1966 Gallaher 500

The 1966 Gallaher 500 was an endurance motor race for production cars, held on 2 October 1966 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales in Australia. It was the seventh running of the Bathurst 500 race [1] and the first time that the event had been staged under the Gallaher 500 name. 250 examples of a particular model had to be registered for a vehicle to be eligible for the race, up from the 100 examples required in previous years.[2]

1966 Gallaher 500
Previous: 1965 Next: 1967

The race was dominated by the Morris Cooper S. It was won by the BMC entered example of Finnish rally star Rauno Aaltonen and experienced Australian Mini racer Bob Holden a lap ahead of Fred Gibson and Bill Stanley, leading home a flotilla of Cooper Ss that filled the first nine outright race positions. The best non-Mini was a Chrysler Valiant, some six laps behind Aaltonen and Holden in tenth position.

Class structure

Cars competed in four classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars.

Class A

The Up to $1,800 class was contested by Datsun 1300, Fiat 850, 1.2 litre Ford Cortina, Morris Mini De Luxe and Morris 850.

Class B

The $1,801 to $2,040 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina, Hillman Minx, Isuzu Bellett, Morris Cooper, Prince Skyline, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona.

Class C

The $2,041 to $2,700 class entry list was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also included a Fiat 1500, and a Toyota Crown.

Class D

The $2,701 to $4,000 class featured Chrysler Valiant, Holden HD X2, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122S.

Results

Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden won the race outright driving this Morris Cooper S. The car is pictured in 2006.
George Reynolds and Barry Ferguson placed fifth in Class B driving this Isuzu Bellett. The car is pictured in 2015
Pos. Class No. Entrant [3] Drivers Car Laps
1 C 13 BMC (Australia) Pty. Ltd. Rauno Aaltonen
Bob Holden
Morris Cooper S 130
2 C 17 Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd. Fred Gibson
Bill Stanley
Morris Cooper S 129
3 C 22 Regal Motors Pty. Ltd. Bruce McPhee
Barry Mulholland
Morris Cooper S 129
4 C 27 Marque Motors Arthur Davis
Paul Mander
Morris Cooper S 128
5 C 10 Baulkham Hills Service Station Peter Brown
Bob Cook
Morris Cooper S 128
6 C 9 L. Gordon Dent Pty. Ltd. Harry Firth
Ern Abbott
Morris Cooper S 128
7 C 24 W. Jamieson [4] John Leffler
Bill Jamieson
Morris Cooper S 127
8 C 23 BMC (Australia) Pty. Ltd. John French
Steve Harvey
Morris Cooper S 127
9 C 16 B. Arentz Barry Arentz
Barry Seton
Morris Cooper S 125
10 D 5 Eiffel Tower Motors Jack Nougher
David O'Keefe
Chrysler VC Valiant V8 Automatic 124
11 D 6 Advanx (Gosford) Motor Service Pty. Ltd. Alton Boddenberg
Digby Cooke
Chrysler VC Valiant V8 Automatic 122
12 B 41 Gordon Stewart's Sports Car Centre Don Holland
Peter Cray
Morris Cooper 120
13 D 3 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Max Stewart
Bob Young
Triumph 2000 120
14 C 20 R. C. Kearns Ron Kearns
Barry Quayle
Fiat 1500 120
15 D 8 British & Continental Cars Kevin Bartlett
John Harvey
Volvo 122S 119
16 C 14 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Bill Buckle
Allan Mottram
Toyota Crown 119
17 B 33 Vern Potts Doug Chivas
Doug Chivas, Jr.
Morris Cooper 119
18 B 42 Brian Foley Motors Pty. Ltd. Laurie Stewart
Ray Morris
Morris Cooper 119
19 D 7 M. Savva Mike Savva
Herb Taylor
Holden HD X2 118
20 B 37 Australian Motor Industries Brian Reed
Des Kelly
Toyota Corona 117
21 B 29 Canopus Motors Pty. Ltd. George Reynolds
Barry Ferguson
Isuzu Bellett 1500 117
22 A 54 Nissan Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. Moto Kitano
Kunimitsu Takahashi
Datsun 1300 117
23 A 49 Nissan Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. John Roxburgh
Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1300 116
24 A 53 Peakhurst Tyre Service Pty. Ltd. Brian Lawler
Harry Gapps
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 116
25 B 45 Motor Racing Components Lionel Ayers
Max Volkers
Hillman Minx Series 6 116
26 A 51 Nissan Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. John Colwell
Fred Sutherland
Datsun 1300 116
27 B 32 Australian Motor Industries Brian Sampson
Lew Marshall
Toyota Corona 116
28 A 47 Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd. Trevor Meehan
Ian Hindmarsh
Fiat 850 113
29 A 55 Marque Motors Mike Schneider
Bruce Wright
Morris Mini De Luxe 113
30 B 40 John Rhodin Pty. Ltd. Arthur Treloar
Colin Bond
Isuzu Bellett 1500 111
31 A 56 Radial Tyre Service Pty. Ltd. George Garth
Ray Marquet
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1200 110
32 A 50 Ken Lindsay Motors Pty. Ltd. Ken Lindsay
Des West
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1200 110
33 B 34 Peter Williamson Pty. Ltd. Peter Williamson
Alex Macarthur
Toyota Corona 110
34 A 57 K. D. McCallum & Coy John T. Smith
Dennis Gregory
Morris Mini De Luxe 109
35 B 43 Renault R8 Bob Edgerton
Ross Edgerton
Renault R8 106
36 B 31 Varsity Auto Centre John Prisk
Mike Martin
Morris Cooper 105
37 B 35 Autobahn Motors Pty. Ltd. Bruce Darke
Don James
Isuzu Bellett 1500 104
38 D 2 Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd. Warren Weldon
Bill Slattery
Studebaker Lark 88
39 A 48 M. Bailey Malcolm Bailey
John Hicks
Morris 850 87
40 B 38 Wheelmar Distributors Pty. Ltd. Carl Kennedy
Doug Stewart
Prince Skyline 1500 82
41 B 30 Denis Geary Motors Pty. Ltd. Gary Hodge
Denis Geary
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500 74
DNF C 21 Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd. Frank Matich
Bruce Demuth
Morris Cooper S 126
DNF A 46 Bill Burns Bill Burns
Alex Lazich
Fiat 850
DNF A 58 G. Shoesmith Gary Shoesmith
Tony Robards
Vauxhall Viva 94
DNF C 26 M. Crampton Engineering Mick Crampton
Geoff Leeds
Morris Cooper S
DNF C 18 C. G. Smith Charlie Smith
Ron Haylen
Morris Cooper S 64
NC C 19 Radford Carriers Rick Radford
David Bye
Morris Cooper S 54
DNF D 4 British & Continental Cars Gerry Lister
Graham Porter
Volvo 122S 52
DNF C 15 W. Yates Pty. Ltd. Ken Stacey
Mal Henderson
Morris Cooper S
DNF C 28 BMC (Australia) Pty. Ltd. Paddy Hopkirk
Brian Foley
Morris Cooper S 28
DNF C 12 Ron Hodgson Motors Pty. Ltd. Ron Hodgson
Bob Beasley
Morris Cooper S 15
DNF C 25 P. Coogan George Forrest
Frank Hann
Morris Cooper S 12
DNF B 39 Wheelmar Distributors Pty. Ltd. Jack Murray
Bill Ford
Prince Skyline 1500

Statistics

  • Fastest Lap - #21 Frank Matich - 3:10 (lap record)
  • Average Speed - 112 km/h
  • Race Time - 7:11:29.1

References

  1. Includes 1960, 1961 & 1962 Armstrong 500 races held at Phillip Island
  2. Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1981, pages 114-121
  3. Official Programme, Gallaher 500 (1966)
  4. Craig Watson, The Giant Killers, Motor Sport Legends, August / Oct 2008, pages 40-45

Further reading

  • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). "1966 The first international race". Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999 The first 40 years. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited. pp. 138–145 & 454. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
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