The 1963 Armstrong 500 was the fourth running of the Armstrong 500

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

race. It was held on 6 October 1963. After the

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

race, the

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956. History Road circuit Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...

was too damaged to continue to stage the race, forcing it to move to a new location, the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst with a new organising club, the Australian Racing Drivers Club. The race was open to standard production sedans with four classes based on the purchase price (in Australian pounds) of the vehicle.

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

Harry Firth Henry Leslie Firth (18 April 1918 – 27 April 2014) was an Australian racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager with first the Ford works ...

were the first team to complete the full race distance, taking victory in Class C in their

factory backed In motorsports, a factory-backed racing team or driver is one sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer in official competitions. As motorsport competition is an expensive endeavor, some degree of factory support is desired and often necessary for suc ...

Ford Cortina GT The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in five ...

, the change of both vehicle and circuit making no difference to their result of the previous year. While outright victories were not to be recognised until years later, they had completed a hat-trick of 'first to the line' wins.

Class structure

1963 Cortina GT Armstrong 500 winner (9031573452)

The largest change was cosmetic. The bigger cars moved down the alphabet, the smaller cars moved into classes A and B. The Volkswagens moved into class A.

Ford Falcon Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991. * Fo ...

s disappeared from the race, replaced by an influx of smaller, more versatile

Ford Cortina The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in fiv ...

s. As in

the Fords were the biggest threat, shaping up to be faster than the larger D Class cars which included

Chrysler Valiant Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...

s and Studebaker Larks.

Class A

Class A was for cars that cost less £900. It comprised Fiat 770, Morris 850,

Triumph Herald The Triumph Herald is a small two-door car introduced by Standard-Triumph of Coventry in 1959 and made through to 1971. The body design was by the Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, and the car was offered in saloon, convertible, coupé, est ...

and

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

Class B

The £901 to £1,000 class featured 1.5 litre

Morris Cooper The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

and Morris Major Elite,

Renault R8 The Renault 8 (Renault R8 until 1964) and Renault 10 are two rear-engined, rear-wheel drive small family cars produced by the French manufacturer Renault in the 1960s and early 1970s. The 8 was launched in 1962, and the 10, a more upmarket ve ...

and

Simca Aronde The Simca Aronde is an automobile which was manufactured by the French automaker Simca from 1951 to 1964. It was Simca's first original design (earlier models were all to a greater or lesser extent based on Fiats), as well as the company's first ...

Class C

The £1,001 to £1,200 class was contested by

, Holden EH S4 and

Holden FB The Holden FB is an automobile produced by Holden in Australia from 1960 to 1961.Holden FB< ...

Class D

The £1,201 to £2,000 class featured

Ford Zephyr The Ford Zephyr is an executive car manufactured by Ford of Britain from 1950 until 1972. The Zephyr and its luxury variants, the Ford Zodiac and Ford Executive, were the largest passenger cars in the British Ford range from 1950 until their re ...

, Humber Super Snipe, Peugeot 404, Studebaker Lark, Vauxhall Velox and Vauxhall Victor, Vauxhall VX 4/90.

Race

The race became the first Ford vs Holden head-to-head fight, with the works Cortina of defending race champions

and

winning by a lap over the first Holden EH, EH Holden of Ralph Sach and Fred Morgan with a second Cortina on the same lap. It was a third consecutive victory for Jane and Firth, each victory coming in a different model and back-to-back for the factory Ford team. Second place was the closest Holden would get to a win until the breakthrough in 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500, 1968. Chrysler got its first class win with the Valiant of Tony Reynolds and Tony Allen with Geoff Russell driving the factory prepared Ford Zephyr again narrowly missing out on the Class D win. The new Morris Coopers saw the Mini break out of the entry level class and gave Doug Chivas his first class win, co-driving with Ken Wilkinson in Class B, defeating the 1.5 litre Cortinas, ominously just a lap behind the Valiant and the Zephyr. In the small class, Volkswagen again defeated the Morris 850s with Barry Ferguson and Bill Ford taking first place ahead of the Mini of Don Holland and Lindsay Little.

Results

Statistics

* Fastest Lap – N/A * Race time of Firth / Jane Ford Cortina GT (First car across the line) – 7:47:14Bill Tuckey and David Greenhalgh, Australia's Greatest Motor Race – The First 30 Years

References

External links

Race results, www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au

Bathurst 1963 images, autopics.com.au
{{Australian Touring Car Racing Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales 1963 in Australian motorsport, Armstrong 500 Armstrong 500