# 1963 Armstrong 500

The 1963 Armstrong 500 was the fourth running of the Armstrong 500 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1963. After the 1962 race, the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit was too damaged to continue to stage the race, forcing it to move to a new location, the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst with a new organising club, the Australian Racing Drivers Club. The race was open to standard production sedans with four classes based on the purchase price (in Australian pounds) of the vehicle.
Bob Jane and Harry Firth were the first team to complete the full race distance, taking victory in Class C in their factory backed Ford Cortina GT, the change of both vehicle and circuit making no difference to their result of the previous year. While outright victories were not to be recognised until years later, they had completed a hat-trick of 'first to the line' wins.

## Class structure

The largest change was cosmetic. The bigger cars moved down the alphabet, the smaller cars moved into classes A and B. The Volkswagens moved into class A. Ford Falcons disappeared from the race, replaced by an influx of smaller, more versatile Ford Cortinas. As in 1962 the Fords were the biggest threat, shaping up to be faster than the larger D Class cars which included Chrysler Valiants and Studebaker Larks.

### Class A

Class A was for cars that cost less £900. It comprised Fiat 770, Morris 850, Triumph Herald and Volkswagen Beetle.

### Class B

The £901 to £1,000 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina, Morris Cooper and Morris Major Elite, Renault R8 and Simca Aronde.

### Class C

The £1,001 to £1,200 class was contested by Ford Cortina GT, Holden EH S4 and Holden FB.

### Class D

The £1,201 to £2,000 class featured Chrysler Valiant, Ford Zephyr, Humber Super Snipe, Peugeot 404, Studebaker Lark, Vauxhall Velox and Vauxhall VX 4/90.

## Race

The race became the first Ford vs Holden head-to-head fight, with the works Cortina of defending race champions Bob Jane and Harry Firth winning by a lap over the first EH Holden of Ralph Sach and Fred Morgan with a second Cortina on the same lap. It was a third consecutive victory for Jane and Firth, each victory coming in a different model and back-to-back for the factory Ford team. Second place was the closest Holden would get to a win until the breakthrough in 1968. Chrysler got its first class win with the Valiant of Tony Reynolds and Tony Allen with Geoff Russell driving the factory prepared Ford Zephyr again narrowly missing out on the Class D win. The new Morris Coopers saw the Mini break out of the entry level class and gave Doug Chivas his first class win, co-driving with Ken Wilkinson in Class B, defeating the 1.5 litre Cortinas, ominously just a lap behind the Valiant and the Zephyr. In the small class, Volkswagen again defeated the Morris 850s with Barry Ferguson and Bill Ford taking first place ahead of the Mini of Don Holland and Lindsay Little.

## Results

| Pos | No | Entrant | Drivers | Car | Laps |
| Class A ||||||
| 1 | 54 | Lanock Motors Ltd | Barry Ferguson Bill Ford | Volkswagen 1200 | 116 |
| 2 | 55 | Vaughan & Lane Pty Ltd | Don Holland Lindsay Little | Morris 850 | 116 |
| 3 | 51 | Victorian VW Agents-VW Sales | Jim McKeown George Reynolds | Volkswagen 1200 | 115 |
| 4 | 61 | A. Andrews | Rocky Tresise Arthur Andrews | Volkswagen 1200 | 115 |
| 5 | 57 | Macquarie Motors | Greg Mackie Graham White | Volkswagen 1200 | 113 |
| 6 | 53 | K.B. Nicholson Motors | Bill Stanley John Alexander | Morris 850 | 113 |
| 7 | 49 | H.E. Taylor | Barry Seton Herb Taylor | Morris 850 | 112 |
| 8 | 50 | Kinsley Motors | George Forrest Frank Hann | Volkswagen 1200 | 111 |
| 9 | 59 | T. Corcoran | Tom Corcoran Digby Cooke | Morris 850 | 111 |
| 10 | 52 | Paul M. Samuels | Barry Collerson Les Howard | Fiat 770 | 103 |
| 11 | 56 | Reg Smith Motors | Jim Bonthorne Mike Callan | Triumph Herald | 101 |
| 12 | 58 | Vaughan & Lane Pty Ltd | Fred Gibson Ken Nicholson | Morris 850 | 89 |
| DNF | 60 | P & R Williams | Tony Hill Frank Kleinig | Morris 850 | |
| Class B ||||||
| 1 | 42 | Denis Summers Conversions | Doug Chivas Ken Wilkinson | Morris Cooper | 125 |
| 2 | 41 | Delore Motors (Newcastle) | Jack Gates Mike Nedelko | Morris Cooper | 125 |
| 3 | 28 | Ford Motor Co. of Australia | Ern Abbott Alan Caelli | Ford Cortina 1500 | 123 |
| 4 | 46 | Ford Motor Co. of Australia | Max Volkers K Burns | Ford Cortina 1500 | 123 |
| 5 | 43 | Bamar Motors | Wal Donnelly John Marchiori | Morris Cooper | 122 |
| 6 | 44 | P & R Williams | Des West John Martin | Morris Cooper | 120 |
| 7 | 26 | C. Harding | Chris Harding Adrian Yannuccelli | Morris Cooper | 120 |
| 8 | 29 | Total Team | Frank Matich George Murray | Renault R8 | 119 |
| 9 | 37 | Rex Emmett | John Connolly Rod Draper | Renault R8 | 119 |
| 10 | 39 | P & R Williams | Brian Foley Peter Manton | Morris Cooper | 116 |
| 11 | 45 | P. Brown | Peter Brown Ron Marshall | Morris Cooper | 115 |
| 12 | 47 | C.G. Smith | Ron Hodgson Charlie Smith | Morris Cooper | 115 |
| 13 | 32 | Cecil R Pierce | Ken Brigden Bruce Smith | Simca Aronde | 114 |
| 14 | 38 | Gurdon Motors | Barry Gurdon Jerry Trevor-Jones | Morris Major Elite | 113 |
| 15 | 33 | Gurdon Motors | Jack Murray Alan Edney | Morris Major Elite | 113 |
| 16 | 48 | Gurdon Motors | Warren Blomfield Lorraine Hill | Morris Major Elite | 112 |
| 17 | 36 | Ron Thorp's Bargain Barn | Ron Thorp John White | Morris Major Elite | 111 |
| 18 | 40 | Rex Emmett | Les Park Fred Sutherland | Renault Gordini | 110 |
| 19 | 25 | Scuderia Veloce | Ron Clarke David Walker | Renault R8 | 102 |
| DNF | 30 | Delore Motors (Newcastle) | Doug Kelley Graham Kelley | Morris Cooper | |
| DNF | 34 | Total Bexley Service Station | Mike Martin Dave Humphries | Morris Cooper | |
| DNF | 35 | Howard and Sons Racing Team | Sid Howard Les Weiley | Morris Cooper | 18 |
| DNF | 27 | P. & R. Williams | Paul Bolton Laurie Stewart | Morris Cooper | 13 |
| DNF | 31 | Three Way Motors | Carl Kennedy Doug Stewart | Simca Aronde | |
| Class C ||||||
| 1 | 20 | Ford Motor Co. of Australia | Bob Jane Harry Firth | Ford Cortina Mk.I GT | 130 |
| 2 | 15 | F.G. Morgan | Ralph Sach Fred Morgan | Holden EH S4 | 129 |
| 3 | 13 | Grawill Motors Pty. Ltd. | Bruce McPhee Graham Ryan | Ford Cortina Mk.I GT | 129 |
| 4 | 22 | Barrie Broomhall Motors | Barry Broomhall Bill Cunliffe | Ford Cortina Mk.I GT | 124 |
| 5 | 18 | H. Budd | Harry Budd R. Smith | Holden EH S4 | 123 |
| 6 | 23 | Geissler Motors Pty. Ltd. | Ian Grant Trevor Marden | Holden EH S4 | 120 |
| 7 | 16 | Muirs Motors (Ryde) | Kevin Bartlett Bill Reynolds | Holden EH S4 | 115 |
| 8 | 24 | B.P. Warwick Farm Service Station | Lex Bailey Phil McCumisky | Holden FB Special | 115 |
| 9 | 17 | Heldon Motors Pty. Ltd. | Spencer Martin Brian Muir | Holden EH S4 | 111 |
| DNF | 21 | Ford Motor Co. of Australia | Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan | Ford Cortina Mk.I GT | 105 |
| DNF | 14 | Seatons Globe Hotel, Albury | Jim O'Shaunnessy John Brindley | Holden EH S4 | 65 |
| Class D ||||||
| 1 | 8 | Ron Dunbier Motors | Tony Allen Tony Reynolds | Chrysler AP5 Valiant | 126 |
| 2 | 5 | Ford Motor Co. of Australia | Geoff Russell John Reaburn | Ford Zephyr Mk.III | 126 |
| 3 | 9 | Killara Motor Garage | Bob Holden Bill March | Peugeot 404 | 119 |
| 4 | 2 | Needham Motors Pty Ltd | Warren Weldon Bert Needham | Studebaker Lark | 115 |
| 45 | 6 | Alex Strachan Motors | Bill Burns Brian Lawler | Humber Super Snipe | 21 |
| DNF | 4 | Baulkham Hill Service Station | Bob Cook Alwyn Rose | Chrysler SV1 Valiant | 119 |
| DNF | 7 | N.J. Wright | Jim Wright Ian Ferguson | Studebaker Lark | 57 |
| DNF | 3 | Boyded Pty Ltd-Scuderia Veloce | David McKay Greg Cusack | Vauxhall Velox | 20 |
| DSQ | 10 | Continental & General Distributors | Bill Coe Syd Fisher | Peugeot 404 | 119 |
| DNS | 12 | P. Fallu | Paul Fallu Terry Kratzmann | Vauxhall VX 4/90 | |

## Statistics

* Fastest Lap – N/A
* Race time of Firth / Jane Ford Cortina GT (First car across the line) – 7:47:14