Old Fords and Bathurst

So “Holden” won the ‘Bathurst’ in 2020. Now it is coming on again (perhaps) but not until November.

Big deal. I saw my first “Bathurst 1000” at Phillip Island, in 1960 when a Vauxhall Cresta, of all things, won the Armstrong 500. That was the race that became the “Bathurst”, the Armstrong 1000.

Before I go on, let me tell you that I drove a Torana at Bathurst, on the Mount Panorama circuit. I’ll tell you about that experience in a minute or two.

My brother Jonathon and I hitch-hiked down from Drouin to Phillip Island, walked along the beach and the rocks and got in under the back fence. It was a hot and dusty day and we had enough money for one bottle of soft-drink between us. We watched all the races, swallowed the dust and hitch-hiked back home. I still remember every step of that adventure.

Jonathon and I shared some remarkable adventures in those days, only a few of which ever came to our parents’ attention.

There was a growly Ford Customline in that race, looking bigger and more powerful than anything else, and it was. It was also the only entrant in Class E, for cars with engines over 3500cc.

Spare a moment to consider the Armstrong 500, run for the first time that year, 1960, and then moved to Mount Panorama in 1963, largely sponsored back then by Armstrong shock absorbers and now by almost everyone.

There were five classes, starting at 30-second intervals. I’ve mentioned that a Customline was the only car in Class E, for engines over 3500cc, but look at Class A, for cars of 750cc or less, including Fiat 600s and a Renault 750. Class A was won by a ‘hotted up’ Simca Aronde – now I’m really testing your memory, am I not? These were the days when enthusiasts took whatever car they could afford and made it go as fast as possible, usually working in a shed in the backyard.

Class B included a Ford Anglia, a Triumph Herald and even a Volkswagen beetle. In Class C we were getting into the really powerful and sporty beasties – not. This class included a Hillman Minx and a Morris Major.

Class D included a Humber Super Snipe, a

Vanguard, the John Roxburgh/Frank Coade Vauxhall Cresta which was declared the overall winner – and the first Falcon, the XK. We didn’t know it then but the appearance of this Falcon marked the start of one of the greatest chapters of Australian motor-racing history.

Don’t talk to me about Toranas and Monaros and Commodores on Mount Panorama. Those gutsy V8 Falcons were the real heroes of the Bathurst race, and they had the best sound, too. Yes, I am a little biased.

Ford has won 21 of the big races on Mount Panorama and Holden has won 34. That is a little unbalanced because there were more private entrants with Commodores. That is my story, anyway.

I gather that the Holden total includes the wins of Holden Toranas in 1976, 1978 and 1979. Of course, the Ford total is also boosted by the wins by Ford Cortinas in 1963 and 1964. For those of us who can still remember the Cortina that will come as something of a shock.

Mind you, in the long history of the Falcon and Commodore rivalry there have been some notable exceptions.

Back at Phillip Island in those nitty-gritty, dusty days of the early 1960s the second Armstrong 500, in 1961, was won by Bob Jane and Harry Firth in a Mercedes 220SE – they were declared the winner because they were the only team to complete the 500 miles. There were four classes again, with the Class A winner being a Studebaker Lark, followed home by a Vauxhall Velox. Class B was won by the Jane-Firth Mercedes, with second place going to an XK Ford Falcon.

Class C was one by a Peugeot 403, followed by another, with a Simca in third place and another Peugeot 403 in fourth. This class also included a Volkswagen and two Morris Majors, neither of which finished. The

Volkswagen was beaten by the Mercedes by fifteen laps.

In Class D two Renault Gordinis filled the quinella, followed home by two Triumph Heralds and then a Ford Anglia. The class included a Morris Mini 850. I’m listing these because they are names that take me back a ways, as they will many of you, but also to show these were the days when if you had a car you could ‘soup it up’ and race it without having a million dollars in sponsorships.

In 1962, the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, the classes were based on the purchase price of the production models with a maximum of two thousand pounds, to eliminate ‘racing’ cars.

The overall winner was an XL Ford Falcon followed home by three more, then an EJ Holden and, believe it or not two Austin Freeways (remember them?). The class winners were a Studebaker Lark, the Falcon (Firth and Jane again), a Renault Gordini (followed by a Morris Major Elite, a Simca Aronde and a (wait for it) Hillman Minx) and the determined little VW won Class D. If you can remember all those cars you must be nearly as old as I am,

Again, this class had the Triumph Heralds, the VWs, the Anglias and a couple of Morris 850s. They were ugly little cars but we thought they had a glamour of their own. Nor were they very powerful. Imagine racing a car under 1000cc in a major motor race today.

Unfortunately ‘our’ race was then pinched by the New South Welshman because the Phillip Island track took a beating, apparently due to the large number of cars in the 500. Big potholes were opened up in the cold-bitumen track and it could not be repaired in time and within a sensible budget.

The track is in great shape again now and gets significant use, but the big race started here has gone to Bathurst and it has been lengthened to 1000 kilometres. The Bathurst “1000” sounds more impressive than the Armstrong “500” but Bathurst is measured in kilometres and is just over 621 miles in the old measure.

Times change and most things change with time but the super-professionalism of today’s big races has somehow taken away the flavour of the motor racing we knew sixty years ago, and you can’t just sneak under the back fence to watch at Mount Panorama, can you?