Back in the infancy of vehicle production over 100 years ago, car czar Henry Ford famously stated that his customers could have a Model T Ford in any colour "as long as it was black".
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Out at the Hume workshops of Neal Bates Automotive, you can have any Toyota GR86 production race car as long as it is white.
While Ford built only in black because it was the cheapest colour, Neal Bates explained he wanted white because "it was just easier to order them that way from the factory".
"Everyone who buys one will wrap them in the colours and sponsors they want anyway," he said.
The workshop of Australia's four-time rally champion has been humming with activity for weeks and will remain so right through to the end of 2023.
He and his small team have been commissioned to produce as many as 35 completely identical cars ahead of next year's Toyota Gazoo Racing 86 series.
Next year will mark the seventh year of the series and with it, the introduction of a new, more powerful GR model.
For the previous production series, Bates built some race cars but others built their own.
And therein landed the problem.
Some competitors claimed that some tiny build differences between the cars provided a performance advantage. In a category where hundredths of a second can win or lose a race, it developed into an issue which, for the record, Bates says was all a bit of a furphy.
"I don't believe it for a second," he said.
Nonetheless, to ensure a completely level playing field for 2023, Bates and his team will build the lot in Canberra to a completely identical specification.
Each white sports car is rolled off the truck, complete and road-registerable. Then the strip-out begins, with the glass front and rear removed so the unwanted interior trim can be more easily gutted, the stock suspension pulled off and the tweaks added.
Local Canberra region suppliers fettle a new free-flow exhaust system and a roll cage for safety. The engine also gains a new electronic control unit so the Bates-built cars are faster, safer, and lighter than the factory originals.
All are delivered race ready for their new owners at a price of $89,990. All you need is a helmet, race suit, cash - and talent.
Sales opened in late May and more than two-thirds of next year's grid are already sold.
Neal's eldest son and rally driving prodigy Harry Bates is handling the program's sales and marketing and says that with two drivers who were previously successful in the series now racing for top-ranked V8 Supercar teams, it has a proven track record.
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"This production series is the logical step-up for a lot of drivers, particularly young guys who want to get noticed and potentially progress into the main game [of V8 Supercars]," he said.
"The 86 series is on the same program as the V8 Supercars, it gets television airtime and you're there in pitlane on race day, under the noses of the V8 team bosses."
While a professional racing career potentially beckons for those good enough to take a car identical to all the others and win, the same path is also strewn with battered egos.
"The cars are well-balanced and great to race and yes, it is a tough game, but it can take you places," Bates said.
