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1967 Gallaher 500

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Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938-1986)
A "race replica" of the winning Ford XR Falcon GT of Harry Firth and Fred Gibson
A "race replica" of the second placed Ford XR Falcon GT of Ian Geoghegan and Leo Geoghegan

The 1967 Gallaher 500 was a motor race for Production Saloon Cars[1] held at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on 1 October 1967. The race, which was the eighth running of the Phillip Island 500/Bathurst 500, was organised by the Australian Racing Drivers Club Ltd and promoted by Gallaher International (Aust) Ltd.

Each competing car was required to be a production saloon competing in standard specification as laid down in the manufacturer's standard workshop manual.[2] Optional extras and open exhausts were not permitted.[2] To be eligibile to compete, a car had to be an Australian built or assembled model of which 200 examples had been registered in Australia by 30 September 1967, or a fully imported model of which 100 examples had been registered in Australia by the same date.[2]

In a seminal moment for the race, the first Australian-built V8-powered Ford Falcons competed in the form of seven Falcon GTs and a Falcon automatic. In a race long duel against three Alfa Romeo 1600 GTVs, two entered by Alec Mildren Racing and one by M.W. Motors, the Ford Motor Company-entered Falcon GTs achieved a one-two finish with Harry Firth and Fred Gibson acknowledged as race winners after confusion over lap-scoring briefly left uncertainty over the results. Brothers Leo and Ian Geoghegan finished second with the two Alec Mildren Racing Alfa Romeos of Doug Chivas / Max Stewart and Kevin Bartlett / Laurie Stewart all finishing on the same lap as the winning car. It was Firth's fourth Phillip Island 500/Bathurst 500 victory, equalling Bob Jane's record.

The confusion over the result stemmed from the Geoghegan brothers' first pit stop. Driving the opening stint, Leo Geoghegan's pole winning Falcon almost ran out of fuel coming past the pits. As he could not reverse into pit lane without being disqualified, Leo went in through the back gate to the pits located on Mountain Straight, and came back into pit lane through the paddock gate. Although he had not completed the lap, as he crossed the finish line in pit lane (located before he got to his pit bay) he was mistakenly credited with completing the lap. Firth, who knew this, was livid with the Australian Racing Drivers Club when the Geoghegan car was flagged in first, despite finishing 11 seconds behind Gibson (although he knew that he'd completed his 130th lap, Gibson completed another lap as he had not yet been shown the chequered flag). Firth, immediately protested the result and it was not until later that evening that he and Gibson were installed as race winners. Firth's protest led to long standing animosity between himself and the Geoghegan team who were teammates for the race, with Leo contending until his death in 2015 that he and his brother won the race.[3]

Class structure

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Cars competed in five classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars.

Class A

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The lowest class was for under cars retailing for less $1,800. It comprised Datsun 1000 and 1300, Hillman GT,[1] Holden Torana and Toyota Corolla.

Class B

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The $1,801 to $2,100 class featured Ford Cortina, Hillman Arrow, and Morris Cooper and 1100S, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona.

Class C

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The $2,101 to $3,000 class was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also contained Fiat 124 and 850, an automatic gearbox Ford Falcon, Holden HD X2 and Prince Skyline GT.

Class D

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The $3,001 to $4,500 class featured the debut of the 'Australian V8's which would dominate the history of the race, represented by Ford Falcon GT, but also contained single entries of Alfa Romeo Giulia, Audi Super 90, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122.

Class E

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For the first time an unlimited class, for cars over $4,500, was included and while many exotic cars were rumoured the class ultimately contained four Alfa Romeo 1600 GTVs and a single Dodge Phoenix TD2.

Practice results

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For 1967, race regulations were changed such that all grid positions were decided on practice times, regardless of class.[4] Prior to this, the cars were gridded according to practice times but within their respective classes with the highest class starting at the front of the grid and so on.

The first ten places were as follows:

Pos. No. Entrant[1] Driver Car Qual.
1 53 Ford Motor Company Australia Ian Geoghegan Ford XR Falcon GT 3:03.0
2 52 Ford Motor Company Australia Fred Gibson Ford XR Falcon GT 3:03.2
3 61 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Australia Kevin Bartlett Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 3:03.5
4 60 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Australia Doug Chivas Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 3:05.2
5 54 Ford Motor Company Australia Bob Jane Ford XR Falcon GT 3:05.2
6 62 M.W. Motors Pty. Ltd Australia Paul Hawkins Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 3:05.7
7 51 J. & B. Motors Australia Des West Ford XR Falcon GT 3:06.0
8 49 M. Savva Australia Mike Savva Ford XR Falcon GT 3:06.8
9 50 Gregory's (Motors) Pty. Ltd. Australia Greg Cusack Ford XR Falcon GT NA
10 55 Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Warren Weldon Studebaker Lark NA

Race results

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Pos Class Class
pos
No Entrant[1] Drivers Car Laps Qual
Pos
1 D 1 52 Ford Motor Company Australia Harry Firth
Australia Fred Gibson
Ford XR Falcon GT 130 2
2 D 2 53 Ford Motor Company Australia Ian Geoghegan
Australia Leo Geoghegan
Ford XR Falcon GT 130 1
3 E 1 60 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Australia Doug Chivas
Australia Max Stewart
Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 130 4
4 E 2 61 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Australia Kevin Bartlett
Australia Laurie Stewart
Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 130 3
5 C 1 30 British Motor Corporation United Kingdom Tony Fall
Australia Bob Holden
Morris Cooper S 128 14
6 C 2 37 C. Smith Australia Charlie Smith
Australia Barry Seton
Morris Cooper S 127 15
7 C 3 29 British Motor Corporation Finland Timo Mäkinen
Australia John French
Morris Cooper S 127 12
8 C 4 28 British Motor Corporation United Kingdom Paddy Hopkirk
Australia Brian Foley
Morris Cooper S 126 11
9 E 3 63 S.T.P. Scientifically Treated Petroleum Australia Australia Arthur Davis
Australia Paul Mander
Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 126 20
10 C 5 40 Marque Motors Australia Damon Beck
Australia Lakis Manticas
Morris Cooper S 125 18
11 D 3 55 Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Warren Weldon
Australia John Hall
Studebaker Lark 124 10
12 C 6 45 Martinz Place Australia John Millyard
Australia Andy Frankel
Morris Cooper S 124 16
13 D 4 49 M. Savva Australia Mike Savva
Australia Bob Wilkinson
Ford XR Falcon GT 124 8
14 C 7 36 Baulkam Hills Service Station Australia Peter Brown
Australia Bob Cook
Morris Cooper S 123 21
15 D 5 58 Bill Burns Australia Bill Burns
Australia Chris Brauer
Alfa Romeo Giulia Super 122 23
16 D 6 57 Scuderia Veloce Australia David McKay
Australia George Reynolds
Audi Super 90 122 25
17 D 7 50 Gregory's (Motors) Pty. Ltd. Australia Greg Cusack
Australia Bill Brown
Ford XR Falcon GT 121 9
18 D 8 54 Ford Motor Company Australia Bob Jane
Australia Spencer Martin
Ford XR Falcon GT 118 5
19 E 4 64 Barnard Auto. Spares Australia Barry Sharp
Australia Lindsay Derriman
Dodge Phoenix TD2 118 29
20 C 8 42 Scuderia Veloce Australia Bill Tuckey
Australia Max Stahl
Fiat 124 118 31
21 C 9 27 Victorian Police Motor Sports Club Australia Fred Sutherland
Australia Allan Mottram
Ford XR Falcon Automatic 117 22
22 D 9 48 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Australia Bob Young
Australia Bob Sorrenson
Triumph 2000 117 33
23 A 1 2 Datsun Racing Team Australia John Roxburgh
Australia Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1000 117 38
24 C 10 47 John Caskey Pty. Ltd. Australia Bill Daly
Australia George Murray
Fiat 124 117 37
25 E 5 62 M.W. Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Paul Hawkins
Australia Syd Fisher
Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 117 6
26 A 2 12 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Australia Dick Thurston
Australia Bill Buckle
Toyota Corolla 116 44
27 B 1 16 Gordon Stewarts Sports Car Centre Australia Don Holland
Australia Peter Cray
Morris Cooper 116 36
28 A 3 1 Datsun Racing Team Japan Kunimitsu Takahashi
Japan Hideo Oishi
Datsun 1000 116 40
29 C 11 41 Scuderia Veloce Australia Mike Kable
Australia John Smailes
Fiat 124 115 32
30 A 4 8 Eiffel Tower Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Jack Nougher
Australia David O'Keefe
Hillman GT[1] 114 42
31 A 5 9 B.P. Olympic Service Station (Cowra) Australia Bob Edgerton
Australia David Toshack
Hillman GT[1] 114 51
32 B 2 24 Sharton Motors (Maitland) Australia George Garth
Australia Geoff Westbury
Hillman Arrow 114 47
33 C 12 35 Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Gary Cooke
Australia Trevor Meehan
Fiat 124 113 30
34 C 13 31 C. Kennedy Australia Carl Kennedy
Australia Jack Murray
Prince Skyline GT 113 39
35 B 3 15 A. Treloar Australia Doug Macarthur
Australia Arthur Treloar
Hillman Arrow 111 48
36 B 4 25 Everybody's Magazine Australia Jane Richardson
Australia Midge Whiteman
Morris 1100S 110 58
37 B 5 18 D. Frazer Australia David Frazer
Australia Bernie Breen
Renault R8 109 57
38 C 14 34 Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Lynn Brown
Australia David Bye
Fiat 850 109 55
39 B 6 13 C. Hodgins Australia Clyde Hodgins
Australia Kevin Nipperess
Morris 1100S 108 56
40 D 10 59 Wright Ford Motors Australia Bruce McIntyre
Australia Ken Stacey
Ford XR Falcon GT 106 13
41 A 6 5 C. J. Cocran Australia Chris Cronan
Australia Steve Parkes
Holden HB Torana 103 60
42 A 7 6 Dependable Motors (Sales) Pty. Ltd. Australia Bruce Darke
Australia Bill Ford
Datsun 1300 102 59
43 B 7 20 Marque Motors Australia Lindsay Adcock
Australia Mike Schneider
Morris Cooper 100 35
44 A 8 3 Datsun Racing Team Australia Jim Smith
Australia John Colwell
Datsun 1300 100 52
45 B 8 17 Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd. Australia Bill Stanley
Australia Digby Cooke
Morris Cooper 96 43
46 B 9 19 J. Thompson Australia Jeff Thompson
Australia Bob Romano
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500 96 49
47 D 11 56 British & Continental Cars Pty. Ltd. Australia Gerry Lister
Australia David Seldon
Volvo 122S 86 26
48 C 15 44 H. Taylor Australia Don Smith
Australia Herb Taylor
Holden HD X2 75 27
DNF A 7 Dunbier Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Lindsay Little
Australia Stan Pomroy
Hillman GT[1] 53
DNF A 4 Datsun Racing Team Australia Barry Tapsall
Australia Bevan Gibson
Datsun 1300 50
DNF B 22 Rural Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Glen Mackinnon
Australia John T. Smith
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500 111 [5] 54
DNF B 23 Varsity Auto Centre Australia Rick Radford
Australia John Prisk
Morris Cooper 64 28
DNF C 33 Gordon Stewart's Car Centre Australia Mal Brewster
Australia Bob Skelton
Morris Cooper S 121 [5] 17
DNF C 32 M. Bailey Australia Murray Bailey
Australia John Hicks
Prince Skyline GT 34
DNF C 46 Denis Geary Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Gary Hodge
Australia Glyn Scott
Morris Cooper S 44 [5] 24
DNF C 26 J. Leffler Australia John Leffler
Australia Les Carne
Morris Cooper S 116 19
DSQ D 51 J. & B. Motors Australia Bob Beasley
Australia Des West
Ford XR Falcon GT 128 7
DSQ A 11 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Australia Barry Ferguson
Australia Brian Sampson
Toyota Corolla 117 45
DSQ A 10 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Australia Bruce Hindhaugh
Australia Peter Macrow
Toyota Corolla 116 46
DSQ B 21 Peter Williamson Pty. Ltd Australia Peter Williamson
Australia Alex Macarthur
Toyota Corona 116 41

Statistics

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  • Pole Position - #53 Ian Geoghegan - 3:03.0
  • Fastest Lap - #52 Fred Gibson - 3:03 (lap record)
  • Average Speed - 116 km/h
  • Race Time - 6:55:08

References

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  • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999. Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 146–153 & 455. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Official Programme, The Gallaher 500, Bathurst, 1st October 1967
  2. ^ a b c Extra Class in Gallaher '500', Australian Motor Manual, July 1967, page 27
  3. ^ Mount Panorama Bathurst - The Great Race - 1967 highlights
  4. ^ Bill Tuckey, Australia'a Greatest Motor Race, The Complete History, 1981, page 122
  5. ^ a b c David Greenhaigh, Thomas B. Floyd & Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999, page 522

Further reading

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  • Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, 1977, pages 191–192
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