1963 Armstrong 500

The 1963 Armstrong 500 was the fourth running of the Armstrong 500 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1963. After the 1962 race, the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit was too damaged to continue to stage the race, forcing it to move to a new location, the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst with a new organising club, the Australian Racing Drivers Club. The race was open to standard production sedans with four classes based on the purchase price (in Australian pounds) of the vehicle.

1963 Armstrong 500
Previous: 1962 Next: 1964

Bob Jane and Harry Firth were the first team to complete the full race distance, taking victory in Class C in their factory backed Ford Cortina GT, the change of both vehicle and circuit making no difference to their result of the previous year. While outright victories were not to be recognised until years later, they had completed a hat-trick of 'first to the line' wins.

Class structure
The Ford Cortina GT in which Bob Jane and Harry Firth won Class C

The largest change was cosmetic. The bigger cars moved down the alphabet, the smaller cars moved into classes A and B. The Volkswagens moved into class A. Ford Falcons disappeared from the race, replaced by an influx of smaller, more versatile Ford Cortinas. As in 1962 the Fords were the biggest threat, shaping up to be faster than the larger D Class cars which included Chrysler Valiants and Studebaker Larks.

Class A

Class A was for cars that cost less £900. It comprised Fiat 770, Morris 850, Triumph Herald and Volkswagen Beetle.

Class B

The £901 to £1,000 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina, Morris Cooper and Morris Major Elite, Renault R8 and Simca Aronde.

Class C

The £1,001 to £1,200 class was contested by Ford Cortina GT, Holden EH S4 and Holden FB.

Class D

The £1,201 to £2,000 class featured Chrysler Valiant, Ford Zephyr, Humber Super Snipe, Peugeot 404, Studebaker Lark, Vauxhall Velox and Vauxhall VX 4/90.

Race

The race became the first Ford vs Holden head-to-head fight, with the works Cortina of defending race champions Bob Jane and Harry Firth winning by a lap over the first EH Holden of Ralph Sach and Frank Morgan with a second Cortina on the same lap. It was a third consecutive victory for Jane and Firth, each victory coming in a different model and back-to-back for the factory Ford team. Second place was the closest Holden would get to a win until the breakthrough in 1968. Chrysler got its first class win with the Valiant of Tony Reynolds and Tony Allen with Geoff Russell driving the factory prepared Ford Zephyr again narrowly missing out on the Class D win. The new Morris Coopers saw the Mini break out of the entry level class and gave Doug Chivas his first class win, co-driving with Ken Wilkinson in Class B, defeating the 1.5 litre Cortinas, ominously just a lap behind the Valiant and the Zephyr. In the small class, Volkswagen again defeated the Morris 850s with Barry Ferguson and Bill Ford taking first place ahead of the Mini of Don Holland and Lindsay Little.

Results
Pos No Entrant Drivers Car Laps
Class A
1 54 Lanock Motors Ltd Barry Ferguson
Bill Ford		 Volkswagen 1200 116
2 55 Vaughan & Lane Pty Ltd Don Holland
Lindsay Little		 Morris 850 116
3 51 Victorian VW Agents Jim McKeown
George Reynolds		 Volkswagen 1200 115
4 61 A. Andrews Rocky Tresise
A Andrews		 Volkswagen 1200 115
5 57 Macquarie Motors Greg Mackie
Graham White		 Volkswagen 1200 113
6 53 K.B. Nicholson Motors Bill Stanley
John Alexander		 Morris 850 113
7 49 H.E. Taylor Barry Seton
Herb Taylor		 Morris 850 112
8 50 George Forrest
Frank Hann		 Volkswagen 1200 111
9 59 Tom Corcoran
Digby Cooke		 Morris 850 111
10 52 Barry Collerson
Les Howard		 Fiat 770 103
11 56 Jim Bonthorne
Mike Callan		 Triumph Herald 101
12 58 Vaughan & Lane Pty Ltd Fred Gibson
Ken Nicholson		 Morris 850 89
DNF 60 P & R Williams Tony Hill
Frank Kleinig		 Morris 850
Class B
1 42 Denis Summers Conversions Doug Chivas
Ken Wilkinson		 Morris Cooper 125
2 41 Delore Motors (Newcastle) Jack Gates
Mike Nedelko		 Morris Cooper 125
3 28 Ford Motor Company Ern Abbott
Alan Caelli		 Ford Cortina 1500 123
4 46 Ford Motor Company Max Volkers
K Burns		 Ford Cortina 1500 123
5 43 Bamar Motors Wal Donnelly
John Marchiori		 Morris Cooper 122
6 44 P & R Williams Des West
John Martin		 Morris Cooper 120
7 26 Om Harding
Adrian Yannuccelli		 Morris Cooper 120
8 29 C.W. Harding Jnr Frank Matich
George Murray		 Renault R8 119
9 37 John Connolly
Rod Draper		 Renault R8 119
10 39 P & R Williams Brian Foley
Peter Manton		 Morris Cooper 116
11 45 P. Brown Peter Brown
Ron Marshall		 Morris Cooper 115
12 47 C.G. Smith Ron Hodgson
Charlie Smith		 Morris Cooper 115
13 32 Cecil R Pierce Ken Brigden
Bruce Smith		 Simca Aronde 114
14 38 Gurdon Motors Barry Gurdon
Jerry Trevor-Jones		 Morris Major Elite 113
15 33 Jack Murray
Alan Edney		 Morris Major Elite 113
16 48 Gurdon Motors Warren Blomfield
Lorraine Hill		 Morris Major Elite 112
17 36 Ron Thorp
Jim White		 Morris Major Elite 111
18 40 Les Park
Fred Sutherland		 Renault Gordini 110
19 25 Scuderia Veloce Ron Clarke
David Walker		 Renault R8 102
DNF 30 Delore Motors (Newcastle) Doug Kelley
Graham Kelley		 Morris Cooper
DNF 34 Total Bexley Service Station Mike Martin
Dave Humphries		 Morris Cooper
DNF 35 Sid Howard
Les Weiley		 Morris Cooper 18
DNF 27 Paul Bolton
Laurie Stewart		 Morris Cooper 13
DNF 31 Three Way Motors Carl Kennedy
Doug Stewart		 Simca Aronde
Class C
1 20 Ford Motor Company Bob Jane
Harry Firth		 Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 130
2 12 F.G. Morgan Ralph Sach
Fred Morgan		 Holden EH S4 129
3 13 Grawill Motors Pty Ltd Bruce McPhee
Graham Ryan		 Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 129
4 22 B. Broomhall Motors Barry Broomhall
Bill Cunliffe		 Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 124
5 18 H. Budd Harry Budd
R Smith		 Holden EH S4 123
6 23 Geissler Motors Ian Grant
Trevor Marden		 Holden EH S4 120
7 16 Muirs Motors Kevin Bartlett
Bill Reynolds		 Holden EH S4 115
8 24 BP Warwick Farm Service Station Lex Bailey
Phil McCumisky		 Holden FB 115
9 17 Scuderia Veloce Spencer Martin
Brian Muir		 Holden EH S4 111
DNF 21 Ford Motor Company Ian Geoghegan
Leo Geoghegan		 Ford Cortina Mk.I GT 105
DNF 14 Seatons Globe Hotel, Albury Jim O'Shaunnessy
John Brindley		 Holden EH S4 65
Class D
1 8 Ron Dunbier Motors Tony Allen
Tony Reynolds		 Chrysler AP5 Valiant 126
2 5 Ford Motor Company Geoff Russell
John Reaburn		 Ford Zephyr Mk.III 126
3 9 Killara Motor Garage Bob Holden
Bill March		 Peugeot 404 119
4 2 Needham Motors Pty Ltd Warren Weldon
Bert Needham		 Studebaker Lark 115
45 6 Alex Strachan Motors Bill Burns
Brian Lawler		 Humber Super Snipe 21
DNF 4 Baulkham Hill Service Station Bob Cook
Alwyn Rose		 Chrysler SV1 Valiant 119
DNF 7 Jim Wright
Ian Ferguson		 Studebaker Lark 57
DNF 3 Scuderia Veloce David McKay
Greg Cusack		 Vauxhall Velox 20
DSQ 10 Continental & General Distributors Bill Coe
Syd Fisher		 Peugeot 404 119
DNS 12 P. Fallu Paul Fallu
Terry Kratzmann		 Vauxhall VX 4/90

Statistics
  • Fastest Lap - N/A
  • Race time of Firth / Jane Ford Cortina GT (First car across the line) - 7:47:14 [1]
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References
  1. Bill Tuckey and David Greenhalgh, Australia's Greatest Motor Race - The First 30 Years
  • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). "1963 The telecast begins". Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999 The first 40 years. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited. pp. 114–121 & 452. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
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