Slick pit work kept the old 05 car at the front.

Most of the top Aussie's were there for the stoush. Nissan brought over Glen Seton and George Fury for the Skyline, Dick Johnson was there to drive his recently sold Mustang, and Jim Richards accepted an invitation to drive the ex-JPS 635. Local boy Crosby partnered Larry Perkins in the ENZ Commodore, and Allan Grice brought over his familiar Commodore. The team they were all were watching closely was the MHDT. They brought their entire team of Brock/Moffat and Harvey/Neil Lowe along with brand new crew chief, Mick Webb.

To match the colonials, the Europeans had sent several of their big guns. TWR had two cats for Hulme/Hahne and Walkinshaw/Percy while Ford had sent their turbo Sierra ace Steve Soper. Not be outdone, Swede Per Gunnar represented Volvo.

The organisers have arranged for a one-lap shootout for the top 10 grid positions for a prize purse of $6,000.00, which eventually goes to George Fury from Peter Brock. The top five grid positions being: 1. G fury - Nissan Skyline, 2. P Brock - Holden Commodore, 3. A Hahne - XJ-S Jaguar, 4. G Cosby - Holden Commodore, 5. J Richards - BMW 635.

Another one/two by the old HDT. Happy faces now but what's going on behind the scenes?

The race was an exciting event in which the lead was dominated in the early stages by the Skyline of Fury until an over heated engine produce a DNF result. The big Jags were matched for pace by the Commodores and Sierra but were significantly disadvantaged because their thirsty V12 engines needed extra stops for fuel. The Sierra of Soper was quick but encountered brake problems and was in the pits for a long time and dropped back by several laps. The Richards BMW was doing fine and lead for some time until a blown clutch put them out.

Meanwhile the 05-team car of Brock/Moffat was consistently quick and was able to pit with a one-lap lead over the BMW of the McIntrye/Charlie O'Brien entry. Meanwhile, the second MHDT car of Harvey/Lowe closed on the BMW and snatched the lead in the latter stages of the race. Great track speed, superb driving and excellent pit work produced for MHDT a memorable one-two formation finish. The fans went crazy as it became obvious which team was their favourite. The attrition rate was extremely high and the racing action exciting as only 14 cars finished from a 40 plus entry card. While the European teams were vanquished on this occasion, they learnt their lessons well in 1987.

Unknown to fans and the Holden Dealer Team, this famous victory would be one of their last in what was, the twilight of HDT's factory backed existence.