1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500

The 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was a motor race held on 3 October 1971 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was open to production vehicles competing in showroom condition,[1] with the field divided into five classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars. Although an outright winner was officially recognised, all other official awards were for class results only.[2] The race was the 12th in a sequence of annual "Bathurst 500" production car races dating back to the 1960 Armstrong 500. The outright winner was Allan Moffat driving a Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III.

1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500
Previous: 1970 Next: 1972

The 1971 race is perhaps best remembered for Sydney driver Bill Brown's lucky escape after the biggest single car crash in the race's history. On lap 43, the right front tyre on Brown's Phase III GTHO Falcon burst at over 100 mph (161 km/h) on the approach to the daunting McPhillamy Park, which in 1971 had no runoff area on the outside of the track, just the earth bank and a fence made of railway sleepers on top. The Falcon barrel-rolled along the fence (with two marshals lucky to escape with their lives by only just scampering out of the way) and ended upside down after 3½ rolls. Brown was lucky because his seat broke in the first roll and he was lying flat in the car as it continued rolling. Amazingly his only injuries were a grazed shin and a black eye.[3]

1971 will also be remembered as the year that Moffat had a stray cardboard Southwark Bitter carton attached itself to the front of his GTHO for a number of laps, blocking the car's radiator. Pit boards told him of the problem and the team attempted to call Moffat in for a quick stop to remove the carton, but Moffat, seeing no change to the engine temperature and no reduction in the cars performance, waved them off and remained on the track until his scheduled pit stop with the approval of Ford Works Team manager Howard Marsden.[4]

Class structure

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

Class A

Class A was for cars costing less than $2,150. It was contested by Datsun 1200, Mazda 1300 and Toyota Corolla.

Class B

The $2,151 to $2,500 class had the smallest number of starters with just four cars: Datsun 1600 and Mazda Capella 1600.

Class C

The $2,501 to $3,150 class saw a mix of Ford Cortina, Ford Escort, 2.8 litre Holden Torana GTR, Honda 1300, Mazda RX-2 and Morris Cooper S.

Class D

The $3,151 to $4,350 class featured Alfa Romeo Giulia, the E38 version of the Chrysler Valiant Charger, Ford Falcon 500 and 3.0 litre Holden Torana GTR XU-1.

Class E

For cars over $4,350. Apart from a single Fiat 124S, the class consisted only of Ford Falcon GT-HO Phase IIIs.

Top 10 Qualifiers

PosNoTeamDriverCarQual
Pole 65 Ford Motor Co of Australia Allan Moffat Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:38.9
2 64 Ford Motor Co of Australia John French Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:41.9
3 66 Road & Track Auto Services Fred Gibson Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:53.6
4 57 Finnie Ford Pty Ltd David McKay Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:44.4
5 63 FF Newell & Son Bill Brown Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:44.7
6 62 Byrt Ford Pty Ltd Phil Barnes Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:45.4
7 69 Trevor Thiele Ford Pty Ltd Trevor Meehan Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:45.5
8 43 Geoghegan's Sporty Cars Leo Geoghegan Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 2:45.7
9 61 Baldwin Ford Pty Ltd Damon Beck Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:46.6
10 45 Reg Papps & Sons Bob Beasley Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 2:46.3

Results

The Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 of Leo Geoghegan & Peter Brown finished second in Class D in the 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500.
A recreation of the Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 which placed 6th in Class D in the hands of Norm Beechey & Jim McKeown
Pos.[5] Class [5][6][7] No.[6][7] Entrant [6][7] Drivers [5][6][7] Car [5][6][7] Laps [5][7] Qual
Pos.
1 E 65 Ford Motor Co of Australia Allan Moffat Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 130 1
2 E 62 Byrt Ford Pty Ltd Phil Barnes
Bob Skelton
Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 6
3 E 57 Finnie Ford Pty Ltd David McKay Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 4
4 D 31 Holden Dealer Team Colin Bond Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 129 15
5 E 64 Ford Motor Co of Australia John French Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 2
6 E 60 McLeod Ford Pty Ltd John Goss
Barry Sharp
Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 17
7 D 43 Geoghegan's Sporty Cars Leo Geoghegan
Peter Brown
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 129 8
8 D 32 Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 129 11
9 D 30 Max Wright Motors Brian Foley
Don Holland
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 129 22
10 D 45 Reg Papps & Sons Bob Beasley Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 129 10
11 E 59 J Harding Murray Carter Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 127 21
12 D 41 Shell Racing Norm Beechey
Jim McKeown
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 127 19
13 D 28 Suttons Motors (Petersham) Bruce McPhee Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 127 32
14 E 55 Sinclair Ford Pty Ltd Kevin Bartlett Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 126 30
15 D 40 Harvey Drew Pty Ltd Joe Butta
Geoff Hunter
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 126 24
16 D 49 Courtesy Motors Martin Chenery Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 125 18
17 D 29 Dusting & Co Pty Ltd Tony Roberts Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 125 36
18 D 39 City State Racing Team Johnnie Walker
Malcolm Ramsay
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 124 28
19 D 42 Liverpool Chrysler Doug Chivas
Graham Moore
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 124 16
20 E 67 Wright Ford Motors Pty Ltd Des West Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 123 12
21 D 47 John McNicol Pty Ltd Gerry Lister
David Seldon
Ford XY Falcon 500 122 34
22 D 37 M Brown Mick Brown Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 121 33
23 D 34 The Commonwealth Ind. Gases Geoff Leeds
Digby Cooke
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 120 23
24 E 54 Zanardo & Rodriguez
Sales & Services Pty Ltd
Ron Kearns Fiat 124 Sport 118 35
25 D 38 L Seaton Brian Reed
Graham Ritter
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 118 26
26 C 17 G Cooke Gary Cooke
Garry Holmes
Mazda RX-2 117 39
27 C 27 Victorian Police Motor Sports Club Geoff Wade
Geoff Perry
Holden LC Torana GTR 117 40
28 D 44 Blue Point Motors (Management) Pty Ltd Graham Ryan Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 116 27
29 C 51 D&P Traders Pty Ltd Pat Peck
Jan Holland
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 115 61
30 C 19 Chas Tierney Pty Ltd Mal Brewster
Ray Strong
Holden LC Torana GTR 115 42
31 C 16 John Hile Ford Pty Ltd Ross Hewison
Brian Hones
Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I 110 45
32 C 22 Mazda Racing Team Wayne Rogerson
Alan Mayne
Mazda RX-2 113 37
33 C 25 Marque Motors Bob Cracknell
Bob Wedd
Morris Cooper S 111 47
34 C 24 H Vines Herb Vines
Chris Batger
Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I 110 45
35 C 20 Kloster Pty Ltd Geoff Westbury
Jim Sullivan
Ford TC Cortina 2000L 110 49
36 B 12 WH Motors Pty Ltd Bruce Stewart Datsun 1600 109 51
37 A 6 John Palmer Motors John Leffler Mazda 1300 108 53
38 A 8 Mazda Racing Team Les Carne
Peter Cray
Mazda 1300 107 57
39 A 5 AMI Racing Team Barry Arentz Toyota Corolla 1200 106 59
40 A 7 C Kennedy Carl Kennedy
Bill Slattery
Mazda 1300 105 60
41 C 21 Bennett Honda Pty Ltd Ken Brian
Noel Riley
Honda 1300-S 104 56
42 C 15 Marque Motors Bill Stanley
Mike Kable
Morris Cooper S 102 44
43 A 1 Datsun Racing Team Doug Whiteford Datsun 1200 100 52
44 B 14 Mazda Racing Team George Garth
John Hall
Mazda Capella 1600 99 46
45 B 11 WH Motors Pty Ltd Don Smith Datsun 1600 97 48
DNF E 61 Baldwin Ford Pty Ltd Damon Beck
Garry Rush
Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 117 9
DNF A 4 AMI Racing Team Brian Sampson Toyota Corolla 1200 102 58
DNF D 50 R Lanyon Tom Naughton
Ross Wemyss
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 98 25
DNF D 48 B Thomson Bryan Thomson
John Mann
Alfa Romeo 1600 Giulia Super 80 43
DNF E 58 Mark IV Car Air Conditioning Bob Morris
Ray Morris
Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 80 14
DNF E 69 Trevor Thiele Ford Pty Ltd Trevor Meehan Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 55 7
DNF D 33 Bob Jane Racing Team Bob Jane
John Harvey
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 50 29
DNF D 46 Bardahl International Oil Corp Bob Forbes
John Millyard
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 46 13
DNF E 63 FF Newell & Son Bill Brown Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 43 5
DNF E 66 Road & Track Auto Services Fred Gibson
Barry Seton
Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 32 3
DNF A 9 Mazda Racing Team Bernie Haehnle
Ray Kaleda
Mazda 1300 17 54
DNF D 36 BS NcNaughton Scott McNaughton
Geoff Harvey
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 7 20
DSQ C 23 Sinclair Ford Pty Ltd Alan Cant
Herb Taylor
Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I 115 41
DSQ B 10 Datsun Racing Team John Roxburgh
Jon Leighton
Datsun 1600 111 50
DSQ A 2 Datsun Racing Team Jim Laing-Peach Datsun 1200 109 55
DNS A 3 AMI Racing Team Bill Evans Toyota Corolla 1200
DNS B 13 Harry Gapps Ford Pty Ltd Harry Gapps
Frank Hann
Ford Cortina 1600L
DNS C 18 Waterloo High Performance Tuning Centre Warren Gracie
Ron Gillard
Holden LC Torana GTR
DNS C 26 Harry Gapps Ford Pty Ltd R Kramer Ford Escort Twin Cam
DNS D 35 L Grose Les Grose
Lakis Manticas
Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 31
DNS D 52 R Lanyon Lawrie Nelson
Tony Farrell
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38
DNS D 53 Formula 1 International Motoring Pty Ltd Tony Allen
Len Searle
Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38
DNS E 56 McCluskey Ford Pty Ltd Ian Geoghegan
Brian Michelmore
Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III
DNS E 68 G Ward Graham Ward Volvo 164
DNS E 70 HG Fenton H Fenton
F Ure
Ford XW Falcon GT-HO Phase II

Statistics

  • Pole Position - #65 Allan Moffat - 2:38.9 [5]
  • Fastest Lap - #58 Bob Morris - 2:40 [7] (lap record)
  • Average Speed - 130 km/h
  • Race Time of winning car - 6:09:49.5 [7]

References

  1. 1971 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 6 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 26 August 2009. Archived 3 September 2009.
  2. 1971 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 60 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 26 August 2009. Archived 3 September 2009.
  3. Bill Brown crash
  4. Mount Panorama Bathurst - The Great Race - 1971 highlights
  5. Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999. Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 178–185 & 459. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
  6. 1971 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 59 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 26 August 2009. Archived 3 September 2009.
  7. 1972 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 58 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 15 March 2014.
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