# 1972 Skipper Chrysler 6 Hour Le Mans

The 1972 Skipper Chrysler 6 Hour Le Mans was an endurance motor race for Sports Open, Sports Closed, Improved Production Touring Cars & Series Production Touring Cars. The event was staged by the W.A. Sporting Car Club at the Wanneroo Park Circuit in Western Australia on Sunday 4 June 1972. It was the 18th and final 6 Hour Le Mans race to be held.

## Results

| Position | Drivers | No. | Car | Entrant | Class | Class pos. | Laps |
| 1 | Ray Thackwell, Jim Mullins | 4 | Porsche 911S | Ray Thackwell Racing | Sports Closed 1601-2500cc | 1 | 295 |
| 2 | Wayne Negus, Neville Grigsby | | Holden Torana GTR-XU1 | | Series Production 3001-6000cc | 1 | 279 |
| 3 | Chris Royston, Colin Hall | | Lotus 47 | Shell Racing | Sports Closed 1601-2500cc | 2 | 270 |
| 4 | Basil Ricciardello, Neville Cooper | | Alfa Romeo GTA | B Ricciardello | Sports Closed 1301-1600cc | 1 | 262 |
| 5 | Felix Smetana, Tony McAlinden | | Lotus Super 7 | | Sports Open 1301-1600cc | 1 | 256 |
| 6 | Barry Coleman, Lance Barrett | | Bolwell Mk. 7 | | Sports Closed 2501-5000cc | 1 | 254 |
| 7 | Stuart Kostera, George Cole | | Matich SR3 | | Sports Open 2501-3000cc | 1 | 254 |
| 8 | Bill Russell, John Hagarty | | Datsun SR311 | | Sports Open 1601-2500cc | 1 | 254 |
| 9 | Gordon Leney, Dave Sullivan Jr. | | Holden Torana GTR-XU1 | | Series Production 3001-6000cc | 2 | 251 |
| 10 | Graeme Ibbotson, Bob Creasy | | Jomax Ford | | Sports Open 1601-2500cc | 2 | 250 |
| 11 | Patrick Reed, Trevor Dunning | | MGB | | Sports Closed 1601-2500cc | 3 | 237 |
| 12 | C Garrett, Phil Davenport | | MGB | | Sports Open 1601-2500cc | 3 | 234 |
| 13 | G Moffat, G Appleby | | MGB | | | | 234 |
| 14 | Howie Sangster, Rick Lisle, Craig McAllister | | Chrysler VH Valiant Charger | | Series Production 3001-6000cc | 3 | 233 |
| 15 | Bill Downey, Noel Mitchell | | Lotus Elan | | Sports Open 1301-1600cc | 2 | 229 |
| 16 | Dave Cliffe, R Mouncey | | Lotus Cortina | | Improved Production 1301-1600cc | 1 | 226 |
| 17 | Jack Michael, David Jorritsma | | Morris Cooper S | | Series Production Up to 1300cc | 1 | 224 |
| 18 | Adrian Lewis, Elemer Vajda | | Morris Cooper S | | Series Production Up to 1300cc | 2 | 224 |
| 19 | Stratton Joel, John Farrell | | Holden Torana GTR-XU1 | | | | 220 |
| 20 | Murray Thomas, Tim Garratt | | Datsun - Healey | | Sports Open 1301-1600cc | 3 | 197 |
| 21 | Alby Valikov, Doug Tyler | | Honda S800 | | Sports Open Up to 1300cc | 2 | 187 |
| 22 | Ross Crump, L Derriman | | Fiat | | Sports Closed 1301-1600cc | 2 | ? |
| ? | Jack Kennedy, Terry Lyons | | Morris Mini | | Sports Open Up to 1300cc | 1 | ? |
| DNF | Howie Sangster, Craig McAllister | 1 | McLaren LT170 | | | | 194 |
| DNF | Ian Diffen, Ron Bairstow | | Chrysler VH Valiant Charger | | | | 128 |
| DNF | Gordon Mitchell, Brian Cole | | Austin-Healey Sprite | | | | 100 |
| DNF | John Haynes, Ray Tyler | | Morgan V8 4.7 | | | | 1 |
| DNF | Peter Doney,Paul Wilkins | | Morris Cooper S | | | | ? |
| DNF | Brian Rhodes, Rod Collins | | Chrysler VH Valiant Charger | | | | ? |
| DNF | Murray Charnley, Davis Hipperson | | Lotus 23B | | | | ? |
| DNF | Leo Stubber, Bob Kingsbury | | Porsche 911S | | | | ? |
| DNF | Bill Maddocks, Peter Green | | Monaco GT Clubman | | | | ? |
| DNF | Bill Nitschke, Bill Lee | | Holden LC Torana GTR-XU1 | | | | ? |
| DNF | Neville Cooper, Ray Johnson | | Triumph Spitfire | | | | ? |
| DNF | Michael Hector, John Farrell | | Holden HQ Monaro | | | | ? |

### Race statistics

* Start: Le Mans-style
* Starters: 37
* Average speed of winning car: 73.79 mph
* Race record: Thackwell & Mullins set a new race record of 295 laps, breaking that set by Howie Sangster & Don O'Sullivan in the 1970 race by eight laps.

## References & notes

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 John Crawford, Porsche 6-Hour Double, Racing Car News, July 1972, pages 58-61
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Western Australian Motor Race Results 1972 Archived 2011-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 31 July 2010
* ↑ Cover, Official Programme, Wanneroo Park Circuit, Sunday, 4 June 1972.
* ↑ Terry Walker, Around The Houses, The History of Motor Racing in Western Australia, 1980, page 59
* 1 2 Race Record to Porsche, The West Australian Monday June 5 1972, page 40
* The Racing Car News race report states that there were 37 starters in the event with 21 finishers and 16 DNFs. The race results published at www.terrywalkersplace.com list 35 starters, 23 finishers and 12 DNFs.
* The results at www.terrywalkersplace.com show the Kennedy / Lyons Mini as winning its class although its outright position is lower than that of the Valikov / Tyler Honda which is shown as 2nd in that class. The above results table reflects those published at www.terrywalkersplace.com.
* Racing Car News lists Kostera / Cole, Russell / Hagarty and Coleman / Barrett as 6th, 7th and 8th respectively which differs from the results at www.terrywalkersplace.com