Murray Carter

Murray Carter (born 30 January 1931 in Melbourne[1]) is an Australian racing driver. For many years a stalwart of the Australian Touring Car Championship Carter has had one of the longest racing careers of any driver in Australian history, continuing to race into his 80s.

Murray Carter
NationalityAustralian
Born (1931-01-30) 30 January 1931
Melbourne, Victoria
Australian Touring Car Championship
Years active1973–1990
TeamsMurray Carter Racing
Starts107
Best finish2nd in 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship
Previous series
1963
1992-95
1996-99
2000-04
2007
2008-14
Australian GT Champ.
Australian Production Champ.
Australian GT Prod. Champ.
Nations Cup
Intermarque Challenge
Victorian Sports Car Champ.

Racing history

One of a generation of racing drivers that appeared in the 1950s as tyres and fuel, rationed for most of that decade in the post-war economic climate, became more widely available. After racing motorcycles and a Jaguar XK120, Carter built an open wheeler which was powered by a Chevrolet Corvette V8 engine, the car making its first appearance in 1959.[2] The following year the car was rebuilt as a sports car[2] and subsequently as a "GT" car, becoming part of the brief history of Appendix K, a uniquely Australian category for closed cars with no required production origins. Carter finished runner up in the 1963 Australian GT Championship behind Bob Jane.[3] He also embraced production car racing when it emerged in 1960 and raced at the first Armstrong 500, later to become famous as the Bathurst 1000, and won his class driving a Ford Customline.

Touring Cars

Carter emerged as a regular in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1973. Driving Ford Falcons Carter was one of the leading privateer drivers during the 1970s and into the early 1980s. Famously Carter lent his Falcon to works driver Allan Moffat at the Adelaide International Raceway round of the 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship after Moffat's race car was stolen by joyriders.[4] Carter was a beneficiary of the work being done by Moffat and the Ford works team, getting new developments quickly, keeping him at the forefront of Ford racers through the 1970s. A career highlight came in 1975 when Carter benefitted from a season where many front running drivers and teams had fraught campaigns and finished runner up to Colin Bond in the 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship.[5] The other major result of this period was a third placing at the 1978 Bathurst 1000 with New Zealand open-wheel ace Graeme Lawrence as co-driver.[6]

Into the 1980s Carter was left behind by Ford when it withdrew from racing leaving Carter, briefly (until the rise of Dick Johnson), as Australia's leading Ford touring car driver. By 1983 Carter was becoming increasingly frustrated with developing Falcons and having little reward and switched to a cheaper-to-run Mazda RX-7. Little result came of this and Carter briefly stepped away from racing following the demise of the Group C Touring Car category at the end of 1984.

In 1986 Carter returned with a Nissan Skyline DR30 RS, before returning to Ford with a Ford Sierra RS500 in 1988 with sponsorship from Netcomm Australia. During his Australian Touring Car Championship career Carter set a record for the most top three finishes without taking a win (20), a record which still stands as of 2017.

Murray Carter's last year in touring cars was in 1990 in a privately entered Ford Sierra RS500. Murray raced in four of the nine ATCC rounds but did not score a point. He did provide a spectacular moment in the closing minutes of the series' return to Phillip Island for the first time since 1977 when he drove his smoking Sierra into the pits, pulling up just before entering pit lane with the engine of his car on fire. He then joined with Matt Wacker in the Sierra for what would be his last Bathurst 1000 in 1990. During practice, Wacker had a collision with Peter Brock's Sierra being driven by his co-driver Andy Rouse in The Dipper which sent the #05 car up on two wheels and into the fence. The #14 Sierra would be a DNF after 116 laps.

Production Cars

By 1991 Carter had switched to production car racing, initially with a Nissan Pintara in the Australian Production Car Championship. He later raced a Nissan Pulsar and then a Mazda 626 in this series, with a highlight of finishing runner up to Phil Morriss in the 1994 Australian Production Car Championship. In 1997 Carter began racing a Nissan 200SX Turbo in the Australian GT Production Car Championship. In 1999 a Chevrolet Corvette C5 followed and Carter transitioned with it into the new Australian Nations Cup Championship in 2000. Carter raced only occasionally into the 2000s, driving his Corvette in state level racing as late as 2008. In 2011 Carter still races the Corvette occasionally at Victorian championship level as he approaches 80 years of age. In 2017 Murray relinquished his Cams racing licence, and in 2019,sold his beloved Corvette to a W.A. company.

Career results

Season Series Position Car Team
1959 Australian Drivers' Championship 15th Corvette Special
1963 Australian GT Championship 2nd Corvette Special
1973 Australian Touring Car Championship 7th Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Shell Racing
1974 Australian Touring Car Championship 5th Ford XB Falcon GT Shell Racing
1975 Australian Touring Car Championship 2nd Ford XB Falcon GT Shell Racing
1976 Australian Touring Car Championship 7th Ford XB Falcon GT Shell Racing
1977 Australian Touring Car Championship 14th Ford XB Falcon GT Brian Wood Ford
1978 Australian Touring Car Championship 21st Ford XC Falcon Hardtop Brian Wood Ford
1979 Australian Touring Car Championship 33rd Ford XC Falcon Hardtop Brian Wood Ford
1980 Australian Touring Car Championship 4th Ford XD Falcon
1981 Australian Touring Car Championship 5th Ford XD Falcon
1982 Australian Touring Car Championship 12th Ford XD Falcon
1983 Australian Touring Car Championship 10th Ford XE Falcon
1984 Australian Touring Car Championship 8th Mazda RX-7
1986 Australian Touring Car Championship 15th Nissan Skyline DR30
1987 Australian Touring Car Championship 12th Nissan Skyline DR30
1988 Australian Touring Car Championship 11th Nissan Skyline DR30
1992 Australian Production Car Championship 8th Nissan Pulsar SSS
1993 Australian Production Car Championship 4th Nissan Pulsar SSS
1994 Australian Production Car Championship 2nd Nissan Pulsar SSS Murray Carter
1995 Australian Production Car Championship 3rd Mazda 626
1996 Australian GT Production Car Championship 8th Mazda 626
1997 Australian GT Production Car Championship 18th Nissan 200SX Turbo
1998 Australian GT Production Car Championship 13th Nissan 200SX Turbo
1999 Australian GT Production Car Championship 17th Chevrolet Corvette C5 Murray Carter
2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship 30th Chevrolet Corvette C5 Murray Carter
2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship: Group 2 18th Chevrolet Corvette C5 Murray Carter
2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship: Trophy Class 15th Chevrolet Corvette C5 Murray Carter

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1973 Shell Racing Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III SYM
5
CAL
4
SAN
3
WAN
4
SUR
7
AIR
DNS
ORA
7
WAR
5
7th 18
1974 Shell Racing Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop SYM CAL
3
SAN
2
AMA
7
ORA
4
SUR
3
AIR
3
5th 29
1975 Shell Racing Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop SYM
2
CAL
4
AMA
3
ORA
3
SUR
4
SAN AIR
2
LAK
3
2nd 44
1976 Shell Racing Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop SYM
14
CAL ORA
3
SAN AMA
5
AIR
4
LAK
5
SAN
5
AIR
2
SUR
3
PHI
Ret
7th 35
1977 Brian Wood Ford Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop SYM
4
CAL ORA
6
AMA
8
SAN
8
AIR
6
LAK
7
SAN
Ret
AIR
7
SUR
10
PHI 15th 10
1978 Brian Wood Ford Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop SYM
Ret
ORA AMA SAN
8
WAN CAL
4
LAK AIR 21st 4
1979 Brian Wood Ford Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop SYM CAL ORA SAN WAN SUR LAK AIR
6
33rd 1
1980 Murray Carter Ford XD Falcon SYM CAL
3
LAK
2
SAN
3
WAN
5
SUR
3
AIR
6
ORA
5
4th 32
1981 Murray Carter Ford XD Falcon SYM
3
CAL
2
LAK SAN
6
WAN
3
AIR
5
SUR
6
ORA 5th 25
1982 Murray Carter Ford XD Falcon SAN
11
CAL
7
SYM ORA
4
LAK
5
WAN
4
AIR
6
SUR 12th 14
1983 Murray Carter Ford XE Falcon CAL
3
SAN
5
SYM
Ret
WAN
Ret
AIR SUR ORA LAK 10th 35
1984 Murray Carter Mazda RX-7 SAN
19
SYM
10
WAN
7
SUR
6
ORA LAK
Ret
AIR
8
8th 49
1986 Murray Carter Nissan Skyline DR30 RS AMA SYM SAN
7
AIR WAN SUR CAL
14
LAK WIN
9
ORA 15th 33
1987 Murray Carter Nissan Skyline DR30 RS CAL
8
SYM LAK WAN AIR
Ret
SUR SAN
7
AMA
13
ORA
6
12th 17
1988 Netcomm Australia Nissan Skyline DR30 RS CAL
7
SYM
8
WIN
5
WAN
9
AIR
9
LAK SAN
10
AMA
12
ORA
25
11th 20
1989 Netcomm Australia Ford Sierra RS500 AMA
Ret
SYM LAK
DNS
WAN MAL SAN WIN ORA
Ret
NC 0
1990 Murray Carter Ford Sierra RS500 AMA
13
SYM PHI
Ret
WIN
Ret
LAK MAL WAN ORA
23
NC 0

Complete Phillip Island/Bathurst 500/1000 results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1960 Sabina Motors Ray Gibbs Ford Customline E 154 23rd 1st
1970 Rollington Pty Ltd Ford XW Falcon GTHO Phase II E DNS DNS
1971 J Harding Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III E 127 11th 6th
1972 M Carter Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III E 120 10th 6th
1973 Murray Carter - Shell Racing Lawrie Nelson Ford XA Falcon GT Hardtop D 150 7th 7th
1974 Murray Carter Mike Stillwell Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop 3001 – 6000cc 88 DNF DNF
1975 Murray Carter Ray Winter Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop D 53 DNF DNF
1976 Murray Carter Ray Winter Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop 3001cc - 6000cc 148 19th 8th
1977 Brian Wood Ford Bob Stevens Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop 3001cc - 6000cc 38 DNF DNF
1978 Brian Wood Ford Graeme Lawrence Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop A 160 3rd 3rd
1979 Brian Wood Ford Graeme Lawrence Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop 3001cc - 6000cc 74 DNF DNF
1980 Murray Carter Graeme Lawrence Ford XD Falcon 3001-6000cc 106 DNF DNF
1981 Murray Carter Racing Graeme Lawrence Ford XD Falcon 8 Cylinder & Over 109 DNF DNF
1982 Murray Carter Racing Rusty French Ford XE Falcon A 25 DNF DNF
1983 Valentine Greetings David Clement Mazda RX-7 A 14 DNF DNF
1984 Valentine Greetings John Murdern Mazda RX-7 Group C 0 DNF DNF
1986 Everlast Battery Service Bill O'Brien Nissan Skyline DR30 RS B 157 10th 3rd
1987 NetComm (Aust) Racing Steve Masterton
Denis Horley
Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 1 147 DSQ DSQ
1988 NetComm Australia Steve Masterton Ford Sierra RS500 A 22 DNF DNF
1989 Netcomm Australia John Mann Ford Sierra RS500 A 10 DNF DNF
1990 Netcomm Australia Matt Wacker Ford Sierra RS500 1 116 DNF DNF

References

  1. Tuckey, Bill, ed. (1987–88). The Great Race. Hornsby: The Berghouse Floyd Tuckey Publishing Group. 7: 275. ISSN 1031-6124.CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  2. John B Blanden, Historic Racing Cars in Australia, 1979, page 84.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (1986). "1973: The new era: Moffat". Australian Touring Car Championship: 25 fabulous years. Gordon: R&T Publishing. p. 145. ISBN 0-9590378-2-9.
  5. Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (1986). "1975: The Holden V8 Emerges". Australian Touring Car Championship: 25 fabulous years. Gordon: R&T Publishing. pp. 158–166. ISBN 0-9590378-2-9.
  6. Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999. Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 234–241 & 466. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
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