The Other Side of Peter Brock

[BillyJoe]

From this week's commentary:

Reader Marcus Lang, Down Under, tells us:
Recently in Australia we have lost two of our most loved people, Steve Irwin and Peter Brock (our greatest racing car driver).....

Apparently Peter Brock was our greatest racing car driver but I wouldn't know because watching car racing is more pointless to me than watching grass grow and knowing about cars is as interesting to me as knowing about astrology. Which brings me to the point....

Peter Brock at one stage in his career, promoted a device which was meant to be attached to, I think, the exhaust pipe (or the intake pipe or whatever it's called), and it was supposed to improve the car's performance. There were no electrical attachments, or any components which could possibly do anything at all. Pure pseudoscience if I recall. The car company who sponsored him, severed their connection with him over the device. Kudos to them.

I wonder whatever came of this device and whether Peter Brock continued to back it or whether he accepted that it didn't work as claimed

Does anyone have any information abourt this.
(My googling was unsuccessful)

BillyJoe

 

[BillyJoe]

Wikipedia, of course....

Brock began publicly supporting and, eventually, began to fit to all HDT specials a device called the "Energy Polarizer" containing strong permanent magnets that, it was claimed, improved the performance and handling of vehicles through "aligning the molecules".

The reaction was rather positive.....

The overwhelming majority of the Australian motoring community regarded the device as pseudoscience

Holden, fearing the consequences of being associated with the device, cut ties with Brock

Wikipedia also refers to his interest in NewAge....

Amongst other things, Brock developed an interest in New Age-style spirituality through practitioner Eric Dowker

 

[The Fool]

From this week's commentary:



Apparently Peter Brock was our greatest racing car driver but I wouldn't know because watching car racing is more pointless to me than watching grass grow and knowing about cars is as interesting to me as knowing about astrology. Which brings me to the point....

Peter Brock at one stage in his career, promoted a device which was meant to be attached to, I think, the exhaust pipe (or the intake pipe or whatever it's called), and it was supposed to improve the car's performance. There were no electrical attachments, or any components which could possibly do anything at all. Pure pseudoscience if I recall. The car company who sponsored him, severed their connection with him over the device. Kudos to them.

I wonder whatever came of this device and whether Peter Brock continued to back it or whether he accepted that it didn't work as claimed

Does anyone have any information abourt this.
(My googling was unsuccessful)

BillyJoe

Ah Yes the Energy Polariser.

The Local Australian GM company (Holden) would give Peter Brock V8's and Brock would customise them, brand them with his signature and Holden would sell them as Brock "specials". It was a river of gold for Holden as the average petrol head youth just had to have one...or one of the V8 sedans they were built from. With the association with Brock GM was making ford and the Japanese look like 2nd rate players. Brock went a little loopy, became a bit of a new ager .GM could not risk selling such trash on thier flagship car and brock would not budge. End of the river of gold....

Brock was a great Driver, his fame came largely from his long string of successes at the Classic Bathurst 500 for sedans based on road cars, this race is watched by a lot of Australians and there is an old saying that what wins on Sunday sells on Monday.

As for Brock being the best ever?? Australias best ever who would arguably be either Jack Brabham, Alan Jones or our current F1 driver Mark Webber. I would stump for Webber who will be F1 world Champion if he ever gets a car that does not blow up....

 

[BillyJoe]

It seems the "Australian Skeptics", through their magazine "The Skeptic", awarded Peter Brock the "Bent Spoon Award" in 1986 for the "Energy Polarizer".

http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/2ndcoming/pseudoscience.pdf#search="Eric Dowker "

It's a PDF file.
You have to click on the sixth link to the left of the page.
You then have to right click on it to zoom in because it's unreadable otherwise.
A five page article about the polarizer commences on the next page (P7) and includes a description by the originator on how it works.

No one seems to know for sure who the originator was, but suspicion falls on the aforementioned Eric Dowker, a chiropractor and new age guru, with whom Peter Brock became associated at the time.

Contrary to one of the quotes above, it seems GMH severed connection with Peter Brock because their testing of the device showed that it had no effect and they could not get Brock to cooperate on further testing or to submit the results of his own tests.

 

[The Atheist]

Ah Yes the Energy Polariser.

Sounds a lot like this one.


I didn't know that Brockie was a fan of them - or maybe he was just a fan of the money they earned.

100% with you on Jack Brabham - peerless amongst Aucssie drivers to date. He is the Great White Shark of cars.

 

[BillyJoe]

The Local Australian GM company (Holden) would give Peter Brock V8's and Brock would customise them, brand them with his signature and Holden would sell them as Brock "specials". It was a river of gold for Holden as the average petrol head youth just had to have one....

Seems there are two companies then, Holden and GMH. Seems it was GMH, then, that tested the device and Holden that "feared the consequences of being associated with" a discredited device.

 

[BillyJoe]

Sounds a lot like this one.

The "Kynetik Power Pack" was merely a magnetic fuel-saving device from 1997
The "Energy Polarizer", from 1986, improved performance, handling, comfort (quieter and smoother), economy, and wear and tear.
Altogether a superior device!

I didn't know that Brockie was a fan of them - or maybe he was just a fan of the money they earned.

Perhaps. we should give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was unduly influenced by his guru, Eric Dowker.