Pye Becomes Sierra Pilot

Mustang man adds turbo car to inventory

BILL Pye is the latest Heritage Touring Cars driver to become a ‘turbo man’ with the recent acquisition of an ex-Peter Jackson Glenn Seton Sierra RS500.

Pye, who also races a Camaro in Touring Car Masters, has been a regular in HTC with his ex-Dick Johnson Greens-Tuf Ford Mustang but has now added the two-litre turbo Sierra to his racing inventory.

One of three Glenn Seton Racing Sierra RS500 Cosworths, the car was owned by Eddie Sansil in Melbourne for the last decade with Pye recently purchasing the vehicle.

First raced at Bathurst in 1989 and competing over the early 1990s period of Group A, the Ford is still in its original Peter Jackson paintwork and made its last Group A start at the Adelaide Grand Prix in 1992 in the hands of Alan Jones.

“I get bored and I always like a new challenge!” says Pye.

“These cars have a reputation of how difficult they are to drive and that attracts me. It’s something different, I’ve never driven a turbo car before.

“Mick Webb is prepping the car in Melbourne. The car did very little running in Eddie’s hands while he had it but we’re just going through it all now.

“The whole braking system has been pulled apart and replaced and we’re going to pull the gearbox out to check it over. Mick’s going to pull the motor out and have a look over it too and the turbo has to be serviced given it hasn’t had any real race running since 1992.”

Pye says he may make his first appearance in the Sierra at HTC’s Muscle Car Masters round in September but will definitely be behind the wheel of his green Mustang for the next round at the Sydney Retro Speedfest on the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June.

He intends to retain the ex-Johnson Mustang with a view to his 20-year-old son driving in the future to make a two-car family HTC team.

“I’m going to keep the Mustang,” says Pye.

“It’s my favourite car! When Mick built the new Camaro for TCM for me he asked what I wanted and I said I wanted it to handle like the Mustang – it’s like a Porsche, you can put it anywhere on the track and do just about anything with it.”

The next round of the Heritage Touring Cars series will be at the Sydney Retro Speedfest at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 6-7.