FALCON GT
BATHURST WAS THE ENTRY POINT FOR THIS LOCAL LEGEND
REMEMBERED FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS
When the Australian motor industry was entering its golden era, one car set the benchmark. Ford’s Falcon GTHO and its various GT derivatives, especially in Phase III form, dominated at Bathurst from 1967–1972.
Harry Firth masterminded the Ford race programme for the GTS and, with co-driver Fred Gibson, secured the car’s win at Bathurst in 1967. Holden had nothing that could compete with the GTS until the Holden Dealer Team Monaros were created. It was the beginning of a glorious period of competition when success at Mount Panorama equated to success in the market for Ford, Holden, and Chrysler.
In other major events, such as the 1968 London–sydney Marathon, Ford Falcon GTS acquitted themselves well, despite a win to a small Hillman Hunter driven by Scot Andrew Cowan.
Heading the Ford Team
In his book, Climbing the Mountain, Allan Moffat says the Ford Falcon GTHO would be remembered as the greatest muscle car ever built in Australia, and “the first and last of the supercars”.
It could have even been even greater as a Phase IV version was ready for 1972, but public outcry over road-registerable race cars put paid to those plans, and signalled the end of Ford’s direct involvement in Australian touring car racing.
When we contacted Allan Moffat recently, he noted how much driver safety has changed.
“Cars from that era until now have changed quite substantially in safety, going from showroom-floor cars to purpose-built race cars.”
Moffat’s association with Ford started back in the 1960s. Racing a Ford Lotus Cortina in the United States was especially important to his career from 1965 to 1989, which eventually resulted in 13 titles in different makes of cars. They included Australian Sports Sedan, Australian Endurance, FIA Touring Cars, and World Touring Cars championships, often in a Ford Falcon until his last race in the model at Bathurst in 1980 in an XD Falcon. At one time, he also teamed up with good mate Peter Brock in a Holden Commodore for Bathurst, and in 1981, stunned his fans with a very successful stint in a Mazda RX7, the little car taking victories in the 1982 and 1984 Australian Endurance Championships.
A hands-on team manager
Al Turner arrived from the US to head Ford’s race programme, and things started to move pretty quickly for Moffat. Turner was well aware of Moffat’s reputation for developing cars in testing and his sympathetic touch on the racetrack. In 1969, after Holden launched the Monaro with a 350ci V8, Ford sprang the HO model on the market: a purpose-built race car with “handling options”, as Al Turner explained to the press.
“Ford’s race program was very important to my career, as it gave me some pretty good cars to drive in all races of that era,” Allan said.
In 1969, most cars used radial tyres for motor racing, which were not ideal for reliability and top performance. Using Turner and Moffat’s previous association with Goodyear, they decided to bring in a container of their race tyres for the Fords.
During the race, it was discovered that if drivers were harder on their tyres, they made contact with the Ford’s upper balljoints with disastrous results. The race was memorable for Bill Brown’s spectacular barrel roll approaching a Skyline in his Phase II, when a front right tyre blew. Miraculously, Brown was only shaken and bruised.