1970 Australian Touring Car Championship

[Steve Holmes]

Round 2, Bathurst. If his rivals had struggled to keep pace with Beecheys big Chevy powered Monaro at Calder, what hope did they have at Bathurst? Indeed, the yellow machine would win the race, and Beechey looked to have power to spare, but he also had to work for the win, the Monaro proving a real handful on anything that wasn’t a straight piece of road.



Geoghegan launched away well, leading briefly until Beechey simply out-powered him. Then the Monaro dropped back behind Geoghegan and a racey Moffat, who set about building a small lead. Beechey battled with Jane, who had the measure of the Monaro through the turns, but was blown off on the straights, leading to Jane having a quick spin, as he over-drove to keep pace. Moffat was out after four laps with a spark plug issue, while Geoghegan began to struggle, as his team had fit old tyres to the Mustang, as Firestone (who he had a contract with) didn’t have available new tyres in the right sizes.

Geoghegan spun, allowing Beechey to close up, then surge through to the lead, and took the flag to win, moving him to first equal on points with Moffat. Geoghegan finished second, from Jane, followed by McKeown, Foley, and Chris Brauer.

Round 3, Sandown. The next race was at Sandown, where again Beechey revelled in the long straights. The Monaro, with around 530hp, was comfortably up on the Mustangs, which were tapped out at around 470 - 480. This time Beechey did it easy, blasting away from pole to win, and setting a lap record as he did so. Again Geoghegan finished second, from Moffat, Jane, and Foley, who was a lap down at the end, while Ritter took the final point.



Round 4, Mallala. The championship moved on to the curvaceous little 2.5km Mallala for round 4. Beechey had enjoyed using the extra grunt of the big Chevy throughout the opening rounds, but Mallala lacked anything resembling a decent straight. Foley surprised everyone by bolting a set of sticky Goodyears to his Porsche, and took pole position. But his Goodyears would serve no purpose in the race, with rain falling, making the track wet. Moffat and McKeown started on rain tyres, the pair pulling away comfortably from the pack, Moffat establishing a huge lead.

Eventually the rain stopped, the track dried, and Beechey moved forward. He worked his way up to second, and was closing on Moffat when he began to slow with a slipping clutch. This allowed Foley and Geoghegan to close in, the pair passing Beechey, for second and third, which then became a race for the lead, when Moffat retired with clutch failure.

As Geoghegan drew away, Foley pitted with a suddenly wayward handling Porsche, allowing Beechey back into second. Foleys team found a bracket had broken on the anti-roll bar, and sent him on his way. Geoghegan took his first win of the season, from Beechey, Foley, Bill Brown, who was debuting his new Porsche, while Jane and Manton took the final points.