1965 Armstrong 500

Motor race in Australia November 2021 October 2011 1965 Armstrong 500 1964 1966 thumb|250px|Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938–1986) thumb|right|The winning Ford Cortina GT500 of Seton & Bosworth The 1965 Armstrong 500 was the sixth running of the Bathurst 500 touring car race. It was held on 3 October 1965 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The race was open to Australian assembled or manufactured vehicles and, for the first time, to imported vehicles, of which at least 100 examples and 250 examples respectively had been registered in Australia.Australian Motor Manual, August 1965, page 4 Cars competed in four classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian pounds. Prize money was on offer only for class placings however the Armstrong Trophy was presented to the entrant of the outright winning car, this being the first time in the history of the event that there had been an official award for the outright winner. The outright winning car was the Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 entered by Fairfield Motors and driven by Barry Seton and emerging young driver Midge Bosworth. Second was the Grawill Motors entered Cortina driven mainly by Bruce McPhee with one lap driven by Barry Mulholland. Third, and one lap behind the two Cortina was the factory entered Morris Cooper S of Brian Foley and Peter Manton. Class structure Class A Class A was for cars under £920. It was contested by Datsun Bluebird, Fiat 850, 1.5 litre Ford Cortina 220, Morris Mini de Luxe and Vauxhall Viva, although all the Datsuns were withdrawn prior to race start due to wheel cracking failures. Class B The £921 to £1,020 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina 240, Isuzu Bellett, Morris Cooper, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona. Class C The £1,021 to £1,300 class was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also contained Chrysler Valiant, Ford Cortina GT and Holden HD X2. Class D The £1,301 to £2,000 class featured the first of what came to be known as the 'Bathurst specials', the Ford Cortina GT500 named for the race. The class also contained Fiat 2300, Humber Vogue, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122. Results Pos Class Class pos No Entrant Drivers Car Laps 1 D 1 11 Fairfield Motors Pty Ltd Australia Barry SetonAustralia Midge Bosworth Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 130 2 D 2 4 Grawill Motors Pty Ltd Australia Bruce McPheeAustralia Barry Mulholland Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 130 3 C 1 29 BMC Australia Australia Brian FoleyAustralia Peter Manton Morris Cooper S 129 4 C 2 21 L and D Motors Pty Ltd Australia Lindsay LittleAustralia Stan Pomroy Morris Cooper S 129 5 D 3 12 Hunt Bros. (Sydney) Motors Pty Ltd Australia Jack MurrayAustralia Bill McLachlan Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 128 6 C 3 30 BMC Australia UK Paddy HopkirkFinland Timo Mäkinen Morris Cooper S 128 7 C 4 18 Marque Motors Australia Bill StanleyAustralia Ralph Sach Morris Cooper S 128 8 C 5 19 College Auto Parts Australia Ray KaledaAustralia Graham Moore Morris Cooper S 125 9 C 6 24 Killara Motor Garage Australia Greg CusackAustralia Bob Holden Morris Cooper S 125 10 D 4 7 Australian Motor Industries Australia Max StewartAustralia Bob Young Triumph 2000 124 11 C 7 26 Ford Motor Company of Australia Australia Barry ArentzAustralia Geoff Russell Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 124 12 D 5 3 British & Continental Cars P/L Australia Bill FordAustralia Des West Volvo 122S 121 13 D 6 2 Continental & General Distributors Pty Ltd Australia Fred SutherlandAustralia Allan Mottram Studebaker Lark 120 14 A 1 45 Ford Motor Company of Australia Australia Harry FirthAustralia John Reaburn Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 119 15 A 2 54 Ray Morris Motors Pty Ltd Australia Bruce MaherAustralia Ray Morris Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 119 16 D 7 5 British & Continental Cars P/L Australia Graham WardAustralia Barry Collerson Volvo 122S 118 17 B 1 40 Ford Motor Company of Australia Australia Glyn ScottAustralia Max Volkers Ford Cortina Mk.I 240 118 18 B 2 39 Australian Motor Industries Australia Brian ReedAustralia Des Kelly Toyota Corona 118 19 A 3 53 H and G Taylor Australia John HallAustralia Herb Taylor Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 118 20 B 3 41 Australian Motor Industries Australia Bill BuckleAustralia Neil McKay Toyota Corona 117 21 C 8 22 Advanx (Gosford) Motor Service Australia Alton BoddenbergAustralia Digby Cooke Chrysler Valiant 116 22 C 9 31 Smith Auto Accessories Pty Ltd Australia Don SmithAustralia Bruce Stewart Holden HD X2 116 23 B 4 36 Australian Motor Industries Australia Brian SampsonAustralia Ern Abbott Toyota Corona 116 24 B 5 42 BMC Australia Australia Barry FergusonAustralia Charlie Smith Morris Cooper 115 25 A 4 43 Griffith Barke Service Australia Ken HarrisonAustralia Bruce Hodgson Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 114 26 A 5 52 G. Shoesmith Australia Gary ShoesmithAustralia Tony Robards Vauxhall Viva 113 27 D 8 10 Needham Motors Pty Ltd Australia Warren WeldonAustralia Bill Slattery Studebaker Lark 112 28 A 6 55 BMC Australia Australia Kevin BartlettAustralia Ron Haylen Morris Mini de Luxe 111 29 A 7 47 Bamar Engineering Australia John MarchioriAustralia Arnold Ahrenfeld Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 111 30 B 6 32 John Rhodin Pty Ltd Australia Arthur TreloarAustralia Colin Bond Isuzu Bellett 1500 109 31 A 8 50 Vaughan and Lane Pty Ltd Australia P. TaylorAustralia T. Egan Morris Mini de Luxe 109 32 B 7 34 Rex Emmett Australia John ConnollyAustralia Rex Emmett Renault R8 108 33 A 9 49 W and N Howes Australia Bill DalyAustralia Ray Heffernan Fiat 850 106 34 D 9 6 Canberra Speed Shop Australia Peter BrownAustralia Ray Gulson Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 106 35 A 10 44 BMC Australia Australia Steve HarveyAustralia Laurie Stewart Morris Mini de Luxe 105 36 B 8 37 Vaughan and Lane Pty Ltd Australia Peter CrayAustralia Don Holland Morris Cooper 99 37 D 10 13 R. Salter Australia Bob SalterAustralia Ken Wiggins Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 94 38 C 10 28 Toowong Motors-J. Thomas and Sons Australia Evan ThomasAustralia Lionel Williams Holden HD X2 84 39 B 9 35 Vern Potts BMC Australia George ForrestAustralia Frank Hann Morris Cooper 81 40 D 11 8 D. Walker Australia Carl KennedyAustralia David Walker Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 64 DNF D 23 Alex Strachan Motors Australia Bill BarnettAustralia Don Johnston Humber Vogue 106 DNF D 16 Otten Motors Australia Fred OttenAustralia Mick Crampton Fiat 2300 65 DNF D 9 K. Russell Australia Keith RussellAustralia Colin Wear Triumph 2000 60 DNF D 14 Ford Motor Company of Australia Australia Bob JaneAustralia George Reynolds Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 58 DNF D 15 Belvedere Motors Australia Ron HodgsonAustralia Bob Beasley Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 54 DNF A 56 W. Burns Australia Bill BurnsAustralia Brian Lawler Fiat 850 54 DNF A 58 T. Kavanagh Australia Don MuddAustralia Tony Kavanagh Vauxhall Viva 48 DNF B 38 Renno Motors Australia Brian McGrathAustralia David Frazer Renault R8 42 DNF B 33 M. Martin Australia Ron ClarkeAustralia John Prisk Morris Cooper 25 DNF C 25 BMC Australia Australia John FrenchAustralia John Harvey Morris Cooper S 24 DNF D 17 A. Davis Australia Arthur DavisAustralia Paul Mander Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 14 DNF C 20 Vaughan and Lane Pty Ltd Australia Ian CookAustralia Ken Lindsay Morris Cooper S 11 DNF C 27 Vaughan and Lane Pty Ltd Australia Doug ChivasAustralia Phil Barnes Morris Cooper S 10 DNF A 59 Rolls Motors Australia Trevor MeehanAustralia Pat Holmes Fiat 850 6 DSQ D 1 Ford Motor Company of Australia Australia Ian GeogheganAustralia Leo Geoghegan Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 130 DNS A 46 Nissan Motor DistributorsOfficial Entry List, Racing Cars News, October 1965, page 27 Australia Spencer MartinAustralia Bill Brown Datsun Bluebird DNS A 48 Nissan Motor Distributors Australia Tony SimmonsAustralia Mike Champion Datsun Bluebird DNS A 51 Nissan Motor Distributors Australia Bruce DemuthAustralia Bill Orr Datsun Bluebird Statistics Fastest Lap – #29 Brian Foley – 3:13.7 (lap record) Average Speed – 110 km/h Race time of first car home – 7:16:45.1Why Cortinas Win, Modern Motor, December 1965, pages 38 to 41 + 66 to 67 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 1965 Ah-so; maybe next year 2000 1-875221-12-3 130–137 & 453 Further reading Australian Motor Manual, December 1965, page 47 External links 1965 Armstrong 500 race summary, race results and video, www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au Bathurst 1965 images, autopics.com.au Category:Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales Armstrong 500 Category:Armstrong 500