1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500

Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938-1986)

The 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was a production car race held on 6 October 1968 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the ninth running of the Bathurst 500.

For the first time factory supported teams of Ford and Holden V8s raced against each other, setting a pattern that continued in Australian racing into the 21st century. It was not one of the factory cars that won however. The race was won by the Wyong Motors entered Holden Monaro driven by Bruce McPhee (apart from one lap mid-race driven by Barry Mulholland) who defeated the big teams with a tactical strategy of running a buffed hard wearing street tyre rather than a racing tyre. Initially Des West and Ron Marks were classified second but were later disqualified for illegal engine modifications. Second place was then awarded to the factory supported Holden Dealer Racing Team Holden Monaro of Jim Palmer (to that point the best finish by a New Zealander) and Phil West. The AM Roberts entered Holden Monaro driven by Tony Roberts and Bob Watson finished third.

Future two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Allan Grice made his Mount Panorama debut in 1968. Driving with author Bill Tuckey in a Class D Fiat 124 Sport for Scuderia Veloce, the pair finished the race in 18th outright and 9th in class, 11 laps down on the McPhee/Mulholland Monaro.

Midge Whiteman and Christine Cole, driving in a Morris Mini De Luxe, contested the race as an all female duo, placing fifth in their class.

Class structure

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

A replica of the winning Holden Monaro GTS327

The Seton / Gibson Ford XT Falcon GT at the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500

Class A

Class A was for cars which cost up to $1,850. It was contested by Datsun 1000, Ford Cortina, Hillman GT, Morris Mini De Luxe and Toyota Corolla.

Class B

The $1,851 to $2,250 class entries were dominated by the Datsun 1600, but also included Hillman Arrow, Hillman Gazelle and Morris 1100S.

Class C

The $2,251 to $3,000 class was contested by Ford Falcon, Holden Kingswood, Fiat 125 and Morris Cooper S.

Class D

The $3,001 to $4,500 class featured the outright contenders, Ford Falcon GT and Holden Monaro GTS 327, and also included single entries of Chrysler VE Valiant, Fiat 124 Sport and Studebaker Lark.

Class E

For cars over $4,500, the class was contested by Alfa Romeo 1750 GTVs and a single Citroen DS21 Pallas.

Top 10 Qualifiers

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Qual
Pole	13	Wyong Motors Pty Ltd	Bruce McPhee	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	2:56.7
2	14	Lorack Motors (Granville) Pty Ltd	Des West	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	2:56.9
3	23	Holden Dealer Racing Team	Paul Hawkins	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	2:59.3
4	8	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Ian Geoghegan	Ford XT Falcon GT	2:59.8
5	25	Holden Dealer Racing Team	Brian Muir	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	3:00.1
6	24	Holden Dealer Racing Team	Jim Palmer	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	3:00.5
7	7	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Spencer Martin	Ford XR Falcon GT Auto	3:00.5
8	9	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Fred Gibson	Ford XT Falcon GT	3:00.9
9	15	AM Roberts	Tony Roberts	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	3:02.1
10	3	Brian Foley Motors	Brian Foley	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	3:02.4

Results

Pos	Class	No	Entrant[1]	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos
1	D	13	Wyong Motors Pty Ltd	Bruce McPhee Barry Mulholland	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	1
2	D	24	Holden Dealer Racing Team	Jim Palmer Phil West	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	6
3	D	15	AM Roberts	Tony Roberts Bob Watson	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	129	9
4	E	1	Alec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd	Kevin Bartlett Doug Chivas	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	129	11
5	D	25	Holden Dealer Racing Team	Brian Muir George Reynolds	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	127	5
6	E	3	Brian Foley Motors	Brian Foley Laurie Stewart	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	126	10
7	D	10	Wright Ford Motors	Bruce McIntyre Ken Stacey	Ford XR Falcon GT	125	15
8	E	5	Canberra Speed Shop	Peter Brown Ray Gulson	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	125	18
9	D	17	Stanmore Auto Port	Chris Brauer Murray Harrod	Ford XT Falcon GT	125	17
10	C	30	C Smith	Don Holland Charlie Smith	Morris Cooper S	123	23
11	C	34	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Barry Arentz Mike Champion	Ford XT Falcon 500 V8	123	20
12	D	8	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan	Ford XT Falcon GT	123	4
13	D	21	Needhams Motors Pty Ltd	Warren Weldon John Hall	Studebaker Lark	123	13
14	C	29	Marque Motors	Digby Cooke Mal Brewster	Morris Cooper S	121	22
15	B	50	Datsun Racing Team	John Roxburgh Doug Whiteford	Datsun 1600	120	32
16	C	38	Denis Geary Motors Pty Ltd	Damon Beck Gary Hodge	Morris Cooper S	120	21
17	C	63	R Marquet	Alan Cant Ray Marquet	Morris Cooper S	120	24
18	D	26	Scuderia Veloce	Allan Grice Bill Tuckey	Fiat 124 Sport	119	30
19	B	46	Peter Langwill Autos Pty Ltd	Bruce Stewart George Garth	Datsun 1600	118	38
20	C	36	W Gracie	Warren Gracie Don James	Morris Cooper S	118	36
21	B	49	Datsun Racing Team	Kunimitsu Takahashi Yoshikayo Sunago	Datsun 1600	118	28
22	B	65	Vern Curtin Motors	Alton Boddenberg Rusty French	Hillman Gazelle	117	35
23	C	61	Varsity Auto Centre	John Prisk Alan Cameron	Morris Cooper S	116	31
24	B	42	Dependable Motors Pty Ltd	Dennis Cooke Hans Tholstrup	Datsun 1600	116	44
25	C	33	Tony Basile Motors	Tony Basile Gary Leggatt	Fiat 125	116	42
26	B	41	Dependable Motors Pty Ltd	Bruce Darke Bill Ford	Datsun 1600	115	45
27	C	27	Scuderia Veloce	Mike Kable Ron Kearns	Fiat 125	114	40
28	C	35	Young & Green Pty Ltd	Sib Petralia Jim Sullivan	Holden HK Kingswood 186S	114	43
29	D	22	C Hodgins	Clyde Hodgins Stan Pomroy	Chrysler VE Valiant Auto	113	34
30	A	56	AMI Racing Team	Bruce Hindhaugh Bob Morris	Toyota Corolla	113	49
31	D	9	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Fred Gibson Barry Seton	Ford XT Falcon GT	113	8
32	A	55	AMI Racing Team	Barry Ferguson Brian Sampson	Toyota Corolla	113	47
33	B	45	WH Motors Pty Ltd	Don Smith Herb Taylor	Datsun 1600	112	33
34	B	64	MG Car Club NSW	Matt Daddo Peter Ulbrich	Datsun 1600	111	56
35	C	66	A Olsen	Arthur Olsen Ray Scanlen	Morris Cooper S	110	46
36	B	47	Austen & Butta Motors Pty Ltd	Joe Butta Bob Genders	Hillman Arrow	109	53
37	B	48	Tynan Motors	Trevor Mason Neil Mason	Morris 1100S	109	54
38	A	52	Central Auto Sales & Services	Lionel Ayers Max Volkers	Ford Cortina Mk.II 220	107	58
39	B	43	Kenthurst Motors	Carl Kennedy Jack Mullins	Datsun 1600	107	55
40	A	58	A Johns	David Frazer Allan Johns	Hillman GT	107	57
41	A	54	P & R Williams	Christine Gibson Midge Whiteman	Morris Mini De Luxe	98	60
42	D	7	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Spencer Martin Jim McKeown	Ford XT Falcon GT Auto	95	7
43	C	32	W & N Howes	Martin Chenery Ernie Johnson	Fiat 125	88	39
44	C	28	Marque Motors	Lindsay Adcock Bill Stanley	Morris Cooper S	81	26
45	A	57	AMI Racing Team	Brian Reed Dick Thurston	Toyota Corolla	74	50
46	A	60	North Shore Sporting Car Club	Bob Drane Jim Laing-Peach	Toyota Corolla	74	52
47	C	31	Frank Croft Motors Pty Ltd	Gary Cooke Bob Muir	Fiat 125	69	29
48	D	16	M Savva	Mike Savva Bob Wilkinson	Ford XT Falcon GT	62	16
DNF	C	39	Vern Potts	Rick Radford David Seldon	Morris Cooper S		37
DNF	C	40	Vern Potts	Ron Heylen John Smailes	Morris Cooper S	88	25
DNF	D	11	Wright Ford Motors	Bob Beasley Ray Morris	Ford XT Falcon GT	87	14
DNF	B	44	Eiffeltower Motors	"Jack Eiffeltower" David O'Keefe	Hillman Gazelle	54	27
DNF	E	4	Citroen Cars (Citco) Pty Ltd	Bill Daly Glyn Scott	Citroen DS21 Pallas[1]		41
DNF	D	19	I Haynes	Ian Haynes Max Stahl	Holden HK Monaro GTS327		19
DNF	A	62	Imp Spares & Repairs	Mel Mollison Roger Withers	Hillman GT		59
DSQ	D	14	Lorack Motors (Granville) Pty Ltd[2]	Des West Ron Marks	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	2
DSQ	E	2	Alec Mildren (Qld)[3]	John French Frank Gardner	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV		12
DSQ	D	23	Holden Dealer Racing Team[2]	Paul Hawkins Bill Brown	Holden HK Monaro GTS327		3
DSQ	A	51	Datsun Racing Team[4]	Bill Evans John Colwell	Datsun 1000	112	48
DSQ	A	53	Datsun Racing Team[4]	Dick Sorenson Bevan Gibson	Datsun 1000	112	51
DNS	D	12	Jubilee Motors Pty Ltd[2]	Roy Griffiths Wayne Rogerson	Ford XT Falcon GT
DNS	A	59	Bryan Thompson Racing[5]	Adrian Ryan Bryan Thompson	Ford Cortina 220[4] Mk.I[6]
DNS[7]	D[7]	20[7]	Ken Waggott Speed Equipment[2]	N Petrilli[2] W Slattery[2]	Holden HK Monaro GTS327[2]

Note : Jack Nougher competed in car 44 under the name "Jack Eiffeltower" in this race.

Statistics

• Pole Position – No.13 Bruce McPhee – 2:56.7
• Fastest Lap – No.13 Bruce McPhee – 2:58 (lap record)
• Average Speed – 119 km/h
• Race time of winning car – 6:44:07 ^[1]

References

1. How they finished last year..., Official Programme, 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500, Mount Panorama, Sunday, October 5, page 27
2. Class D (entry list), Official Programme, 1968 Hardie Ferodo 500, Mount Panorama, Sunday, October 6, page 35
3. Adrian Ryan, Alfa's uncontested win, Racing Car News, November 1968, pages 30 to 32
4. George Stefanoff, All conquering Corollas, Racing Car News, November 1968, pages 24 to 25
5. Class A (entry list), Official Programme, 1968 Hardie Ferodo 500, Mount Panorama, Sunday, October 6, page 13
6. Images of the No 59 Ford Cortina in the "1968 Bathurst" section of the autopics.com.au DVD "The Great Race – 1960 to 1996 – 30,000 images" shows the car to be a Mark 1 rather than a Mark II
7. Australian Muscle Car, Issue 17, January /February 2005, page 38

• Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999. Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 154–161 & 456. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.

• Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1981, pages 130-137

• Racing Car News, November 1968, pages 24–32

External links

• CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
• race results