Allan Moffat Racing

Allan Moffat Racing was an Australian motor racing team owned by multiple-championship winning Canadian-Australian racing driver Allan Moffat. The team was highly successful, winning races on three continents including three Australian Touring Car Championships in 1976, 1977 and 1983, four Bathurst 500/1000s including a memorable 1-2 victory in 1977, and the 1987 Monza 500, which was the inaugural race of the World Touring Car Championship.^[1]

History

Allan Moffat racing the Trans-Am Ford Mustang at Lakeside International Raceway in October 1972

Holden VL Commodore campaigned in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship on display at Sandown Raceway in November 2009

Allan Moffat Racing was at various times the official factory team for Ford and Mazda in Australian touring car motor racing as well as racing Holdens and Chevrolets. The team also raced cars in other categories like Sports Sedans. Founded in the mid-1960s to support Moffat's touring car racing efforts, the team was closely align with Ford Australia's in-house racing team until it was wound up in 1973. Moffat's early success with the team included running the Trans-Am Ford Mustang he was given as a gift from Ford's American 'in-house' race car fabrication and engineering facility "Kar Kraft", with the car finished by Bud Moore Engineering. With this car Moffat and his team won an incredible 101 of the 151 events entered.

Following Ford's decision to withdraw from Australian motorsport, in 1981 Allan Moffat Racing became the factory Mazda team racing the RX-7 until 1984. With the arrival of Group A regulations in 1985 the RX-7 became uncompetitive and thus Moffat sat out the season only racing once in a RX-7 at the 24 Hours of Daytona. In 1986, Moffat joined long-time rival Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team to race a Holden VK Commodore SS Group A in the European Touring Car Championship.

Following an off-season split between Brock and Holden, Moffat left the team and hurriedly reassembled Allan Moffat Racing for the 1987 World Touring Car Championship with a VL Commodore SS Group A purchased covertly from Brock. The team competed in the opening three rounds, winning the opening Monza 500 race, after the leading six BMW M3s were disqualified, before returning for round 5 to finish fourth at the Spa 24 Hour.

Moffat concluded a late deal with British Ford Sierra ace Andy Rouse, to race the latter's Ford Sierra RS500 at the Bathurst 1000 and Calder 500 rounds of the WTCC. At the Wanneroo Park round in 1988, Moffat debuted an Eggenberger Motorsport built RS500 with team principal Ruedi Eggenberger and driver Klaus Niedzwiedz often joining the team for the Bathurst 1000 over the next few years. Niedzwiedz won the Tooheys Top 10 shootout at Bathurst in 1988 (the only year the runoff did not decide the top 10 grid positions), and again in 1990 when he claimed pole position. Niedzwiedz and fellow German Frank Biela finished second for Moffat in the 1989 Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst.

The teams' (and indeed Moffat's own) final race win was in the Fuji 500 in Japan in 1989. The Sierra, again with Eggenberger in charge of the preparation and with Niedzwiedz and Moffat driving, wore the number 39 designating the year of Moffat's birth (1939) and that he intended to retire from race driving after the race (Allan Moffat had made a promise to his wife Pauline that he would retire once he turned 50. The Fuji race was held just a few days after his 50th birthday). The team's final appearance in the Australian Touring Car Championship was in 1990 with Gregg Hansford driving a Sierra. From then on, the team's appearances were restricted to the Bathurst 1000, with two RS500s until 1992, and until its final appearance in 1996, a sole Ford EB Falcon V8.

Championship results

Bathurst 1000 Win

Year	Class	No	Drivers	Chassis	Laps
				Engine
1977	3001cc - 6000cc	1	Allan Moffat Jacky Ickx	Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop	163
				Ford 351 5.8 L V8

Sandown Endurance Wins

Year	Class	No	Drivers	Chassis	Laps
				Engine
1974	D	33	Allan Moffat	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	130
				Ford 351 5.8 L V8
1982	D	43	Allan Moffat	Mazda RX-7	109
				Mazda 12A Rotary
1983	Over 3000cc	43	Allan Moffat	Mazda RX-7	129
				Mazda 13B Rotary
1988	D	9	Allan Moffat Gregg Hansford	Ford Sierra RS500	129
				Ford Cosworth YBD 2.0 L I4 turbo

Drivers

Other than Moffat himself, those who drove for Allan Moffat Racing over the years are as follows (in order of appearance):

References