The 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was a motor race held on 3 October 1971 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was open to production vehicles competing in showroom condition,1971 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 6 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 26 August 2009. 3 September 2009. with the field divided into five classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars. Although an outright winner was officially recognised, all other official awards were for class results only.1971 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 60 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 26 August 2009. 3 September 2009. The race was the 12th in a sequence of annual "Bathurst 500" production car races dating back to the 1960 Armstrong 500. The outright winner was Allan Moffat driving a Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III.

The 1971 race is perhaps best remembered for Sydney driver Bill Brown's lucky escape after the biggest single car crash in the race's history. On lap 43, the right front tyre on Brown's Phase III GTHO Falcon burst at over on the approach to the daunting McPhillamy Park, which in 1971 had no runoff area on the outside of the track, just the earth bank with a fence made of three rows of railway sleepers on top of each other and attached to sunken steel girders, at the top. The Falcon barrel-rolled along the fence (with two marshals lucky to escape with their lives by only just scampering out of the way) and ended upside down after 3½ rolls. Brown was lucky because his seat broke in the first roll and he was lying flat in the car as it continued rolling. Amazingly his only injuries were a grazed shin and a black eye.Bill Brown crash

1971 will also be remembered as the year that Moffat had a stray cardboard Southwark Bitter carton attach itself to the front of his GTHO for a number of laps, blocking the car's radiator. Pit boards told him of the problem and the team attempted to call Moffat in for a quick stop to remove the carton, but Moffat, seeing no change to the engine temperature and no reduction in the car's performance, waved them off and remained on the track until his scheduled pit stop with the approval of Ford Works Team manager Howard Marsden.Mount Panorama Bathurst - The Great Race - 1971 highlights

Class structure Cars competed in five classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars.

Class A Class A was for cars costing less than $2,150. It was contested by Datsun 1200, Mazda 1300 and Toyota Corolla.

Class B The $2,151 to $2,500 class had the smallest number of starters with just four cars: Datsun 1600 and Mazda Capella 1600.

Class C The $2,501 to $3,150 class saw a mix of Ford Cortina, Ford Escort, 2.8 litre Holden Torana GTR, Honda 1300, Mazda RX-2 and Morris Cooper S.

Class D The $3,151 to $4,350 class featured Alfa Romeo Giulia, the E38 version of the Chrysler Valiant Charger, Ford Falcon 500 and 3.0 litre Holden Torana GTR XU-1.

Class E For cars over $4,350. Apart from a single Fiat 124S, the class consisted only of Ford Falcon GT-HO Phase IIIs.

Top 10 Qualifiers Pos No Team Driver Car Qual Pole 65 Ford Motor Co of Australia Allan Moffat Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:38.9 2 64 Ford Motor Co of Australia John French Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:41.9 3 66 Road & Track Auto Services Fred Gibson Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:43.3 4 57 Finnie Ford Pty Ltd David McKay Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:44.4 5 63 FF Newell & Son Bill Brown Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:44.7 6 62 Byrt Ford Pty Ltd Phil Barnes Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:45.4 7 69 Trevor Thiele Ford Pty Ltd Trevor Meehan Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:45.5 8 43 Geoghegan's Sporty Cars Leo Geoghegan Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 2:45.7 9 61 Baldwin Ford Pty Ltd Damon Beck Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III 2:46.6 10 45 Reg Papps & Sons Bob Beasley Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 2:46.3

Results

Pos. Class1971 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 59Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 26 August 2009. 3 September 2009.1972 Official Program Hardie Ferodo 500 page 58 Retrieved from www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au on 15 March 2014. No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps QualPos. 1 E 65 Ford Motor Co of Australia Allan Moffat Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 130 1 2 E 62 Byrt Ford Pty Ltd Phil Barnes Bob Skelton Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 6 3 E 57 Finnie Ford Pty Ltd David McKay Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 4 4 D 31 Holden Dealer Team Colin Bond Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 129 15 5 E 64 Ford Motor Co of Australia John French Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 2 6 E 60 McLeod Ford Pty Ltd John Goss Barry Sharp Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 129 17 7 D 43 Geoghegan's Sporty Cars Leo Geoghegan Peter Brown Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 129 8 8 D 32 Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 129 11 9 D 30 Max Wright Motors Brian Foley Don Holland Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 129 22 10 D 45 Reg Papps & Sons Bob Beasley Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 129 10 11 E 59 J Harding Murray Carter Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 127 21 12 D 41 Shell Racing Norm Beechey Jim McKeown Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 127 19 13 D 28 Suttons Motors (Petersham) Bruce McPhee Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 127 32 14 E 55 Sinclair Ford Pty Ltd Kevin Bartlett Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 126 30 15 D 40 Harvey Drew Pty Ltd Joe Butta Geoff Hunter Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 126 24 16 D 49 Courtesy Motors Martin Chenery Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 125 18 17 D 29 Dusting & Co Pty Ltd Tony Roberts Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 125 36 18 D 39 City State Racing Team Johnnie Walker Malcolm Ramsay Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 124 28 19 D 42 Liverpool Chrysler Doug Chivas Graham Moore Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 124 16 20 E 67 Wright Ford Motors Pty Ltd Des West Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 123 12 21 D 47 John McNicol Pty Ltd Gerry Lister David Seldon Ford XY Falcon 500 122 34 22 D 37 M Brown Mick Brown Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 121 33 23 D 34 The Commonwealth Ind. Gases Geoff Leeds Digby Cooke Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 120 23 24 E 54 Zanardo & Rodriguez Sales & Services Pty Ltd Ron Kearns Fiat 124 Sport 118 35 25 D 38 L Seaton Brian Reed Graham Ritter Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 118 26 26 C 17 G Cooke Gary Cooke Garry Holmes Mazda RX-2 117 39 27 C 27 Victorian Police Motor Sports Club Geoff Wade Geoff Perry Holden LC Torana GTR 117 40 28 D 44 Blue Point Motors (Management) Pty Ltd Graham Ryan Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 116 27 29 C 51 D&P Traders Pty Ltd Pat Peck Jan Holland Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 115 61 30 C 19 Chas Tierney Pty Ltd Mal Brewster Ray Strong Holden LC Torana GTR 115 42 31 C 16 John Hile Ford Pty Ltd Ross Hewison Brian Hones Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I 110 45 32 C 22 Mazda Racing Team Wayne Rogerson Alan Mayne Mazda RX-2 113 37 33 C 25 Marque Motors Bob Cracknell Bob Wedd Morris Cooper S 111 47 34 C 24 H Vines Herb Vines Chris Batger Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I 110 45 35 C 20 Kloster Pty Ltd Geoff Westbury Jim Sullivan Ford TC Cortina 2000L 110 49 36 B 12 WH Motors Pty Ltd Bruce Stewart Datsun 1600 109 51 37 A 6 John Palmer Motors John Leffler Mazda 1300 108 53 38 A 8 Mazda Racing Team Les Carne Peter Cray Mazda 1300 107 57 39 A 5 AMI Racing Team Barry Arentz Toyota Corolla 1200 106 59 40 A 7 C Kennedy Carl Kennedy Bill Slattery Mazda 1300 105 60 41 C 21 Bennett Honda Pty Ltd Ken Brian Noel Riley Honda 1300-S 104 56 42 C 15 Marque Motors Bill Stanley Mike Kable Morris Cooper S 102 44 43 A 1 Datsun Racing Team Doug Whiteford Datsun 1200 100 52 44 B 14 Mazda Racing Team George Garth John Hall Mazda Capella 1600 99 46 45 B 11 WH Motors Pty Ltd Don Smith Datsun 1600 97 48 DNF E 61 Baldwin Ford Pty Ltd Damon Beck Garry Rush Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 117 9 DNF A 4 AMI Racing Team Brian Sampson Toyota Corolla 1200 102 58 DNF D 50 R Lanyon Tom Naughton Lawrie NelsonNelson replaced Ross Wemyss as Naughton's co-driver although the late change saw Wemyss's name remain on the driver entry list. As outlined in What Might Have Been, Australian Muscle Car, 1 May 2021, page 44 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 98 25 DNF D 48 B Thomson Bryan Thomson John Mann Alfa Romeo 1600 Giulia Super 80 43 DNF E 58 Mark IV Car Air Conditioning Bob Morris Ray Morris Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 80 14 DNF E 69 Trevor Thiele Ford Pty Ltd Trevor Meehan Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 55 7 DNF D 33 Bob Jane Racing Team Bob Jane John Harvey Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 50 29 DNF D 46 Bardahl International Oil Corp Bob Forbes John Millyard Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 46 13 DNF E 63 FF Newell & Son Bill Brown Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 43 5 DNF E 66 Road & Track Auto Services Fred Gibson Barry Seton Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 32 3 DNF A 9 Mazda Racing Team Bernie Haehnle Ray Kaleda Mazda 1300 17 54 DNF D 36 BS NcNaughton Scott McNaughton Geoff Harvey Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 7 20 DSQ C 23 Sinclair Ford Pty Ltd Alan Cant Herb Taylor Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I 115 41 DSQ B 10 Datsun Racing Team John Roxburgh Jon Leighton Datsun 1600 111 50 DSQ A 2 Datsun Racing Team Jim Laing-Peach Datsun 1200 109 55 DNS A 3 AMI Racing Team Bill Evans Toyota Corolla 1200 DNS B 13 Harry Gapps Ford Pty Ltd Harry Gapps Frank Hann Ford Cortina 1600L DNS C 18 Waterloo High Performance Tuning Centre Warren Gracie Ron Gillard Holden LC Torana GTR DNS C 26 Harry Gapps Ford Pty Ltd R Kramer Ford Escort Twin Cam DNS D 35 L Grose Les Grose Lakis Manticas Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 31 DNS D 52 R Lanyon Lawrie Nelson Tony Farrell Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 DNS D 53 Formula 1 International Motoring Pty Ltd Tony Allen Len Searle Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38 DNS E 56 McCluskey Ford Pty Ltd Ian Geoghegan Brian Michelmore Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III DNS E 68 G Ward Graham Ward Volvo 164 DNS E 70 HG Fenton H Fenton F Ure Ford XW Falcon GT-HO Phase II

Statistics Pole Position - #65 Allan Moffat - 2:38.9 Fastest Lap - #58 Bob Morris - 2:40 (lap record) Average Speed - 130 km/h Race Time of winning car - 6:09:49.5

References

External links 1971 Race results & Official Program, www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au 1971 Bathurst 500 images, www.autopics.com.au