The 1966 Gallaher 500 was an endurance motor race for production cars, held on 2 October 1966 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales in Australia. It was the seventh running of the Bathurst 500 race[1] and the first time that the event had been staged under the Gallaher 500 name. 250 examples of a particular model had to be registered for a vehicle to be eligible for the race, up from the 100 examples required in previous years.[2]

Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938-1986)

The race was dominated by the Morris Cooper S. It was won by the BMC entered example of Finnish rally star Rauno Aaltonen and experienced Australian Mini racer Bob Holden a lap ahead of Fred Gibson and Bill Stanley, leading home a flotilla of Cooper Ss that filled the first nine outright race positions. The best non-Mini was a Chrysler Valiant, some six laps behind Aaltonen and Holden in tenth position.

Class structure

edit

Cars competed in four classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars.

Class A

edit

The Up to $1,800 class was contested by Datsun 1300, Fiat 850, 1.2 litre Ford Cortina, Morris Mini De Luxe and Morris 850.

Class B

edit

The $1,801 to $2,040 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina, Hillman Minx, Isuzu Bellett, Morris Cooper, Prince Skyline, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona.

Class C

edit

The $2,041 to $2,700 class entry list was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also included a Fiat 1500, and a Toyota Crown.

Class D

edit

The $2,701 to $4,000 class featured Chrysler Valiant, Holden HD X2, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122S.

Results

edit
 
Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden won the race outright driving this Morris Cooper S. The car is pictured in 2006.
 
George Reynolds and Barry Ferguson placed fifth in Class B driving this Isuzu Bellett. The car is pictured in 2015
Pos. Class No. Entrant[3] Drivers Car Laps
1 C 13 BMC (Australia) Pty. Ltd.   Rauno Aaltonen
  Bob Holden
Morris Cooper S 130
2 C 17 Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd.   Fred Gibson
  Bill Stanley
Morris Cooper S 129
3 C 22 Regal Motors Pty. Ltd.   Bruce McPhee
  Barry Mulholland
Morris Cooper S 129
4 C 27 Marque Motors   Arthur Davis
  Paul Mander
Morris Cooper S 128
5 C 10 Baulkham Hills Service Station   Peter Brown
  Bob Cook
Morris Cooper S 128
6 C 9 L. Gordon Dent Pty. Ltd.   Harry Firth
  Ern Abbott
Morris Cooper S 128
7 C 24 W. Jamieson[4]   John Leffler
  Bill Jamieson
Morris Cooper S 127
8 C 23 BMC (Australia) Pty. Ltd.   John French
  Steve Harvey
Morris Cooper S 127
9 C 16 B. Arentz   Barry Arentz
  Barry Seton
Morris Cooper S 125
10 D 5 Eiffel Tower Motors   Jack Nougher
  David O'Keefe
Chrysler VC Valiant V8 Automatic 124
11 D 6 Advanx (Gosford) Motor Service Pty. Ltd.   Alton Boddenberg
  Digby Cooke
Chrysler VC Valiant V8 Automatic 122
12 B 41 Gordon Stewart's Sports Car Centre   Don Holland
  Peter Cray
Morris Cooper 120
13 D 3 Australian Motor Industries Ltd.   Max Stewart
  Bob Young
Triumph 2000 120
14 C 20 R. C. Kearns   Ron Kearns
  Barry Quayle
Fiat 1500 120
15 D 8 British & Continental Cars   Kevin Bartlett
  John Harvey
Volvo 122S 119
16 C 14 Australian Motor Industries Ltd.   Bill Buckle
  Allan Mottram
Toyota Crown 119
17 B 33 Vern Potts   Doug Chivas
  Doug Chivas, Jr.
Morris Cooper 119
18 B 42 Brian Foley Motors Pty. Ltd.   Laurie Stewart
  Ray Morris
Morris Cooper 119
19 D 7 M. Savva   Mike Savva
  Herb Taylor
Holden HD X2 118
20 B 37 Australian Motor Industries   Brian Reed
  Des Kelly
Toyota Corona 117
21 B 29 Canopus Motors Pty. Ltd.   George Reynolds
  Barry Ferguson
Isuzu Bellett 1500 117
22 A 54 Nissan Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.   Moto Kitano
  Kunimitsu Takahashi
Datsun 1300 117
23 A 49 Nissan Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.   John Roxburgh
  Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1300 116
24 A 53 Peakhurst Tyre Service Pty. Ltd.   Brian Lawler
  Harry Gapps
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220 116
25 B 45 Motor Racing Components   Lionel Ayers
  Max Volkers
Hillman Minx Series 6 116
26 A 51 Nissan Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.   John Colwell
  Fred Sutherland
Datsun 1300 116
27 B 32 Australian Motor Industries   Brian Sampson
  Lew Marshall
Toyota Corona 116
28 A 47 Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd.   Trevor Meehan
  Ian Hindmarsh
Fiat 850 113
29 A 55 Marque Motors   Mike Schneider
  Bruce Wright
Morris Mini De Luxe 113
30 B 40 John Rhodin Pty. Ltd.   Arthur Treloar
  Colin Bond
Isuzu Bellett 1500 111
31 A 56 Radial Tyre Service Pty. Ltd.   George Garth
  Ray Marquet
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1200 110
32 A 50 Ken Lindsay Motors Pty. Ltd.   Ken Lindsay
  Des West
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1200 110
33 B 34 Peter Williamson Pty. Ltd.   Peter Williamson
  Alex Macarthur
Toyota Corona 110
34 A 57 K. D. McCallum & Coy   John T. Smith
  Dennis Gregory
Morris Mini De Luxe 109
35 B 43 Renault R8   Bob Edgerton
  Ross Edgerton
Renault R8 106
36 B 31 Varsity Auto Centre   John Prisk
  Mike Martin
Morris Cooper 105
37 B 35 Autobahn Motors Pty. Ltd.   Bruce Darke
  Don James
Isuzu Bellett 1500 104
38 D 2 Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd.   Warren Weldon
  Bill Slattery
Studebaker Lark 88
39 A 48 M. Bailey   Malcolm Bailey
  John Hicks
Morris 850 87
40 B 38 Wheelmar Distributors Pty. Ltd.   Carl Kennedy
  Doug Stewart
Prince Skyline 1500 82
41 B 30 Denis Geary Motors Pty. Ltd.   Gary Hodge
  Denis Geary
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500 74
DNF C 21 Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd.   Frank Matich
  Bruce Demuth
Morris Cooper S 126
DNF A 46 Bill Burns   Bill Burns
  Alex Lazich
Fiat 850
DNF A 58 G. Shoesmith   Gary Shoesmith
  Tony Robards
Vauxhall Viva 94
DNF C 26 M. Crampton Engineering   Mick Crampton
  Geoff Leeds
Morris Cooper S
DNF C 18 C. G. Smith   Charlie Smith
  Ron Haylen
Morris Cooper S 64
NC C 19 Radford Carriers   Rick Radford
  David Bye
Morris Cooper S 54
DNF D 4 British & Continental Cars   Gerry Lister
  Graham Porter
Volvo 122S 52
DNF C 15 W. Yates Pty. Ltd.   Ken Stacey
  Mal Henderson
Morris Cooper S
DNF C 28 BMC (Australia) Pty. Ltd.   Paddy Hopkirk
  Brian Foley
Morris Cooper S 28
DNF C 12 Ron Hodgson Motors Pty. Ltd.   Ron Hodgson
  Bob Beasley
Morris Cooper S 15
DNF C 25 P. Coogan   George Forrest
  Frank Hann
Morris Cooper S 12
DNF B 39 Wheelmar Distributors Pty. Ltd.   Jack Murray
  Bill Ford
Prince Skyline 1500

Statistics

edit
  • Fastest Lap - #21 Frank Matich - 3:10 (lap record)
  • Average Speed - 112 km/h
  • Race Time - 7:11:29.1

References

edit
  1. ^ Includes 1960, 1961 & 1962 Armstrong 500 races held at Phillip Island
  2. ^ Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1981, pages 114-121
  3. ^ Official Programme, Gallaher 500 (1966)
  4. ^ Craig Watson, The Giant Killers, Motor Sport Legends, August / Oct 2008, pages 40-45

Further reading

edit
  • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). "1966 The first international race". Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999 The first 40 years. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited. pp. 138–145 & 454. ISBN 1-875221-12-3.
edit