1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500

Summary

The 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was the tenth running of the Bathurst 500 production car race. It was held on 5 October 1969 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. Cars competed in five classes based on purchase price (Australian dollars) of the vehicle.

Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938-1986)

The race was won by the newly formed Holden Dealer Team with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts with teammates Peter Brock and Des West finishing third in their Holden Monaro GTS350's, with the team's third car finishing sixth. In between them in second position was defending race winners Bruce McPhee and his single-lap co-driver Barry Mulholland driving a Phase 1 Ford Falcon GTHO. McPhee and Mulholland, who had won in 1968 driving the Holden Monaro GTS327, had originally intended to race a Monaro 350 in 1969 but after receiving no help from Holden, instead decided to race one of the new Falcons.

Peter Brock and Canadian Allan Moffat made their Bathurst débuts in the race. Brock with Harry Firth's Holden Dealer Team, and Moffat driving a works Falcon GTHO with Alan Hamilton. Between them, Brock and Moffat would go on to win 13 of the next 17 Bathurst 500/1000s (until 1987), with Brock winning a record nine times (all for Holden), and Moffat winning four times for Ford.

The Ford Works Team were the favourites to win the race with their new Falcon GTHOs which with their new 5.8-litre (351 cui) V8's proved to have a speed advantage over the 5.7-litre (350 cui) Monaros. However, the decision by Ford Works Team's American manager Al Turner to import special racing tyres for the Falcons proved to be a disaster. During the race numerous tyre failures put the Works cars out of contention. After early tyre failures on the Ian and Leo Geoghegan car, as well as the Fred Gibson and Barry Seton car, Turner called Moffat into the pits for a tyre change. There it was found that Moffat had been far easier on his tyres than either Ian Geoghegan or Seton and that the stop was not necessary. As of 2016, Moffat believes that this decision cost himself and co-driver Alan Hamilton the race win. The day after the race, Ford ran a full page newspaper advert stating "We were a little deflated" referring to the tyre failures.

1969 was also notable for the first lap crash which saw at least one third of the field forced to retire or continue with accident damage. Bill Brown rolled his Falcon GTHO coming through Skyline, all but blocking the track while John French, who qualified 21st, rolled his Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV trying to avoid the carnage that Brown's rollover caused. One driver lucky to escape the carnage was Allan Moffat who had pulled up just out of The Cutting on the first lap with his Falcon stuck in neutral. Once he got going he was able to weave through the bedlam at Skyline and continue on his way.[1] For Brown, it would be the first of three rollovers at Bathurst on the same piece of road (McPhillamy Park - Skyline), with the second in 1971 bringing a lucky escape from death.

Class structure edit

 
The winning Holden Monaro GTS350 (pictured at Lakeside in July 1970)

Class A edit

The smallest class was for under cars the cost less $1,860. It was made up of Datsun 1000, Hillman Imp, Morris Mini K and Toyota Corolla.

Class B edit

The $1,861 to $2,250 class was dominated by the Datsun 1600, but also contained Ford Cortina, Hillman Gazelle, Morris 1500, Renault 10 and Volkswagen Type 3.

Class C edit

The $2,251 to $3,100 class saw a mix of Chrysler Valiant, Fiat 125, Ford Capri, Mazda R100, Morris Cooper S and Renault 16.

Class D edit

The $3,101 to $4,500 class featured the outright contenders, Ford Falcon GTHO and Holden Monaro, but also contained a single Toyota Corona.

Class E edit

For cars over $4,500, had a single automatic gearbox version of the Ford Falcon GT but otherwise was all Alfa Romeo with 1750 GTV and a single 1750 Berlina.

Top 10 Qualifiers edit

Pos No Team Driver Car Qual
Pole 59 Ford Australia   Ian Geoghegan Ford XW Falcon GTHO 2:48.9
2 51 Fair Deal Car Sales   Digby Cooke Holden HT Monaro GTS350 2:50.0
3 46 Kloster Pty Ltd   Bruce McPhee Ford XW Falcon GTHO 2:50.1
4 61 Ford Australia   Allan Moffat Ford XW Falcon GTHO 2:53.6
5 60 Ford Australia   Fred Gibson Ford XW Falcon GTHO 2:53.7
6 56 Scuderia Veloce
Alto Ford
  David McKay Ford XW Falcon GTHO 2:53.7
7 44 Holden Dealer Team   Colin Bond Holden HT Monaro GTS350 2:53.8
8 42 Holden Dealer Team   Peter Macrow Holden HT Monaro GTS350 2:54.5
9 50 McLeod Ford   John Goss Ford XW Falcon GTHO 2:55.3
10 43 Holden Dealer Team   Des West Holden HT Monaro GTS350 2:55.4

Results edit

Pos Class No Team Drivers Car Laps Qual
Pos
1 D 44 Holden Dealer Team   Colin Bond
  Tony Roberts
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 130 7
2 D 46 Kloster Pty Ltd   Bruce McPhee
  Barry Mulholland
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 130 2
3 D 43 Holden Dealer Team   Peter Brock
  Des West
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 130 10
4 D 61 Ford Australia   Allan Moffat
  Alan Hamilton
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 129 4
5 D 59 Ford Australia   Ian Geoghegan
  Leo Geoghegan
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 128 1
6 D 42 Holden Dealer Team   Peter Macrow
  Henk Woelders
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 128 8
7 D 54 Wright Ford Motors Pty Ltd   Bob Beasley
  Bob Muir
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 127 18
8 E 71 Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo   Kevin Bartlett
  Len Goodwin
Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 126 22
9 E 68 C Smith   Charlie Smith
  Bill Ford
Ford XW Falcon GT Automatic 126 20
10 D 58 Byrt Ford   Martin Chenery
  Ernie Johnson
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 125 19
11 E 69 Canberra Speed Shop   Peter Brown
  Ray Gulson
Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina 122 27
12 D 63 R Genders   Joe Butta
  Bob Genders
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 122 24
13 D 48 Rowell Thiele Ford Pty Ltd   Mike Savva
  Bob Wilkinson
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 121 11
14 C 30 Waterloo High Performance Tuning Centre   Ron Gillard
  Warren Gracie
Morris Cooper S 119 36
15 C 38 Grenville Motors P/L   Peter Finlay
  Bob Forbes
Fiat 125 119 34
16 C 31 Zanardo & Rodriguez Sales & Service   Ron Kearns
  Gerry Lister
Fiat 125 119 37
17 C 22 Graham Ryan Auto Repairs   Graham Ryan
  Mike Kable
Chrysler Valiant Pacer 118 30
18 B 18 W.H. Motors   Bruce Stewart
  George Garth
Datsun 1600 117 41
19 C 25 G Cooke   Gary Cooke
  Geoff Spence
Mazda R100 117 35
20 C 32 Marque Motors   Ian Hindmarsh
  Bill Stanley
Morris Cooper S 117 33
21 C 23 Trevor Mason Developments   Trevor Mason
  Neil Mason
Mazda R100 117 32
22 C 26 Regal Motors Pty Ltd   Les Grose
  Graham Moore
Morris Cooper S 117 45
23 B 15 Datsun Racing Team   John Roxburgh
  Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1600 117 44
24 B 17 W.H. Motors   Don Smith
  Peter Wilson
Datsun 1600 114 43
25 B 19 McInnes Automotive Conversions   Dave Morrow
  Bob Wootton
Datsun 1600 114 51
26 D 57 P Bradford   Roy Griffiths
  Glyn Scott
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 114 17
27 B 14 Datsun Racing Team   William Coad
  Jon Leighton
Datsun 1600 113 46
28 C 28 D Frazer   David Frazer
  Allan Johns
Morris Cooper S 113 42
29 A 2 AMI Toyota   Brian Sampson
  Bob Morris
Toyota Corolla 112 52
30 A 6 Datsun Racing Team   Bill Evans
  Barry Tapsall
Datsun 1000 110 55
31 B 20 McLeod Ford Pty Ltd   Max Dickson
  Diane Dickson
Ford Cortina Mk.II 240 108 57
32 B 10 Provincial Motors Pty Ltd   Gary Campbell
  Gerry Murphy
Volkswagen 1600 107 58
33 C 27 President Car Sales   Bill Bryden
  John T. Smith
Renault 16TS 107 53
34 A 7 Kent BMC   David Bye
  Richard Willis
Morris Mini K 104 61
35 B 9 R Edgerton   Bob Edgerton
  Ross Edgerton
Renault 10 100 62
36 A 8 P & R Williams   Arthur Olsen
  Sandra Bennett
Morris Mini K 99 63
37 B 12 R. G. Lanyon   Alf Barrett
  Mel Mollison
Morris 1500 97 56
38 D 52 Harry Gapps Ford Pty Ltd   Harry Gapps
  Frank Hann
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 94 23
39 A 4 C.J. Cronin   Martin Cortese
  Steve Parkes
Toyota Corolla 93 60
40 C 35 T Meehan   Trevor Meehan
  Mal Brewster
Morris Cooper S 93 39
41 B 16 M.T.R. Services   Nick Ledingham
  Damon Beck
Hillman Gazelle 84 49
42 C 36 E.M. Automation Pty Ltd   Paul Mander
  Phil Edwards
Morris Cooper S 82 29
DNF D 51 Fair Deal Car Sales   Digby Cooke
  David Bowden
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 96 2
DNF D 60 Ford Australia   Fred Gibson
  Barry Seton
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 93 5
DNF C 24 K Grose   Keith Grose
  John Wright
Ford Capri Mk.I 1600GT 92 38
DNF A 1 A Johns   George Geshopulos
  Ray Scanlan
Hillman Imp GT 88 59
DNF C 37 Grand Prix Auto Services   Ann Thomson
  Carole Corness
Morris Cooper S 82 47
DNF D 56 Scuderia Veloce
Alto Ford
  David McKay
  Brian Foley
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 78 6
DNF D 45 AMI Toyota   Max Stewart
  Brian Reed
Toyota Corona 1900SL 78 28
DNF B 21 M.T.R. Services   Hans Tholstrup
  Brian Connell
Datsun 1600 73 64
DNF D 50 McLeod Ford Pty Ltd   John Goss
  Denis Cribbin
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 50 9
DNF C 33 Brian Foley Motors Pty Ltd   Christine Gibson
  Lynne Keefe
Fiat 125 48 40
DNF D 62 Anthony Horden & Sons Ltd   Nick Petrilli
  Max Stahl
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 45 15
DNF D 64 Boyded of Bankstown   Bill Tuckey
  Sib Petralia
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 44 13
DNF D 53 B Arentz   Barry Arentz
  Brian Michelmore
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 36 12
DNF C 39 D.H. Whitehead   Bernie Haehnle
  Peter Wherrett
Mazda R100 31 31
DNF B 11 Dependable Motor Sales Pty Ltd   Bruce Darke
  Dennis Cooke
Datsun 1600 4 50
DNF C 29 Central Motors Penrith P/L   Bob Cook
  Alan Cant
Ford Capri Mk.I 1600GT 1 48
DNF D 55 Scuderia Veloce
Alto Ford
  Bill Brown
  Phil West
Ford XW Falcon GTHO 0 16
DNF E 72 Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo   John French
  Doug Chivas
Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 0 21
DNF E 67 Bryan Thompson Motors   Bryan Thompson
  Graham Ritter
Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 0 25
DNF C 34 Varsity Auto Centre   John Prisk
  Alan Cameron
Morris Cooper S 0 27
DSQ A 3 AMI Toyota   Barry Ferguson
  Jim Laing-Peach
Toyota Corolla 103 54
DNS[2] D[2] 49[2] Young & Green Pty. Ltd.[2]   David Sheldon
  Don Holland
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 15
DNS A 5 Datsun Racing Team   Bob Holden
  Don Toffolon
Datsun 1000

Statistics edit

  • Pole Position - #59 Ian Geoghegan - 2:48.9
  • Fastest Lap - #61 Moffat/Hamilton & #60 Gibson/Seton - 2:52.1 (lap record)
  • Average Speed - 123 km/h
  • Race Time - 6:32:25

References edit

  • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999. Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 162–169 & 457. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
  1. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b c d Complete Results, 1969 Bathurst 500, Australian Motor Manual, January 1970, pages 26 & 27

External links edit

  • CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
  • race results