Official Peter Brock Merchandise Truck (2)

The 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was an endurance motor race open to

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 race was held on 1 October 1972 at the

Mount Panorama Circuit Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama (Wahluu) and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hou ...

just outside Bathurst in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Cars competed in four classes defined by Capacity Price Units, where the engine capacity, expressed in litres (to three decimal places), was multiplied by the purchase price in Australian dollars to arrive at a CP value for each vehicle. It was the 13th running of the

Bathurst 500 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rec ...

race and the last to be held over the original distance of 500 miles. It was also the last to allow drivers to compete for the full distance without a relief driver. The race was the third round of the 1972 Australian Manufacturers' Championship. 1972 marked the first year in which rain had significantly affected the race. It was won by

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, ...

driving a

Holden Dealer Team The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer T ...

prepared

Holden Torana The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 19 ...

, the first of Brock's record nine victories. Brock finished a lap ahead of Queensland racer John French driving a Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III, this despite Brock being penalised one minute at his last pit stop for starting his car while the HDT crew were still re-fueling (under the ARDC's race regulations of the day, car engines had to be switched off during pit stops and could only be restarted once the re-fueling had been completed). A further lap behind was the

Chrysler Valiant Charger The Chrysler Valiant Charger was a two-door hardtop coupe introduced by Chrysler Australia in 1971. It was a short wheelbase version of the concurrent Australian Chrysler Valiant sedan. Introduced within the VH Valiant series, it continued as a ...

Doug Chivas Doug Chivas (c.1922–2004) was an Australian rally and racing car driver. Chivas drove the first Lotus Mark 6 in Australia in the early 1950s winning many races. Career In the 1960s and 1970s he drove for some of the most important racing and ...

. It was the only time the big three manufacturers of Australia in the 1960s and 1970s all had representatives in the first three outright positions in the race. Pole sitter and winner of the previous two Bathurst 500's,

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 ...

, had a trying race. After contesting the lead with Brock in the early laps, Moffat spun his factory entered Ford Falcon at Sulman Park on top of The Mountain in the wet conditions. Although he would fight his way back, he would twice be penalised one minute for restarting his car during pit stops before the re-fueling had been completed. Later in the race the Falcon would also encounter brake problems and Moffat dropped back to finish the race in 9th place, 8 laps down on Brock.

1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 The 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was the tenth running of the Bathurst 500 production car race. It was held on 5 October 1969 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. Cars competed in five classes based on ...

winner Colin Bond's race ended early when he rolled his Holden Dealer Team Holden Torana on lap 3 while in fourth place.

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

winner Fred Gibson also rolled his Works GTHO Falcon at McPhillamy Park in the early wet conditions after being forced offline when lapping a slower car. The Falcon spun into the bank and rolled onto its roof on lap 22.

Class structure

Class A

The class for cars under 3000 CP units was contested by Chrysler Valiant Galant,

Datsun 1200 The is an automobile built by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1966 to 2006. In the early 1980s, the brand changed from Datsun to Nissan in line with other models by the company. Although production of the Sunny in Japan ended in 2006, the na ...

Fiat 850 The Fiat 850 (''Tipo 100G'') is a small rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive car manufactured and marketed by Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 1964 to 1973. History Overview Its technical design was an evolution of the successful Fiat 600. The interna ...

and

Mazda 1300 The , also marketed prominently as the Mazda 323, Mazda Protegé and Mazda Allegro, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazda between 1963 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004. It was marketed as the '' ...

Class B

The 3001 to 9000 CP units class saw a mix of Datsun 1600, Fiat 124 Sport, Ford Escort, 2.8 litre

and

Mazda RX-2 The Mazda Capella, also known as the 626 in North America and Southeast Asia, is a mid-size car that was manufactured by Mazda from 1970 until 2002. Sold in the Japanese domestic market under the Capella name, the vehicle was also commonly known ...

Class C

The 9001 to 18000 CP units class featured Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, E38 version of the

and 3.3 litre

Holden Torana GTR XU-1 The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 1 ...

Class D

For cars over 18001 CP units, the class consisted only of E49 version of the

and Ford Falcon GT-HO.

Top 10 Qualifiers

Results

Results sourced in part from:

Statistics

* Pole Position - #1 Allan Moffat - 2:35.8 * Fastest Lap - #1 Allan Moffat - 2:36.5 (lap record) * Average Speed - 133 km/h * Race time of winning car - 6:01:53 (including one minute penalty) How They Finished Last Year, 1973 Official Programme - Mount Panorama, Bathurst - Sunday, 30th September, page 53 * One minute penalties were applied to #28 Peter Brock (starting car while refueling), #3 Murray Carter and #53 Bassingthwaite/Hanger (push starts) * Two one minute penalties were applied to both #1 Allan Moffat (starting car while refueling) and #2 Leo Geoghegan (push starts)

References

External links

CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles

* ttp://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/bathurst_program_1972_index.htm 1972 Official Programme (including Entry List) at www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au
1973 Official Programme (including 1972 Results) at www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au
{{Australian Touring Car Racing Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales Hardie-Ferodo 500