MUSTANG RUN
PART TWO OF THE GREAT MOON TOUR AT THE DISH
For me t wo big things happened in 1969: Man landed on the Moon and Allan Moffat’s TransAm Mustang arrived on t he loca l racing scene. As a young fella I was mesmerised by the grainy images on a black and white TV in the school classroom of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin leav ing the Eagle lunar module to be the first t wo humans to walk on another planet. It was an unbelievable feat watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world.
At the time, I had no idea how they beamed the images to eart h for us to see and I certainly had no clue of Austra lia’s involvement. As my interest in the whole NASA program grew I discovered the CSIRO Telescope and Track ing station at Parkes in western New South Wales was involved.
For years I had been threatening to go there and the 50th anniversar y of man on the moon year seemed like the time to do it. I even watched The Dish for t he f irst t ime in 2019 !
My ride for t his trip had to be a Mustang. With ’69 models in short supply, the wonderful folk at Ford Oz threw me the keys to a 2019 GT in as near as darn it to Allan Moffat red and wit h a white stripe over it – just in case it didn’t stand out enough. Squinting, I could a lmost see t he Coca-Cola signage on its f lanks.
I couldn’t have been happier.
So on Friday July 19 we made our separate ways to Parkes – Guy in the HZ Kingswood from Melbourne (see issue 431), me in the Mustang from Sydney.
On the way to Parkes I gave a nod to Bathurst, where the Ford Mustang will compete once again for the f irst time since t he mid-1980s. Arguably t he best ever touring car round stoush on the mountain occurred in 1972 when (the late) Pete Geoghegan and Allan Moffat cleared out from t he f ield to wage a ll-out war for countless laps of t he mountainous, bumpy, public road track. After swapping the lead time and time again, Geoghegan was in front and, wit h a handful of laps remaining, oil started to lea k from his Super Falcon, giv ing Moffat’s Mustang a f ine coating of Castrol’s f inest over his windscreen.
Moffat hit t he wipers to clear t he screen which smeared oil ever y where and, in a desperate attempt to see and pass Geoghegan, he unbuck led his safet y harness, perched himself on t he roll bar and stuck his head out the window down Conrod Straight, at 150mph. If t hat doesn’t def ine determination, nothing does. Histor y shows the win to Geoghegan but it was a breathta k ing race that makes up a good slice of the magic of Mount Panorama.
Travelling considerably faster t hree years earlier were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins and Apollo 11.
Near the front row of the classroom on Monday July 21, 1969, sat a young Higgins watching histor y being made. Once in a lifetime histor y – t he only event to k nock foot y of the covers of both Melbourne papers.
Roll on 50 years. To go back through Bathurst on July 21, 2019, and not do a lap of Mount Panorama would be like a star v ing man k nocking back a meal.
With a 60 k m/h speed limit it wasn’t going to be a quick one, but it sure was a specia l one, t he soundtrack of t he 5-litre V8 t hrough t he quad ex hausts prov iding the perfect accompaniment, and t he rollercoaster v iew out t he front. Magic. A few tours later and I parked in pit la ne.
Then it was “adios” to Guy and Mt Panorama as I headed for the Blue Mountains and a date with the old Cata lina Park circuit, while t he trust y HZ headed in the direction of Canberra and Melbourne.
Nestled in the tow nship of Katoomba in a natura l amphitheatre is Cata lina Park, a once fearsome, fast, undulating narrow 2.1-k ilometre racetrack, ringed by sleeper fence and Armco that in its heyday from 1962 to 1970 bellowed to the sound of V8 Mustang touring cars, wickedly fast sports cars, open wheelers and even motorcycles.
Bob Jane, Pete Geoghegan, Neil Allen, Fred Gibson, Norm Beechey a ll raced their Mustangs here. The late Bob Jane famously destroyed his Mustang in a
“TRAVELLING CONSIDERABLY FASTER THREE YEARS EARLIER WERE ARMSTRONG, ALDRIN AND COLLINS”
“WITH A 60 KM/H SPEED LIMIT IT WASN’T GOING TO BE A QUICK ONE”
crash that saw the ponycar vault the fence and end up in t he spectator area.
It wasn’t uncommon for the track to be shrouded in fog wit h races not k ick ing of f until midday.
There’s no fog t he day I arrive, t hough t here is a bite in t he cold mountain air and a slight ghost ly feeling standing on t he starting grid as I imagine t he ka leidoscope of colour and sound as the touring cars lined up for another bruising encounter.
After walking a lap of t he track, I can only imagine that any driver who competed here must have taken a good dose of brave pills if he or she wanted to be fast. Deep long gouges found in many parts of the sleeper fence are testament to the punishment handed out for any errant driv ing.
The bravest of a ll was t he late Frank Matich, one of Austra lia’s greatest drivers who holds t he lap record of 53.4 seconds in his world-class Match SR4 sportcar.
Af ter soaking up t he atmosphere of t hat abandoned racetrack it was time to point the snout of the GT Mustang at Sydney. I ref lected on the colossa l achievement of NASA in the race to the moon, Austra lia’s role in the space program and the braver y of Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins 50 years ago.
If nothing else, t his trip conf irmed, once again, what a great mile-eater t he current Mustang is. It may have been developed on the other side of t he Pacif ic, but it’s ver y much at home here in Austra lia.