1966 Gallaher 500

1966 Gallaher 500
Previous: 1965	Next: 1967

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]

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.

Contents 1 Class structure 1.1 Class A 1.2 Class B 1.3 Class C 1.4 Class D 2 Results 3 Statistics 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

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

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

Statistics

• Fastest Lap - #21 Frank Matich (Morris Cooper S)- 3:10 (lap record)
• Average Speed - 112 km/h

References

1. ^ Includes 1960, 1961 & 1962 Armstrong 500 races held at Phillip Island
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1981, pages 114-121
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Craig Watson, The Giant Killers, Motor Sport Legends, August / Oct 2008, pages 40-45
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Evan Green, Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, 1977, page 191
5. ^ ^{a b} Romsey Quints, Looking Back At Bathurst, Sports Car World, December 1966, pages 30-32 + 55-56

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. 

External links

• Race results at www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au
• Race images at www.autopics.com.au

Australian Touring Car Racing Australian Touring Car Championship 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 Shell Championship Series 1999 • 2000 • 2001 V8Supercar Championship Series 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 International V8 Supercars Championship 2011 • 2012 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Australian Super Touring Championship V8 Touring Car National Series‎ List of Australian Touring Car and V8 Supercar champions List of Australian Touring Car Championship races