Article: Pete Geoghegan's Mustang GTA

[Steve Holmes]

At Mallala, Moffat and Geoghegan again raced their Mustang’s. And, amazingly, Geoghegan nearly won! Jane took pole, and led throughout, challenged initially by Moffat, who spun back down to fourth, then later by Geoghegan, who loomed up alongside several times under brakes, only to have the big block Camaro leave him behind under acceleration. In the end, Jane won, by just 3/10ths sec, from Geoghegan, while Moffat recovered to third, from McKeown, Foley, and Graham Bishop in a Cooper S.

Round 6 was scheduled to run at Warwick Farm. However, the track licence had been withheld until safety fencing was upgraded, so Round 6 was moved to Lakeside. Here, both the Moffat and Geoghegan Mustang’s and Super Falcon’s were hauled to the track, but again both drivers opted for their Mustang’s after testing both. Again, John French was on hand to wrestle with one of the Super Falcon’s, this time Geoghegan’s car. Moffat took pole, won the start, claimed fastest lap, and won handily, from Geoghegan, while Jane was third, having run second for much of the race until a failing wheel-bearing slowed him. Beechey was next, from French, and McKeown.

With one round remaining, the championship was incredibly tight. Jane was leading on 34 points, Geoghegan was on 32, and Moffat was on 31. However, Geoghegan had finished every race, so would have to drop his lowest point score, being the 4 points he collected at Mallala. Both Jane and Moffat had failed to score in at least one round, so their points tally would not be affected. But any of these three drivers could emerge from Oran Park as the 1971 Australian Touring Car Champion. That Geoghegan’s old Mustang was still in the hunt spoke volumes of his ability as a driver, and of Mick Lambert’s meticulous maintenance.

As it happened, Geoghegan would not claim a sixth ATCC title at Oran Park, on August 8. The race became a showdown between Jane and Moffat. With a championship to win, neither Geoghegan nor Moffat needed the distraction of battling with their Super Falcon’s in practice, only to inevitably race their Mustang’s, and both arrived at Oran Park only with their Mustang’s in tow. Moffat blew everyone away in qualifying, lapping a full 1.2sec quicker than Jane, and at the drop of the green, he blazed off the line, darted through the first turn, and was gone. Jane, meanwhile, missed a gear off the line, allowing Geoghegan up to second. There he stayed, for three laps, as Moffat scorched away, building a healthy buffer, until Jane powered past for second.