Three new Falcons appeared for the 1975 season, two
being production touring cars and the other a sports
sedan. The first, the ex-Fred Gibson ex-works car was
purchased by Melbourne solicitor Jim Keogh, and was
driven by himself and Ray Allford during the course
of the year.
The second car was the ex-John' Goss Bathurst-winning
car, which was purchased by young New South Welshman
Gary Willmington, and has been campaigned by him ever
since.
Finally, a new Falcon sports sedan appeared
early in the year - the hardtop model of John French,
sponsored by Queensland's Bryan Byrt Ford. The first
series of the year was again the South Pacific touring
car series, by now a mere shadow of its former self.
In a boring four-round series, a single Falcon appeared
in three of the rounds, Murray Carter scoring a fifth
at Oran Park and a third at Adelaide, while Allan Moffat,
now running without Faberge/Brut signwriting, scored
a third place in the final round at Sandown Park. As
with the previous year, the 1975 championship was an
uninspiring series for Ford followers, with Falcon’s
appearing only in ones and twos, scoring no victories
in the seven rounds. The only Falcon driver to appear
at all the races was good old Murray Carter, who, as
always, drove consistently and well, scoring two seconds,
two thirds and three fourths to carry the Ford banner.
Allan Moffat only contested three rounds, coming fifth
in the first round at Symmons Plains after suffering
a flat tyre, while in the second round at Calder he
was driven off the track by Ray Kaleda whose Torana
was being lapped. At least that is how the Ford fans saw the incident. In reality, Kaleda was the victim of Moffat, the stewards even giving an official warning about his aggressive driving! The third round at Amaroo was no
better for Moffat, as he hit a Mazda which spun in
front of him while being lapped.
Moffat appeared in
no more races in the series, again disappearing from
the scene, preferring to concentrate on his new Cosworth-Capri
sports sedan. The only other Falcon to appear in the
series was the Keogh/Allford car, which ran in three
rounds without success. Ultimately the championship
went to Colin Bond in the Dealer Team Torana.
The future
was not looking good for Ford, with the L34 Torana’s
gradually overcoming their reliability problems and
dominating touring car racing - it was "Formula
Torana", and very depressing for Ford supporters.
Only two Falcon’s started in the first round
of the manufacturers championship at Adelaide. Murray
Carter raised Ford's hopes with a good second place,
while Jim Keogh, sharing his car with Graeme Ritter,
failed to finish. Round 2 at Sandown was a disaster
for Ford, with three Falcons starting (Carter, Moffat
and Keogh) and none finishing.
Peter Brock, now a privateer
again with the Gown/Hindaugh team, won the race and
the Toranas appeared to be a certainty for the next
round - the big one at Bathurst. Again only three Falcons
entered the Hardie-Ferodo in 1975, these being Moffat's
with "Pete" Geoghegan,
John Goss and Kevin Bartlett in a new car backed by
Citizen Watches, hoping to repeat the 1974 result and
Murray Carter sharing his car with Formula 2 driver
Ray Winter. Deservedly, Carter was now being backed
by the Melbourne Ford Dealer Brian Wood, so even better
things were being expected of this long-time stalwart
of the marque.
Even before the 1975 race started, there
was a raging controversy about the future of the event
following the announcement by the race organisers,
the Australian Racing Drivers Club, of their intention
to restrict the race to 3-litre cars in 1976. For 1975,
the prize money was to be heavily biased towards the
classes rather than outright placings, with the follow-up
of the complete scrapping of the big cars in 1976.
An ARDC official was reported to have said: "It's
a race for cars, not drivers, and if Moffat or Goss
didn't start I don't think it would be a great loss." This
statement was shouted down with some ferocity by motor
sport fans and participants, and the idea was dropped.
Meanwhile, back at the race track, practice for the
1975 Hardie-Ferodo was going fairly well for Moffat
who eventually earned a place on the front row of the
grid only one-tenth of a second behind the pole-getter
Colin Bond with a time of 2 min 27.5 sec. John Goss's
car was blowing smoke all day and could only manage
10th fastest, while the Carter/Winter Falcon grabbed
seventh spot.
The race itself was not a happy one for
Ford, all three Falcons eventually retiring with various
maladies, the Goss/Bartlett car blowing its engine
after only 10 laps, Carter and Winter suffered a broken
oil pipe after 53 laps, while Moffat and Geoghegan,
after holding the lead at one stage, had to change
a gearbox and then retired with a broken lower control
arm. The race was won in easy style by Peter Brock
and Brian Sampson in their Gown/Hindaugh Torana.
The
year ended with the last two rounds of the manufacturer’s
championship at Surfer's Paradise and Phillip Island.
The Falcon of Moffat won the Surfers race from pole
position after a terrific 100-mile dice with Allan
Grice. Murray Carter came fifth and John Goss failed
to finish. At Phillip Island Goss started from the
front row but lost any chance of victory when the sump
of his car required welding on the pit apron. He finished
eighth, but the other two Falcons entered in the event,
driven by Murray Carter and Jim Keogh both failed to
finish. Peter Brock won the race and Holden the championship.
Also see:
GT
Falcon Race Results 1975
Bathurst Race Results 1975
Bathurst Race Program 1975
Bathurst Memorable Moments
