1976 Rover 500K

The 1976 Rover 500K was an endurance race for Group C Touring Cars. The race was held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia on 28 November 1976 over 106 laps, totalling 501.4 kilometres. The Rover 500K was Round 4 of the 1976 Australian Championship of Makes and Round 11 of the 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship. It was the sixth "Phillip Island 500K" race to be held.

The race was notable for being Colin Bond's last drive for the Holden Dealer Team after more than seven years in their lineup. Bond won the race from Charlie O'Brien, the driver who would replace him in 1977. In a generally poorly attended entry the pair finished four laps ahead of Peter Janson, providing a clean sweep of the podium positions for Holden Torana drivers.

Class structure

Cars competed in four classes, defined by the engine capacity.^[1]

• Class A : Up to 1300cc
• Class B : 1301–2000cc
• Class C : 2001 – 3000cc
• Class D : Over 3000cc

Results

Results were as follows:

Note: The event was contested by a 43 car field.^[3]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Australian Competition Yearbook, 1977 Edition, pages 70-73
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rover 500K, Bond – Bloody But UnBowed, Australian Auto Action, 9 December 1976, pages 12–13
3. ↑ Chris de Fraga, Crash fails to stop Bond, The Melbourne Age, Monday, 29 November 1976, page 23