For 1972, Ford introduced a new range
of Falcons with a completely new body, much sleeker
in appearance than the XR to XY series. It was designated
the XA, and there was a GT version, available (as with
all GT’s
from the XT onwards) with automatic transmission as
well as the standard manual transmission. The new GT
appeared to be designed to appeal to a more mature
buyer than the XY.
It did away with the "shaker" inlet,
and the (arguably) garish striping of the XY GT was
replaced with a much more subtle scheme. The general
styling of it made the XA appear far more mellow and
less menacing than it’s forebears – although
that was not necessarily a bad thing, nor was it any
indication that the GT had been watered down in the
places that mattered.
In fact mechanically the new GT
was very similar to the XY GT, apart from a general
and slight softening of the suspension due to the XA's
wider track. On the racetracks the GTHO Phase 3 continued
to enjoy success, John Goss winning the South Pacific
touring car series (which is run in conjunction with
the Australian rounds of the Tasman Cup racing car
series) with a first after Allan Moffat let him through,
as the points were more valuable to Goss - two seconds
and a fourth; Bob Morris winning the Bars Leaks Marathon
at Oran Park.
In the other Oran Park series, the Grace
Brothers-Toby Lee series, John Goss, after a disastrous
first round, won the second, third and fourth rounds,
but could only manage a fourth in the final round,
which cost him the series. Fred Gibson, who won the
Grace Brothers-Toby Lee series in 1970 and 1971, fared
worse, scoring no points in the first round and blowing
his engine in the second, coming only sixth in the
third, failing to finish the fourth and coming fifth
in the final round.
The Australian touring car championship
saw the appearance of two "improved" Falcons,
one being the 630 bhp car of lan "Pete" Geoghegan,
which never got a real chance to prove its capabilities,
as it was plagued by mechanical problems all year.
However, Big Pete did win one round and also scored
two seconds and a third in the Championship. Kingsley
Hibbard brought out his “improved" Falcon
for two rounds of the championship and finished a brilliant
fourth in one of them after starting from the rear
of the grid.
In the other round he contested, he failed
to finish. John Goss, Fred Gibson, John French and
Murray Carter brought out their series production GTHO
Phase 3s for a couple of rounds of the championship,
Goss and Gibson achieving a very creditable third and
fourth respectively in round three (Bathurst, Easter)
behind Pete Geoghegan's “SuperFalcon",
and Allan Moffat's Trans-Am Mustang. John Goss also
scored fifth in the final round at Oran Park, John
French came fifth in the seventh round at Sandown Park
and Murray Carter finished 11th in round four at Surfer's
Paradise.
But tire wear was starting to become a major
problem with the GTH0’s by mid 1972, and this
was amply demonstrated in the first round of the manufacturers'
championship at Adelaide International Raceway where
the Falcons were soundly beaten by the new 3.3 liter
202 ci Torana XU- I’s, which were now in road
trim and turning out just under 200 bhp, the power
being put to the ground via wide-rimmed aluminum wheels.
In contrast the Falcon’s narrow 14 inch steel
rims were showing as the major cause for the tires
to distort alarmingly, thus enabling them to rub on
the suspension springs, which in turn gave the big
Ford’s a terrible handling disadvantage. Allan
Moffat suffered two tire failures in the first 15 laps
of the 165 lap race, the second one causing him to
hit the wall, putting him out of the race. Both the
other Falcons (Goss and Gibson) suffered tire problems,
leaving the circuit wide open for the new Torana’s
to take out the first three places.
For the second round
of the championship at Sandown, the Falcons appeared
with 15 inch Globe alloy wheels. With a plethora of
suitable rubber available for 15in wheels, Ford had
decided that this was the answer to their problem.
They commissioned Globe Products of South Australia
to develop a special 15” by 7” alloy
wheel for the GTHO. Globe built the wheels for Ford,
patterned on the Ferrari Daytona design - and produced
them in super-quick time. The advantages over the previous
steel wheels were monumental.
They offered incredible
strength, their light weight brought about a major
reduction in un-sprung weight, made a much larger range
of racing rubber available to Ford and - most importantly
- their vastly superior brake cooling characteristics
cut temperature by almost half. With the steel wheels,
the temperature of the brakes was about 840 degrees
Centigrade.
With the Globes, that figure was cut to
450 degrees Centigrade. At Sandown in round two, the
Falcon’s of John
Goss, Fred Gibson and Murray Carter came first, second
and third respectively. There were no tire blowouts
and no pit-stops to change tires every few laps. As
it happened, the Falcon’s of John French and
Allan Moffat both failed to finish, French blowing
his engine and Moffat suffering a gearbox failure.
But bigger and better things had been planned by Holden,
Chrysler and Ford for the next major race on the agenda,
the Hardie-Ferodo 500, which, for the first time, was
to be included as a round of the manufacturers' championship.
Chrysler's
big gun for the 1972 race was to be a 5.6 liter 340ci
V8 powered Charger. Holden's was to be a 5-liter 308ci
V8 powered version of the Torana XU-1. And Ford's was
to be the
Falcon
GTHO Phase 4. The phrase "was
to be" is used because none of these cars turned
a wheel in anger in series production racing. They
were all banned, the result of the logic of narrow-minded
politicians and an irresponsible daily press. But more
of that later. The GTHO Phase 4 was based on the then-current
XA GT and would have been an extremely rapid and safe
motor car had it entered production.
It featured the
Globe 15in wheels as standard equipment, their superior
characteristics eliminating the need to modify the
Phase 3's brakes, although it had been hoped to fit
four-wheel disc brakes when the Phase 4's specifications
were first decided. In the suspension department, spring
rates remained as for the Phase 3, because of the reduction
in un-sprung weight made possible by the new wheels,
and also because of the natural increase in track of
the XA Falcon. A new type of rear leaf spring was fitted
which provided greater roll stiffness; the rear anti-roll
bar was dispensed with, which reduced oversteer. This
in turn resulted in the Phase 4 being fitted with a
softer front anti-roll bar, helping keep the handling
characteristics of the car neutral.
The engine featured
some modifications, particularly in the cylinder heads,
where the combustion chambers were revised to give
better flow and volume around the inlet valves. This
reduced the compression ratio slightly to 11 to 1,
and brought about better fuel consumption and more
torque, which was spread over a wider rev. range. Near
peak torque came in about 1000 rpm lower in the Phase
4 than the Phase 3. The camshaft and the engine's bottom
end remained the same, but a few changes were made
in the lubrication department.
A new sump was developed
which featured "ears" welded
onto each side to increase capacity by three pints
and concentrated oil around the pump pickup, thus reducing
the chances of oil surge causing the engine to blow.
The new sump also featured a metal baffle to minimise
surge; it served a second purpose, "scraping" the
air off the crankshaft as it turned, and thus curing
the windmilling effect, which causes the oil to froth.
Engine
cooling came in for some modification, too, Ford using
a big capacity radiator from air-conditioned V8 Falcons,
and a fan with blades that twist flat once a certain
speed has been reached. This saved 30 bhp at 6000 rpm
and prolonged the life of the fan belt. Carburation
remained the same as the Phase 3 (Holley 780 cfm four-barrel),
but new exhaust headers were fitted to give a further
increase in torque. The Phase 4 would have had about
340 bhp at 5800 rpm in road trim and a torque figure
of approximately 390 lb.ft. at 3600 rpm.
The transmission
stayed the same as the XA GT with the same internal
ratios. Because of the greater engine flexibility of
the Phase 4, and its more slippery body, the close-ratio
gearbox was dropped, however a taller differential
ratio was introduced - 3 to 1 (the same as the XT GT),
and it was a positive lock unit.
Sixty per cent aspect
ratio tires were also to have been used, and when mounted
on the 15in Globe wheels, the overall wheel/tyre diameter
was almost identical to the old 14in wheel/70 per cent
aspect ratio combination, the difference actually being
only one revolution per mile. This, combined with the
3 to 1 final drive ratio, gave the Phase 4 24.4 mph
per 1000 rpm in top gear. At the 6200 rpm, automatic
ignition cut out, speeds in gears were 54, 70, 111
and 151 mph, which was a 10 mph higher top speed than
the Phase 3!
It would have been a great motor car,
but it wasn't allowed to be. Only one GTHO Phase 4
ever found its way into competition: Bruce Hodgson's
Phase 4 was used briefly for rallying, a field of motor
sport light years away from the circuit racing it was
designed for. But it was reasonably successful, although
not exactly suited for the purpose. But at least one
made it. A short time before the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo,
Australian motoring enthusiasts were shocked and angered
with the treatment the new Chrysler, Holden and Ford
cars for the race were getting from the daily press.
The
Chrysler Charger V8, the Holden Torana V8 and the Ford
Falcon GTHO Phase 4 were set upon in editorials and
articles, the journalists responsible (or perhaps irresponsible),
applying the descriptive phrase "Supercar" to
the new cars and making very loud noises about how
such cars could all top 160 mph in road trim, and how,
with homologation regulations requiring 200 of each
to be built, a lot of the general public would certainly
be either killed or injured if they were ever allowed
to drive them.
A lot of newsprint was dedicated to
the cause of ensuring these cars were never built,
and unfortunately for the manufacturers and motor sport
followers it didn't take very long for general public
opinion to swing against the cars. The campaign was
relentless, and the Government had it’s back
to the wall, such was the growing condemnation from
people who, arguably, didn’t really know what
they were talking about.
The journalists called for
legislation to be passed in an effort to stop the carnage
on the road. According to some reports there were even
fleet purchasers who threatened manufacturers that
their contracts would be in jeopardy should they develop
such vehicles – initiated
in the main by government departments. The manufacturers
had no choice; they had to stop.
Generally overlooked
was the question of primary safety. Nobody mentioned
that the so called “Supercars”,
as well as traveling very rapidly in a straight line,
would have handling, braking, steering and road-holding
capabilities on par with the best in the world. Few
mentioned that too little performance in all these
areas is a major cause of accidents. Not one journalist
tried to ban the average family sedan with drum brakes,
cross-ply tires and enormous amounts of understeer
deliberately built in - apparently this is a perfectly
safe combination.
Following a hasty re-shuffling of
plans, the main competitors for the 1972 Bathurst race
remained similar to 1971, except for detail changes
to the car. Holden had its 3.3 liter XU-1 Torana, by
now well developed and regarded as favorite for the
race. Ford, after having the GTHO Phase 4 effectively
banned, had to retain the Phase 3 which, although faster
and no less reliable than in 1971, was no longer a
current model - and in racing, anything that is not
right up to date must be doubtful.
Chrysler introduced
a slightly modified Charger to Bathurst. Called the
E49, it featured more power from its 4.3 liter 265ci
motor, (302 bhp at 5600 rpm), plus a four-speed gearbox,
making it an extremely rapid motor car - its acceleration
was actually slightly better than a GTHO Phase 3, although
it was some 10 mph down in top speed.
A new system
of classing was introduced for the 1972 race, replacing
the familiar method of classing the cars according
to their retail price. The new system divided the cars
into four groups of Capacity/Price (CP) units. These
CP units were simply the capacity of the car's engine,
in liters, multiplied by the retail price. For example,
a car of 1.5 liters capacity which cost $3000 would
have a CP rating of 1.5 by 30001 which is 4500.
The classes were: - A - up to 3000 CP units; B - 3001
to 9000 CP units; C - 9001-1800 CP units; D - over
1800 CP units. This put the Falcons and E49 Chargers
in Class D, and the Torana XL1-1s and a lone E38 Charger
in Class C. Race practice saw Allan Moffat in the number
one works car on pole position again, with an incredible
2:35.8, just 3.1 seconds faster than 1971. Beside him
was John Goss, who, despite blowing a motor in practice,
still managed to clock a best of 2:37.2. Behind them
were John French and Fred Gibson, driving the number
two works car. Race day was pouring with rain and the
start was an incredible sight, with a huge cloud of
spray blanketing the field, which looked more like
a power boat fleet than a pack of cars.
This year,
luck wasn't to be with the Falcons. The first trouble
they struck was with Fred Gibson, who lost it at McPhillamy
Park, hit the bank and rolled over a couple of times,
about 50 yards short of an XU-1, which had also rolled
a few seconds before. The driver of the XU-1 was none
other than Bill Brown, who must be the unluckiest driver
in the country as far as Bathurst is concerned.
Des
West's Falcon retired because of a clutch failure and
John Goss blew another engine. But it was also with
Moffat's car, Ford's main hope for an outright win,
that things weren't looking terribly bright. He had
a spin at Reid Park, which cost him his lead, and when
he pitted for fuel and tires, he was penalised one
minute for starting his engine while fuel was still
being put aboard the Falcon.
Meanwhile, John French
was going very well, steering his Falcon into the lead
on lap 54. At the same time it was becoming obvious
that Moffat was in a great deal of trouble, as his
brakes were not working anywhere near as well as they
should have been and he very nearly hit the fence at
Murray's Corner at the end of Conrod Straight.
From
this point, Moffat's chances of victory became virtually
nil. He drove desperately in an effort to make up time
- with no effective brakes he was only just making
it around some of the corners. In his second pit stop,
he was penalised yet again for restarting the car before
refuelling had been completed, and finally he had to
have one of the front brakes disconnected.
John French
saved the day for Ford with his fine second outright;
the Gulson car was the next Falcon home in seventh
place, followed by Moffat in eighth and Murray Carter
in 10th. The problem with the brakes on Moffat's car
was found to be in the disc pads, which were literally
disintegrating from the effects of heat.
Upon examination
of Fred Gibson's rolled car it was found that if he
had continued, his brakes would have suffered the same
fate as Moffat's. The winner was Peter Brock in his
Holden Dealer Team Torana XU-1, by the huge margin
of five laps. His car ran without trouble all day and
he thoroughly deserved his win.
After Bathurst, Moffat
won both of the remaining manufacturers' championship
rounds at Phillip Island and Surfer's Paradise, giving
the series to Ford. Moffat also won the TAA series
production race at Calder, giving Ford its 12th win
in major series production races for 1972. The last
races of 1972 saw the end of an era in Australian touring
car racing. Mainly because of the “Supercar" blow-up,
and the adverse publicity which went with it, the Confederation
of Australian Motor Sports released a new set of regulations
for 1973, which meant the end of series production
racing.
The idea was to free the manufacturer. from
the annual task of building a small number of “Bathurst
Specials", the new regulations allowing certain
modifications to improve performance and handling to
be made to the cars, thus enabling the "standard" models
of a given manufacturer's range to be modified to racing
specifications, while still retaining some sort of
resemblance to the cars being driven by the public.
The
new class was to be called "production touring",
while the former "improved touring" class
would now become known as "sports sedans",
where a virtually free hand was given regarding modifying
cars. Whereas the "improved touring" cars
were really Group 2 cars, the new sports sedan class
could enable people to build-up machinery like Bryan
Thomson's 5000 on Chevrolet-Volkswagen, or John McCormack's
Elfin MR5 Formula 5000 with a Chrysler Charger body
attached to it.
However, it was obvious that Australians
were in for some exciting and close racing in 1973
- and they weren't to be disappointed. There was also
a plethora of sensationalized journalism during the
development of the Phase 4, claiming it could top 160
mph, when the actual figure was just a little over
150. It suited their purposes to use the higher figure
as a means of persuading Ford to discontinue the manufacture
of the car, and it worked.
Also see:
GT
Falcon Race Results 1972
Bathurst Race Results 1972
Bathurst Race Program 1972
Bathurst Memorable Moments