The 1970 Australian Touring Car Championship was a
CAMS-sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of
Group C Improved Production Touring Cars and
Group E Series Production Touring Cars Group E Series Production Touring Cars was an Australian motor racing category for production based sedans competing with limited modifications. It was current from 1964 to 1972.
Although production car racing in Australia had gained momentum with ...
. The title, which was the 11th
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
, began at
Calder Park Raceway
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clo ...
on 22 March 1970 and ended at
Symmons Plains Raceway
Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of the ...
on 15 November after seven heats.
The 1970 ATCC saw
Norm Beechey
Norm Beechey is a retired Australian race car driver, who was given the nickname ''"Stormin Norman"'' by his fans. To some, he was the closest thing Holden had to a star racing driver, before Peter Brock. Beechey competed in the Australian Tou ...
drive his
Holden Monaro HT GTS350 to victory over the
Porsche 911S of teammate
Jim McKeown. Finishing in third and fourth place were the
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...
s of
Bob Jane
Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...
and four-time defending champion
Ian Geoghegan
Ian "Pete" Geoghegan, (26 April 1939 – 15 November 2003) was an Australian race car driver, known for a quick wit and natural driving skills. Sometimes referred to as "Pete" Geoghegan, he was one of the iconic characters of the 1960s and 197 ...
.
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four ...
's victory in the opening round at Calder Park created history as the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
became the first non-Australian born driver to win an ATCC race. It was the first of an eventual 32 ATCC round wins for Moffat before his final win in Round 3 of the
1984 championship at
Wanneroo Park
Wanneroo is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Wanneroo.
Geography
As it is on the Swan Coastal Plain, the Wanneroo wetlands stretch parallel to the coastline and to the north and south of the suburb.
Education
W ...
.
Drivers
The following drivers competed in the 1970 championship.
The list is not exhaustive.
Calendar
The championship was contested over a series of seven heats.
Race summaries
Calder
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four ...
took pole position for the opening round of the championship ahead of
Ian Geoghegan
Ian "Pete" Geoghegan, (26 April 1939 – 15 November 2003) was an Australian race car driver, known for a quick wit and natural driving skills. Sometimes referred to as "Pete" Geoghegan, he was one of the iconic characters of the 1960s and 197 ...
and
Bob Jane
Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...
. Geoghegan challenged Moffat for the lead at the first corner but Moffat held the position.
Norm Beechey
Norm Beechey is a retired Australian race car driver, who was given the nickname ''"Stormin Norman"'' by his fans. To some, he was the closest thing Holden had to a star racing driver, before Peter Brock. Beechey competed in the Australian Tou ...
, starting down the order, made his way into fourth place on the first lap before passing both Jane and Geoghegan at the beginning of lap 2. He eventually passed Moffat for the lead before making slight contact with a lapped car, forcing him to pull over to the side of the track and pull the guard off of his front tyre.
Jane had already made a pit stop and Geoghegan lost a rear wheel while Beechey was stopped, leaving Moffat with a sizeable lead. Meanwhile, the Porsches of
Brian Foley and
Jim McKeown were battling for second place. Beechey had enough pace to catch Moffat and retake the lead on lap 33 before he had to pit to change a front tyre. Moffat cruised to an easy victory from there, with Foley finishing in second place ahead of McKeown, Jane, Bob Brown and Bill Fanning. Beechey returned to the track with three laps left and set a new lap record of 47.7 seconds.
Bathurst
Ian Geoghegan took pole position with a time of 2:29.9, 1.4 seconds clear of Bob Jane. Allan Moffat completed the front row while Norm Beechey and Brian Foley started on the second row ahead of Jim McKeown and Chris Brauer. Beechey used the straight-line speed of his
Holden Monaro
The Holden Monaro ( ) is a rear-wheel drive coupé manufactured by General Motors Holden in Australia from 1968 to 1975 and later reintroduced from 2001 to 2005. It was also manufactured as a 4-door sedan from 1973 to 1977.
Three generations of ...
to take the lead going up Mountain Straight. After dropping to seventh off the line, Moffat made his way back up to third behind Beechey and Geoghegan during the first lap before both Geoghegan and Moffat passed Beechey going down Conrod Straight. Geoghegan and Moffat pulled away from the rest of the field over the next two laps, while Beechey began to suffer with a misfire. On lap 4 Moffat slowed with a spark plug problem which eventually led to his retirement, giving Geoghegan a break over Beechey and Jane who were battling hard for second place. Nick Petrilli also retired when a piston let go. Jane spun at Forrest's Elbow a few laps later, taking the pressure off of Beechey.
Geoghegan was running the race on worn tyres, as his supplier Firestone did not have new tyres available. As a result, Beechey was able to easily reduce Geoghegan's lead in the second half of the race. At the same time, Phil Barnes began slowing up in his Morris Cooper S, allowing Peter Manton,
Bob Holden
Robert Lee Holden Jr. (born August 24, 1949) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 53rd Governor of Missouri from 2001 to 2005. Previously, he served as the State Treasurer of Missouri from 1993 to 2001 ...
and Roy Griffiths past.
Beechey took the lead going into Murray's Corner on lap 18 and pulled away to take victory. Geoghegan held on for second place while Jane finished third despite his spin. The Porsches of McKeown and Foley finished fourth and fifth respectively while Brauer was the final point-scorer in sixth.
Sandown
Allan Moffat took his second pole position of the season at Sandown, with Norm Beechey qualifying on the front row ahead of Ian Geoghegan, Bob Jane and Jim McKeown. Beechey took the lead at the start and led all the way to the finish, setting a new lap record in the process. Moffat held second place over Geoghegan until lap 25 when he began having engine dramas, allowing Geoghegan to pass. Jane battled with the Porsches of McKeown and Brian Foley early on before McKeown retired on lap 15, while Foley made contact with a fence and allowed Jane to take fourth place. Foley recovered to finish fifth ahead of Graham Ritter's Ford Escort.
Mallala
Brian Foley took pole position at the Mallala round, giving Porsche its first pole position in the championship. Jim McKeown and Allan Moffat started the race with wet tyres after rain fell during the morning of the race. Moffat built an early lead before the track started to dry out, which led to the retirement of McKeown due to overheating tyres. Norm Beechey moved into second place and was catching Moffat when his clutch started to slip, allowing Ian Geoghegan and Foley to pass. Moffat's clutch then failed, gifting the lead to Geoghegan. Foley experienced a change in handling which was found to be caused by a broken roll-bar bracket when he made a pit stop. This allowed Beechey to take second place behind Geoghegan while Foley would still manage to finish third. Bill Brown finished fourth ahead of Bob Jane and Peter Manton.
Warwick Farm
Allan Moffat again qualified on pole position for the fifth round of the championship at Warwick Farm. However, he spun at the first corner and was collected by Ian Geoghegan, while Brian Foley and Bill Brown were also caught up in the incident. Moffat, Geoghegan and Foley all retired from the race while Brown was able to continue. Jim McKeown, after making a good start, had missed the accident and Norm Beechey had moved up to second place. Beechey lost a rear wheel, giving second place to Bob Jane and allowing Brown on to the podium. McKeown took victory, Porsche's first in the championship, ahead of Jane, Brown, Phil Barnes, Chris Brauer and John Humphrey. The victory brought McKeown into championship contention, eight points behind Beechey and five behind Geoghegan with eighteen points still on offer.
Lakeside
The Lakeside event was marred by a pair of bad accidents. One of the support races saw one driver killed and another seriously injured. Chris Brauer then suffered career-ending injuries in the touring car championship race. Allan Moffat made a poor start from pole position which resulted in Bob Jane and Brian Foley squeezing together. Jane was then pushed into Brauer's car, which left the circuit and slammed into the end of an armco barrier. The race continued with yellow flags at the first corner. Moffat was black flagged for attempting to pass in the yellow flag zone. Ian Geoghegan led the race until lap 7 when he retired with engine problems. Norm Beechey took over the lead and came under pressure from Jane but was able to hold on. Beechey and Jane remained in first and second until the end of the race with Jim McKeown completing the podium.
Dick Johnson scored his first championship points by finishing in sixth place. Beechey's victory was enough to secure the title with one race remaining.
Symmons Plains
Allan Moffat took his fifth pole position of the season, driving his new
Ford XW Falcon GTHO Phase II, dubbed the "Super Falcon". Along with Norm Beechey, however, Moffat did not start the race after both drivers blew their engines in practice. The race was held in wet conditions and second-fastest qualifier Jim McKeown took the lead at the start, while Bob Jane lost traction off the start and lost a place to Bryan Thomson. The wet conditions suited McKeown's Porsche and he took a one-lap victory over Thomson with Jane a further lap back in third. The result saw McKeown pass Jane for second place in the championship.
Championship standings
Points system
Points were awarded as follows to the top six finishers in each heat.
Championship points
References
External links
1970 Australian touring car racing images
{{Australian Touring Car Racing
Australian Touring Car Championship seasons
Touring Cars
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
While the cars do not mo ...