1976 Hardie-Ferodo 1000

1976 Hardie-Ferodo 1000
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The race winning Morris/Fitzpatrick Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34

The 1976 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 was the 17th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 3 October 1976 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race was open to cars eligible to the locally developed CAMS Group C touring car regulations.

The race was dramatically won by the Ron Hodgson Motors entered Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 of Bob Morris and British driver John Fitzpatrick. The car slowed in the final laps trailing smoke but made to the finish. Television commentators and motoring journalists reported at the time that the Torana had broken an axle plus was having engine problems which accounted for the smoke. It was only later did the teams chief mechanic Bruce Richardson discover that there was no broken axle or engine trouble. What was actually slowing the car was a blown gearbox oil seal. The oil was leaking out onto the clutch causing it to slip badly. Second on the same lap was Holden Dealer Team Torana L34 of Colin Bond and John Harvey. Peter Janson and Kevin Bartlett completed a second consecutive podium clean sweep for the Torana L34. In fact, Torana L34's filled the top seven finishers.

The competitors in the over three litre class included ex-Formula 1 drivers Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss, in a Torana L34 entered by Esmonds Motors of Queanbeyan. Brabham was driving competitively for the first time since 1971, and Moss had not competed in a circuit race since his Goodwood crash in 1962. The two former Grand Prix stars attracted much publicity and ultimately qualified tenth. However, their race effectively ended when Brabham lined up to take the start; the Torana’s gears became jammed on the grid and a Triumph Dolomite Sprint rammed it hard from behind (in his attempt to find a gear, Jack had failed to put his arm out the window to warn other drivers). Although the Torana was hastily repaired, and reappeared several hours later simply for appearances, it eventually blew its motor with Moss at the wheel.^[1]^[2]^[3] Unfortunately Moss attracted criticism from other drivers after the Torana's engine blew as he continued to drive the car on the racing line for ¾ of a lap, with smoke billowing from the exhaust and dropping oil on the track.

The three litre class saw Capris drivers Barry Seton and Don Smith took a one lap victory over the Mazda RX-3 of Don Holland and Lynn Brown. Another Capri, the car of Graham Moore and emerging Queensland driver Dick Johnson were a further lap down in third.

The two litre class also saw one lap margins between the top three cars with the Ford Escort of Eric Boord and Tom Tymons beating the Alfa Romeo GTV of Phil McDonnell and Jim Hunter. The Bob Holden run Ford Escort of Lyndon Arnel and Peter Hopwood was third.

The John Roxburgh run Datsun Sunny of Bill Evans and Bruce Stewart took a two lap victory in the 1.3 litre class over the Honda Civics of Brian Reed and Ian Chilman, and Roger Bonhomme and Doug Whiteford.

The 1976 race continues to be a source of controversy, as it has been claimed that a lap scoring error caused the HDT Torana of Bond and Harvey not to be counted for a lap, thus robbing them of the victory. However HDT, the team backed by Holden, did not appeal the results; some have claimed this is because Holden did not want to appear to be doing a disservice to the Morris/Fitzpatrick team which was run by Ron Hodgson Motors, which at the time was Sydney's largest Holden dealership. The lap counting error has been denied by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC), and by some teams (including the race winners and television broadcaster Channel 7) who carried out their own lap scoring, and an appeal of the results was not lodged prior to the expiration date meaning the results as published are final. In 2003 Holden offered Harvey an apology for not appealing the results, at a testimonial dinner for Harvey who after retiring from racing had gone on to become a senior executive with Holden Special Vehicles. Since that time though, Harvey has caused controversy by publicly stating that he was the winner of the race, though the official results continue to show him finishing second. For his part, Colin Bond had remained in dignified silence.^[4]

Class structure

Reproduction of the Bond/Harvey HDT Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34

The field was divided into four classes based on engine capacity.^[5]

Class: Up to 1300cc

The 1300cc class was made up of Alfa Romeo 1300, Datsun 1200, Fiat 128 3P, Ford Escort, Honda Civic, Mazda 1300, Morris Clubman GT, Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Passat.

Class: 1301cc - 2000cc

The under two litre class saw a mix of Alfa Romeo Alfetta and 2000 GTV, BMW 2002, Fiat 124 Sport, Ford Escort RS2000, Mazda RX-3, Triumph Dolomite and Volkswagen Golf.

Class: 2001cc - 3000cc

The under three litre class featured BMW 3.0Si, Ford Capri and Mazda RX-3.

Class: 3001cc - 6000cc

The over three litre class consisted only of V8 Holden Torana and Ford Falcon.

Top 10 Qualifiers

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Qual
Pole	9	Moffat-Ford Dealer Team	Allan Moffat	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	2:25.0
2	5	Team Brock	Peter Brock	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:25.1
3	1	Holden Dealer Team	Colin Bond	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:26.2
4	7	Ron Hodgson Motors	Bob Morris	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:26.4
5	2	John Goss Racing Pty Ltd	John Goss	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	2:27.5
6	20	Craven Mild Racing	Allan Grice	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:28.1
7	8	Holden Dealer Team	Charlie O'Brien	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:28.3
8	12	Craven Mild Racing	Frank Gardner	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:29.1
9	15	Captain Peter Janson	Kevin Bartlett	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:29.5
10	17	Esmonds Motors	Jack Brabham	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	2:30.0

Results

Pos	Class	No	Entrant^[5]	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos
1	3001cc - 6000cc	7	Ron Hodgson Motors	Bob Morris John Fitzpatrick	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	163	4
2	3001cc - 6000cc	1	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Colin Bond John Harvey	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	163	3
3	3001cc - 6000cc	5	Team Brock	Peter Brock Phil Brock	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	160	2
4	3001cc - 6000cc	8	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Charlie O'Brien Wayne Negus	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	160	7
5	3001cc - 6000cc	15	Captain Peter Janson	Peter Janson Kevin Bartlett	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	158	9
6	3001cc - 6000cc	14	Bob Forbes	Bob Forbes Russ McRae	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	15
7	3001cc - 6000cc	3	Max Wright Motors Pty Ltd	Bob Skelton Alan Hamilton	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	157	13
8	2001cc - 3000cc	26	Barry Benson	Barry Seton Don Smith	Ford Capri Mk.I	156	18
9	2001cc - 3000cc	23	Penrith Mazda Centre Pty Ltd	Don Holland Lynn Brown	Mazda RX-3	155	28
10	2001cc - 3000cc	28	Bryan Byrt Ford	Graham Moore Dick Johnson	Ford Capri Mk.I RS3100	154	19
11	2001cc - 3000cc	21	Mazda House Racing Team	Geoff Leeds Jim McKeown	Mazda RX-3	154	25
12	1301cc - 2000cc	51	Fischer Ford Racing Team	Eric Boord Tom Tymons	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.I	152	30
13	2001cc - 3000cc	30	Wyong Tyres & Spares	Russell Skaife Brian Potts	Ford Capri Mk.I	151	26
14	1301cc - 2000cc	39	Quick Fit Spares & Accessories	Phil McDonnell Jim Hunter	Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV	151	39
15	1301cc - 2000cc	45	Bob Holden - Shell Sport	Lyndon Arnel Peter Hopwood	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II	150	38
16	1301cc - 2000cc	60	Clemens Sporting Car Servies Pty Ltd	Frank Porter Tony Roberts	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTAm	149	34
17	1301cc - 2000cc	59	Autodelta Racing Australia	John Leffler Richard Carter	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTAm	148	33
18	1301cc - 2000cc	40	Pye Racing	Peter Wherrett David Jones	Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV	148	35
19	3001cc - 6000cc	18	Murray Carter	Murray Carter Ray Winter	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	148	14
20	2001cc - 3000cc	34	Craven Mild Racing	Paul Older Barry Lake	BMW 3.0 Si	147	31
21	1301cc - 2000cc	50	Computer Accounting Services Pty Ltd	Terry Daly Barry Jones	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.I	146	42
22	2001cc - 3000cc	25	Eurocars Pty Ltd	Brian Wheeler Neil Mason	Mazda RX-3	143	32
23	1301cc - 2000cc	48	De Bortolis Wines Pty Ltd	Bruce Hodgson Dave Morrow	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II	142	37
24	Up to 1300cc	71	John Roxburgh Motors Pty Ltd	Bill Evans Bruce Stewart	Datsun 1200	139	49
25	2001cc - 3000cc	24	Bangalow Motors Pty Ltd	John Duggan Doug Angus	Mazda RX-3	139	29
26	Up to 1300cc	64	Ian Chilman	Brian Reed Ian Chilman	Honda Civic	137	55
27	3001cc - 6000cc	13	Tim Slako	Tim Slako Brian Rhodes	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	137	17
28	Up to 1300cc	62	Mollison Motors Pty Ltd	Roger Bonhomme Doug Whiteford	Honda Civic	137	53
29	Up to 1300cc	75	Jeff Harris	Jeff Harris Arthur Hardwick	Morris Clubman GT	136	56
30	Up to 1300cc	65	James Mason Motors Pty Ltd	Brian Porter John Ainsley	Mazda 1300	130	61
31	3001cc - 6000cc	2	John Goss Racing Pty Ltd	John Goss Jim Richards	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	129	5
32	Up to 1300cc	67	Peter Williamson Pty Ltd	Greg Toepfer Greville Arnel	Toyota Corolla	127	57
33	Up to 1300cc	76	Ray Molloy Motors Preston	Ray Molloy Alan Braszell	Morris Clubman GT	125	51
34	Up to 1300cc	73	Avant Motors - Alfa	Robin Dudfield Tony Niovanni	Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior	116	59
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	41	Gil Gordon Alfa	Ron Gillard Graham Harrison	Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV	120	41
DNF	2001cc - 3000cc	31	ATP (Aust) Pty Ltd	Alan Cant George Morrell	Ford Capri Mk.I	111	20
DNF	Up to 1300cc	63	Auto Village - Nowra	Ken Brian Noel Riley	Honda Civic	104	58
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	37	Ron Hodgson Motors	Ron Dickson Graeme Lawrence	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	103	22
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	56	Bob Glazier	Peter Granger Gerry Murphy	BMW 2002 Tii	97	47
DNF	3001cc - 6000cc	6	Warren Cullen Wrecking Pty Ltd	Warren Cullen Max Stewart	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	95	11
DNF	3001cc - 6000cc	9	Moffat-Ford Dealer Team	Allan Moffat Vern Schuppan	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	87	1
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	61	Bob Williamson's Mini Factory Tyre Traders & Merchants Pty Ltd	Gary Cooke Bob Williamson	Mazda RX-3	83	62
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	38	Endrust (Australia) Pty Ltd	James Laing-Peach Paul Gulson	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	82	23
DNF	3001cc - 6000cc	12	Craven Mild Racing	Allan Grice Frank Gardner	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	72	8
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	35	B & G Meyer Leyland	John Dellaca Kerry Wade	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	67	36
DNF	Up to 1300cc	78	Hugh Donaldson	Hugh Donaldson Mike Quinn	Morris Clubman GT	58	52
DNF	3001cc - 6000cc	4	Gown-Hindhaugh Engine Developments	Garth Wigston Bruce Hindhaugh	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	56	12
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	58	Brian Foley Pty Ltd	Marie-Claude Charmasson Christine Gibson	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTAm	52	48
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	52	Allan Nuttall	Allan Nuttall Richard Bailey	Fiat 124 Sport	51	46
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	53	Lennox Motors	Chris Heyer Peter Lander	Volkswagen Golf	38	45
DNF	3001cc - 6000cc	17	Esmonds Motors	Jack Brabham Stirling Moss	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	37	10
DNF	2001cc - 3000cc	32	Head Mod Engineering	Lawrie Nelson Nick Louis	Ford Capri Mk.I	32	24
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	49	Brian Wood Ford Pty Ltd	Rod Stevens Jim Murcott	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.I	28	44
DNF	Up to 1300cc	72	Caroline O'Shanesy	Caroline O'Shanesy Garry Leggatt	Fiat 128 3P	27	60
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	43	Bob Holden - Shell Sport	Bob Holden Ray Cutchie	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II	23	43
DNF	Up to 1300cc	69	Ken Harrison - Shell Sport	Ken Harrison David Turnbull	Ford Escort 1300 Mk.I	22	54
DNF	Up to 1300cc	70	Blackwood Cars Pty Ltd	Bernie Stack Keith Poole	Volkswagen Passat	19	50
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	57	Ralph Radburn	Ralph Radburn Peter Williamson	BMW 2002 Tii	14	27
DNF	2001cc - 3000cc	27	City Ford	Lakis Manticas Doug Chivas	Ford Capri Mk.I	3	21
DNF	1301cc - 2000cc	36	Orange City Leyland	David Seldon Bob Martin	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	0	40
DNS	3001cc - 6000cc	20	Craven Mild Racing	Frank Gardner Allan Grice	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34		6
DNS	3001cc - 6000cc	16	Breville Holdings Pty Ltd	Ray Kaleda Bob Stevens	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34		16
DNQ	3001cc - 6000cc	10	Barry Sheales Holden Pty Ltd	Kel Gough Tom Naughton	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34
DNQ	2001cc - 3000cc	29	Geoff Moran	Geoff Moran Graeme Ibbotson	Ford Capri Mk.I
DNQ	1301cc - 2000cc	47	Peak Performance Pty Ltd	John English Gary Scott	Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II
DNQ	Up to 1300cc	68	Peter Mac’s Towing Pty Ltd	Geoff Wade John Stoopman	Ford Escort 1300 Mk.I
DNQ	Up to 1300cc	74	Fred’s Treads Pty Ltd	Gordon Rich David Crowther	Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior

Statistics

Pole Position - #9 Allan Moffat - 2:25.0
Fastest Lap - #9 Allan Moffat & #5 Peter Brock - 2:28.4
Average Speed - 141 km/h
Race Time - 7:07:12.0

References

↑ Motoring Editor (20 August 1976). "Brabham, Moss to drive at Bathurst". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
↑ Wood, Brian (19 May 2014). "Sir Jack Brabham remembered in Bathurst". Western Advocate (Bathurst). Retrieved 2 June 2014.
↑ "When Sir Jack Took on the Mountain". Holden Motorsport website. Holden Motorsport. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
↑ Noonan, Aaron (26 July 2010). "Who really won the 1976 Bathurst 1000?". Speed Cafe. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
1 2 1976 Official Programme, Hardie-Ferodo 1000, Entry List, pages 35 & 37

Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999. Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 218–225 & 464. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.

External links

Bathurst 500/1000s

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