1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500

The 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was the tenth running of the Bathurst 500 production car race. It was held on 5 October 1969 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. Cars competed in five classes based on purchase price (Australian dollars) of the vehicle.

The race was won by the newly formed Holden Dealer Team with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts with teammates Peter Brock and Des West finishing third in their Holden Monaro GTS350's, with the team's third car finishing sixth. In between them in second position was defending race winners Bruce McPhee and his single-lap co-driver Barry Mulholland driving a Phase 1 Ford Falcon GTHO. McPhee and Mulholland, who had won in 1968 driving the Holden Monaro GTS327, had originally intended to race a Monaro 350 in 1969 but after receiving no help from Holden, instead decided to race one of the new Falcons.

Peter Brock and Canadian Allan Moffat made their Bathurst débuts in the race. Brock with Harry Firth's Holden Dealer Team, and Moffat driving a works Falcon GTHO with Alan Hamilton. Between them, Brock and Moffat would go on to win 13 of the next 17 Bathurst 500/1000s (until 1987), with Brock winning a record nine times (all for Holden), and Moffat winning four times for Ford.

The Ford Works Team were the favourites to win the race with their new Falcon GTHOs which with their new 5.8-litre (351 cui) V8's proved to have a speed advantage over the 5.7-litre (350 cui) Monaros. However, the decision by Ford Works Team's American manager Al Turner to import special racing tyres for the Falcons proved to be a disaster. During the race numerous tyre failures put the Works cars out of contention. After early tyre failures on the Ian and Leo Geoghegan car, as well as the Fred Gibson and Barry Seton car, Turner called Moffat into the pits for a tyre change. There it was found that Moffat had been far easier on his tyres than either Ian Geoghegan or Seton and that the stop was not necessary. As of 2016, Moffat believes that this decision cost himself and co-driver Alan Hamilton the race win. The day after the race, Ford ran a full page newspaper advert stating "We were a little deflated" referring to the tyre failures.

1969 was also notable for the first lap crash which saw at least one third of the field forced to retire or continue with accident damage. Bill Brown rolled his Falcon GTHO coming through Skyline, all but blocking the track while John French, who qualified 21st, rolled his Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV trying to avoid the carnage that Brown's rollover caused. One driver lucky to escape the carnage was Allan Moffat who had pulled up just out of The Cutting on the first lap with his Falcon stuck in neutral. Once he got going he was able to weave through the bedlam at Skyline and continue on his way.^[1] For Brown, it would be the first of three rollovers at Bathurst on the same piece of road (McPhillamy Park - Skyline), with the second in 1971 bringing a lucky escape from death.

Cars competed in five classes based on the purchase price (in Australian dollars) of the vehicle.

Class A was for cars which retailed for up to $1,860. It was made up of Datsun 1000, Hillman GT, Morris Mini K and Toyota Corolla.

The $1,861 to $2,250 class was dominated by the Datsun 1600, but also contained Ford Cortina, Hillman Gazelle, Morris 1500, Renault 10 and Volkswagen 1600.

The $2,251 to $3,100 class saw a mix of Chrysler Valiant, Fiat 125, Ford Capri, Mazda R100, Morris Cooper S and Renault 16.

The $3,101 to $4,500 class featured the outright contenders, Ford Falcon GTHO and Holden Monaro, but also contained a single Toyota Corona 1900.

For cars over $4,500, had a single automatic gearbox version of the Ford Falcon GT but otherwise was all Alfa Romeo with 1750 GTV and a single 1750 Berlina.

Pos	No	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Qual
Pole	59	Ford Australia	Ian Geoghegan	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	2:48.9
2	51	Fair Deal Car Sales	Digby Cooke	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	2:50.0
3	46	Kloster Pty Ltd	Bruce McPhee	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	2:50.1
4	61	Ford Australia	Allan Moffat	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	2:53.6
5	60	Ford Australia	Fred Gibson	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	2:53.7
6	56	Alto-Ford Pty Ltd	David McKay	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	2:53.7
7	44	Holden Dealer Team	Colin Bond	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	2:53.8
8	42	Holden Dealer Team	Peter Macrow	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	2:54.5
9	50	McLeod Ford	John Goss	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	2:55.3
10	43	Holden Dealer Team	Des West	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	2:55.4

Pos	Class	No	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos
1	D	44	Holden Dealer Team	Colin Bond Tony Roberts	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	130	7
2	D	46	Kloster Pty Ltd	Bruce McPhee Barry Mulholland	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	130	2
3	D	43	Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock Des West	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	130	10
4	D	61	Ford Australia	Allan Moffat Alan Hamilton	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	129	4
5	D	59	Ford Australia	Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	128	1
6	D	42	Holden Dealer Team	Peter Macrow Henk Woelders	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	128	8
7	D	54	Wright Ford Motors Pty Ltd	Bob Beasley Bob Muir	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	127	18
8	E	71	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Kevin Bartlett Len Goodwin	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	126	22
9	E	68	C Smith	Charlie Smith Bill Ford	Ford XW Falcon GT Automatic	126	20
10	D	58	Byrt Ford	Martin Chenery Ernie Johnson	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	125	19
11	E	69	Canberra Speed Shop	Peter Brown Ray Gulson	Alfa Romeo 1750 Berlina	122	27
12	D	63	R Genders	Joe Butta Bob Genders	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	122	24
13	D	48	Rowell Thiele Ford Pty Ltd	Mike Savva Bob Wilkinson	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	121	11
14	C	30	Waterloo High Performance Tuning Centre	Ron Gillard Warren Gracie	Morris Cooper S	119	36
15	C	38	Grenville Motors P/L	Peter Finlay Bob Forbes	Fiat 125	119	34
16	C	31	Zanardo & Rodriguez Sales & Service	Ron Kearns Gerry Lister	Fiat 125	119	37
17	C	22	Graham Ryan Auto Repairs	Graham Ryan Mike Kable	Chrysler Valiant Pacer	118	30
18	B	18	W.H. Motors	Bruce Stewart George Garth	Datsun 1600	117	41
19	C	25	G Cooke	Gary Cooke Geoff Spence	Mazda R100	117	35
20	C	32	Marque Motors	Ian Hindmarsh Bill Stanley	Morris Cooper S	117	33
21	C	23	Trevor Mason Developments	Trevor Mason Neil Mason	Mazda R100	117	32
22	C	26	Regal Motors Pty Ltd	Les Grose Graham Moore	Morris Cooper S	117	45
23	B	15	Datsun Racing Team	John Roxburgh Doug Whiteford	Datsun 1600	117	44
24	B	17	W.H. Motors	Don Smith Peter Wilson	Datsun 1600	114	43
25	B	19	McInnes Automotive Conversions	Dave Morrow Bob Wootton	Datsun 1600	114	51
26	D	57	P Bradford	Roy Griffiths Glyn Scott	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	114	17
27	B	14	Datsun Racing Team	William Coad Jon Leighton	Datsun 1600	113	46
28	C	28	D Frazer	David Frazer Allan Johns	Morris Cooper S	113	42
29	A	2	AMI Toyota	Brian Sampson Bob Morris	Toyota Corolla	112	52
30	A	6	Datsun Racing Team	Bill Evans Barry Tapsall	Datsun 1000	110	55
31	B	20	McLeod Ford Pty Ltd	Max Dickson Diane Dickson	Ford Cortina Mk.II 240	108	57
32	B	10	Provincial Motors Pty Ltd	Gary Campbell Gerry Murphy	Volkswagen 1600	107	58
33	C	27	President Car Sales	Bill Bryden John T. Smith	Renault 16TS	107	53
34	A	7	Kent BMC	David Bye Richard Willis	Morris Mini K	104	61
35	B	9	R Edgerton	Bob Edgerton Ross Edgerton	Renault 10	100	62
36	A	8	P & R Williams	Arthur Olsen Sandra Bennett	Morris Mini K	99	63
37	B	12	R. G. Lanyon	Alf Barrett Mel Mollison	Morris 1500	97	56
38	D	52	Harry Gapps Ford Pty Ltd	Harry Gapps Frank Hann	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	94	23
39	A	4	C.J. Cronin	Martin Cortese Steve Parkes	Toyota Corolla	93	60
40	C	35	T Meehan	Trevor Meehan Mal Brewster	Morris Cooper S	93	39
41	B	16	M.T.R. Services	Nick Ledingham Damon Beck	Hillman Gazelle	84	49
42	C	36	E.M. Automation Pty Ltd	Paul Mander Phil Edwards	Morris Cooper S	82	29
DNF	D	51	Fair Deal Car Sales	Digby Cooke David Bowden	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	96	2
DNF	D	60	Ford Australia	Fred Gibson Barry Seton	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	93	5
DNF	C	24	K Grose	Keith Grose John Wright	Ford Capri Mk.I 1600GT	92	38
DNF	A	1	A Johns	George Geshopulos Ray Scanlan	Hillman GT	88	59
DNF	C	37	Grand Prix Auto Services	Ann Thomson Carole Corness	Morris Cooper S	82	47
DNF	D	56	Alto-Ford Pty Ltd	David McKay Brian Foley	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	78	6
DNF	D	45	AMI Toyota	Max Stewart Brian Reed	Toyota Corona 1900SL	78	28
DNF	B	21	M.T.R. Services	Hans Tholstrup Brian Connell	Datsun 1600	73	64
DNF	D	50	McLeod Ford Pty Ltd	John Goss Denis Cribbin	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	50	9
DNF	C	33	Brian Foley Motors Pty Ltd	Christine Gibson Lynne Keefe	Fiat 125	48	40
DNF	D	62	Anthony Horden & Sons Ltd	Nick Petrilli Max Stahl	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	45	15
DNF	D	64	Boyded of Bankstown	Bill Tuckey Sib Petralia	Holden HT Monaro GTS350	44	13
DNF	D	53	B Arentz	Barry Arentz Brian Michelmore	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	36	12
DNF	C	39	D.H. Whitehead	Bernie Haehnle Peter Wherrett	Mazda R100	31	31
DNF	B	11	Dependable Motor Sales Pty Ltd	Bruce Darke Dennis Cooke	Datsun 1600	4	50
DNF	C	29	Central Motors Penrith P/L	Bob Cook Alan Cant	Ford Capri Mk.I 1600GT	1	48
DNF	D	55	Alto-Ford Pty Ltd	Bill Brown Phil West	Ford XW Falcon GTHO	0	16
DNF	E	72	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	John French Doug Chivas	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	0	21
DNF	E	67	Bryan Thomson Motors	Bryan Thomson Graham Ritter	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	0	25
DNF	C	34	Varsity Auto Centre	John Prisk Alan Cameron	Morris Cooper S	0	27
DSQ	A	3	AMI Toyota	Barry Ferguson Jim Laing-Peach	Toyota Corolla	103	54
DNS[2]	D[2]	49[2]	Young & Green Pty. Ltd.[2]	David Sheldon Don Holland	Holden HT Monaro GTS350		15
DNS [2]	C [2]	40 [2]	Teterin Engineering Pty. Ltd.[2]	R. Marquet [2] J. Andrews [2]	Morris Cooper S[2]
DNS [2]	A [2]	5 [2]	Datsun Racing Team [2]	Bob Holden Don Toffolon	Datsun 1000[2]

• Pole Position - #59 Ian Geoghegan - 2:48.9
• Fastest Lap - #61 Moffat/Hamilton & #60 Gibson/Seton - 2:52.1 (lap record)
• Race time of winning car: 6:32:25 ^[2]
• Fastest Flying ⅛ : Bruce McPhee & Barry Mulholland (Ford Falcon GTHO): 135.95 mph ^[2]

• 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500, www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au