1963 Armstrong 500

Motor race in Australia November 2021 October 2011 1963 Armstrong 500 1962 1964 thumb|250px|Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938–1986) The 1963 Armstrong 500 was the fourth running of the Armstrong 500 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1963. After the 1962 race, the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit 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 and Harry Firth were the first team to complete the full race distance, taking victory in Class C in their factory backed Ford Cortina GT, 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 thumb|A replica of the Ford Cortina GT in which Bob Jane and Harry Firth won Class C 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 Falcons disappeared from the race, replaced by an influx of smaller, more versatile Ford Cortinas. As in 1962 the Fords were the biggest threat, shaping up to be faster than the larger D Class cars which included Chrysler Valiants and Studebaker Larks. Class A Class A was for cars that cost less £900. It comprised Fiat 770, Morris 850, Triumph Herald and Volkswagen Beetle. Class B The £901 to £1,000 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina, Morris Cooper and Morris Major Elite, Renault R8 and Simca Aronde. Class C The £1,001 to £1,200 class was contested by Ford Cortina GT, Holden EH S4 and Holden FB. Class D The £1,201 to £2,000 class featured Chrysler Valiant, Ford Zephyr, Humber Super Snipe, Peugeot 404, Studebaker Lark, Vauxhall Velox and 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 Bob Jane and Harry Firth winning by a lap over the first 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. 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 Pos No Entrant Drivers Car Laps Class A 1 54 Lanock Motors Ltd Australia Barry FergusonAustralia Bill Ford Volkswagen 1200 116 2 55 Vaughan & Lane Pty Ltd Australia Don HollandAustralia Lindsay Little Morris 850 116 3 51 Victorian VW Agents-VW Sales Australia Jim McKeownAustralia George Reynolds Volkswagen 1200 115 4 61 A. Andrews Australia Rocky TresiseAustralia Arthur Andrews Volkswagen 1200 115 5 57 Macquarie Motors Australia Greg MackieAustralia Graham White Volkswagen 1200 113 6 53 K.B. Nicholson Motors Australia Bill StanleyAustralia John Alexander Morris 850 113 7 49 H.E. Taylor Australia Barry SetonAustralia Herb Taylor Morris 850 112 8 50 Kinsley Motors Australia George ForrestAustralia Frank Hann Volkswagen 1200 111 9 59 T. Corcoran Australia Tom CorcoranAustralia Digby Cooke Morris 850 111 10 52 Paul M. Samuels Australia Barry CollersonAustralia Les Howard Fiat 770 103 11 56 Reg Smith Motors Australia Jim BonthorneAustralia Mike Callan Triumph Herald 101 12 58 Vaughan & Lane Pty Ltd Australia Fred GibsonAustralia Ken Nicholson Morris 850 89 DNF 60 P & R Williams Australia Tony HillAustralia Frank Kleinig Morris 850 Class B 1 42 Denis Summers Conversions Australia Doug ChivasAustralia Ken Wilkinson Morris Cooper 125 2 41 Delore Motors (Newcastle) Australia Jack GatesAustralia Mike Nedelko Morris Cooper 125 3 28 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Ern AbbottAustralia Alan Caelli Ford Cortina 1500 123 4 46 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Max VolkersAustralia K Burns Ford Cortina 1500 123 5 43 Bamar Motors Australia Wal DonnellyAustralia John Marchiori Morris Cooper 122 6 44 P & R Williams Australia Des WestAustralia John Martin Morris Cooper 120 7 26 C. Harding Australia Chris HardingAustralia Adrian Yannuccelli Morris Cooper 120 8 29 Total Team Australia Frank MatichAustralia George Murray Renault R8 119 9 37 Rex Emmett Australia John ConnollyAustralia Rod Draper Renault R8 119 10 39 P & R Williams Australia Brian FoleyAustralia Peter Manton Morris Cooper 116 11 45 P. Brown Australia Peter BrownAustralia Ron Marshall Morris Cooper 115 12 47 C.G. Smith Australia Ron HodgsonAustralia Charlie Smith Morris Cooper 115 13 32 Cecil R Pierce Australia Ken BrigdenAustralia Bruce Smith Simca Aronde 114 14 38 Gurdon Motors Australia Barry GurdonAustralia Jerry Trevor-Jones Morris Major Elite 113 15 33 Gurdon Motors Australia Jack MurrayAustralia Alan Edney Morris Major Elite 113 16 48 Gurdon Motors Australia Warren BlomfieldAustralia Lorraine Hill Morris Major Elite 112 17 36 Ron Thorp's Bargain Barn Australia Ron ThorpAustralia John White Morris Major Elite 111 18 40 Rex Emmett Australia Les ParkAustralia Fred Sutherland Renault Gordini 110 19 25 Scuderia Veloce Australia Ron ClarkeAustralia David Walker Renault R8 102 DNF 30 Delore Motors (Newcastle) Australia Doug KelleyAustralia Graham Kelley Morris Cooper DNF 34 Total Bexley Service Station Australia Mike MartinAustralia Dave Humphries Morris Cooper DNF 35 Howard and Sons Racing Team Australia Sid HowardAustralia Les Weiley Morris Cooper 18 DNF 27 P. & R. Williams Australia Paul BoltonAustralia Laurie Stewart Morris Cooper 13 DNF 31 Three Way Motors Australia Carl KennedyAustralia Doug Stewart Simca Aronde Class C 1 20 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Bob JaneAustralia Harry Firth Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 130 2 15 F.G. MorganBarry Collerson, Behind the wheel, Australian Motor Sports, November 1963, pages 30, 31, 32 & 50 Australia Ralph SachAustralia Fred Morgan Holden EH S4 129 3 13 Grawill Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Bruce McPheeAustralia Graham Ryan Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 129 4 22 Barrie Broomhall MotorsPhilip McCumisky, Holden versus Holden at Bathurst, www.pccv.org, as archived at web.archive.org Australia Barry BroomhallAustralia Bill Cunliffe Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 124 5 18 H. Budd Australia Harry BuddAustralia R. Smith Holden EH S4 123 6 23 Geissler Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Ian GrantAustralia Trevor Marden Holden EH S4 120 7 16 Muirs Motors (Ryde) Australia Kevin BartlettAustralia Bill Reynolds Holden EH S4 115 8 24 B.P. Warwick Farm Service Station Australia Lex BaileyAustralia Phil McCumisky Holden FB Special 115 9 17 Heldon Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Spencer MartinAustralia Brian Muir Holden EH S4 111 DNF 21 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Ian GeogheganAustralia Leo Geoghegan Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 105 DNF 14 Seatons Globe Hotel, Albury Australia Jim O'ShaunnessyAustralia John Brindley Holden EH S4 65 Class D 1 8 Ron Dunbier Motors Australia Tony AllenAustralia Tony Reynolds Chrysler AP5 Valiant 126 2 5 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Geoff RussellAustralia John Reaburn Ford Zephyr Mk.III 126 3 9 Killara Motor Garage Australia Bob HoldenAustralia Bill March Peugeot 404 119 4 2 Needham Motors Pty Ltd Australia Warren WeldonAustralia Bert Needham Studebaker Lark 115 45 6 Alex Strachan Motors Australia Bill BurnsAustralia Brian Lawler Humber Super Snipe 21 DNF 4 Baulkham Hill Service Station Australia Bob CookAustralia Alwyn Rose Chrysler SV1 Valiant 119 DNF 7 N.J. Wright Australia Jim WrightAustralia Ian Ferguson Studebaker Lark 57 DNF 3 Boyded Pty Ltd-Scuderia Veloce Australia David McKayAustralia Greg Cusack Vauxhall Velox 20 DSQ 10 Continental & General Distributors Australia Bill CoeAustralia Syd Fisher Peugeot 404 119 DNS 12 P. Fallu Australia Paul Fallu Australia Terry Kratzmann Vauxhall VX 4/90 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 Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999 The first 40 years Greenhalgh David Thomas B. Floyd Bill Tuckey Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited Hornsby 1963 The telecast begins 2000 1-875221-12-3 114–121 & 452 External links Race results, www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au Bathurst 1963 images, autopics.com.au 6th Oct 1963. Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst NSW. The Armstrong 500 car race (a.k.a Bathurst 500) (video), www.youtube.com Category:Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales Armstrong 500 Category:Armstrong 500