A piece of Australian motorsport history is being auctioned off. You could buy Russell Ingall’s old Silver Bullet VT V8 Supercar.
At the time of writing the bid on Russell Ingall’s old 2000 VT Commodore V8 Supercar was sitting at just $6000 with 15 days to run. Listed with Meccanista (click these blue words to see the listing), Ingall’s Commodore was part of the two-car Castrol team run by Larry Perkins.
Most of you, like me, would have grown up watching the likes of Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Allan Moffatt, Larry Perkins and co. racing around, and Perkins was always well regarded not just for his driving ability but for his engineering prowess.
This ‘Silver Bullet’ first hit the track in 2000 and is based on a VT Commodore and powered by a Perkins Engineering-built Chevrolet five-litre V8 (302 Case iron Bowtie GM Performance block) – engine number 156, making around 620hp. Chassis number #PE036 became known as the “Silver Bullet” thanks to the silver-over-white Castrol colour scheme that contrasted Larry’s black-over-white.
There are a couple of features that stand this one apart from others of the day, like the chrome-moly roll cage with a double roll-hoop and, in a first for Aussie touring cars, a diagonal bar across the windscreen which came to be known as a “Larry Bar”.
“Hand-built at the Perkins Engineering facility in Melbourne, the Silver Bullet saw future series Champion Ingall finish the year in ninth position having taken points at almost every round. PE036 was then sold to Team Kiwi Racing following the 2000 championship and the current owner purchased it from TKR in 2004,” Meccanista said.
After being retired from V8 Supercars, it was raced in the development series in 2005 and 2006 . It was restored to its 2000 livery in 2016.
As mentioned, there’s still 15 days to run on the auction and the car comes with a bunch of other odds and ends, like spare rims, sway bars, differential gears, shocks and more. Check it out.
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