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Peter Janson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Janson
NationalityNew Zealand New Zealander
Born (1940-04-10) 10 April 1940 (age 84)
Retired1992
Australian Touring Car Championship
Years active1973–92

Percy Pierre Gustaf "Peter" Janson (born 10 April 1940 in New Zealand) is an Australian socialite and former motor racing driver.

Janson was born in New Zealand, emigrating to England at a young age. In 1967, he moved to Australia and settled in Melbourne.[1]

Janson, who listed his occupation as "Gentleman", established a playboy penthouse in the Federal Hotel before moving to the Hotel Windsor. In the 1980s he moved to Rutherglen House. Janson is renowned for the parties he throws, and was a pioneer in transforming the Melbourne Cup into a major event on the Australian social calendar.[2][3]

Motor racing

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Janson raced a Holden Torana SS A9X from 1977 to 1979. (Car pictured in 2015)

Janson was a competitor in Australian Touring Car Racing. He made 19 Bathurst 1000 starts between 1973 and 1992 primarily in Holden Toranas and Commodores, finishing second in 1979 and 1980 and third in 1977 (all of his podium finishes were with Larry Perkins who would go on to be a six time winner of the race).[4][5] With the end of the Group C era in 1984, Janson closed his team but continued to drive for other teams including joining Sydney based privateer Garry Wilmington in a V12 Jaguar XJS in the 1985 and 1986 races. He later scored a class win and fourth outright driving a BMW M3 with fellow Kiwi Trevor Crowe at the 1988 Bathurst 1000.[6] Janson's last appearance at Bathurst was in 1992 where he and Bob Jones finished 20th in a Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV.

Always a colourful character who gave his sponsors a plug at every opportunity, especially when being interviewed in the pits, Janson briefly changed his name by deed poll in the mid-1970s to NGK Janson to circumvent a rule that only allowed a driver's name to be carried above the window line.[7] His former co-driver Larry Perkins also told that one year on a parade lap at Bathurst, Janson continually pulled the car off onto the grass in order to throw Cherry Ripe chocolate bars out to the crowd (his major sponsor being Cadbury Schweppes).

Career results

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Results sourced from Driver Database.[8]

Season Series Position Car Team
1976 Australian Touring Car Championship 14th Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 Peter Janson
1977 Australian Touring Car Championship 11th Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34
Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback
Captain Peter Janson
1978 Australian Touring Car Championship 30th Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Cadbury - Schweppes
1979 Australian Touring Car Championship 16th Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1980 Australian Touring Car Championship 30th Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1981 Australian Touring Car Championship 6th Holden VC Commodore Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1982 Australian Touring Car Championship 27th Holden VC Commodore Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1982 Australian Endurance Championship 48th Holden VH Commodore SS Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1983 Australian Endurance Championship NC Holden VH Commodore SS Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1984 Australian Endurance Championship NC Holden VH Commodore SS Cadbury Schweppes Racing
1984 World Endurance Championship NC Porsche Kremer CK5 Porsche Kremer Racing
1985 Australian Endurance Championship 69th Jaguar XJS Garry Willmington
1986 Australian Endurance Championship NC Jaguar XJS Garry Willmington
1987 World Touring Car Championship NC Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Petro-Tech
1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship 9th BMW M3 John Sax
1990 Australian Endurance Championship NC Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV Lusty Engineering
1991 Australian Endurance Championship NC Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV Peter Janson

Complete World Endurance Championship results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1984 West Germany Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche Kremer CK5 MNZ SIL LMS NUR BRA MOS SPA IMO FJI KYL SAN
13
NC 0

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1976 Australia Captain Peter Janson Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 SYM
5
CAL ORA
10
SAN AMA AIR
10
LAK SAN AIR SUR PHI
3
14th 10
1977 Australia Ipec Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34
Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback
SYM CAL
Ret
ORA
10
AMA SAN AIR LAK SAN
Ret
AIR
5
SUR PHI
2
11th 13
1978 Australia Cadbury - Schweppes Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback SYM ORA AMA SAN WAN CAL
5
LAK AIR 30th 2
1979 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback SYM CAL
4
ORA SAN WAN SUR
6
LAK AIR 16th 5
1980 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback SYM CAL LAK SAN
5
WAN SUR AIR ORA 30th 2
1981 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Holden VC Commodore SYM
4
CAL
5
LAK
5
SAN
3
WAN AIR
4
SUR
3
ORA 6th 24
1982 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Holden VC Commodore SAN CAL
4
SYM ORA
Ret
LAK WAN AIR SUR 27th 5

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1987 Australia Petro-Tech Holden VK Commodore SS Group A MNZ JAR DIJ NUR SPA BNO SIL BAT
ovr:18
cls:12
CLD WEL FJI NC 0

† Not eligible for series points

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

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Year Car# Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
pos.
1973 54 Australia John Lord Australia John Lord Honda Civic A 134 22nd 4th
1974 23 Australia Taylor’s College Racing Australia Paul Feltham Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 3001 – 6000cc - DNS DNS
1975 17 Australia Massey Holden Australia John Harvey Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 D 143 DNF DNF
1976 15 Australia Captain Peter Janson Australia Kevin Bartlett Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 3001cc - 6000cc 158 5th 5th
1977 15 Australia NGK Janson Australia Larry Perkins Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback 3001cc – 6000cc 162 3rd 3rd
1978 9 Australia ReCar Racing
Australia Cadbury - Schweppes
Australia Phil Brock Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback 3001cc – 6000cc 110 DNF DNF
1979 19 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Australia Larry Perkins Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback A 157 2nd 2nd
1980 4 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Australia Larry Perkins Holden VC Commodore 3001-6000cc 162 2nd 2nd
1981 3 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Australia Larry Perkins Holden VC Commodore 8 Cylinder & Over 67 DNF DNF
1982 3 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Australia David Parsons Holden VH Commodore SS A 158 4th 4th
1983 3 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Australia David Parsons Holden VH Commodore SS A 106 DNF DNF
1984 3 Australia Cadbury Schweppes Racing Australia Garry Rogers Holden VH Commodore SS Group C 109 DNF DNF
1985 12 Australia Garry Willmington Australia Garry Willmington Jaguar XJS C 150 14th 12th
1986 12 Australia Garry Willmington Australia Garry Willmington Jaguar XJS C 88 DNF DNF
1987 3 Australia Petro-Tech Australia Peter Fitzgerald Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 1 144 18th 12th
1988 53 New Zealand John Sax New Zealand Trevor Crowe BMW M3 1 156 4th 1st
1989 15 Australia ICL Racing Australia Allan Grice Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV A 153 10th 10th
1990 22 Australia Lusty Engineering Australia Graham Lusty Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 1 83 DNF DNF
1991 13 Australia Peter Janson Australia Peter Gazzard Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 1 53 DNF DNF
1992 13 Australia Ampol Max 3 Racing Australia Bob Jones Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV A 128 20th 18th

References

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  1. ^ "The intriguing world of Peter Janson" The Age 22 October 1989
  2. ^ City address often visited by powerbrokers and celebrities The Age 5 March 2013
  3. ^ Roaring good time at Janson's The Age 11 April 2013
  4. ^ Normoyle, Steve (1993). The Great Race 12. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  5. ^ Feature: Heritage Touring Cars - Janson VH Speedcafe 8 May 2014
  6. ^ Normoyle, Steve (1989). The Great Race 8. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing. ISSN 1031-6124.
  7. ^ What's in a name? The weirdest name changes in the world of sport Herald Sun 20 August 2013
  8. ^ Peter Janson - Driver Database