Taking over the Jenner Camaro
From Trans-Am import to OSCA contender
A new chapter
Paul Williams bought the Camaro from Bruce and Pam Jenner shortly after its final updates, including the later-model Camaro bodywork fitted by Brennan Racing for better downforce.
He prepared it for New Zealand's Open Saloon Car Association (OSCA) series – a popular and fiercely competitive championship for high-powered saloons – with a 6-litre Chevrolet V8 under the bonnet.
OSCA's regulators made him swap the car's 5-speed Wiseman gearbox for a 4-speed to balance the field. Williams reported it made little difference to the car's pace.
The Paul Williams Racing team with the #9 in its first scheme – blue and red, Paul Williams Motors, Rangiora – keeping the Camaro script from the AC Delco days.
"Crowd cheer OSCA V8 revival!"
Golden Mile Tavern OSCA series opener · NZ Speedsport No. 87
Williams leads Terry Brown and Mike Johnston at Ruapuna. Photo: Euan Cameron
12 October, probably 1997 · Ruapuna · Round 1Two wins and a standing ovation
The opening round of the Golden Mile Tavern OSCA series brought together one of the best line-ups of V8 saloons seen anywhere in the country for years. New TraNZam entries boosted the field, all running to a 7,000 rpm limit and OSCA fuel to equalise them with the traditional OSCA cars.
The racing lived up to it: after the first OSCA race part of the crowd gave the drivers a standing ovation.
Williams headed the field home in two of the three races. Only a failed power-steering line cost him a clean sweep.
"A failed power steering line cost Paul Williams the chance of a clean sweep of the OSCA races."NZ Speedsport No. 87, photo caption
Labour Weekend · Timaru, then Ruapuna · Rounds 2 & 3"'Guns' should again provide thrills"
After round two at Timaru over Labour Weekend, the local paper's preview of round three back at Ruapuna led with Williams: "Paul Williams (Camaro) headed the field home in two of the three races at last month's meeting."
The same preview tipped Kim Buckley (V8 Ford-powered Cortina), Terry Brown in the ex-Craig Gilbert Chevy Lumina, and the TraNZam Camaros of Mike Johnston and Eddie Fairbairn as the threats, with former hydroplane champion Peter "PG" Knight leading the points in his Camaro.
Its photo was the same moment: "Paul Williams leads the field from Terry Brown and Mike Johnston in the hardest-fought race of the day."
The Wellington Street Race
The Camaro on the waterfront
A highlight of the calendar
Sometime in the 1990s Williams took the Camaro to the Wellington Street Race, one of the highlights of the New Zealand motorsport calendar, now running in Noel Leeming colours with Wayne Moore Motorsport Fabrication backing.
The tight waterfront circuit tested both the car's handling and his precision. Its updated aerodynamics and V8 power kept him competitive against a field of high-calibre local entries.
"Williams dominates small OSCA field"
Canterbury Car Club season opener · NZ Speedsport No. 111
10 October 1999 · Ruapuna · Canterbury Car Club season openerThree wins from three starts
On a day of near-perfect weather at the Canterbury Car Club's opening meeting, Williams dominated the Golden Mile Tavern OSCA class: three races from three starts in his GT2-class Camaro.
"Williams began the day where he intended to carry on. He blasted away with his newly liveried Camaro and left the rest in his wake. The ex-Jenner car looks a treat in its new paint work, which changes colour depending on what angle you look at it."John Hawkins, NZ Speedsport No. 111
- Race 1: won from OSCA President Eddie Fairbairn (GT1 Camaro), Austin McKinley and Simon Curry.
- Race 2: led from go to whoa, again heading Fairbairn comfortably.
- Handicap: came through to win, passing defending champion Mike Johnston.
Only nine OSCA cars made the meeting – among the absentees, John Harcourt's new Camaro (the man who would later own this car) and Lindsay Dodd's Camaro – the Wayne Moore-built Jenner replica.
The "chameleon" livery
For this season the Camaro was repainted in a colour-shifting purple-and-green finish that changes with the angle of the light, carrying Paul Williams Motors, Resene Santano, The Rock FM and Whiting's Dry Cleaners branding.
OSCA Champion, 2000
The title sealed after five of the seven rounds · MotorSport NZ past winners
March 2000 · Timaru Raceway · NZ Speedsport No. 116 · John Hawkins"Williams secures OSCA title"
The South Canterbury Car Club's March meeting decided it. The Golden Mile Tavern OSCA class was combined with the Timaru Allcomers on the long circuit, and Williams "clinched OSCA's overall championship by finishing third in the opening race with his GT2 spec Camaro".
The GT1 (TraNZam) cars weren't eligible for overall OSCA points: after a first-corner melee Craig Gilbert cleared out in his GT1 Camaro from Eddie Fairbairn (GT1 Camaro), with Williams third – first of the OSCA points runners. Gilbert took the Ian Munt Memorial Trophy, and Lindsay Dodd, in the Wayne Moore-built Jenner replica, had "his first good run" to finish third in the Ian Munt Memorial race.
Motorsport Extra · by Gary Aitken"Ruthless efficiency in Williams' series win"
Paul Williams' Chev Camaro powers to a victory at Ruapuna. The silky skills of driver Williams, ably supported by his crew of Colin Cameron, Dwayne McLaren, Nigel Sheppard, Brent Summerfield, Rick McLaren and Anthony Williams, have proved a cut above the rest this season.
Rangiora's motor racing equivalent to the caped crusader, Paul Williams, backed up some bold pre-season predictions by easily securing the OSCA (Open Saloon Car Association) championship.
Amazingly, Williams had the title signed, sealed and delivered after only five of the seven-race series, in his impressive Chev Camaro 6000cc rocket, beating a system that endeavoured to handicap his type of car in the process.
"I think I've got my point across," Williams said, in reference to the fact that his category GT2 car had flogged the GT1 cars sporting an extra 200 horsepower, five gears as opposed to Williams' four, and later-model suspension.
"We haven't been out of the placings in any race, and the car has been one hundred percent all season, absolutely flying, and great credit to the crew," he said. "We were streets ahead of the GT2s, and to beat the GT1s as underdogs has been the high point."
This title will sit nicely on a mantlepiece already overflowing with previous championship victories, but Williams will not rest on his laurels over the winter months, setting his sights on retaining the OSCA championship and aiming higher in his other motor racing interests.
These include a crack at the mega-class of sealed circuit racing – the Trans-Am – and a return assault on the Super Saloon division on the dirt of Woodford Glen, now that Williams has found the key to his troubled Chev Corvette grunt mobile.
"At the Glen we were just getting the car humming when the season closed. We've pin-pointed the problem in the car, and will be back to give Dennis Bolt and the boys a bit of curry," he said.
"In the Trans-Am class we've had a couple of end-of-season races in the Chev Camaro, and finished fourth twice and sixth out of fifteen in three races. By rights, we should have been last every time up against the big boys, so you can gather that some of the racers weren't too happy getting beaten by a far lesser-powered car," he added.
Looking at the fire in Williams' eyes, there is a bold statement to be made there as well!
"We were streets ahead of the GT2s, and to beat the GT1s as underdogs has been the high point."Paul Williams
Ruapuna · ChristchurchIn the Ruapuna pit lane
The championship-winning Camaro in its colour-changing purple and green livery – The Rock FM, Resene Santano, Whiting's Dry Cleaners, and Automotive Parts Rangiora across the tail – with the Paul Williams Racing crew in their red team shirts.
In the press
The original articles
Each article above is shown from the original clipping – tap a photo to read it full size, or open them here:
- NZ Speedsport No. 87, page 46 · "Crowd cheer OSCA V8 revival!" · John Hawkins
- Newspaper preview · "'Guns' should again provide thrills"
- NZ Speedsport No. 111, pages 60–61 · "Williams dominates small OSCA field" · John Hawkins
- Motorsport Extra · "Ruthless efficiency in Williams' series win" · Gary Aitken
What came next
After Williams' tenure the car went to a Christchurch owner who tested it once, decided it wasn't for them and sold it to John Harcourt. From there it passed to Derrin and then Andy Greenslade, who won the 1NZ national title with it.