1973 Australian Touring Car Championship

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The 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 14th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains on 5 March 1973 and ended at Warwick Farm after eight rounds. The series was won by Allan Moffat in a Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III.

The night before Round 6 of the series at the Adelaide International Raceway, Moffat's GTHO Falcon was stolen from Stillwell Ford in the northern Adelaide suburb of Medindie. Rather than see Moffat out of the race (he was the series points leader at the time having won the opening 4 rounds and finishing 3rd in round 5), Murray Carter loaned Moffat his GTHO Falcon for the race. Peter Brock won the race while Moffat kept his points lead by finishing second. Moffat's stolen Falcon was later found abandoned in the Adelaide Hills where the thieves who had taken it for a "joy ride" dumped it when it ran out of fuel.

Teams and drivers[]

The following drivers competed in the 1973 ATCC. The series consisted of eight rounds held in six different states.

Sponsor Car No Driver
Holden Dealer Team Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 1 Peter Brock
Grace Bros/Exacto Tape Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T E49 1 Ian Geoghegan
Holden Dealer Team Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 2 Peter Brock
Shell Racing Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 3 Murray Carter
Dick Johnson Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 4 Dick Johnson
McLeod Ford Ford XA Falcon GT Hardtop 5 John Goss
Fred Gibson Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 6 Fred Gibson
Bob Jane Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 7 Bob Jane
Ansett/Motorcraft/BP Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 9 Allan Moffat
Grace Bros/Exacto Tape Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T E49 10 Ian Geoghegan
Holden Dealer Team Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 11 Peter Brock
Ron Hodgson Motors Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 11 Bob Morris
Bob Holden Ford Escort Twin Cam 13 Bob Holden
Peter Robinson Motors Lilydale Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 14
John Stoopman Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 15
Graeme Blanchard Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 16
Bryan Thomson Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 17
Ted Mudie Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 18
Cessnock Motor Works Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 19 Allan Grice
Rod McRae Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 20
Phil Barnes Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 21 Phil Barnes
Phillip Lyon Ford Escort Twin Cam 23
Holden Dealer Team Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 24 Colin Bond
Graham Parsons Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 25
Lakis Manticas Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 27
Stuart Saker Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 29
Don Holden Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 30
Gary Cooke Mazda RX-3 31
Graham Ryan Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 32
Ken Loughan Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 34
Alan Cant Ford Escort Twin Cam 37
John Duggan Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 39
John French Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 44 John French
Rod Housego Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T E49 45
Lyndon Arnel Ford Escort Twin Cam 47
Geoff Leeds Ford Escort Twin Cam 49
Tony Farrell Ford Escort Twin Cam 52
Barry Bassingthwaite Ford Escort Twin Cam 57
Strapp Ford Doncaster/Marlboro Ford Escort Twin Cam 58
David Jamieson Ford Mustang 60 David Jamieson
Campbell Lambert Morris Cooper S 61
Tony Watts Morris Cooper S 62
Colin Pawson Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 63
Westland Autos Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 64
Werner Tulipan Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 66
Peter Granger Ford Escort Twin Cam 67
John Dellaca Morris Cooper S 69
Rod Miles Morris Clubman GT 72
Stewart McLeod Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 73
Gary Keen Mazda RX-3 75
Total/Castrol/TAA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 76 Bob Jane
Garry Rowe Ford Escort Twin Cam 77
Martin Anderson Morris Cooper S 78
Jim Stewart Morris Cooper S 79
Brett Keightley Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 80
Elemer Vajda Subaru 1300 81
Eric Olsen Ford Escort Twin Cam 83
Paul Gulson Fiat 128 Coupe 85
Tony Allen Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T E49 87
Lawrie Nelson Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T E49 88 Lawrie Nelson
John Piper Ford Escort Twin Cam 90
Mel McEwin Toyota Corolla 91
Keith McCloy Morris Cooper S 94
Rod Boyle Morris Cooper S 95
Graeme Adams Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 96
Bill Nitschke Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 97
World of Tyres Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T E49 98
Alfred Colledge Morris Cooper S 99
John Lewis Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 101
Paul Moore Toyota Corolla 102 Paul Moore
Rod Morris Morris Cooper S 107 Rod Morris
Neil Nunting Toyota Corolla 111
Motorama/Castrol GTX Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 154

Calendar[]

The 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship consisted of eight rounds.[1]

Rd. Race title Circuit City / state Date Winner Team Report
1 Symmons Plains Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 5 March Allan Moffat Ford Works Team
2 Calder Calder Park Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 18 March Allan Moffat Ford Works Team
3 Sandown Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 15 April Allan Moffat Ford Works Team
4 Wanneroo Wanneroo Park Perth Western Australia 6 May Allan Moffat Ford Works Team
5 Surfers Paradise Surfers Paradise International Raceway Surfers Paradise, Queensland 20 May Peter Brock Holden Dealer Team
6 Datsun Trophy[2] Adelaide International Raceway Adelaide, South Australia 10 June Peter Brock Holden Dealer Team
7 Oran Park Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 24 June Allan Moffat Ford Works Team
8 Warwick Farm Warwick Farm Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 15 July Peter Brock Holden Dealer Team

Drivers Championship[]

Points were awarded 4-3-2-1 for the first four race positions, and then 9-6-4-3-2-1 for the top 6 of each class.

Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Pts
1 Allan Moffat 1st(13) 1st(13) 1st(13) 1st(13) 3rd(6) 2nd(9) 1st(13) Ret 80
2 Peter Brock 2nd(9) Ret Ret 2nd(9) 1st(13) 1st(13) DSQ 1st(13) 57
3 8th(9) 9th(9) (9) 7th(9) DNS 7th(9) Ret 6th(9) 54
4 Bob Holden (4) Ret (4) Ret 10th(9) 7th(6) 23
Ret 10th(6) (3) 8th(6) 10th(6) (2) 23
6 Fred Gibson 2nd(9) 4th(4) 3rd(6) Ret 19
7 Murray Carter 5th(2) 4th(4) 3rd(6) 4th(4) 7th DNS 7th 5th(2) 18
8 Lawrie Nelson DSQ 2nd(9) 3rd(6) 15
Ian Geoghegan Ret Ret Ret 2nd(9) Ret Ret 3rd(6) 15
10 Bob Morris 4th(4) 2nd(9) 13
11 Colin Bond 2nd(9) 9
5th(9) 9
(3) (6) 9
14 John Goss 3rd(6) DSQ Ret 5th(2) Ret Ret 8
15 5th(2) 6th(1) 4th(4) 7
16 10th 3rd(6) 8th 6
3rd(6) 6
9th(6) 6
(6) 6
(6) 6
21 4th(4) 6th(1) 5
(2) (3) 5
23 Bob Jane 4th(4) DSQ 4
9th 4th(4) 4
6th(1) 7th 5th(2) 8th 6th(1) 8th 4
(4) 4
(4) 4
(4) 4
(4) 4
(4) 4
31 (3) 3
(3) 3
(3) 3
(3) 3
35 DSQ 5th(2) 2
DSQ 7th 5th(2) 2
5th(2) 2
(2) 2
(2) 2
(2) 2
(2) 2
42 6th(1) 1
6th(1) 1
Dick Johnson 6th(1) 1
(1) 1
(1) 1
Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)
  Two litre class competitors

References[]

  1. ^ V8 Central website
  2. ^ "1973 Australian Touring Car Championship Programmes". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
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