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1962 Armstrong 500

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The 1962 Armstrong 500 was an endurance race for Australian built production cars. The race was held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia on 21 October 1962 over 167 laps of the 3.0 mile circuit, a total of 501 miles. Cars competed in four classes based on the retail price of each model. Officially, only class placings were awarded but the No 21 Ford Falcon driven by Harry Firth and Bob Jane was recognised as "First across the line". This was the third and last Armstrong 500 to be held at Phillip Island prior to the race being moved to the Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst in New South Wales where it later became known as the Bathurst 1000.

Class structure

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A Ford Falcon XL built up as a tribute to the car which is credited as "First across the line" in the 1962 Armstrong 500

For the 1962 race the division of classes was changed from engine capacity, used in the previous two Armstrong 500s, to the purchase price (in Australian pounds, the currency of the era) of the vehicle on the Australian market, with the intent to allow members of the public to make comparisons between cars which they could personally afford. An upper limit of £2000 was established to prevent the race from being dominated by purpose-built sports cars. These changes saw the Renault Gordinis move up from Class D to Class C, while the Volkswagens dropped from C to D. Volkswagen would break through for their first class victory this year.

Class A

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Class A was for cars with a purchase price of between £1251 and £2000. The class featured Chrysler Valiant, Citroën ID19, Ford Zephyr, Studebaker Lark and Vauxhall Velox.

Class B

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Class B was for cars with a purchase price of between £1051 and £1250. The class was dominated by the new Ford Falcon XL but also feature Austin Freeway and Holden EJ.

Class C

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Class C was for cars with a purchase price of between £901 and £1050. The class featured Hillman Minx, Morris Major, Renault Gordini and Simca Aronde.

Class D

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Class D was for cars with a purchase price of less than £900. The class featured Ford Anglia, Morris 850, Triumph Herald and Volkswagen.

Race

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The race was dominated by the XL series Ford Falcon, three of which were amongst the first four finishers, led by the factory-supported car of defending winners Harry Firth and Bob Jane. On the same lap as Firth and Jane was the Class A winning Studebaker of Fred Sutherland and Bill Graetz, who won the class by four laps, defeating the factory-supported Ford Zephyr being driven by Geoff Russell and David Anderson, denying them[who?] a third consecutive class victory. This was as close as a Studebaker would get to an outright victory in the history of the event.

In Class C a Renault Gordini won despite being moved up from Class D with Rex Emmett, John Connolly and 1975 winner Brian Sampson winning by four laps. The Renault Gordini driven by Emmett, Connolly and Sampson which covered the most laps in Class C was initially disqualified after the race along with the Morris 850 driven by Allen and Hooker which crossed the line in second place in Class D.[1] Appeals were lodged in both cases.[1] Later published results show the cars as first in Class C and second in Class D respectively.[2][3][4][clarification needed]

Jim McKeown, an emerging star in small capacity touring cars, and George Reynolds took their Volkswagen to the Class D victory, beating the leading Mini by a lap. Reynolds too had an outright victory in store in just two years time in 1964.

Aftermath

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The toil placed on the cold mix bitumen surface by the race, with the largest entry the race had seen, overwhelmed the Phillip Island racetrack. Dangerous potholes formed all around the circuit, leaving a hefty repair bill, and an ominous threat to the future growth of the race. Staying at Phillip Island, as attractive as other factors presented, was plainly impossible and the search began by the promoters for a new home for the increasingly popular endurance production car race. Earlier the same year the Bathurst Six Hour Classic had been held at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst (won by a Daimler not eligible to run in the Armstrong), and that circuit immediately entered speculation.

Results

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Pos No[5] Entrant[5] Drivers Car Laps
Class A
1 2 Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Australia Fred Sutherland
Australia Bill Graetz
Studebaker Lark 167
2 10 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Geoff Russell
Australia David Anderson
Ford Zephyr Mk III 163
3 7 Continental & General Distributors Pty. Ltd. Australia Norm Beechey
Australia Greg Cusack
Citroën ID19 160
4 5 Hawthorn Auto Wreckers Australia Vic Croft
Australia Wal Gillespie
Chrysler Valiant 160
5 8 Scuderia Veloce Australia Bill Buckle
Australia Brian Foley
Citroën ID19 156
6 9 Wallace Auto Racing Stable Australia Bill Wilson
Australia Mike Ide
Citroën ID19 155
7 6 Calder Motor Raceway Australia Pat Hawthorn
Australia G Hibberd
Chrysler Valiant 153
8 3 Hospital Hill Motors Service Station Australia Don Algie
Australia Kingsley Hibbard
Studebaker Lark 127
DNF 4 Auburn Garage Australia Peter White
Australia Peter Boyd-Squires
Chrysler Valiant 118
DNF 1 S.A. Cheney Pty. Ltd. Australia Frank Coad
Australia John Roxburgh
Vauxhall Velox 64
Class B
1 21 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Harry Firth
Australia Bob Jane
Ford Falcon XL 167
2 20 Ford Motor Co. of Australia Australia Ken Harper
Australia John Raeburn
Australia Syd Fisher
Ford Falcon XL 166
3 25 Broon's Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Alan Caelli
Australia J Edwards
Australia John Bodinnar
Ford Falcon XL 165
4 26 L.J. Callaway Australia John Callaway
Australia Frank Porter
Australia Jim Smith
Ford Falcon XL 161
5 22 Molybond Laboritories Pty. Ltd. Australia Barry Foster
Australia Bob Brown
Australia David Catlin
Holden EJ 160
6 24 Hilltop Autos Australia Lex Davison
Australia John Brindley
Australia Phil Trueman[6]
Austin Freeway 159
7 23 C. Smith Australia Charlie Smith
Australia Brucer Maher
Austin Freeway 145
8 27 New Oakleigh Motors and New St. Kilda Motors Australia Kevin Lott
Australia Tom Roddy
Australia Brian Devlin
Ford Falcon XL 134
Class C
1 30 Rex Emmett Australia Rex Emmett
Australia John Connolly
Australia Brian Sampson
Renault Gordini 162
2 34 Edney's Garage Australia Alan Edney
Australia Greg Fayers
Morris Major Elite 158
3 33 Eiffel Tower Group Pty. Ltd. Australia Diane Leighton
Australia Anne Bennett
Australia Pam Murison
Simca Aronde 157
4 37 Clemens Sporting Car Service Australia Ian Wells
Australia Don Dunoon
Hillman Minx 151
5 36 W. Nalder Australia Wes Nalder
Australia John Fish
Hillman Minx 145
DNF 31 Eiffel Tower Group Pty. Ltd. Australia Jack Eiffeltower[7]
Australia Lionel Marsh
Australia Vern Curtin
Simca Aronde 121
DNF 32 Eiffel Tower Group Pty. Ltd. Australia Bill Roberts
Australia J Hume
Australia W Murison
Simca Aronde 63
DNF 35 Carburettor Centre, Belvedere Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Les Darcy
Australia Don Castaldi
Simca Aronde 60
Class D
1 48 H.G. McLean Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia George Reynolds
Australia Jim McKeown
Volkswagen 162
2 43[8][9] [9] Australia D Hooker
Australia Terry Allen
Morris 850 161
3 41 Ace Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Geoffrey Waite
Australia Peter Macrow
Australia Rocky Tresise
Morris 850 160
4 50 Spencer Motors Australia Tony Theiler
Australia Bob Foreman
Australia Reg Lunn
Volkswagen 160
5 40 Jack Hunnam Australia Jack Hunnam
Australia John Hartnett
Morris 850 160
6 42 Head Brothers Australia George Huse
Australia Clarrie Head
Morris 850 159
7 51 G.A. Gibson Australia Hoot Gibson
Australia Paul England
Australia Jack Madden
Triumph Herald 157
8 44 S.D. Hughes Australia Graham Hoinville
Australia Kevin Burns
Ford Anglia 157
9 47 S.C. Martin Australia Stan Martin
Australia Les Park
Triumph Herald 154
10 53 Sydney Grevett Australia Syd Grevett
Australia Cliff van Praag
Morris 850 150
11 45 McLure's Restaurants Pty. Ltd. Australia George Poulton
Australia R Poulton
Australia M Watson
Triumph Herald 150
DNF 49 E. Whiteford Motors Pty. Ltd. Australia Doug Whiteford
Australia Lou Molina
Volkswagen 148
DNF 52 A.G. Reynolds Australia Tony Reynolds
Australia A Humphries
Australia Frank McEnroe
Morris 850 101
DNF 46 High Road Auto Port Australia Jack Anderson
Australia J Binning
Australia Bob Bullock
Triumph Herald 13

Statistics

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  • Fastest Lap - #3 Algie/Hibbard - 2:42
  • Race Time - 8:15:16.0

References

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  1. ^ a b Ford Triumphs in rugged '500', Australian Motor Sports, December 1962, pages 25 to 29 and page 49
  2. ^ W. P. Tuckey, The Book of Australian Motor Racing, 1965?, page 158
  3. ^ John Smailes, The first 15 Years, Hardie-Ferodo 1000 - A Pictorial History 1960–1975, page 55
  4. ^ Bill Tuckey and David Greenhalgh, Australia's Greatest Motor Race - The first 30 years, page 293
  5. ^ a b Official Programme, The 1962 Armstrong 500, Sunday, 21st October 1962
  6. ^ Graham Howard, Lex Davison - Larger Than Life, 2004, page 175
  7. ^ Jack Eiffeltower was a pseudonym used by Jack Nougher
  8. ^ Image of Allen / Hooker Morris 850, Armstrong 500 1962, autopics.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  9. ^ a b The Allen / Hooker Morris 850 was not listed in the Official Programme
Sources
  • Australian Motor Sports, December 1962
  • Tuckey, Bill (1981). "1962: The end of the island". Australia's Greatest Motor Race The Complete History. Sydney: Lansdowne Press. pp. 82–89.
  • Australia's Greatest Motor Race, The First 30 Years, © 1989
  • The Age, Monday, 22 October 1962
  • Wheels, January 1963
  • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). "1962 The end of the island". Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999 The first 40 years. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited. pp. 108–113 & 452. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
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