Armstrong 500
Mount Panorama, Bathurst
3rd October, 1965

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Falcon XC Cobra
Bathurst 1965
Torana L34

Number of Laps: 130


Total Race Time: 7:16:45.1
Fastest Lap: Brian Foley, 3:13.7 (114.71 km/h)
Classes: Class A - Up to £920; Class B - £921 to £1,020; Class C - £1,021 to £1,300; Class D - £1,301 to £2,000


Car #11: Outright winner, winner of Class D, Cortina GT500 entered by Fairfield Motors, Fairfield, Sydney, and driven by Barry Seton and Midge Bosworth.

Car #4: Second outright, and second in Class D. Cortina GT500 entered by Grawill Motors, NSW, and driven by Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland.

Car #45: Winner Class A, Cortina 220 entered by Ford Australia and driven by Harry Firth and John Raeburn.

Car #40: Winner Class B, Cortina 240 entered by Ford Australia and driven by Max Volkers and Glen Scott.
1965 was a year of dominance by the Ford Cortina GT500's, and even the lesser 220's. We couldn't put it any better than the Ford Sales Promotion team did at the time, and we quote them..."On Sunday, October the 3rd, under a clear blue sky, 55 contenders streaked away from the starting grid heading for the fastest, the most hard-fought, the most brutal Armstrong ever.

Driving the perfectly tuned, yet strictly stock-standard cars was the cream of Australia's racing drivers, plus (for BMC) crack drivers from overseas. At stake: Outright, or "first over the line" honours - the most coveted racing prize in Australia".

In Class D, for cars £1,301 to £2,000, and including the Studebakers, Volvo's, Triumph 2000's and Fiat 2300, the Cortina GT500's displayed their winning ability by coming in 1-2-3 in a line. Fourth car to finish in this class was a Triumph 2000 - 19 miles behind the winning Cortina! A Volvo 122S finished 5th, 34 miles behind, and a Studebaker was 6th, 37 miles behind.

The winning GT500, driven by Barry Seton and Midge Bosworth won after one refuelling stop only - the bonnet wasn't lifted, nor were the tires changed. It covererd the distance of 500 miles in a fantastic 7 hours, 16 minutes, 45 seconds - clipping almost 25 minutes off last year's record which was set by a Cortina GT. It also gave Ford "4 in-a-row". Line houours were taken by Falcon in 1962, and by Cortina's in 1963 and 1964.

In Class A, for cars up to £920, interest was centred around the Cortina 220's, Morris Mini Deluxes and the Viva's. The 220's, equipped with 1500 motors, proved far too fast and better on the "Esses" than their competition, coming in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The winning 220 was driven by Harry Firth and John Raeburn, their 220 also recoring the fastest lap time for the class, at 3 minutes 35 seconds.

The Morris Mini Deluxes disappointed their drivers and BMC. Three were entered in the class, but they couldn't keep up wiht the pace set by the Cortina 220's and finished many miles behind. Significant, too, is the fact that 3 Datsun Bluebirds which were entered by the Nissan Distributors never started - they were withdrawn on the eve of the event after encountering wheel trouble during Saturday's parctice sessions.

A lone Cortina 240 in Class B (£921 to £1,020) demonstrated its superiority in the face of what appeared to be overwhelming odds. It was pitted against 4 Morris Coopers and 3 Toyota Corona's. The 240 entered by Ford and driven by M. Volkers and G. Scott flashed to victory ahead of 2 Corona's which finished 2nd and 3rd. Of the Morris Coopers? One was forced to withdraw, the others were just not good enough. Of the 60 original entries, 55 started and only 42 completed the race, many badly damaged. Five were complete wrecks.
Please Note: You can sort this listing by simply clicking on the column heading
DRIVER / CO DRIVER(S)
1
Barry Seton / Midge Bosworth
Ford Cortina GT500
D
130
2
Bruce McPhee / Barry Mulholland
Ford Cortina GT500
D
130
3
Brian Foley / Peter Manton
Morris Cooper S
C
129
4
Lindsay Little / Stan Pomroy
Morris Cooper S
C
129
5
Bill McLachlan / Jack Murray
Ford Cortina GT500
D
128
6
Paddy Hopkirk / Timo Makinen
Morris Cooper S
C
128
7
Bill Stanley / Ralph Sach
Morris Cooper S
C
128
8
Ray Kaleda / Graham Moore
Morris Cooper S
C
125
9
Bob Holden / Greg Cusack
Morris Cooper S
C
125
10
Max Stewart / Bob Young
Triumph 2000
D
124
11
Barry Arentz / Geoff Russell
Ford Cortina GT
C
124
12
Bill Ford / Des West
Volvo 122S
D
121
13
Fred Sutherland / Alan Mottram
Studebaker Lark
D
120
14
Harry Firth / John Raeburn
Ford Cortina 220
A
119
15
Ray Morris / Bruce Maher
Ford Cortina 220
A
119
16
Graham Ward / Barry Collerson
Volvo 122S
D
118
17
Max Volkers / Glen Scott
Ford Cortina 240
B
118
18
Des Kelly / Brian Reed
Toyota Corona
B
118
19
Herb Taylor / John Hall
Ford Cortina 220
A
118
20
Bill Buckle / Neil McKay
Toyota Corona
B
117
21
Alton Boddenberg / Digby Cooke
Valiant
C
116
22
Don Smith / Bruce Stewart
Holden X2
C
116
23
Brian Sampson / Ern Abbott
Toyota Corona
B
116
24
Barry Ferguson / Charlie Smith
Morris Cooper
B
115
25
Bruce Hodgson / Ken Harrison
Cortina 220
A
114
26
Gary Shoesmith / Tony Robards
Vauxhall Viva
A
113
27
Warren Weldon / Bill Slattery
Studebaker Lark
D
112
28
Ron Haylen / Kevin Bartlett
Morris de Luxe
A
111
29
John Marchiori / Arnold Ahrenfeld
Ford Cortina 220
A
111
30
Arthur Treloar / Colin Bond
Isuzu Bellett
B
109
31
P. M. Taylor / T. M. Egan
Morris de Luxe
A
109
32
John Connolly / Rex Emmett
Renault R8
B
108
33
Ray Heffernan / Bill Daly
Fiat 850
A
106
34
Peter Brown / Ray Gulson
Ford Cortina GT500
D
106
35
Steve Harvey / Laurie Stewart
Morris de Luxe
A
105
36
Peter Cray / Don Holland
Morris Cooper
B
99
37
Bob Salter / Ken Wiggins
Ford Cortina GT500
D
94
38
Lionel Williams / Evan Thomas
Holden X2
C
84
39
Frank Hann / Graham Forrest
Morris Cooper
B
81
40
David Walker / Carl Kennedy
Ford Cortina GT500
D
64
41
Bill Barnett / Don Johnston
Humber Vogue
C
DNF
42
Fred Otten / Mick Crampton
Fiat 2300
D
DNF
43
Keith Russell / Colin Wear
Triumph 2000
D
DNF
44
Bob Jane / George Reynolds
Ford Cortina GT500
D
DNF
45
Bob Beasley / Ron Hodgson
Ford Cortina GT500
D
DNF
46
Bill Burns / Brian Lawler
Fiat 850
A
DNF
47
Don Mudd / Tony Kavanagh
Vauxhall Viva
A
DNF
DNF
Brian McGrath / David Frazer
Renault R8
B
DNF
DNF
Ron Clarke / John Prisk
Morris Cooper
B
DNF
DNF
John French / John Harvey
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
DNF
Arthur Davis / Paul Mander
Ford Cortina GT500
D
DNF
DNF
Ian Cook / Ken Lindsay
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
DNF
Phil Barnes / Doug Chivas
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
DNF
Trevor Meehan / Pat Holmes
Fiat 850
A
DNF
DNF
Ian Geoghegan / Leo Geoghegan
Ford Cortina GT500
D
DNF
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