Hardie-Ferodo 500
Mount Panorama, Bathurst
5th October, 1969

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Falcon XC Cobra
Bathurst 1969
Torana L34

Number of Laps: 130


Total Race Time: 6:32:0.0
Fastest lap: Moffat/Hamilton and Gibson/Seton, 2:52.1 (129.11 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

Ford were understandably confident of their chances at Bathurst in 1969. The GTH0's looked like winners and 14 of them contested Class D ($3100-$4500) against seven of Holden's new 300 bhp, 350ci Monaro GTS 350’s. Three works cars were there again, headed by Moffat and Alan Hamilton, plus the Geoghegans, and Fred Gibson and "Bo" Seton together again. The race started in an extremely spectacular, if unfortunate, manner when at Skyline on the first lap, Bill Brown's Falcon, while lying seventh, appeared with everything locked up, hit the dirt bank and flipped upside down onto the middle of the track, with no way around it. Cars ran into cars as drivers came around the blind corner. Before the thing was sorted out, all except the first dozen cars were affected, if not damaged, or even put out of the race (see: Bathurst Memorable Moments).

It was not to be a good day for the Falcons. Al Turner had decided to use untried racing tires for the first time and it proved a disastrous mistake as Falcon after Falcon came in to the pits to change tires. Barry Seton respected Bill Brown's roll-over trick when, while lying in second place, a tire blew at McPhillamy Park and the Gibson/Seton works car's race was over. The eventual winner was a Holden Dealer Team's Monaro GTS 350 driven by Colin Bond and Tony Roberts, while the McPhee/Mulholland GTHO saved some face for Ford with its second place on the same lap as the Monaro. The Moffat/Hamilton GTHO came in a creditable fourth, with the Geoghegan brothers one place behind them. The fastest lap of the day went to the Gibson/Seton Falcon at 2 min. 52 sec. (average 81 mph) and the MePhee/Mulholland Falcon was fastest on Conrod Straight at just under 136 mph.

Please Note: You can sort this listing by simply clicking on the column heading
DRIVER / CO DRIVER(S)
1
Colin Bond / Tony Roberts
Monaro GTS350
D
130
0:2:53.8
2
Bruce McPhee / Barry Mulholland
Falcon XW GTHO
D
130
0:2:50.1
3
Des West / Peter Brock
Monaro GTS350
D
130
0:2:55.4
4
Allan Moffat / Alan Hamilton
Falcon XW GTHO
D
129
0:2:53.6
5
Ian Geoghegan / Leo Geoghegan
Falcon XW GTHO
D
128
0:2:48.9
6
Peter Macrow / Henk Woelders
Monaro GTS350
D
128
0:2:54.5
7
Bob Beasley / Bob Muir
Falcon XW GTHO
D
127
0:2:58.6
8
Kevin Bartlett / Len Goodwin
Alfa 1750GTV
E
126
0:3:01.3
9
Charlie Smith / Bill Ford
Falcon XW GT Auto
E
126
0:2:59.2
10
Martin Chenery / Ernie Johnson
Falcon XW GTHO
D
126
0:2:58.9
11
Peter Brown / Ray Gulson
Alfa 1750 Berlina
E
122
0:3:09.5
12
Bob Genders / Joe Butta
Falcon XW GTHO
D
122
0:3:02.6
13
Mike Savva / Bob Wilkinson
Falcon XW GTHO
D
121
0:2:55.9
14
Warren Gracie / Ron Gillard
Morris Cooper S
C
119
0:3:14.6
15
Bob Forbes / Peter Finlay
Fiat 125
C
119
0:3:14.2
16
Ron Kearns / Gerry Lister
Fiat 125
C
119
0:3:14.9
17
Graham Ryan / Mike Kable
Valiant Pacer
C
118
0:3:12.4
18
Bruce Stewart / George Garth
Datsun 1600
B
117
0:3:16.5
19
Gary Cooke / Geoff Spence
Mazda R100
C
117
0:3:14.3
20
Ian Hindmarsh / Bill Stanley
Morris Cooper S
C
117
0:3:13.0
21
Trevor Mason / Neil Mason
Mazda R100
C
117
0:3:12.8
22
Les Grose / Graham Moore
Morris Cooper S
C
117
0:3:19.8
23
John Roxburgh / Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1600
B
117
0:3:19.2
24
Don Smith / Peter Wilson
Datsun 1600
B
114
0:3:18.5
25
David Morrow / Roger Wootton
Datsun 1600
B
114
0:3:25.4
26
Roy Griffiths / Glyn Scott
Falcon XW GTHO
D
114
0:2:56.9
27
William Coad / Jon Leighton
Datsun 1600
B
113
0:3:20.8
28
David Frazer / Allan Johns
Morris Cooper S
C
113
0:3:18.4
29
Brian Sampson / Bob Morris
Toyota Corolla
A
112
0:3:27.1
30
Bill Evans / Barry Tapsall
Datsun 1000
A
110
0:3:30.2
31
Max Dickson / Diane Dickson
Cortina 240
B
108
0:3:33.1
32
Gary Campbell / Gerry Murphy
Volkswagen 1600
B
107
0:3:35.8
33
Bill Bryden / John Smith
Renault 16TS
C
107
0:3:29.7
34
David Bye / Richard Willis
Morris Mini K
A
104
0:3:43.6
35
Bob Edgerton / Ross Edgerton
Renault 10
B
100
0:3:50.4
36
Arthur Olsen / Sandra Bennett
Morris Mini K
A
99
0:3:54.1
37
Alf Barrett / Mel Mollison
Morris 1500
B
97
0:3:32.6
38
Harry Gapps / Frank Hann
Falcon XW GTHO
D
94
0:3:10.8
39
Chris Cronan / Steve Parkes
Toyota Corolla
A
93
0:3:39.3
40
Trevor Meehan / Mal Brewster
Morris Cooper S
C
93
0:3:16.1
41
Nick Ledingham / Damon Beck
Hillman Gazelle
B
84
0:3:22.3
42
Paul Mander / Phil Edwards
Morris Cooper S
C
82
0:3:11.1
DNF
Digby Cooke / David Bowden
Monaro GTS350
D
DNF
0:2:53.8
DNF
Fred Gibson / Barry Seton
Falcon XW GTHO
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Keith Grose / John Wright
Capri 1600GT
C
DNF
not available
DNF
George Geshopoulos / Ray Scanlan
Hillman Imp GT
A
DNF
not available
DNF
Ann Thomson / Carole Corness
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
not available
DNF
David McKay / Brian Foley
Falcon XW GTHO
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Max Stewart / Brian Reed
Toyota Corona
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Hans Tholstrup / Brian Connell
Datsun 1600
B
DNF
not available
DNF
John Goss / Denis Cribbin
Falcon XW GTHO
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Christine Cole / Lynne Keefe
Fiat 125
C
DNF
not available
DNF
Nick Petrilli / Max Stahl
Monaro GTS350
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Bill Tuckey / Sib Petralia
Monaro GTS350
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Barry Arentz / Brian Michelmore
Falcon XW GTHO
D
DNF
not available
DNF
Bernie Haehnle / Peter Wherrett
Mazda R100
C
DNF
not available
DNF
Bruce Darke / Dennis Cooke
Datsun 1600
B
DNF
not available
DNF
Alan Cant / Bob Cook
Capri 1600GT
C
DNF
not available
DNF
Bill Brown / Phil West
Falcon XW GTHO
D
DNF
not available
DNF
John French / Doug Chivas
Alfa 1750GTV
E
DNF
not available
DNF
Bryan Thomson / Graham Ritter
Alfa 1750GTV
E
DNF
not available
DNF
John Prisk / Alan Cameron
Morris Cooper S
C
DNF
not available
DNF
Barry Ferguson / James Laing-Peach
Toyota Corolla
A
DNF
not available
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