1984
Nissan Bluebird 30th Anniversary Bathurst 1000 pole position
This weekend the Australian iconic motor race, the Bathurst 1000 is on. And it marks a special moment in the history of Nissan Motorsports.
30 years ago in 1984, the Nissan Bluebird Turbo driven by George Fury, made pole position. It was significant in a few different ways – it was the first Japanese car to make pole, and also was the first turbo powered car to get pole at this event.
What emphasised the effort was the time (2:13.85) was the fastest lap time recorded on the track ever. Note: The track at Mount Panorama was extended slightly by the addition of the ‘caltex chase’ in 1987 from 6.172 km to 6.213km, so this record will never be broken.
Below is the actual record breaking qualifying lap. Check out the first corner where George Fury starts to get sideways.
Fred Gibson reportedly later confirmed that the Bluebird had an illegal turbo boost adjuster on the dashboard, as well as the engine bay’s fire extinguisher spraying super cooled Halon at the cars intercooler which increased horsepower. Combined with a cold morning, and even snow a couple of hours prior to qualifying, conditions were perfect for a turbo charged car.
Because of the engine size, the turbo bluebird was in the (now defunct) Group C class (for cars up to and including 3000cc). The pocket rocket had a Z18T 1.8 litre, 4 cylinder engine with a single overhead camshaft and twin spark ignition. With the turbo, it generated around 350hp, pretty good for a small engine I must say. And it was good enough to keep up with the V8 Fords and Holdens in the Group A racing class, qualifying 3rd at Bathurst in 1982 (Masahiro Hasemi), 2nd in 1983 (Fury) and as mentioned above, 1st in 1984 (Fury).
The Turbo Bluebird had a great start to 1984 ‘The Great Race’, but due to an accident further back the race had to be restarted. Fury ended up finishing in 16th place overall.
At this years race, Michael Caruso and Dean Fiore’s #36 Norton Nissan Altima will adopt a retro-themed livery, depicting the colours worn on Fury’s 1984 Nissan Bluebird. In addition, and I wish that I was going to the race this year, Fury will drive the actual Bluebird Turbo that took him to that pole in 1984 in a special on-track demonstration. For more detailed information, check out the Nissan Australia website.
Another great article on the famous bluebird turbo can be found here.
Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23965238@N04/2523282731/
Best Horror Movies of the 80s
Some of the best (read: cult) horror movies I think were released in the 1980s. Of course everyone has their own opinions but I think if I sat in a room full of 20 people, we will agree on the majority of selections below. Without further ado, let’s begin (in no particular order):
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
There were 2 things that attributed to the huge success of this movie, one being the theme of nightmares becoming real life (and who hasn’t had a bad nightmare before), and the other being the famous villain/monster Freddy Krueger withe his ‘Finger Knives’.
There were 6 Elm Street movies in the 80s, with another 4 released in the following 20 years to complete the franchise. The last one was in 2010.
Who can forget the immortal words “Freddy’s back!”
Friday the 13th (1980)
This was a scary movie for you people who have been to summer or school camp, with the main theme revolving around the camp Crystal Lake horrors and all the killings/disappearances. I had to look it up myself but was actually quite surprised that there were another 12 installments of the Friday the 13th franchise. I think I have some catching up to do, as I’m sure I’ve only watched half of them.
The Shining (1980)
This film was based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name but there are some differences. The film revolves around the guy who takes on a job as a caretaker at an isolated hotel called the overlook hotel.
The man’s son has psychic abilities and that’s when things become all supernatural, with the man going mad and attempting to murder his wife and son.
There are many great scenes in this movie, easily achieving cult status and have been mimicked in other movies and spoofs.
Once scene as when Danny is riding the tricycle throughout the hotel and you’re just waiting to some it happen. Waiting….
The film was voted one of the top 11 scary is movies of all time.
Children of the Corn (1984)
As you can see, 1984 was a good year for horror films. Here is another based on a Stephen King book and I must admit a bit of a weird plot but it works.
It is a story of children killing their parents to secure the harvest of corn. It’s a bit more than that but in essence that your story.
The Evil dead (1981)
Not one of my favourites but it makes my list due to the cult status and popularity of the movie. It is your cliche movie where college students are on vacation in a cabin in an isolated area. Enter demons spirits, and let blood and guts reign supreme.
I think the cult status derives from the low-budget that the movie had and how they made the most of a good storyline, not to mention a few killings along the way.
There were 2 sequels as well as video games and comics released.
The above are my picks, but I think there are some honourable mentions such as:
The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
The Thing (1982)
Aliens (1986)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Halloween II (1981)
What are your favorite horror movies of the 80s? Do you agree with my list?
images source: Wikipedia
Busker joined by a passing Bronski Beat – Wow!
How great is this? A busker was performing in Berlin the Bronski Beat smash hit song Smalltown Boy.
Next minute the band’s former lead singer, Jimmy Somerville, just happened to be walking past with his dog and joined in with the busker.
Luckily it was caught on camera!
To refresh your memory, here is the original from 1984:
80s songs about horses
There were a lot of different themes in the 80s – whether they be fashion, movies or in music. And in music, horses were a popular thing to sing about. Here are three that I can remember and still like.
Wild Horses – Gino Vanelli
This catchy tune was released in 1987, and reached #55 in the US top 100 but #7 in Canada (where Gino was born). The song earnt Vanelli the Juno Award for Recording Engineer of the Year (which he incidentally shared with his brother that year).
The clip is in black and white and features a sexy female playing the harmonica. And no, I have no idea what her name is – in fact I don’t know the names of the other band members either (can someone help me?).
I know I said the tune is catchy, but when you look at the lyrics ……. well I’ll let you make up your own mind. Weird.
As the sun goes down on the Arizona plain
And the wind whistles by like a runaway train
Hey hey hey it’s a beautiful thing
Well it’s me and you and a flatbed truck
My heart kicking over like a whitetail buck
Hey hey hey in the middle of spring
You can cut me deep
You can cut me down
You can cut me loose
Don’t you know it’s okay
You can kick and scream
You can slap my face
You can set my wheels on a high speed chase
Hey no matter what you do
Wild horses could not drag me away from you
Wild horses could not drag me away from you
As the sky falls down from the midnight blue
Spittin’ like bullets on a hot tin roof
Hey hey hey it’s a beautiful sound
Well it’s me and you in a flatbed truck
In a foot of mud just my luck
Hey hey hey a hundred miles out of town
You can call me a fool
You can call me blind
You can call it quits
Can’t hear a word you say
Cause if I had you once
I’m gonna have you twice
I’m gonna follow my heart instead of good advice
Hey no matter what you do
Wild horses could not drag me away from you
Wild horses could not drag me away from you
Watch the video clip on YouTube.
Wild Horses – Nik Kershaw
Not one of Nik’s more popular songs (he had far better), but this one was released in 1984 on ‘The Riddle’. The Riddle reached UK #8, U.S #113, AUS #39.
Laid Back – White Horse
I love this song. Laidback were a Danish band, and released this song in 1983. White Horse was a dance track with a repetitive, memorable bassline and ambiguous, drug and/or sex-themed lyrics (“white horse” being slang for heroin) that became popular in US clubs. It spent three weeks at number one on Billboard’s National Disco Action charts. White Horse ’89 was released in (have a guess) 1989 by Laidback’s label but it did not have the success of the original.