1966 Gallaher 500

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.

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 Kitano 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		George Forrest Frank Hann	Morris Cooper S	12
DNF	C	39		Jack Murray Bill Ford	Prince Skyline 1500

Statistics

• Fastest Lap - #21 Frank Matich - 3:10 (lap record)
• Average Speed - 112 km/h
• Race Time - 7:11:29.1

References

1. ↑ Includes 1960, 1961 & 1962 Armstrong 500 races held at Phillip Island
2. 1 2 3 4 5 Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1981, pages 114-121
3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Craig Watson, The Giant Killers, Motor Sport Legends, August / Oct 2008, pages 40-45
4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Evan Green, Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, 1977, page 191
5. 1 2 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