Thanks Ellis, brilliant!
Thanks Ellis, brilliant!
Heres a couple posted on the Mustangs picture thread by Ellis. Nice looking car:
OK, some 70s Sports Sedans:
Bob's Repco Torana
The Holden Dealer Team Beast, which was really an old nail of a thing. Its long gone, but someone has recently built a replica.
The John Goss XA Falcon hardtop. Again, long gone.
The John Kay Indy Speed Shop Camaro. This car is still around, though much modified and baring little resemblance to how it looks here.
Two tough Monaro's. Pete Geoghegan in the HJ/HQ, up the inside of Bobs HQ.
Interesting photo here. This is Bobs McLaren M6B, which he owned from new. Denny Hulme is doing some demo laps with the car. What a great photo!
This is the Bathurst round of the 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship. Some people consider this to be the best race in ATCC history, as Pete Geoghegan and Allan Moffat battled for lap after lap, the Super Falcon pulling away up Mountain Straight and back down Conrod, while the Mustang closed up everywhere else. The Falcon was spewing oil all over Moffats windscreen, so he undid his seatbelts in the final laps and stuck his head out the side window. It was dramatic stuff!
The grid is still forming here, and beyond the first couple of rows, the line-up consisted mostly of series production cars, as the Improved Production numbers were dwindling by 1972. Jane led up the mountain for the first time, but Moffat quickly went by, followed by Geoghegan. Beechey and Jane retired, but nobody really seemed to notice, as Geoghegan and Moffat set about putting on a titanic show, in which the lead was swapped over and over. Geoghegan was leading when the checker fell after 13 laps. With a championship to win, Moffat lodged a protest about the smoke screen being laid by the Falcon, but the results stood, and this proved to be the one and only ATCC race won by a Super Falcon.
I guess now that all the cars in Aussie touring car racing are manipulated to create close racing, through all being essentially identical, close racing is now quite common, but back in 1972, battles like this were purely natural, and almost a freak occurrence that was made ever more special and memorable by the circumstances.
This photo is by Graham Ruckert. Check out more of Grahams stunning photos on his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/GrahamRuckertPhotographyOriginally Posted by Steve Holmes
Another of Graham Ruckerts beautiful photos.
This is also one of Graham Ruckerts photos. Thanks for contacting me about these Graham, its always good to be able to credit the photographer where possible.
Guys, if you haven't checked out Grahams Facebook page already, please do so. You'll really enjoy the other photos he has posted there, some absolutely incredible action shots: http://www.facebook.com/GrahamRuckertPhotography
A couple of superb shots here of the Pete Geoghegan driven, Laurie O'Neal owned HQ/HJ Monaro Sports Sedan, from 1975. These appear to be when the car was brand spanking new, and lined up next to the teams transporter. Perhaps a press day or test day? Either way, a great looking car, and to my mind, far better looking here in its first season than with the massive bodykit that appeared in 1976.
This is how corporate booths looked in the 1970s!
Blast-off at Calder, in a Sports Sedan race in either late 1972 or early '73. Furthest from camera appears to be Bob's Repco V8 Torana, which is probably being driven by John Harvey. Then there are the Jane Camaro and Beechey Monaro. In behind appears to be the beautiful John Bassett Escort.
Allan Moffats DeKon Chevy Monza, which Moff purchased in 1975 to tackle the Australian Sports Sedan scene. He used the Monza, plus his beautiful quad-cam V6 Capri to win the 1976 ASSC, before bowing to pressure to stick with the Ford brand, so parked the Monza. After Ford had withdrawn from touring car racing at the end of 1978, Moffat was free to dust off the Monza and race it again, and treated it to this wild paint scheme, similar to that which appeared on his XC Falcon hardtop Group C car, but with a metallic brown base coat, rather than black. But by 1979, the level of competition in Sports Sedan racing had increased dramatically, and the Monza wasn't as competitive as it was when last raced in '76. But damn it sure looked good!
Having stepped away from running his wild big block '68 Camaro Improved Production racer in favour of a cheaper V8 Torana Sports Sedan, Bryan Thomson had this wild mid-engined Sports Sedan built, cloaked in a VW body. This appears to be a publicity photo, so perhaps the VW was still new at this stage.
Drag race here between Allan Moffats RS3100 Capri, and Bob Janes V8 Repco Torana. Moffats Capri was one of the works 1974 ETCC quad-cam V6 cars. Moffat raced it in 1975 and 1976. 1976 was the first year CAMS held an Australian championship for the Sports Sedan category, and Moffat used this car, along with the DeKon Chevy Monza pictured above, to win the championship. This car is now owned by Gordon Burr in New Zealand, and is raced a couple of times a year quite enthusiastically.
Oran Park, 1972. The final round of the '72 Australian Touring Car Championship, and the final ATCC race held under the outgoing Improved Production rules. Here Allan Moffat and Pete Geoghegan lead the field away at the start. Bob Jane already had the championship wrapped up, having won four of the first seven races. His biggest challenger once again was Allan Moffat, but Moffats chances went down the gurgler following a protest by Jane at the Warwick Farm round, where the two had come together during an attempt to pass by Moffat which spun Jane down the order.
Moffat went on to win at the Farm, but Jane's successful protest stripped Moffat of his 13 points for the win. In fact, Jane's closest challenger for the championship was young Michael Stillwell in the Twin-Cam Escort, thanks to a curious points system which rewarded class cars against outright points. Stillwell actually led the points at times during the season but ultimately finished second.
.......................and moments later, as the field drags to the first corner. Moffat and Geoghegan lead Jane and John Harvey, driving Jane's new HQ Monaro. Just coming into picture also is the Torana nose of a young Dick Johnson, having made the trek down from Queensland to take part. Johnson was rewarded with a 4th place finish.
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