George Fury
Encyclopedia
George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan
, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship
, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship
.
, then later Datsun Stanzas where he finally won the Australian Championship by himself in 1980. Fury also twice won the Southern Cross Rally
in the late 70s.
. Fury joined Fred Gibson
as drivers and proved instantly competitive. By 1983 the Bluebird was a race winner and Fury narrowly lost the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship
by six points to Allan Moffat
after the Nissan team decided not to attend the final round of the series. Fury and the Bluebird scored their first race wins with the opening two rounds of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship
at Amaroo Park
(Silastic 300) and 2 weeks later at Oran Park Raceway
. Fury would give the Bluebird program its finest moment at the 1984 James Hardie 1000
, qualifying on pole position for the final Group C
Bathurst 1000 with a time of 2:13.85 in Hardies Heroes. The Bluebird was the only Group C car to ever lap the old 6.172km circuit under 2:14.00 (Peter Brock
got closest with a 2:14.03 in his Holden Commodore
V8 in the same Hardies Heroes).
In 1985 the adoption of Group A
put Fury on the sidelines for a year while the Nissan team developed the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 into a racing touring car. Fury did perform some guest drives for the Frank Gardner
run JPS Team BMW
, finishing 2nd with Neville Crichton at Sandown
but scoring a DNF at Bathurst
. Returning to racing Nissans in 1986 where in its first year of competition Fury lost the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship
by just five points to Robbie Francevic
despite winning 5 races of the 10 round championship to Francevic's 3. Retirements at Round 1 at Amaroo Park
and again in Round 4 at Adelaide
hurt his chances as Francevic only failed to finish at Calder Park
for Round 7.
The emergence of Glenn Seton
as a touring car driver pushed Fury into a supporting role at Nissan in 1987, but Fury still finished third in the championship behind Seton and champion Jim Richards
. 1988 was a frustrating year for Nissan with an abbreviated program forced by development of the new R31 model Skyline into a competitive car. Richards joined Nissan in 1989 replacing Seton who had departed to start his own team, but the emergence of another young driver Mark Skaife
saw Fury leave the team.
Now without a drive, Fury returned to rallying, dominating the early rounds of the 1990 Australian Rally Championship until a lack of funding ended his run, he drove for Glenn Seton Racing
in the 1990 endurance touring car races. In 1991 Fury qualified third for the Bathurst 12 hour in a Galant VR4 during the race the vehicle encountered a problem with its engine computer when it didn't recognise the use of unleaded fuel to repair the problem the battery was disconnected to erase its memory, Fury finished the race in 10th place.
Nissan Motors
, usually shortened to Nissan , is a multinational automaker headquartered in Japan. It was a core member of the Nissan Group, but has become more independent after its restructuring under Carlos Ghosn ....
, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship
Australian Rally Championship
The Australian Rally Championship is a 6 Round National motorsport Championship run in forested countryside throughout Australia.-Current Competition:...
, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...
.
Rallying
Born in Hungary, Fury rose to prominence during the 1970s as part of the Howard Marsden run Datsun Rally Team, racing Datsun 1600s, winning the 1977 Australian Rally Champion (tied on points with Ross DunkertonRoss Dunkerton
Ross Dunkerton is considered Australia's most successful rally driver to date, originating in Perth, Western Australia. He was previously a councillor for the Town of Bassendean, but moved with his family to Cairns in Far North Queensland in late 2007.Ross is married to his wife Lisa has two...
, then later Datsun Stanzas where he finally won the Australian Championship by himself in 1980. Fury also twice won the Southern Cross Rally
Southern Cross Rally
The Southern Cross Rally was a major international rally mainly held in the Port Macquarie region of New South Wales, Australia, between 1966 and 1980. The rally attracted many of the world's leading rally drivers and factory teams....
in the late 70s.
Touring cars
A shift in emphasis in 1981 saw the Datsun Rally Team abandoned in favour of a circuit racing program for a turbo charged Nissan BluebirdDatsun Bluebird 910
The Datsun Bluebird 910 is an automobile which was produced by Nissan from 1979 to 1986.Nissan began realigning its export names with the home market with the 910 series in November 1979. The 'B' tags were dropped in favour of 'Bluebird', though the models were 'Datsun Bluebird' initially...
. Fury joined Fred Gibson
Fred Gibson (motor racing)
Fred Gibson is a former Australian racing driver and race team owner.-Competitor:After a career that began in small production sports cars, first an MGA, and later the first Lotus Elan to run in Australian competition , Gibson quickly moved up into the touring car ranks...
as drivers and proved instantly competitive. By 1983 the Bluebird was a race winner and Fury narrowly lost the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship
1983 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The title, which was the 24th Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a series which began on 6 February 1983 at Calder Park Raceway and ended on 19 June at...
by six points to Allan Moffat
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat, OBE is an Australian racing driver known for his four wins in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four wins in the Bathurst 1000...
after the Nissan team decided not to attend the final round of the series. Fury and the Bluebird scored their first race wins with the opening two rounds of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship
1983 Australian Endurance Championship
The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The championship was contested over a six round series with all rounds run concurrently with those of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.-Calendar:* Round 1,...
at Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park was a motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It opened in 1967, hosting its first motorcycle meeting on 26 February with a 30 lap production race won by Larry Simons on a BSA Spitfire in heavy rain. The...
(Silastic 300) and 2 weeks later at Oran Park Raceway
Oran Park Raceway
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from 1962 to 2010....
. Fury would give the Bluebird program its finest moment at the 1984 James Hardie 1000
1984 James Hardie 1000
The 1984 James Hardie 1000 was the 25th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 30 September 1984 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia and was Round 4 of the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship...
, qualifying on pole position for the final Group C
Group C (Australia)
In relation to Australian motorsport, Group C refers to either of two sets of regulations devised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport for use in Australian touring car racing from 1965 to 1984...
Bathurst 1000 with a time of 2:13.85 in Hardies Heroes. The Bluebird was the only Group C car to ever lap the old 6.172km circuit under 2:14.00 (Peter Brock
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock, AM otherwise known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain" or simply as "Brocky" was one of Australia's best-known and most successful motor racing drivers. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, although he raced vehicles of other...
got closest with a 2:14.03 in his Holden Commodore
Holden VK Commodore
The Holden VK Commodore was introduced in 1984 and replaced the VH. It was the first Commodore to have plastic bumpers and introduced rear quarter windows for a six-window design as opposed to the four-window design on previous Commodore models...
V8 in the same Hardies Heroes).
In 1985 the adoption of Group A
Group A
In relation to motorsport governed by the FIA, Group A referred to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for outright competition. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, the Group A referred to production-derived vehicles limited in terms of power, weight, allowed...
put Fury on the sidelines for a year while the Nissan team developed the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 into a racing touring car. Fury did perform some guest drives for the Frank Gardner
Frank Gardner (driver)
Frank Gardner OAM was a racing driver from Australia. He was best known as a Touring car racing and Sports car racing driver. He also participated in nine World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 July 1964. He scored no championship points...
run JPS Team BMW
JPS Team BMW
JPS Team BMW is a former motor racing team that ran primarily in Australia and New Zealand mainly in touring car racing but also ran in sports sedans and GT cars as well...
, finishing 2nd with Neville Crichton at Sandown
1985 Castrol 500
The 1985 Castrol 500 was an endurance race for "Group A" Touring Cars staged at the Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit in Victoria on 15 September 1985...
but scoring a DNF at Bathurst
1985 James Hardie 1000
The 1985 James Hardie 1000 was the 26th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1985 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. It was the first time the race was held exclusively for cars complying with the Australian version of International Group A...
. Returning to racing Nissans in 1986 where in its first year of competition Fury lost the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship
1986 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 27th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 2 March 1986 at Amaroo Park and ended on 13 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds....
by just five points to Robbie Francevic
Robbie Francevic
Robert James Francevic, was a touring car racing driver in New Zealand and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s...
despite winning 5 races of the 10 round championship to Francevic's 3. Retirements at Round 1 at Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park was a motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It opened in 1967, hosting its first motorcycle meeting on 26 February with a 30 lap production race won by Larry Simons on a BSA Spitfire in heavy rain. The...
and again in Round 4 at Adelaide
Adelaide International Raceway
The Adelaide International Raceway is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. It is located on Port Wakefield Road at Virginia, a small town just north of Adelaide, South Australia, and is round the corner from Speedway City...
hurt his chances as Francevic only failed to finish at Calder Park
Calder Park Raceway
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a drag strip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clockwise or counter-clockwise .-History:Calder Park...
for Round 7.
The emergence of Glenn Seton
Glenn Seton
Glenn Seton is an Australian racing driver.Seton, father of Courtney and Aaron Seton and husband to Jayne Seton, retired from full time racing after the 2005 V8 Supercar season, and is only one of five drivers to have competed in over 200 rounds in the series. The other drivers are Dick Johnson ,...
as a touring car driver pushed Fury into a supporting role at Nissan in 1987, but Fury still finished third in the championship behind Seton and champion Jim Richards
Jim Richards (race driver)
Jim Richards is a New Zealand racing driver who has spent most of his racing life in Australia. While retired from professional racing, Richards continues to compete in the historic category Touring Car Masters while running a team in the Australian GT Championship...
. 1988 was a frustrating year for Nissan with an abbreviated program forced by development of the new R31 model Skyline into a competitive car. Richards joined Nissan in 1989 replacing Seton who had departed to start his own team, but the emergence of another young driver Mark Skaife
Mark Skaife
Mark Stephen Skaife OAM is an Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five time winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor the Australian Touring Car Championship. He is also a six-time winner of Australia's most prestigious domestic motor race, the Bathurst 1000...
saw Fury leave the team.
Now without a drive, Fury returned to rallying, dominating the early rounds of the 1990 Australian Rally Championship until a lack of funding ended his run, he drove for Glenn Seton Racing
Glenn Seton Racing
Glenn Seton Racing was a V8 Supercar racing team that competed in the V8 Supercar series in Australia.Glenn Seton formed his own team in 1989, using Ford Sierras. Seton had been a protege of the works Nissan team, and took the Peter Jackson cigarette sponsorship of that team with him. Former F1...
in the 1990 endurance touring car races. In 1991 Fury qualified third for the Bathurst 12 hour in a Galant VR4 during the race the vehicle encountered a problem with its engine computer when it didn't recognise the use of unleaded fuel to repair the problem the battery was disconnected to erase its memory, Fury finished the race in 10th place.
Career results
Season | Series | Position | Car | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | Australian Rally Championship Australian Rally Championship The Australian Rally Championship is a 6 Round National motorsport Championship run in forested countryside throughout Australia.-Current Competition:... |
1st | Datsun 1600 Datsun 510 The Datsun 510 was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1974, and offered outside the U.S. and Canada as the Datsun 1600. According to AutoWeek's G.D... |
|
1980 | Australian Rally Championship | 1st | Datsun Stanza | Datsun Rally Team |
1982 1982 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1982 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Group C Touring Cars. It began on 18 February 1982 at Sandown Raceway and ended on 16 May at Oran Park Raceway after eight rounds... |
Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The... |
12th | Nissan Bluebird turbo Datsun Bluebird 910 The Datsun Bluebird 910 is an automobile which was produced by Nissan from 1979 to 1986.Nissan began realigning its export names with the home market with the 910 series in November 1979. The 'B' tags were dropped in favour of 'Bluebird', though the models were 'Datsun Bluebird' initially... |
Nissan Motorsport Australia Gibson Motor Sport Gibson Motor Sport was an Australian motor racing team. Originally established by Howard Marsden as the in-house factory Nissan motorsport operation, the team later passed into the ownership of Fred Gibson., who had won the 1967 Bathurst 500 as a driver, sharing with Harry Firth. In 1993 the team... |
1983 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The title, which was the 24th Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a series which began on 6 February 1983 at Calder Park Raceway and ended on 19 June at... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 2nd | Nissan Bluebird turbo | Nissan Motorsport Australia |
1983 1983 Australian Endurance Championship The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The championship was contested over a six round series with all rounds run concurrently with those of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.-Calendar:* Round 1,... |
Australian Endurance Championship Australian Endurance Championship The Australian Endurance Championship was first contested in 1981, as a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for car manufacturers. Replacing the Australian Championship of Makes , it was decided over a series of endurance races for touring cars complying with CAMS Group C regulations.In the... |
3rd | Nissan Bluebird turbo | Nissan Motorsport Australia |
1984 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 25th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship, and was the last year of Group C regulations. The following year would see the introduction of the international Group A regulations... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 11th | Nissan Bluebird turbo | Nissan Motorsport Australia |
1986 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 27th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 2 March 1986 at Amaroo Park and ended on 13 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds.... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 2nd | Nissan Skyline DR30 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Gibson Motor Sport Gibson Motor Sport was an Australian motor racing team. Originally established by Howard Marsden as the in-house factory Nissan motorsport operation, the team later passed into the ownership of Fred Gibson., who had won the 1967 Bathurst 500 as a driver, sharing with Harry Firth. In 1993 the team... |
1986 1986 Australian Endurance Championship The 1986 Australian Endurance Championship was open to drivers of Group A Touring Cars and was contested over a six round series.-Calendar:Rounds were run concurrently with those of the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.-Class structure:... |
Australian Endurance Championship | 2nd | Nissan Skyline DR30 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing |
1987 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition which was open to Touring Cars complying with regulations as defined by CAMS and based on FIA Group A rules. The championship, which was the 28th Australian Touring Car Championship, began on 1 March 1987 at Calder Park... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 3rd | Nissan Skyline DR30 | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing |
1988 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group 3A Touring Cars. It was the 29th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. Promoted as the “1988 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship”, it began on 6 March at Calder Park... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 13th | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | Peter Jackson Nissan Racing |
1989 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1989 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship was the 30th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 5 March 1989 at Amaroo Park and ended on 9 July at Oran Park Raceway after eight rounds... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 6th | Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R | Nissan Motorsport Australia |
1990 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1990 Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship was the 31st running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 25 February 1990 at Amaroo Park and ended on 15 July at Oran Park Raceway after 8 rounds... |
Australian Touring Car Championship | 13th | Ford Sierra RS500 | Glenn Seton Racing Glenn Seton Racing Glenn Seton Racing was a V8 Supercar racing team that competed in the V8 Supercar series in Australia.Glenn Seton formed his own team in 1989, using Ford Sierras. Seton had been a protege of the works Nissan team, and took the Peter Jackson cigarette sponsorship of that team with him. Former F1... |
1990 1990 Australian Endurance Championship The 1990 Australian Endurance Championship was the seventh running of the Australian Endurance Championship. It began on 9 September 1990 at Sandown Raceway and ended on 3 November at the Eastern Creek Raceway after three rounds... |
Australian Endurance Championship | 11th | Ford Sierra RS500 | Glenn Seton Racing |