MAZDA maestro Allan Horsley’s long been a man of motorsport. Back before the heady days of Sydney’s Oran Park, through ear-splitting days with Allan Moffat’s RX-7 and then success-upon-success with Mazda race and rally teams.
Horsley’s a no-crap, droll character. Ever ready with brusque quip and a dry smile. A multi-talented manager behind winning teams - from endurance championships to a hat-trick of Bathurst 12 Hour victories - Horsley also doubled as a Mazda public relations man for more than 30 years; his press launches were memorable.
As an Albury lad, Horsley was hooked on motorsport. He built his first race car at 16 - “a pretty ugly looking thing.” In the late 1950s, he helped build the Hume Weir circuit on the south side of the Murray River, became secretary of the Albury and District Car Club and ran race meetings there.
“I was racing odds and sods, interested in rallying too. Then I got a call from Jack Allan at Oran Park,” he recalls. “So, I flew up for an interview - my first time on an aeroplane. The place was in a pretty bad financial situation, but we got it to come good and redeveloped the joint.”
From 1965, young Horsley was Oran Park’s manager, signing rising ace Peter Brock to race exclusively at that track in New South Wales; Brock and Moffat both got “expense money”.
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