Photo Request: Allan Moffat GT-HO Phase 3 In New Zealand In 1973

[Steve Holmes]

I've had a request from a Melbourne GT-HO historian looking for images of Allan Moffat in his factory Phase III which was sent to New Zealand to compete against the Castrol GTX cars at the Lady Wigram Trophy event on January 20, 1973.

The 1973 Castrol GTX series was dominated by E49 Chargers, and particularly by Leo Leonard's car. I'm not sure if the rumours were true that Ford paid to send the Moffat car to NZ to deal to Leonard, but obviously someone paid to get the car there.

As it happened, Leonard actually beat Moffat in qualifying, which apparently surprised Moffat somewhat. Motorman magazine wrote this: "In the Castrol GTX class, Leo Leonard's Charger E49 romped around in 1m 26.3s - only 4s slower than the best time set by a Wales (BNSW NZ Saloon Car Championship) car! Allan Moffat, amazed when he saw the speed of Leo's car, said, "That must be the fastest Charger in the world!" His works Falcon GTHO, the car which won the 1972 Bathurst 500 and was flown to NZ for Wigram, recorded 1m 27.4s, but overnight the mechanics found the car had been running on seven of its eight cylinders".

In the race, Leonard took the lead at the start, followed by Ron Rutherford's E49, and Moffat, with the Falcon driver moving to second in the opening lap. According to Motorman, Moffat managed to pass Leonard, but both drivers were having problems, and both retired on lap 4, Moffat with a blocked fuel filter, Leonard with a blown tyre from an earlier lock-up while leading.

The GT-HO then raced at the Teretonga round of the Tasman Series, on January 28, 1973, but this time driven by Jim Richards. Richards qualified the car third behind Leonard and Rutherford, and then finished second in the race behind Leonard.

Does anyone have photos from either of these events of the Falcon?

[rt6pack]

Can't help with images of Moffat but the way I understand it was that Ford wasn't happy with the Chargers domination in NZ so they sent their best car and driver to Wigram because there was some weird points system where if Leo didn't win Reg Cook would win the series in the BDA Escort. As it was a GTX race Moffat's car that arrived with adjustable shocks and racing tyres was outside the rules for GTX cars so had to be fitted with standard shocks and Dunlop tyres same as the Chargers and others. There seems to be conflicting reports of how the race started with Motorman saying the order was Leo, Ron Rutherford, Moffat but Autonews reports Leo. Moffat, Rutherford. Anyhow at the end of the day the winner was Ron Rutherford, this is how he remembered the day for NZCC mag:

Wigram was one of my best races - I won and defeated Allan Moffat from Australia in his GTHO Falcon. Ford decided it did not want the Chargers winning all the races, so it flew in a GTHO with none other than Allan Moffat. After practice Leo was on pole. Allan was in the middle and myself on the outside. Moffat's words after practice were that our Chargers were the fastest in Australiasia.
I noticed in practice that my car was locking a front wheel over the infamous Wigram drain by the Hangers so I let the brakes off and put them back on after the bump. Off the line Leo took the lead from Allan. I was able to take Moffat on the back straight and cling onto Leo. I noticed he was locking up a front wheel at the Hangers and after a few laps he blew a tyre. Rod Coppins chased me for the rest of the race.


This pic shows the order as Leo, Ron, Moffat before any alleged fuel problems with the HO


And the winning car:


Later in the day Moffat was reunited with his trick shocks and tyres and went on to win the final race for modified saloons

[GD66]

Good stuff. This has been covered in Australian Muscle Car mag but I'm buggered if I can unearth it at the mo...bloody easter celebrations...

[rt6pack]

Yeah AMC mag said Moffat car was handicapped by the GTX rules, but I don't see it as a handicap if all the other cars have the same rules IMO its a level playing field

[Ellis]

A couple of good old pics there...Thanks

Moffat did return to the track at Wigram after pitting on L4 (while in the lead which he held from end of L1) with fuel filter problems and set fastest lap for the race. Leonard also pitted on L4 with blown tyre.

Anyone have pics of it a week or so later at Teretonga with Jim driving it.
He set a new lap record on the Sat