Miedecke Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team that is competing in Australian GT. It has previously competed in touring car racing between 1987 and 1989, and an earlier form of the team also competed in open wheel racing between 1981 and 1983.
History
Open Wheel Racing
Prior to the formation of the Group A Touring car racing team in 1987, Andrew Miedecke had run his own team in open wheel racing. He finished fourth in the 1976 Australian Formula 2 Championship driving a Rennmax BN7 with sponsorship from Sydney based department store chain Grace Bros. He later campaigned a Ralt RT4-Ford in the 1982 and 1983 Australian Drivers' Championships with backing from the Port Macquarie Tourist Bureau. He placed 3rd in 1982, winning Round 2 of the series at the Adelaide International Raceway, and would finish 3rd again in 1983, again winning Round 2 of the series at Lakeside in Brisbane. Miedecke had not actually planned to race the Ralt during 1983 but changed his mind after watching Round 1 of the series (Adelaide) on television and found himself wishing he was out there.
Miedecke had actually begun competing in the Ralt at the 1981 Australian Grand Prix at Calder Park in Melbourne where he qualified in 11th place before a steady run saw him finish 5th just one lap down on winner Roberto Moreno of Brazil. Miedecke also finished on the same lap as Formula One World Champion Nelson Piquet who finished 2nd. He again qualified 11th for the 1982 Australian Grand Prix at Calder and went on to finish 6th, one lap down on Frenchman Alain Prost. At the 1983 Australian Grand Prix at Calder, Miedecke again qualified the Ralt in 11th place, though he failed to finish the race after the rotor button in the distributor failed on lap 64.
Racing his Ralt Ford, Andrew Miedecke won the 1981 and 1982 Malaysian Grand Prix at the Shah Alam Circuit.
Touring Cars
Andrew Miedecke's first start in touring cars came at the 1986 James Hardie 1000 when he was to drive a Mercedes-Benz 190E imported from West Germany as part of Bob Jane's team. Partnered with German driver Jörg van Ommen, they qualified the Class B car in 35th place but were out of the race after van Ommen was pushed into the outside fence at Murray's Corner at the end of the first lap. It was the first retirement of the race.
Miedecke Motorsport was formed in 1987 by Don Smith as Oxo Supercube Motorsport to compete in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship with a pair of Ford Sierra RS Cosworths sourced from English Sierra expert Andy Rouse. With sponsorship from Oxo. Andrew Miedecke signed on to drive the second car. Mid-season, Smith sold his car to John Giddings who took over driving it at round six.
After a frustrating ATCC in which Miedecke was often among the leaders in the Sierra, the team upgraded to the newly homologated Ford Sierra RS500 for the endurance races including the Castrol 500 at Sandown in Melbourne and, the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst and the Bob Jane T-Marts 500 at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway, the latter two races being rounds of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship.
The Castrol 500 was something of a disaster for the team. After Miedecke had set the fastest time in qualifying to grab provisional pole position (before the "Dulux Dozen" top 12 runoff for pole), Don Smith rolled the Sierra at the end of the main straight, putting the car out for the weekend. The team's second car driven by veterans John Giddings and Bruce Stewart failed to finish after their Sierra suffered differential failure on lap 82.