Bathurst 1963 Armstrong 500 Highlights

[@frogsintheforest]

Every aspect of this racing back in the day, was nothing short of amazing. Car racing in Australia has never been so raw and pure. The track as i remember it, was nothing more than a country road and the drivers, some with their family car, driving in the gutsiest of manners. I could think of nothing better than bing able to relive those days.

[@johnbrooks9523]

We need a return to affordable amateur motor racing that doesn't involve lining the pockets of vulture millionaires. Any car over 20 years old with all the standard safety features like airbags should be eligible to race as is instead of sending them willy nilly to scrap because the paint faded. The Bathurst of 1963 sets a fine example of how sensible racing used to be. We need an entire little country town set up & devoted to racing standard cars. Interested folks would jump onboard if costs were kept to a minimum.

[@brankojerbic6040]

Peugeot 404's were raced everywhere. Even won the Paris to Dakar at the time. The older 403 won the Ampol Round Australia Trial in '56

[@patrickcannell2258]

Only a 1600cc engine! Brilliant car.

[@Wandjina104]

I had a 403. Smooth as silk to drive. Then I picked up a 203. It was fun to drive. Went on surfing trips in my friend's 404. They were good cars.

[@aussiebattler7789]

back in the days when it was proper car racing , not the staged tripe that we get today .and the mechanics wore proper hats

[@allanchapman6250]

I was 13 and watched it on channel 7 they were much better racing than today .

[@mutualbeard]

When it was a proper production car race. You could watch this on the weekend and buy one on Monday.

[@davidtrollope6644]

Not s4

[@metricstormtrooper]

​@@davidtrollope6644I had an old friend with one, he bought it from somewhere.

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@davidtrollope6644 Including the S4. Car dealers had a shocking reputation for racing caryard stock on a weekend, returning to the yard, peeling off stickers, giving the raced car a tub & sticking it straight out amongst the other stock. My Ol' Man was the A-Grade mechanic at the Ampol Servo at Balgowlah Heights from '68 to Oct '73. He often bought customer's cars cheap, repaired rooted brakes & or whatever else needed fixing, drove them for a few months, sold & moved on to the next one. When I was about 10, he came home one night in a car that got us all excited. She was an AP5. Lowered, black widies, fat low Pirellis, RV1 hubcaps, white with black HK GTS stripes from the leading edge of the bonnet to the back of the bootlid, Speco 3 on the floor, extractors, 2" exhaust & a cute red Hotdog poking out conspicuously from under her bum. She sounded like a swarm of angry wasps & she threw you back in the seat leaving the lights. My mind was blown. Suddenly, overnight, we had the hottest car in the street. As a kid, I assumed all these "improvements" added value. The Ol' man set me straight. Told me about shonky dealers selling "burnt out" race cars as normal stock to an unsuspecting public who would never knowingly buy a car that had been thrashed. I was always in love with Early Holdens, but that AP5 was adorable & she was ours. We piled into it one Saturday & headed out along Parramatta Road. We transferred the whole family across & into an absolutely pristine VC column auto for a road test at a big Chrysler dealership. On return to the dealer's yard, the salesman commenced using a razor blade to scrape the bright matt paint for sale blurb off the front windscreen. I remember looking back as we drove off in that ordinary VC at the hot AP5 sitting sadly abandoned by us at that car yard & it was like waving goodbye to the girl you loved. In my 10 year old mind, that growling striped up AP5 was worth 10 plain VCs. I was shattered! I complained about it & the Ol' man said the dealer would absolutely buff those stripes off, refit a "proper" muffler & make the AP5 appear standard since no one bought cars that looked like they'd been "raced". That was probably the first time in my life when I had thoughts of most people being completely stupid. Undoing the quality work done to that AP5 struck me as going backwards, a waste of time & really really dumb. That car stood out. Harry Firth was in the car game. Notice how his batch of Bathurst Special Cortinas looked ordinary & they just vanished into Consumersville immediately after their successful racing life? That's because dealers booted them all off to grandmas. The exact same thing happened to 179M & S4 EH Holdens. Creepy dealers would have literally rinsed them & reset them as common yard stock & booted them all off to unknowing family guys seeking late model used cars usually with finance & insurance packages attached. Race histories were burned or binned. No insurer would knowingly provide a policy on a car assumed compromised because it had had it's guts thrashed out. It would be golden & highly unusual to find a photo of any sign written EH in a caryard advertised as an S4 BATHURST SPECIAL. Far from it. The buying public weren't enthusiasts, weren't into motor racing, weren't even aware of Holden's secret squirrell S4 hotrods & by Monday arv following Bathurst 1963, any S4s still in dealer's hands would have been sitting all harmless & standard looking in yards with "ONE OWNER" or "DEMONSTRATOR" plastered across their windscreens. This is how it was. The very rare & now prized EH S4 was just another "low mileage" used car to be disposed of. Virtually no one cared. Decades later, we get stories of treasure hunters sticking their noses under the bums of tired family hacks looking for deeper EH S4 fuel tanks & a few very lucky enthusiasts occasionally striking gold. Holden knew to make their toughened up S4 Bathurst Specials blend in with the garden variety standard cars of the time to enable dealers to get rid of them. It's a miracle, all things considered that any S4s survived since 98% of them were driven into the ground as just another car. Consumers consumed them. The public had no idea they even existed. It was all a big fat GMH secret until long after most S4s were worn out & gone. Loan me your time machine & I'll take you straight back to Parramatta road on a Monday in 1963 & you & I can both buy an S4. I'll point out to the dealer that I saw the car raced the day before, both front tyres are scuffed, the brake drums are blue & he should knock fifty quid off the sticker price!

[@frogsintheforest]

A great story of which I know to be true. Thanks for the time you spent getting that story down. I was a mechanic in those days. I fondly remember those days when a mechanic was a real mechanic and some of those mechanics were the best car racers of all time.

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@frogsintheforest Many mechanics had exceptional sympathy for machinery which enabled them to race cars without hurting them. Bathurst regularly attracted mechanically minded drivers including Harry Firth. Gifted drivers like Pete Geoghegan were champions in cars prepared by supremos like John Sheppard. Geoghegan had a rare gift. Bathurst being a 500 mile enduro often favoured the careful, mindful, steady, methodical, mechanically minded drivers who often cruised outside of the top five but conserved their cars which went on to win. I don't know Larry Perkins' qualifications. I don't know if Jack Brabham was qualified either? Both are classic examples of mechanics who built & understood their machinery & who also knew how to get the best out of it without hurting it. We know Brock grew up on a farm where he & his Dad both tinkered. As far as I know; Brock basicly built his flying Holden/Austin himself & he wasn't ever formally apprenticed. I do know Harry had Brock employed fulltime in the workshop & assisting highly skilled Ian Taite. By the time Brock went on to win Bathurst in '72 he would have known every single nut, bolt, washer, synchro cone & valve spring in his XU-1 Torana. The mechanic usually had an advantage over other gifted drivers, especially in endurance racing. Thanks for your generous reply. Some of us have a better appreciation of what it took to win races back before all the spoit princesses with all their fat bank accounts got erm "invested" in the sport. Bathurst '63 showed us just how inexpensive, good & wholesome touring car racing used to be. It wasn't really dangerous. It was exciting & enjoyable & anyone interested was welcome to compete. Nowadays, mummy has to be a zillionaire & you need a haircut a poodle would be ashamed of.

[@dennisparrott9540]

Yes dutifly watched these races on the b/w t.v with my dad when I was10 yrs old ,good memories 😊

[@sgpinno1]

Studebaker leading a Vauxhall Velox. Classic. All the beetles and minis up the back. Love it.

[@johnmellon379]

I'm old too. I grew up watching the 70's and 80's (not so much late 80's) when what was on the track could be purchased at the dealership

[@teeanahera8949]

They had to make at least 500 to be available for sale if I remember correctly. You could buy a car as it appears on the track but their engines were stripped down and brought exactly to spec although I remember Harry Firth saying that their fastest Monaro was not in racing trim, it was just their daily driver, but they put it on the track as their fastest car.

[@gregbolitho9775]

1 person, 1 car, 1 mountain, not the watered down race we have these days!

[@jamesgoacher1606]

Tremendous. There is not enough TV coverage of this wonderful circuit for we British TV people. I liked the 'The Red car, dark for you etc etc' Takes me back to watching Snooker in B/W TV days.

[@brettnetherton398]

I obviously need to push my 63 Beetle a bit harder in future. Can’t believe it stayed on its wheels and the mini turned over 😂

[@angelsone-five7912]

What a hero to get his car back on its wheels, pick up up his co-driver and finish the race, classic stuff.

[@rickvaughan1071]

Love these mate thats motor racing in the raw!!

[@ronaldmurray7746]

The 60's were the most interesting and exciting days of Australian car racing, look at all the different manufacturers, all classed Today the racing is absolutely the most boring

[@continental_drift]

What a difference having lots of cameras made to watching this race.

[@ronni9443]

excellent upload, many thanks

[@philarmour]

This was apparently the first race here to have some two-way radio communication back to the pits. Nothing demonstrates better how technology updated as this race evolved over the years. We can’t bemoan the changes, we wanted them!

[@adoreslaurel]

I went to Philip Island at the start, Oh! the dust! Studebaker Larks tearing the centres out of their wheels, All good fun.

[@pjpulsar]

Going so fast its impossible to call.

[@andygreen685]

spindley cross plys ! Oh the joy

[@jamesgoacher1606]

Just a comment. The F1 Cars race on CrossPlys btw. Radials would not work.

[@Wooargh]

That young gentleman with that haircut was easily the best part of this video.

[@papoun94]

incredible 1963 slow VW

[@ericlind454]

Sure is slow compared to todays Cars. Amazing footage.

[@306champion]

Great stuff Jack. I reckon it was around this time our neighbor erected a 100' tower (one hundred foot) to catch Melbourne TV just for the race and those to follow.

[@dharmaambesa2730]

Very hard effort to this race.

[@RebeccaGriffin-b8n]

If l recall, the race wasn't shown in the Bathurst area for some time.

[@flamingfrancis]

More like the TV reception from Sydney did not reach the country areas. Regional TV came later.

[@UncleJoeLITE]

Now we have Mustang vs Camaro. How exciting 2024 is lmfao.

[@metricstormtrooper]

Legedary until the the race was hijacked by V8 stupidcars, it was the beginning of the end for motorsport in Australia.

[@MrWombatty]

That's when I stopped watching!

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@MrWombatty We had to do something. Group A was fairy princess Eurowank, only interesting to cross dressers, got our race meetings swamped with turboed up hand grenade smoker irrelevant kid's toys & clown Ford Australia only offered hopeless breathless 6 cylinder barges. It got really sick & twisted in 1990 when Ford fans started spitting on joke imported FORD Sierra Cosworth plastic fart rockets & starting cheering their lungs out because Allan Grice won Bathurst in a VEE EIGHT HOLDEN! By 1992, eternally hopeless Nissan Had shoved a zillion bucks into Freddy Gibson's pocket & paid HIM to sort out THEIR nutty twin turboed plasticrap tinpot toy with Patrol style 4X4 arrangement under it. No patriotic ungay Australian had any interest whatsoever in totally Gay Group A by 1992. We already had damn fast real local Larry Perkins prepped V8 Commodores. All we needed was something RESPECTABLE for them to race against. Ford was asleep at the wheel. Had been since 1983. Had only assisted by helping teams import steenky Sierras from Princessville & Australia desperately needed a premier race category Australians could be proud of. So, it was decided to import crate motors & shove them into current model Falcons because even that was better than sickening spew children's toy Group A. Go back to the '60s, '70s & mid 80s & we had something special. But by 1992, all we had was a joke. A butt ugly Euro Asian infested joke. Cars that sounded like a fart in a jar... As if rotaries weren't bad enough. V8 SuperCars was the best we could do. We had no other option. New cars available at the time were raced in Group E but no one was interested in watching overbloated plasticised air conditioned princessmobiles frying their brakes, shredding their tyres & blowing up the 10 cam zillion valve fool injerkted whizz bang over turboed crap mass produced dinky engines. SuperCars aint my bag either, but it didn't just save our sport, it gained international attention & it is so popular globally, even NASCAR is openly transforming into something similar. Aust is now crawling with spoilt brats who crave luxury. They refused to buy SOLID cars 20 years ago. These clowns bought cheap imported junk built out of Chinese parts with shiny plastic Eurobadges stuck to them with little blobs of glue. Brats killed Australia's world class automotive industry, are now unemployed, living in mummy's backyard in a camper trailer or just plain homeless because precious mummy & daddy had to have an imported wankmobile 20 & 30 years ago. Strange how things pan out? No. Not really.

[@flmulcahy]

Big balls to drive the vee dub at speed.

[@bigears4014]

Most didn't handle well

[@slowfinger65]

Um - they had a top speed of just over 70mph on the flat - got a bit light in the front as I recall.

[@PeterGlen-s9z]

That little 650 mini was amazing how it went, I had one all those years ago in the 70

[@MrWombatty]

You mean 850cc not 650, which was what my younger brother owned! Later I built a rally-spec 1310cc Cooper S powered Mini Clubman S, which could easily reach over 100mph very quickly!

[@flamingfrancis]

@@MrWombatty 1310cc's was the improved production version of the standard 1275cc MORRIS Cooper S's that took the first nine places in the 1966 race.

[@MrWombatty]

@@flamingfrancis Yep! Giant-killers! 😄

[@rosskelly8268]

Buggered if I know how the 2.6 litre single carb OHV '3-on-the-tree' Vauxhall Velox can take the lead on the first lap from everything including Valiants, Studebakers and the twin-carb Holden 179 S4 - all of which have bigger engines. If I recall, even back then the Valiant was 3.7 litres? Don't get me wrong, I owned a 1961 Velox in the 1970s and it was a nice thing.

[@jondoe8816]

From memory the EH never had twin carbs it was a manual when in 63 the 179 was only auto. And a bigger tank. Maybe some extras. The HD. the X2 179 from memory

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@jondoe8816 Yes. You are correct. There was no twin carb set up available from Holden on an EH. It would seem poor Ross is deluded or confused. The first Holden permitted to race in the Australian Touring Car Championship fitted with twin carbs was the HD released in Feb 1965 since it was available from new with the X2 option including twin Stromberg BXUV2 single barrel down draught carbs producing a claimed 140 HP as opposed to the single carb S4 EH Making around 115HP. Early EHs could only be optioned up to 179 power if automatic was first selected as an option. This changed later in '63 once Holden had hardened up their feeble 3 speed manual gearboxes. The first manual 179 EHs were plated "179 M". The S4, released just in time for Bathurst in 1963 was actually banned from the race prior to the event. Holden had to lobby the organisers & fess up to their secret inhouse S4 development "Hotrod Bathurst Special". The Ford Motor Company had slipped Harry Firth a healthy chunk of change to build a batch of hot Cortinas & they would likely have lobbied to have the S4 banned so a Cortina could easily win. Further to that, David Mackay was an exceedingly wealthy businessman man who could afford the very best. The 6 cylinder 3 speed manual Vauxhall Velox was available with an overdrive unit as an option from 1961. On the first lap of the '63 event & as seen in the footage, the Mackay Velox is seen to catch & overtake the V8 Studebaker Lark towards the end of Conrod. This is clearly evidence of the Mackay Velox having been equipped with the optional overdrive unit which could be engaged in all 3 forward gears providing a total of 6 gears. Otherwise, the Vauxhall would never have stayed with the Lark or even outrun the 225 Slant Valiants or the EH 179 S4s. Even more advantageous for the Vauxhall, Girlock Power Assisted Disc Brakes were also an option Mackay no doubt had on board & those disc brakes were also evident when the Vauxhall easily outbraked allcomers at the end of Conrod. Ross no doubt has fond memories of his old Velox. However, it is likely the case his was a standard garden variety example as opposed to the optioned up rocketship Mackay fronted at Bathurst with in 1963. Nonetheless, the Vauxhall failed under pressure & even though Brilliant Harry Firth & talented Bob Jane won the event in a Firth prepped nifty Cortina, an EH romped home in second driven beautifully by Ralph Sach & Fred Morgan. EH Holdens sailed home in 2nd, 4th, 15th, 23rd & 38th positions. Somewhat amazingly & largely ignored was the pink & grey FB Special sedan which cruised around reliably all day & finished ahead of numerous other 4 speed - disc brake equipped Morris Mini Coopers & GT Cortinas, V Dubs & other stuff that fell by the wayside. The dear old 1960 second hand FB came home in a glorious 24th position outright. So much for Vauxhalls.

[@iwb316]

Power to weight ratio, aerodynamics and handling. All factors that Buggatti used with great success in the 1930's against the much bigger cars of the competition.

[@MICMARKMAC]

I think the Velox got a thrashing to end its life in those first few laps. The Valiants had crap drum brakes, the car whilst large only weighed 1220kg. The Slant 6 under carbed and with a crash gearbox there was a huge step from 1-2 then close between2-3. With a narrow bore and over 4” stroke they were made for torque. Ive still got dads he ordered it the day after that race and took delivery in April 1964. Grey car number 8/D if you look close to photos available on the web that particular car had LH wipers as has dads car. The AP-5 was in production for 2 years.

[@gibbsey9579]

The Studebakers were 4.7 litre V8's

[@charliepyle1626]

I think the track started off as dirt and was raced by motorcycle club

[@stuartcrigan482]

I love the commentators

[@davidskipsey300]

i remember when brocky started the repco round australia and back again

[@philelliott5327]

If you adjust the play back speed to 2X in settings you get a whole new world of entertainment!! The boys are up it for the rent!!😂😂

[@johnbrooks9523]

Awesome! I love it. Can the V Dub get up over 35MPH down Conrod when you speed up playback?

[@stewartclark1847]

Not sure, but did I see the ‘Herbie the Love Bug’ going around?

[@johnbrooks9523]

Yep. Nearly cracked 35 MPH down Conrod too! Imagine the zigzag coming down the mountain with 3/4 of a tank of fuel sloshing left & right over those 2 wheelbarrow front tyres! The V Dub racer was a very brave man. The dealers must have handed over quite a few of Holland's missing gold bars?

[@lesklower7281]

All those makes that have gone Morris Studibaker Cortina Holden all no longer around and these are the cars that you could buy and drive bring it back with production cars only well there would be no Ford Falcons or Holden's

[@MICMARKMAC]

You can see the AP-5 had no brakes in the end. 4 wheel drums. Typical Slant 6 hill climb. Unlucky for the Studebaker with a broken wheel. Might be the only time Valiant got a win even if only in it’s class.

[@lesklower7281]

@@MICMARKMAC The Armstrong 500 was a real test of endurance and reliability not a pure horse power race as became in 1967 the Mini Cooper S won it in 1966 and a lot of people won't believe that

[@flamingfrancis]

@@lesklower7281 MORRIS Cooper S's (not the current day BMW's) filled the first nine places in 1966. Finland's Rauno Altonen, BMC Factory rally driver won the race.

[@lesklower7281]

@@flamingfrancis The standard Morris Austin Mini was designed not as a completive rally race but boy did the Cooper S change things and in Australia they got the nick name of "The Brick" because of the way they stuck to the road

[@lesklower7281]

@@flamingfrancis l only knew of the fact that a Mini Cooper S won the race but never knew the Minis filled the first nine places

[@mikldude9376]

Great to watch the old motor racing ( thanks for posting ), it was unpredictable and still exciting even though they where slow as molasses by todays standards😊. I was in the motor trade in my younger days and keen on motor racing , the old cars had character all of their own …… unlike the plastic fantastic white goods we have today . We have the super cars today …… just boring as bat shit no matter how much they try to hype it up , just not interested .

[@marciocarvalho8975]

"Wacky Races" 😅

[@petershoobridge6476]

Just in case nobody knows, the EH is 1964

[@johnbrooks9523]

Stay away from the Koolaid, mate. The EH was a '63 model. While you're at it: Tell all those 21st century goombies who think they have '59 FCs, they don't. The FC is a '58 model. We've raised an army of numbskulls.

[@mikldude9376]

@@johnbrooks9523 good call mate , I had to look it up , August 63 the EH was first released , my old man had a 64 EH back in the day , good old cars , the old man had a 4 speed of some description in his , lowered with wider black rims and the obligatory extractors and bigger exhaust😊 . I miss the old simple cars , I had an fb Holden , morris 1100, morris mini 1000, ap5 valiant , 67 289 falcon ( my favourite) , a VC valiant sedan , oh and a 1960 beetle and Volkswagen station wagon an oldie I can’t remember the year, I rolled it over anyway , maybe I’m repressing the memory 😂. Ahhh the good old days .

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@mikldude9376 What's really weird is the unknowing public constantly declaring every EH on Earth was a '64 model. The EH kept on coming right up until the HD was released in '65. God only knows just how many thousands of EHs were built in '65, but the dunces never mention a '65 EH? They constantly waffle about this, that or the other EH being a '64 like bird seed eaters (parrots). It is widely accepted the year of release be used to describe a particular model as opposed to the actual build date which was never affixed to any Early Holdens. Correct description is: '63 EH. Researching body & maybe correct & original engine numbers & castings can provide clues as to roughly when the car was really built. Even properly completed owners hand books only state when the car was sold new. Some dealers over ordered, some sales lagged & often cars whose books state: sold new in Jan, Feb, Mar or even later of '64 were actually built in '63. Calling every EH on Earth a '64 model is seriously dumb. Yep, it's true; most EHs were indeed built in '64 but that doesn't make all EHs '64 models. The release date, exactly as you kindly cited was Aug '63. That is what an EH is... A '63 model even if it was built in '65 or '64. Imagine the nuttiness you'd attract if you told the common parrot his EH numbers convey his car is a '65... Madness. Same applies to HDs built in '66, FJs built in '56, HKs built in '69 & so on. The year of release denotes the model description. We also had an AP5 & a VC. Both were damn good cars. I've owned literally hundreds of Early Holdens. Most were ruined so we wrecked (dismantled) them. I own 6 FCs now. I also have a 4.2L 4 speed WB 1 Tonner in damn near perfect condition. She still has her original blue paint on the ears of her tappet cover gaskets. The covers have been off at some point but the original gaskets are still doing just fine after 40 years! Holden built affordable, durable, practical & reliable cars for folks who needed same. I wouldn't swap any of my Holdens for any other car. Holden cars have proven their worth to me & I stick with them. I'd love a hotted up FB ute but I can build a small house for what a nice FB is worth nowadays.

[@flamingfrancis]

The S4 mentioned here was produced in a limited quantity of around 120. The EJ's 149 engine was replaced with the 179 "Red" engine with twin Stromberg carbies.

[@trevorjohnston9504]

safety what safety?

[@johnbrooks9523]

For those who wrestled Vee Dubs down through The Esses, safety came in a fresh clean pair of jocks.

[@flamingfrancis]

Didn't you notice the Mini run off into the area at the end of Conrod ?

[@trevorjohnston9504]

That's not a run off area that is the road back to Bathurst

[@jolla9963]

Ok folks, what is an F4 holden? I keep hearing F4 holden, can someone please enlighten me as to which Holden was the F4?

[@allanriches9381]

X4 not F4, had bigger stromberg carby , head work and cam if I remember correctly

[@drewzerna4087]

X2 was HR S4 was an EH

[@drewzerna4087]

Actually I think the X2 package was available on HD as well

[@drewzerna4087]

S4 added some performance mods

[@johnmurray7682]

The Holden EH S4 was fitted with - 3.55 diff ratio, sports shock absorbers, upgraded three-speed manual transmission, heavy-duty clutch, brake booster, heftier tailshaft and a 54-litre fuel tank.

[@yolandalindsay8368]

October 6, 1963, Bathurst, Australia beCame part of The ICE CaR RaCing HistOry. Looks like the kind of Track that iT would ThaKe SoMe ArmStrong to do iT Well. "Congratulations on such *A* lasting AchieVement" NoW We See the rear engine VW oVertaKe the front engine MC Wonder wHo Cra$hed ShoRtly before the finish Line AND cRoSsed iT with BoTH DriVeRs.

[@metricstormtrooper]

Are you dyslexic or something?

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@metricstormtrooper There's definitely something out of whack. Looks like AI got into the Viagra & mounted the keyboard?

[@michaelgiglio1571]

Stop talking Jack, you don't fit in.

[@deldridg]

You are either a mate taking the piss, or being a dvckhead. He has more racing heritage in his little finger than most motorsport fans have.

[@johnbrooks9523]

@@deldridg Yep. Jack is certainly the guru of ATCC history. A very strong contributor with many fabulous runs on the scoreboard. I wish he'd belt a replica 05 DayGlow MHDT VK together & go racing fulltime.

[@malcolmhayward4431]

So slow and clunky 🤣

[@peterschaefer2946]

real cars not sport sedans