They changed their name to Grand Prix in 1980 with the lineup of Bernie Shaw on lead vocals, Michael O'Donoghue on guitar, Ralph Hood on bass, Andy Beirne on drums and Phil Lanzon on keyboards.
[5] Lanzon, McAuley, and O'Donoghue briefly carried on under the name Operator recruiting former Motörhead drummer Phil Taylor and former The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Michael Schenker Group bassist Chris Glen.
Hood became a member of multi-national band Tarzen, led by Danny Peyronel of Heavy Metal Kids and UFO fame, and appeared on their self-titled 1985 debut album.
[8] McAuley would form GMT with former Operator band mates Phil Taylor and Chris Glen who released the One by One EP, consisting of four unreleased Grand Prix songs, in 1986.
McAuley was then recruited by German producer/songwriter Frank Farian for his all-star project Far Corporation who landed a UK Top 10 hit with a re-make of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" in October 1985.