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 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 five classes based on purchase price (Australian dollars) of the vehicle. The race was won by the newly formed Holden Dealer Team with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts with teammates

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, ...

and Des West finishing third in their Holden Monaro GTS350's, with the team's third car finishing sixth. In between them in second position was defending race winners Bruce McPhee and his single-lap co-driver Barry Mulholland driving a Phase 1

Ford Falcon GTHO The Ford Falcon GT is an automobile produced by Ford Australia from 1967 to 1976 as the performance version of its Falcon model range. Its production was resumed by a joint venture in 1992 and 1997 with Tickford, and then again between 2003 and ...

. McPhee and Mulholland, who had won in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

driving the Holden Monaro GTS327, had originally intended to race a Monaro 350 in 1969 but after receiving no help from

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thr ...

, instead decided to race one of the new Falcons.

and

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 ...

Allan Moffat made their Bathurst débuts in the race. Brock with Harry Firth's Holden Dealer Team, and Moffat driving a works Falcon GTHO with Alan Hamilton. Between them, Brock and Moffat would go on to win 13 of the next 17 Bathurst 500/1000s (until 1987), with Brock winning a record nine times (all for Holden), and Moffat winning four times for Ford. The Ford Works Team were the favourites to win the race with their new Falcon GTHOs which with their new 5.8-litre ( 351 cui) V8's proved to have a speed advantage over the 5.7-litre ( 350 cui) Monaros. However, the decision by Ford Works Team's American manager Al Turner to import special racing tyres for the Falcons proved to be a disaster. During the race numerous tyre failures put the Works cars out of contention. After early tyre failures on the Ian and Leo Geoghegan car, as well as the Fred Gibson and Barry Seton car, Turner called Moffat into the pits for a tyre change. There it was found that Moffat had been far easier on his tyres than either Ian Geoghegan or Seton and that the stop was not necessary. As of 2016, Moffat believes that this decision cost himself and co-driver Alan Hamilton the race win. The day after the race, Ford ran a full page newspaper advert stating "We were a little deflated" referring to the tyre failures. 1969 was also notable for the first lap crash which saw at least one third of the field forced to retire or continue with accident damage. Bill Brown rolled his Falcon GTHO coming through Skyline, all but blocking the track while John French, who qualified 21st, rolled his Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV trying to avoid the carnage that Brown's rollover caused. One driver lucky to escape the carnage was Allan Moffat who had pulled up just out of The Cutting on the first lap with his Falcon stuck in neutral. Once he got going he was able to weave through the bedlam at Skyline and continue on his way. For Brown, it would be the first of three rollovers at Bathurst on the same piece of road (McPhillamy Park - Skyline), with the second in 1971 bringing a lucky escape from death.

Class structure

Class A

The smallest class was for under cars the cost less $1,860. It was made up of

Datsun 1000 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 ...

Hillman Imp The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine bl ...

, Morris Mini K and

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

Class B

The $1,861 to $2,250 class was dominated by the Datsun 1600, but also contained

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 ...

Hillman Gazelle The Hillman Gazelle is an automobile which was produced by Chrysler Australia from 1966 to 1967. Based on the British Singer Gazelle Series VI, the Hillman Gazelle was offered only as a four-door sedan and was essentially an upmarket version o ...

, Morris 1500, Renault 10 and Volkswagen Type 3.

Class C

The $2,251 to $3,100 class saw a mix of Chrysler Valiant, Fiat 125,

Ford Capri The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the Europe ...

, Mazda R100, Morris Cooper S and Renault 16.

Class D

The $3,101 to $4,500 class featured the outright contenders,

and Holden Monaro, but also contained a single Toyota Corona.

Class E

For cars over $4,500, had a single automatic gearbox version of the Ford Falcon GT but otherwise was all Alfa Romeo with 1750 GTV and a single 1750 Berlina.

Top 10 Qualifiers

Results

Statistics

* Pole Position - #59 Ian Geoghegan - 2:48.9 * Fastest Lap - #61 Moffat/Hamilton & #60 Gibson/Seton - 2:52.1 (lap record) * Average Speed - 123 km/h * Race Time - 6:32:25

References

External links

CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles

{{Australian Touring Car Racing Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales Hardie-Ferodo 500 October 1969 sports events in Australia