Robin John "Bob" Holden (born 1 December 1932 in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

) is an Australian racing driver. Holden raced small-engined touring cars throughout his career, racing

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

s in the early 1960s, establishing a reputation for himself which saw him become a regular part of

BMC Australia British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and ...

racing program for

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

s which culminated with a victory in the 1966 Bathurst 500 co-driving with

Rauno Aaltonen Rauno August Aaltonen (born 7 January 1938), also known as "The Rally Professor", is a Finnish former professional rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1970s. Career Before WRC was established Aaltonen compet ...

. Into the 1970s Holden moved on to race Ford Escorts in various guises, moving into

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

s in the 1980s, winning the 1.6-litre class at the Bathurst round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. In the mid-1990s Holden moved into

BMW M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

s and later a BMW 318i

Super Touring Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created ...

car in which he raced his final Bathurst in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, at the time setting the record for most Bathurst appearances. Holden has continued his involvement in racing through the historic racing scene, and has restored two of his

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

specification Ford Escorts to race in historic touring car racing, although one was recently badly damaged at Oran Park. He has also restored one of his Group A specification

FX-GTs which he races himself in the Australian Heritage Touring Car Championship for historic Group C and Group A touring cars. Holden is also involved in charity work, helping disadvantaged youth acquire trade skills to help establish themselves in society.

Career results

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Bob 1932 births Australian Formula 2 drivers Australian rally drivers Australian Touring Car Championship drivers Bathurst 1000 winners Living people Racing drivers from Melbourne Australian Endurance Championship drivers People from the City of Monash