1966 Australian Touring Car Championship

The 1966 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group C Improved Production Touring Cars.[1] It was contested over a single 20-lap race staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on Easter Monday, 11 April 1966, and was the seventh running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The race was sponsored by the Neptune Oil Company, Sydney.[2]

1966 Australian Touring Car Championship
Previous:	1965	Next:	1967

Ian Geoghegan, driving a Ford Mustang, claimed his second Australian Touring Car Championship title and the first of four consecutive titles that he would achieve in Mustangs.[3]

Race summary

Ian Geoghegan had upgraded to a Ford Mustang and took pole position ahead of Norm Beechey, who had qualified both his Mustang and his new Chevrolet Chevy II Nova. Despite lapping quicker in the Mustang, Beechey elected to race the more powerful Chevy II Nova. Don Smith had qualified sixth in his Holden EH S4, but was unable to start due to an accident in a preliminary race.[3]

Beechey led away from the start and gradually increased his lead during the first half of the 20-lap race, moving 9.6 seconds ahead of Geoghegan by the end of lap 8. Three cars had been retired at this point: T. McGee's Morris Cooper, Malcolm Bailey's Ford Zephyr and Bob Edgerton's Morris Cooper S.[3]

Geoghegan started to reduce the gap on lap 9 and caught Beechey on lap 13 before passing him on lap 14. Terry Allan retired from the race on lap 13 while fellow Holden runner Warren Weldon retired on lap 16 with a broken crankshaft. Beechey's pace dropped off for the remainder of the race, with reported clutch troubles, allowing Geoghegan to take an easy victory. Kevin Bartlett, driving an Alfa Romeo GTA, was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap, albeit nearly two minutes behind Beechey. John Harvey and Phil Barnes completed the top five, one lap down on the leaders.[3]

Results

Pos.	Class	No.	Driver	Entrant [2]	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid [4] [5]
1	Over 3000cc	1	Ian Geoghegan	Total Team	Ford Mustang	20	54:30.2	1
2	Over 3000cc	3	Norm Beechey^1	Neptune Racing Team	Chevrolet Chevy II Nova	20	+32.8	3
3	1501–2000cc	12	Kevin Bartlett	Alec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd	Alfa Romeo GTA	20	+2:19.8	4
4	1101–1500cc	76	John Harvey	R.C. Phillips Sports Car World	Austin Cooper S	19	+1 lap	5
5	1101–1500cc	99	Phil Barnes	Vaughan & Lane	Morris Cooper S	19	+1 lap	8
6	0–1100cc	15	John French	J. French	Morris Cooper S	18	+2 laps	10
7	1501–2000cc	71	Bill Brown	Scuderia Veloce	Volvo 122S	18	+2 laps	13
8	1101–1500cc	13	Bob Holden	B.M.C. (Australia) Pty Ltd	Morris Cooper S	17	+3 laps	17
9	1101–1500cc	38	Don Holland	Don Holland Motors	Morris Cooper S	17	+3 laps	18
10	1101–1500cc	42	A. Patterson	A.R. Patterson	Ford Cortina Mark I GT	17	+3 laps	22
11	1101–1500cc	75	Peter Mander	Marque Motors	Morris Cooper S	17	+3 laps	19
12	1101–1500cc	64	David Frazer	Renno Motors	Renault R8 Gordini	16	+4 laps	?
13	2001–3000cc	23	John Hall	H. Taylor	Holden X2	16	+4 laps	24
14	2001–3000cc	82	A. Barrow	A. Barrow	Holden FJ	16	+4 laps	28
15	0–1100cc	33	John Prisk	Varsity Auto Centre	Morris Cooper	16	+4 laps	25
16	0–1100cc	84? [6]	Digby Cooke	Marque Motors	Morris Cooper	16	+4 laps	?
17	0–1100cc	54	M. Schneider	Marque Motors	Morris Mini Deluxe	16	+4 laps	?
18	0–1100cc	43	Ross Edgerton	Ross Edgerton	Renault R8	13	+7 laps	23
19	1101–1500cc	45	G. MacDonald	Esso Servicenter	Ford Cortina Mark I GT	7	+13 laps	?
Ret	1101–1500cc	100	Charlie Smith	C.G. Smith	Morris Cooper S	17		12
Ret	0–1100cc	84? [6]	Bill Stanley	Marque Motors	Morris Cooper	16		27
Ret	2001–3000cc	119	Warren Weldon	Waggott Engineering	Holden EH Special S4	15	Crankshaft	7
Ret	1101–1500cc	28	Bruce Wright	Peter Owen Racing	Morris Cooper S	14		15
Ret	1101–1500cc	32	R. Lindsay	R. Lindsay	Renault R8 Gordini	13		26
Ret	2001–3000cc	2	Terry Allan	Syndal Motors	Holden EH Special S4	12	Clutch failure [4]	9
Ret	0–1100cc	66	Bob Edgerton	Robert Edgerton	Morris Cooper S	7		?
Ret	2001–3000cc	53	Malcolm Bailey	M. Bailey	Ford Zephyr	5		?
Ret	0–1100cc	11	T. McGee	Esso Servicentre (Waterloo)	Morris Cooper	4		?
DNS	Over 3000cc	2	Norm Beechey^1	Neptune Racing Team	Ford Mustang	-	Withdrew	(2)
DNS	2001–3000cc	55	Don Smith	Smith Auto Accessories	Holden EH Special S4	-	Accident in preliminary race [7]	(6)
DNS	Over 3000cc	105	Alton Boddenberg	Advanx (Gosford) Motor Service	Chrysler Valiant	-	Clutch problems in preliminary race [7]	(11)
Sources:[3][4][7]

Notes:

• Class winners are indicated by bold text.
• ^1 Norm Beechey qualified in both his Ford Mustang and his Chevrolet Chevy II Nova but chose to race the latter.[3]

Statistics

• Pole position: Ian Geoghegan, 2:40.7 [3]
• Fastest lap: Ian Geoghegan, 2:40.4 [3] (New record [4])
• Race distance: 20 laps, 123.44 km [3]
• Winner's average speed: 135.89 km/h [3]

References

1. Conditions for Australian Titles, 1966 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 70 to 73
2. Souvenir Programme, Bathurst National Open Meeting, 11 April 1966, page 35
3. Greenhalgh, David; Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (2011). The official history: Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years. St Leonards, New South Wales: Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 64–69. ISBN 978-0-9805912-2-4.
4. Medley, John (1997). Bathurst, Cradle of Australian Motor Racing. Wahroonga, New South Wales: Turton & Armstrong Pty Ltd. pp. 359–360. ISBN 978-0-9080317-0-2.
5. The grid lineup shown on page 360 of John Medley's Bathurst, Cradle of Australian Motor Racing does not show names for all grid positions.
6. W Stanley and D Cooke are both listed to drive the No 84 Marque Motors Morris Cooper in the entry list for the ATCC race in the Souvenir Programme
7. Howard, Graham (May 1966). "Geoghegan – The Greatest". Racing Car News. Chippendale, New South Wales: Publishers Photo Digest Pty Ltd. pp. 26–27.

External links

• 1966 touring car racing images