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 continues to this day in Australian touring car racing, currently known as V8 Supercar. 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 upset the big teams with a tactical tyre 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 Monaro of Jim Palmer (to that point the best finish by a New Zealander) and Phil West. The AM Roberts entered 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/journalist 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, racing in a Mini 850, finished the race as an all girls team, coming 5th 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 less than $1,850. It was made up of Datsun 1000, Ford Cortina, Hillman GT, Morris Mini De Luxe and Toyota Corolla.

Class B[]

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

Class C[]

The $2,251 to $3,000 class saw a mix of standard versions of the outright contenders, Ford Falcon and Holden Kingswood and 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, but also contained a single Chrysler VE Valiant, Fiat 124 Sport and Studebaker Lark.

Class E[]

For cars over $4,500, contained Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 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		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		Holden HK Monaro GTS327	3:00.5
7	42	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		Holden HK Monaro GTS327	130	6
3	D	15	AM Roberts	Tony Roberts	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	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	126	10
7	D	10	Wright Ford Motors		Ford XR Falcon GT	125	15
8	E	5	Canberra Speed Shop		Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	125	18
9	D	17	Stanmore Auto Port		Ford XT Falcon GT	125	17
10	C	30	C Smith		Morris Cooper S	123	23
11	C	34	Ford Motor Company of Australia		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		Studebaker Lark	123	13
14	C	29	Marque Motors		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		Morris Cooper S	120	21
17	C	63	R Marquet		Morris Cooper S	120	24
18	D	26	Scuderia Veloce	Allan Grice	Fiat 124 Sport	119	30
19	B	46	Peter Langwill Autos Pty Ltd	Bruce Stewart	Datsun 1600	118	38
20	C	36	W Gracie		Morris Cooper S	118	36
21	B	49	Datsun Racing Team	Kunimitsu Takahashi	Datsun 1600	118	28
22	B	65	Vern Curtin Motors		Hillman Gazelle	117	35
23	C	61	Varsity Auto Centre		Morris Cooper S	116	31
24	B	42	Dependable Motors Pty Ltd	Hans Tholstrup	Datsun 1600	116	44
25	C	33	Tony Basile Motors		Fiat 125	116	42
26	B	41	Dependable Motors Pty Ltd		Datsun 1600	115	45
27	C	27	Scuderia Veloce		Fiat 125	114	40
28	C	35	Young & Green Pty Ltd		Holden HK Kingswood 186S	114	43
29	D	22	C Hodgins		Chrysler VE Valiant Auto	113	34
30	A	56	AMI Racing Team	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	Brian Sampson	Toyota Corolla	113	47
33	B	45	WH Motors Pty Ltd		Datsun 1600	112	33
34	B	64	MG Car Club NSW	Peter Ulbrich	Datsun 1600	111	56
35	C	66	A Olsen		Morris Cooper S	110	46
36	B	47	Austen & Butta Motors Pty Ltd		Hillman Arrow	109	53
37	B	48	Tynan Motors	Neil Mason	Morris 1100S	109	54
38	A	52	Central Auto Sales & Services		Ford Cortina Mk.II 220	107	58
39	B	43	Kenthurst Motors		Datsun 1600	107	55
40	A	58	A Johns	Allan Johns	Hillman GT	107	57
41	A	54	P & R Williams	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		Fiat 125	88	39
44	C	28	Marque Motors		Morris Cooper S	81	26
45	A	57	AMI Racing Team		Toyota Corolla	74	50
46	A	60	North Shore Sporting Car Club		Toyota Corolla	74	52
47	C	31	Frank Croft Motors Pty Ltd		Fiat 125	69	29
48	D	16	M Savva	Bob Wilkinson	Ford XT Falcon GT	62	16
DNF	C	39	Vern Potts		Morris Cooper S		37
DNF	C	40	Vern Potts		Morris Cooper S	88	25
DNF	D	11	Wright Ford Motors		Ford XT Falcon GT	87	14
DNF	B	44	Eiffeltower Motors		Hillman Gazelle	54	27
DNF	E	4	Citroen Cars (Citco) Pty Ltd		Citroen DS21 Pallas[1]		41
DNF	D	19	I Haynes	Max Stahl	Holden HK Monaro GTS327		19
DNF	A	62	Imp Spares & Repairs		Hillman GT		59
DSQ	D	14	Lorack Motors (Granville) Pty Ltd[2]		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	Holden HK Monaro GTS327		3
DSQ	A	51	Datsun Racing Team[4]		Datsun 1000	112	48
DSQ	A	53	Datsun Racing Team[4]		Datsun 1000	112	51
DNS	D	12	Jubilee Motors Pty Ltd[2]		Ford XT Falcon GT
DNS	A	59	Bryan Thompson Racing[5]		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 – 6:44:07

References[]

External links[]

• CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
• race results