1961 Armstrong 500

1961 Armstrong 500
Previous: 1960	Next: 1962

The 1961 Armstrong 500 was an endurance motor race for standard production sedans. The event was held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia on 19 November 1961 over 167 laps of the 3.0 mile circuit, a total of 501 miles (807 km).

It was the second event held in the combined history of the Bathurst 1000, which had begun the previous year with the first Armstrong 500. Interest had waned since the previous year with the entry for this year the lowest in the races history until the fields were restricted to V8 Supercars only in 1995.

Geoff Russell and David Anderson backed up their 1960 class victory in their Peugeot 403 by winning class again, although the changes in class capacity limits put them against slower opposition. Bob Jane and Harry Firth were the only combination to complete the full race distance, earning the pair the first of their four outright race wins, although the concept of outright race win would not be officially recognised until 1965. Mercedes-Benz, Studebaker and Renault all took their first class wins.

1 Class structure
2 Results
3 References
4 External links

Class structure

Class A

Class A was for cars with an engine capacity over 2600cc. The class featured Ford Customline, Studebaker Lark and Vauxhall Velox.

Class B

Class B was for cars with an engine capacity between 1601cc and 2600cc. The class featured Ford Falcon, Holden EK and Mercedes-Benz 220SE.

Class C

Class C was for cars with an engine capacity of between 1001cc and 1600cc. The class featured Morris Major, Peugeot 403, Simca Montlhery and Volkswagen Beetle.

Class D

Class D was for cars with an engine capacity of 1000cc or less. The class featured Ford Anglia, Morris 850, Renault Gordini and Triumph Herald.

Results

Pos.	No.	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Laps
Class A
1	43	York Motors	David McKay Brian Foley	Studebaker Lark	166
2	41	WF Coad	Frank Coad John Roxburgh	Vauxhall Velox	165
3	44	Canada Cycle & Motor Co	Fred Sutherland Bill Graetz	Studebaker Lark	165
DNF	42		Peter Boyd-Squires Peter Will	Ford Customline
Class B
1	32	Autoland Pty Ltd	Bob Jane Harry Firth	Mercedes-Benz 220SE	167
2	35	KJ Harper	Ken Harper Syd Fisher John Raeburn	Ford Falcon XK	161
Disq	33	IM Strachan	Ian Strachan John Lanyon	Holden EK	134
Class C
1	24	GLA Russell	Geoff Russell Dave Anderson	Peugeot 403	163
2	26	W Cox	Bill Coe Ron Lilley	Peugeot 403	161
3	22	BJ Auto Service	Bob Brown Lionel Marsh Michael Lempriere	Simca Montlhery	160
4	25		Bob Holden Ken Brigden Albert Bridge	Peugeot 403	153
5	21		George Reynolds Greg Cusack	Volkswagen	152
DNF	27		Charlie Smith Bruce Maher Tony Osborne	Morris Major	141
DNF	28		Eddie Clay Jack French Jim Gray	Morris Major	135
Class D
1	3	Monash Service Station	Jim Gullan Brian Sampson John Connolly	Renault Gordini	157
2	4	WM March	Bill March Norm Beechey	Renault Gordini	156
3	9	JGR Poulton	George Poulton Joe Vanaria	Triumph Herald	155
4	10		Bill Jane Norm Henthorn Jim White	Triumph Herald	155
5	15	Alan Coffey Motors	Lou Molina Doug Whiteford	Ford Anglia	152
6	2		Les Park Stan Martin	Renault Gordini	150
7	11		Alan Caelli J Edwards M Watson	Ford Anglia	149
8	14		Kevin Lott Brian Devlin Peter Candy	Ford Anglia	148
9	12		John Brindley Lou Burke	Ford Anglia	148
10	16		Peter Coffey Ian Trudinger	Ford Anglia	146
11	7		Neil Johannesen Graham Mills Jacques Sapir	Morris 850	136
Disq	8		Hoot Gibson Paul England	Triumph Herald	12

Note : Officially, only class results were recognised, however, as the Mercedes-Benz driven by Bob Jane and Harry Firth was the only car to complete the full 500 mile distance, it is generally considered to be the "winner" of the race.

References

Tuckey, Bill (1981). "1961: The day the idea nearly died:". Australia's Greatest Motor Race The Complete History. Sydney: Lansdowne Press. pp. 74–81. ISBN 0701815477.
Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1960–1989, The First 30 Years
The First 15 Years (Hardie-Ferodo 1000, A Pictorial History 1960-1975)
Wilson, Stewart (1988). The Official Racing History of Holden. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group. ISSN 0959037845.
The Age, Monday, November 20, 1961, Page 17
Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd, Bill Tuckey (2000). "1961 The day the idea nearly died". Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999 The first 40 years. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited. pp. 102–107 & 451. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.