1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500

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Hardie-Ferodo 500 - Mount Panorama, Bathurst - 6th October, 1968

Mount Panorama, Bathurst - 6th October, 1968
Number of Laps: 130


Total Race Time: 6:44:0.0
Fastest lap: Bruce McPhee, 2:58 (124.83 km/h)
Classes: Class A - Up to $1800; Class B - $1801 to $2100; Class C - $2101 to $3000; Class D - $3001 to $4500; Class E - Over $4500

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Everyone held their collective breath for the 1968 Bathurst event; there was not only a new major sponsor for the race, but new cars from Ford and the General - everything pointed to an exciting event. Holden's entrant was the new Monaro two-door coupe in GTS 327 form. The Fords were down on cubic capacity (302ci versus 327ci); horsepower (250bhp versus 275bhp) and, additionally, weighed exactly the same as the Monaro’s. Despite this, seven Falcons contested the race in Class D ($3001 to $4300), including a single XR GT and an XT GT automatic. Of the remainder, three cars were works-entered, these being driven by the Geoghegan brothers, Fred Gibson and Barry Seton, and Jim McKeown and Spencer Martin.

After only 35 minutes of racing the M.Sayva/R.Wilkinson Falcon showed signs of overheating, which did not auger well for the others. In fact, things went very badly for the Ford's, with brake, tyre and overheating troubles. Despite all this, the Gibson/Seton Falcon was in the lead with only 15 laps to go. But overheating struck this car as well, and finally the car blew a piston and the Monaro of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland swept to victory.

The first Falcon home was, ironically, the 1967 XR GT of Stacey and McIntyre, which came in seventh, one place in front of the Brauer/Harrod XT GT. The first works car was that of the Geoghegan brothers, who finished 12th. With a fastest lap of 2 min. 58 sec., the winning Monaro was five seconds per lap quicker than the Falcons were in 1967, and three seconds faster than the Gibson/Seton car in 1968. Also, the Monaro’s were achieving 125-128 mph on Conrod Straight, whereas the Falcons could only manage around 121 mph, 4 mph slower than 1967!

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Falcon XC Cobra
Bathurst 1968
Torana L34
Please Note: You can sort this listing by simply clicking on the column heading
DRIVER / CO DRIVER(S)
1
Bruce McPhee / Barry Mulholland
Monaro GTS327
D
130
2
Jim Palmer / Phil West
Monaro GTS327
D
130
3
Tony Roberts / Bob Watson
Monaro GTS327
D
129
4
Kevin Bartlett / Doug Chivas
Alfa 1750 GTV
E
129
5
Brian Muir / George Reynolds
Monaro GTS327
D
127
6
Brian Foley / Laurie Stewart
Alfa 1750 GTV
E
126
7
Ken Stacey / Bruce McIntyre
Falcon XR GT
D
125
8
Ray Gulson / Peter Brown
Alfa 1750 GTV
E
125
9
Chris Brauer / Murray Harrod
Falcon XT GT
D
125
10
Charlie Smith / Don Holland
Morris Cooper S
C
123
11
Mike Champion / Barry Arentz
Falcon XT 500
C
123
12
Leo Geoghegan / Ian Geoghegan
Falcon XT GT
D
123
13
Warren Weldon / John Hall
D
123
14
Mal Brewster / Digby Cooke
Morris Cooper S
C
121
15
John Roxburgh / Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1600
B
120
16
Gary Hodge / Damon Beck
Morris Cooper S
C
120
17
Ray Marquet / Alan Cant
Morris Cooper S
C
120
18
Bill Tuckey / Allan Grice
Fiat 124 Sport
D
119
19
George Garth / Bruce Stewart
Datsun 1600
B
118
20
Warren Gracie / Don James
Morris Cooper S
C
118
21
Kunimitsu Takahashi / Ym Sunago
Datsun 1600
B
118
22
Rusty French / Alton Boddenberg
Hillman Gazelle
B
117
23
John Prisk / Alan Cameron
Morris Cooper S
C
116
24
Hans Tholstrup / Dennis Cooke
Datsun 1600
B
116
25
Tony Basile / Gary Leggatt
Fiat 125
C
116
26
Bruce Darke / Bill Ford
Datsun 1600
B
115
27
Mike Kable / Ron Kearns
Fiat 125
C
114
28
Sib Petralia / Jim Sullivan
Kingswood HK
C
114
29
Clyde Hodgins / Stan Pomroy
Valiant VE Auto
D
113
30
Bruce Hindhaugh / Bob Morris
Toyota Corolla
A
113
31
Fred Gibson / Barry Seton
Falcon XT GT
D
113
32
Barry Ferguson / Brian Sampson
Toyota Corolla
A
113
33
Herb Taylor / Don Smith
Datsun 1600
B
112
34
Matt Daddo / Peter Ulbrich
Datsun 1600
B
111
35
Arthur Olsen / Ray Scanlan
Morris Cooper S
C
110
36
Joe Butta / Bob Genders
Hillman Arrow
B
109
37
Trevor Mason / Neil Mason
Morris 1100S
B
109
38
Max Volkers / Lionel Ayers
Cortina 220
A
107
39
Carl Kennedy / Jack Mullins
Datsun 1600
B
107
40
Allan Johns / David Frazer
Hillman Imp
A
107
41
Midge Whiteman / Christine Cole
Morris Mini
A
98
42
Jim McKeown / Spencer Martin
Falcon XT GT
D
95
43
Ernie Johnson / Martin Chenery
Fiat 125
C
88
44
Bill Stanley / Lindsay Adcock
Morris Cooper S
C
81
45
Dick Thurston / Brian Reed
Toyota Corolla
A
74
46
James Laing-Peach / Bob Drane
Toyota Corolla
A
74
47
Bob Muir / Gary Cooke
Fiat 125
C
69
48
Mike Savva / Bob Wilkinson
Falcon XT GT
D
62
DNF
Roger Withers / Mel Mollison
Hillman Imp
A
DNF
DNF
Bill Evans / John Colwell
Datsun 1000
A
DNF
DNF
Dick Sorenson / Bevan Gibson
Datsun 1000
A
DNF
DNF
Jack Eiffeltower / David O'Keefe
Hillman Gazelle
B
DNF
DNF
Rick Radford / David Seldon
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
DNF
Ron Haylen / John Smailes
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
DNF
Bob Beasley / Ray Morris
Falcon XT GT
D
DNF
DNF
Ian Haynes / Max Stahl
Monaro GTS327
D
DNF
DNF
Des West / Ron Marks
Monaro GTS327
D
DNF
DNF
Paul Hawkins / Bill Brown
Monaro GTS327
D
DNF
DNF
Bill Daly / Glyn Scott
Citroen DS21
E
DNF
DNF
John French / Frank Gardner
Alfa 1750 GTV
E
DNF


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