How a Coca-Cola V8 Supercar became a Pepsi V8 Supercar

WORLD 500cc Motorcycle Champion Wayne Gardner is one of a range of drivers from the 1999 Sensational Adelaide 500 field that is returning for this year’s event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Adelaide 500.

 

 

Not only will the former V8 Supercar team owner/driver be a special guest at the ’500, but the Coca-Cola Commodore he drove in Adelaide in 1999 will also be on hand on display as part of the celebrations.

 

 

But did you know the Coca-Cola Commodore he drove in Adelaide later became a car sponsored by the cola soft drink company’s biggest rival, Pepsi? Just as Holden and Ford were rivals in the biggest way in V8 Supercar racing at the time, corporate rivalries don’t come much bigger than Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

 

 

What started life as a Coca-Cola Commodore VT for Wayne Gardner in 1999 took on Pepsi colours just 12 months later.

 

 

Perkins Engineering built chassis PE 033 for Gardner ahead of a planned four-event effort in 1999 consisting of Albert Park, Adelaide, Gold Coast and Bathurst.

 

 

The car was prepared by Perkins alongside his own two Castrol entries, as Gardner had shut down his own Coke-backed, Wayne Gardner Racing team at the end of 1997.

 

 

Gardner’s 1999 campaign though hit a snag due to an early incident in Adelaide, which required repairs to the front chassis rails.

 

 

However, a subsequent crash for Dugal McDougall at Phillip Island that destroyed his VS Commodore (also run by Perkins) resulted in the McDougalls buying PE 033 and another new VT being built for Gardner for his return to V8 Supercars later in the year on the Gold Coast.

 

 

McDougall raced PE 033 for three and a half seasons, taking on Pepsi backing from the start of 2000.

 

 

The deal came about through the McDougall family business, which was at the time Pepsi’s largest distributor in country Victoria.

 

 

Preparation of the car moved from Perkins to Imrie Motorsport for 2002 and, after a tough season that included failing to qualify at two rounds, the McDougalls sold out of the sport.

 

 

PE 033 was subsequently raced by new owner Ben Eggleston in various Konica Series and V8 Touring Car Series events before being retired from competition.

 

 

It was restored to its 1999 Adelaide 500 livery while under the ownership of collector John Anderson, before being sold to current custodian Steve Tate in 2018.

 

 

While the Coca-Cola colours are back on its panels, Tate says there’s still evidence of its Pepsi history inside.

 

 

“I collected it after stepping through a few cars,” Tate said in V8 Sleuth’s 2021 publication Perkins Engineering: The Cars, 1986-2008.

 

 

“When I first saw it, I loved that it’s like a concourse restoration on the outside, but when you open the engine bay and boot and look inside, it still holds all the Dugal McDougall stuff.

 

 

“It shows the new and old, which is what I really like about the car.”