The intruder

It might just be the most bizarre incident in the whole history of Australian motorsport.

A VH Valiant road car driven by, according to Racing Car News, ‘a hatless, beltless, cigarette-smoking daredevil.’.. made its way out of the spectator areas and onto the track in the middle of the ATCC title decider.

The interloper only managed one very slow and erratic lap before parking the Valiant in the front of the control tower (where he was physically dragged out of the window of the car Oran Park promoter Allan Horsley before going on to ‘assist police with their enquiries’…).

The Valiant’s eeting presence explains why none of the professional photographers got it on lm – it really was a case of blink and you’ll miss it.

But spectator Lynton Hemer managed to catch a happy snap of the Val lurching around the nal corner.

“I was doing my usual thing of taking pictures of the cars which offered the most, like Geoghegan and Moffat, who were sliding up through the sweeper with opposite lock on, or Jane because he was leading,” Lynton told us when he rst ran this pic, in AMC #72, “when the PA [commentator] suddenly found difficulty identifying a car going down through The Esses.

“By the time the car got to us, they’d worked out that it was not supposed to be there and we all started looking for him. Of course, we hoped he’d come around again, so we could get another laugh, but he thought the better of it and stopped at the pits.

“I’m only irritated that a bloke stood up in front of me, but grateful that he didn’t move left and block my shot completely!

“The funny thing was that I probably never made a print from the negative [frame] in the darkroom because the shot seemed poor quality, with the head in the way.

“A discussion on a forum mentioned the incident, so I went looking. I’d never realised I even had a photo of the car.”

AMC understands that the wouldbe Pacer racer ‘borrowed’ the new VH model from a car park at the circuit. The South Australian ‘RDL’ registration plates suggest the car was owned by Chrysler, possibly from the company’s press test eet…

Brian Goulding also remembers the incident – he even saw the driver open the gate so he could drive onto the track. Interestingly, Goulding’s recollection differs substantially from Max Stahl’s account in RCN. Goulding also claims it wasn’t a Pacer, but rather a two-door hardtop model VH Valiant:

“From our spectator position at the back of the mound at the Esses I noticed a young bloke stumble down to the car park and jump into a Valiant two-door. He drove to the metal gate across the circuit perimeter road and jumped out of the Valiant to open the gate – which amazingly was unlocked. He drove up the slight incline to join the race track just between turns one and two.

“So there was this road Valiant amongst the ATCC eld creeping along at what looked like a snail’s pace. Race cars were ying past it so if the driver thought he was going to show these blokes how to drive he was very much mistaken! The Valiant crept down pit lane and after the driver stopped he was introduced to the local constabulary.”

Few details on the rogue Valiant driver were released after the race, and 50 years later his identity and even his fate on the day remain unknown. The same goes for the Valiant (be it a Pacer or Hardtop) – which, given that the new VH Charger model did not make its race debut until the following month, might be considered to be the rst VH Valiant in the world to be ‘in’ a motor race…