1965 Armstrong 500


The 1965 Armstrong 500 was the sixth running of the Bathurst 500 touring car race. It was held on 3 October 1965 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The race was open to Australian assembled or manufactured vehicles and, for the first time, to imported vehicles, of which at least 100 examples and 250 examples respectively had been registered in Australia. Cars competed in four classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian pounds. Prize money was on offer only for class placings however the Armstrong Trophy was presented to the entrant of the outright winning car, this being the first time in the history of the event that there had been an official award for the outright winner.
The outright winning car was the Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 entered by Fairfield Motors and driven by Barry Seton and emerging young driver Midge Bosworth. Second was another Ford car dealer entered Cortina driven mainly by Bruce McPhee with one lap driven by Barry Mulholland. Third, and one lap behind the two Cortina was the factory entered Morris Cooper S of Brian Foley and Peter Manton.

Class structure

Class A

The smallest class was for cars under £920. It was made of Datsun 1300, Fiat 850, 1.5 litre Ford Cortina 220, Morris Mini de Luxe and Vauxhall Viva, although all the Datsun's were withdrawn prior to race start due to wheel cracking failures.

Class B

The £921 to £1,020 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina 240, Isuzu Bellett, Morris Cooper, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona.

Class C

The £1,021 to £1,300 class was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also contained Chrysler Valiant, Ford Cortina GT and Holden HD X2.

Class D

The £1,301 to £2,000 class featured the first of what came to be known as the 'Bathurst specials', the Ford Cortina GT500 named for the race. The class also contained Fiat 2300, Humber Vogue, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122.

Results

PosClassClass
Pos
NoTeamDriversCarLaps
1D111Fairfield Motors Pty Ltd Barry Seton
Midge Bosworth
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500130
2D24Grawill Motors Pty Ltd Bruce McPhee
Barry Mulholland
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500130
3C129BMC Australia Brian Foley
Peter Manton
Morris Cooper S129
4C221L and D Motors Pty Ltd Lindsay Little
Stan Pomroy
Morris Cooper S129
5D312Hunt Bros. Motors Pty Ltd Jack Murray
Bill McLachlan
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500128
6C330BMC Australia Paddy Hopkirk
Timo Mäkinen
Morris Cooper S128
7C418Marque Motors Bill Stanley
Ralph Sach
Morris Cooper S128
8C519College Auto Parts Ray Kaleda
Graham Moore
Morris Cooper S125
9C624Killara Motor Garage Greg Cusack
Bob Holden
Morris Cooper S125
10D47Australian Motor Industries Max Stewart
Bob Young
Triumph 2000124
11C726Ford Motor Company of Australia Barry Arentz
Geoff Russell
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT124
12D53British & Continental Cars P/L Bill Ford
Des West
Volvo 122S121
13D62Continental & General Distributors Pty Ltd Fred Sutherland
Allan Mottram
Studebaker Lark120
14A145Ford Motor Company of Australia Harry Firth
John Reaburn
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220119
15A254Ray Morris Motors Pty Ltd Bruce Maher
Ray Morris
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220119
16D75 Graham Ward
Barry Collerson
Volvo 122S118
17B140Ford Motor Company of Australia Glyn Scott
Max Volkers
Ford Cortina Mk.I 240118
18B239Australian Motor Industries Brian Reed
Des Kelly
Toyota Corona118
19A353H and G Taylor John Hall
Herb Taylor
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220118
20B341Australian Motor Industries Bill Buckle
Neil McKay
Toyota Corona117
21C822Advanx Motor Service Alton Boddenberg
Digby Cooke
Chrysler Valiant116
22C931Smith Auto Accessories Pty Ltd Don Smith
Bruce Stewart
Holden HD X2116
23B436Australian Motor Industries Brian Sampson
Ern Abbott
Toyota Corona116
24B529BMC Australia Barry Ferguson
Charlie Smith
Morris Cooper115
25A443Griffith Barke Service Ken Harrison
Bruce Hodgson
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220114
26A552G. Shoesmith Gary Shoesmith
Tony Robards
Vauxhall Viva113
27D810Needham Motors Pty Ltd Warren Weldon
Bill Slattery
Studebaker Lark112
28A655BMC Australia Kevin Bartlett
Ron Haylen
Morris Mini de Luxe111
29A747Bamar Engineering John Marchiori
Arnold Ahrenfeld
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220111
30B632John Rhodin Pty Ltd Arthur Treloar
Colin Bond
Isuzu Bellett 1500109
31A850 P. Taylor
T. Egan
Morris Mini de Luxe109
32B734 John Connolly
Rex Emmett
Renault R8108
33A949 Bill Daly
Ray Heffernan
Fiat 850106
34D96Canberra Speed Shop Peter Brown
Ray Gulson
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500106
35A1044BMC Australia Steve Harvey
Laurie Stewart
Morris Mini de Luxe105
36B837Gordon Stewart's Sports Car Centre Peter Cray
Don Holland
Morris Cooper99
37D1013R. Salter Bob Salter
Ken Wiggins
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT50094
38C1028Toowong Motors-J. Thomas and Sons Evan Thomas
Lionel Williams
Holden HD X284
39B935 George Forrest
Frank Hann
Morris Cooper81
40D118D. Walker Carl Kennedy
David Walker
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT50064
DNFD23 Bill Barnett
Don Johnston
Humber Vogue106
DNFD16 Fred Otten
Mick Crampton
Fiat 230065
DNFD9 Keith Russell
Colin Wear
Triumph 200060
DNFD14Ford Motor Company of Australia Bob Jane
George Reynolds
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT50058
DNFD15Belvedere Motors Ron Hodgson
Bob Beasley
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT50054
DNFA56 Bill Burns
Brian Lawler
Fiat 85054
DNFA58 Don Mudd
Tony Kavanagh
Vauxhall Viva48
DNFB38 Brian McGrath
David Frazer
Renault R842
DNFB33 Ron Clarke
John Prisk
Morris Cooper25
DNFC25BMC Australia John French
John Harvey
Morris Cooper S24
DNFD17A. Davis Arthur Davis
Paul Mander
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT50014
DNFC20 Ian Cook
Ken Lindsay
Morris Cooper S11
DNFC27 Doug Chivas
Phil Barnes
Morris Cooper S10
DNFA59 Trevor Meehan
Pat Holmes
Fiat 8506
DSQD1Ford Motor Company of Australia Ian Geoghegan
Leo Geoghegan
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500130
DNSA46Scuderia Veloce
Datsun Racing Team
Spencer Martin
Bill Brown
Datsun 1300
DNSA48Scuderia Veloce
Datsun Racing Team
Tony Simmons
Mike Champion
Datsun 1300
DNSA51Scuderia Veloce
Datsun Racing Team
Bruce Demuth
Bill Orr
Datsun 1300

Statistics