1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500

1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500
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The 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was the ninth running of the Bathurst 500 production car race. It was held on 6 October 1968 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. Cars competed in five classes based on purchase price (Australian dollars) of the vehicle.

For the first time factory supported teams of Ford and Holden V8s raced against each other, setting a pattern that continues to this day in Australian touring car racing, currently known as V8 Supercar. It was not one of the factory cars that won however. The Wyong Motors entry of a Holden Monaro driven by Bruce McPhee (apart from one lap mid-race driven by Barry Mulholland) who upset the big teams with a tactical tyre strategy of running a buffed hard wearing street tyre rather than a racing tyre. Initially Des West and Ron Marks were classified second but were later disqualified for illegal engine modifications. Second became the factory supported Holden Dealer Racing Team Monaro of Jim Palmer (to that point the best finish by a New Zealander) and Phil West. Another dealer entered Monaro driven by Tony Roberts and Bob Watson finished third.

Contents 1 Class structure 1.1 Class A 1.2 Class B 1.3 Class C 1.4 Class D 1.5 Class E 2 Results 3 Statistics 4 References 5 External links

Class structure

Class A

The smallest class was for cars which cost less than $1,850. It was made up of Datsun 1000, Ford Cortina, Hillman GT, Morris Mini De Luxe and Toyota Corolla.

Class B

The $1,851 to $2,250 class was dominated by the Datsun 1600, but also contained Hillman Arrow, Hillman Gazelle and Morris 1100S.

Class C

The $2,251 to $3,000 class saw a mix of standard versions of the outright contenders, Ford Falcon and Holden Kingswood and Fiat 125 and Morris Cooper S.

Class D

The $3,001 to $4,500 class featured the outright contenders, Ford Falcon GT and Holden Monaro, but also contained a single Chrysler Valiant, Fiat 124 Sport and Studebaker Lark.

Class E

For cars over $4,500, contained Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV and a single Citroen DS.

Results

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos
1	D	13	Wyong Motors	Bruce McPhee Barry Mulholland	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	1
2	D	24	Scuderia Veloce Holden Dealer Racing Team	Jim Palmer Phil West	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	6
3	D	15	Pat Cullen Liverpool	Tony Roberts Bob Watson	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	129	9
4	E	1	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Kevin Bartlett Doug Chivas	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	129	11
5	D	25	Scuderia Veloce Holden Dealer Racing Team	Brian Muir George Reynolds	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	127	5
6	E	3	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Brian Foley Laurie Stewart	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	126	10
7	D	10	Wright Ford Motors	Bruce McIntyre Ken Stacey	Ford XR Falcon GT	125	15
8	E	5	Canberra Speed Shop	Peter Brown Ray Gulson	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	125	18
9	D	17	Stanmore Auto Port	Chris Brauer Murray Harrod	Ford XT Falcon GT	125	17
10	C	30	C Smith	Don Holland Charlie Smith	Morris Cooper S	123	23
11	C	34	Ford Motor Company	Barry Arentz Mike Champion	Ford XT Falcon 500 V8	123	20
12	D	8	Ford Australia	Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan	Ford XT Falcon GT	123	4
13	D	21	Needhams Motors	Warren Weldon John Hall	Studebaker Lark	123	13
14	C	29	Marque Motors	Digby Cooke Mal Brewster	Morris Cooper S	121	22
15	B	50	Datsun Racing Team	John Roxburgh Doug Whiteford	Datsun 1600	120	32
16	C	38	Denis Geary Motors	Damon Beck Gary Hodge	Morris Cooper S	120	21
17	C	63	R Marquet	Alan Cant Ray Marquet	Morris Cooper S	120	24
18	D	26	Scuderia Veloce	Allan Grice Bill Tuckey	Fiat 124 Sport	119	30
19	B	46	Peter Langwill Autos	Bruce Stewart George Garth	Datsun 1600	118	38
20	C	36	W Gracie	Warren Gracie Don James	Morris Cooper S	118	36
21	B	49	Datsun Racing Team	Kunimitsu Takahashi Y Sunago	Datsun 1600	118	28
22	B	65	Vern Curtin Motors	Alton Boddenberg Rusty French	Hillman Gazelle	117	35
23	C	61	Varsity Auto Centre	John Prisk Alan Cameron	Morris Cooper S	116	31
24	B	42	Dependable Motors	Dennis Cooke Hans Tholstrup	Datsun 1600	116	44
25	C	33	Tony Basile Motors	Tony Basile Gary Leggatt	Fiat 125	116	42
26	B	41	Dependable Motors	Bruce Darke Bill Ford	Datsun 1600	115	45
27	C	27	Scuderia Veloce	Mike Kable Ron Kearns	Fiat 125	114	40
28	C	35	Young & Green	Sib Petralia Jim Sullivan	Holden HK Kingswood 186S	114	43
29	D	22	C Hodges	Clyde Hodgins Stan Pomroy	Chrysler Valiant Auto	113	34
30	A	56	AMI Toyota	Bruce Hindhaugh Bob Morris	Toyota Corolla	113	49
31	D	9	Ford Australia	Fred Gibson Barry Seton	Ford XT Falcon GT	113	8
32	A	55	AMI Toyota	Barry Ferguson Brian Sampson	Toyota Corolla	113	47
33	B	45	W.H. Motors	Don Smith Herb Taylor	Datsun 1600	112	33
34	B	64	MG Car Club NSW	Matt Daddo Peter Ulbrich	Datsun 1600	111	56
35	C	66	A Olsen	Arthur Olsen Ray Scanlen	Morris Cooper S	110	46
36	B	47	Austen & Butta Motors	Joe Butta Bob Genders	Hillman Arrow	109	53
37	B	48	Tynan Motors	Trevor Mason Neil Mason	Morris 1100S	109	54
38	A	52	Central Auto Sales	Lionel Ayers Max Volkers	Ford Cortina Mk.II 220	107	58
39	B	43	Kenthurst Motors	Carl Kennedy Jack Mullins	Datsun 1600	107	55
40	A	58	A Johns	David Frazer Allan Johns	Hillman GT	107	57
41	A	54	P & R Williams	Christine Gibson Midge Whiteman	Morris Mini De Luxe	98	60
42	D	7	Ford Australia	Spencer Martin Jim McKeown	Ford XT Falcon GT Auto	95	7
43	C	32	WN Howes	Martin Chenery Ernie Johnson	Fiat 125	88	39
44	C	28	Marque Motors	Lindsay Adcock Bill Stanley	Morris Cooper S	81	26
45	A	57	AMI Toyota	Brian Reed Dick Thurston	Toyota Corolla	74	50
46	A	60	North Shore Sporting Car Club	Bob Drane Jim Laing-Peach	Toyota Corolla	74	52
47	C	31	Frank Croft Motors	Gary Cooke Bob Muir	Fiat 125	69	29
48	D	16	M Savva	Mike Savva Bob Wilkinson	Ford XT Falcon GT	62	16
DNF	C	39		Rick Radford David Seldon	Morris Cooper S		37
DNF	C	40		Ron Heylen John Smailes	Morris Cooper S	88	25
DNF	D	11	Wright Ford Motors	Bob Beasely Ray Morris	Ford XT Falcon GT	87	14
DNF	B	44	Eiffeltower Motors	Jack Nougher David O'Keefe	Hillman Gazelle	54	27
DNF	E	4	Citroen Cars	Bill Daly Glyn Scott	Citroën DS21		41
DNF	D	19	I Haynes	Ian Haynes Max Stahl	Holden HK Monaro GTS327		19
DNF	A	62	Imp Spares & Repairs	Mel Mollison Ross Withers	Hillman GT		59
DSQ	D	14	Lorack Motors	Des West Ron Marks	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	2
DSQ	E	2	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	John French Frank Gardner	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV		12
DSQ	D	23	Scuderia Veloce Holden Dealer Racing Team	Paul Hawkins Bill Brown	Holden HK Monaro GTS327		3
DSQ	A	51	Datsun Racing Team	Bill Evans John Colwell	Datsun 1000	112	48
DSQ	A	53	Datsun Racing Team	Dick Sorenson Bevan Gibson	Datsun 1000	112	51
DNS	D		Jubilee Motors	Roy Griffiths Wayne Rogerson	Ford XT Falcon GT
DNS	A			Adrian Ryan Bryan Thompson	Ford Cortina Mk.II 240

Note : Jack Nougher competed in car 44 under the name "Jack Eiffeltower" in this race.

Statistics

• Pole Position - #13 Bruce McPhee - 2:56.7
• Fastest Lap - #13 Bruce McPhee - 2:58 (lap record)
• Average Speed - 119 km/h

References

External links

• CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
• www.touringcarracing.net
• race results
• Autopics Bathurst images

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