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1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500

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Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938-1986)

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.

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

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

Class A

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

Results

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

Statistics

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  • 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

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  • 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
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