Surf Wiki
Save to docs
geography/australia

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1966 Australian Touring Car Championship

Motor racing competition

Motor racing competition

The 1966 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group C Improved Production Touring Cars. It was contested over a single 20-lap race staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on Easter Monday, 11 April 1966, and was the seventh running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The race was sponsored by the Neptune Oil Company, Sydney.

Ian Geoghegan, driving a Ford Mustang, claimed his second Australian Touring Car Championship title and the first of four consecutive titles that he would achieve in Mustangs.

Race summary

Ian Geoghegan had upgraded to a Ford Mustang and took pole position ahead of Norm Beechey, who had qualified both his Mustang and his new Chevrolet Chevy II Nova. Despite lapping quicker in the Mustang, Beechey elected to race the more powerful Chevy II Nova. Don Smith had qualified sixth in his Holden EH S4, but was unable to start due to an accident in a preliminary race.

Beechey led away from the start and gradually increased his lead during the first half of the 20-lap race, moving 9.6 seconds ahead of Geoghegan by the end of lap 8. Three cars had been retired at this point: T. McGee's Morris Cooper, Malcolm Bailey's Ford Zephyr and Bob Edgerton's Morris Cooper S.

Geoghegan started to reduce the gap on lap 9 and caught Beechey on lap 13 before passing him on lap 14. Terry Allan retired from the race on lap 13 while fellow Holden runner Warren Weldon retired on lap 16 with a broken crankshaft. Beechey's pace dropped off for the remainder of the race, with reported clutch troubles, allowing Geoghegan to take an easy victory. Kevin Bartlett, driving an Alfa Romeo GTA, was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap, albeit nearly two minutes behind Beechey. John Harvey and Phil Barnes completed the top five, one lap down on the leaders.

Results

Pos.DriverNo.CarEntrantClassLapsTime/RemarksGrid12345678910111213141516171819RetRetRetRetRetRetRetRetRetDNSDNSDNSSources:
AUS Ian Geoghegan1Ford MustangTotal TeamOver 3000cc2054:30.21
AUS Norm Beechey3Chevrolet Chevy II NovaNeptune Racing TeamOver 3000cc20+32.83
AUS Kevin Bartlett12Alfa Romeo GTAAlec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd1501–2000cc20+2:19.84
AUS John Harvey76Austin Cooper SR.C. Phillips Sports Car World1101–1500cc19+1 lap5
AUS Phil Barnes99Morris Cooper SVaughan & Lane1101–1500cc19+1 lap8
AUS John French15Morris Cooper SJ. French0–1100cc18+2 laps10
AUS Bill Brown71Volvo 122SScuderia Veloce1501–2000cc18+2 laps13
AUS Bob Holden13Morris Cooper SB.M.C. (Australia) Pty Ltd1101–1500cc17+3 laps17
AUS Don Holland38Morris Cooper SDon Holland Motors1101–1500cc17+3 laps18
AUS A. Patterson42Ford Cortina Mark I GTA.R. Patterson1101–1500cc17+3 laps22
AUS Peter Mander75Morris Cooper SMarque Motors1101–1500cc17+3 laps19
AUS David Frazer64Renault R8 GordiniRenno Motors1101–1500cc16+4 laps?
AUS John Hall23Holden X2H. Taylor2001–3000cc16+4 laps24
AUS A. Barrow82Holden FJA. Barrow2001–3000cc16+4 laps28
AUS John Prisk33Morris CooperVarsity Auto Centre0–1100cc16+4 laps25
AUS Digby Cooke84?Morris CooperMarque Motors0–1100cc16+4 laps?
AUS M. Schneider54Morris Mini DeluxeMarque Motors0–1100cc16+4 laps?
AUS Ross Edgerton43Renault R8Ross Edgerton0–1100cc13+7 laps23
AUS G. MacDonald45Ford Cortina Mark I GTEsso Servicenter1101–1500cc7+13 laps?
AUS Charlie Smith100Morris Cooper SC.G. Smith1101–1500cc1712
AUS Bill Stanley84?Morris CooperMarque Motors0–1100cc1627
AUS Warren Weldon119Holden EH Special S4Waggott Engineering2001–3000cc15Crankshaft7
AUS Bruce Wright28Morris Cooper SPeter Owen Racing1101–1500cc1415
AUS R. Lindsay32Renault R8 GordiniR. Lindsay1101–1500cc1326
AUS Terry Allan2Holden EH Special S4Syndal Motors2001–3000cc12Clutch failure9
AUS Bob Edgerton66Morris Cooper SRobert Edgerton0–1100cc7?
AUS Malcolm Bailey53Ford ZephyrM. Bailey2001–3000cc5?
AUS T. McGee11Morris CooperEsso Servicentre (Waterloo)0–1100cc4?
AUS Norm Beechey2Ford MustangNeptune Racing TeamOver 3000cc-Withdrew(2)
AUS Don Smith55Holden EH Special S4Smith Auto Accessories2001–3000cc-Accident in preliminary race(6)
AUS Alton Boddenberg105Chrysler ValiantAdvanx (Gosford) Motor ServiceOver 3000cc-Clutch problems in preliminary race(11)

Notes:

  • Class winners are indicated by bold text.
  • Norm Beechey qualified in both his Ford Mustang and his Chevrolet Chevy II Nova but chose to race the latter.

Statistics

  • Attendance: 20,000
  • Pole position: Ian Geoghegan, 2:40.7
  • Fastest lap: Ian Geoghegan, 2:40.4 (New record)
  • Race distance: 20 laps, 123.44 km
  • Winner's average speed: 135.89 km/h

References

References

  1. Conditions for Australian Titles, 1966 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 70 to 73
  2. Souvenir Programme, Bathurst National Open Meeting, 11 April 1966, page 35
  3. (2011). "The official history: Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years". Chevron Publishing Group.
  4. The grid lineup shown on page 360 of John Medley's ''Bathurst, Cradle of Australian Motor Racing'' does not show names for all grid positions.
  5. W Stanley and D Cooke are both listed to drive the No 84 Marque Motors Morris Cooper in the entry list for the ATCC race in the Souvenir Programme
  6. Medley, John. (1997). "Bathurst, Cradle of Australian Motor Racing". Turton & Armstrong Pty Ltd.
  7. Howard, Graham. (May 1966). "Geoghegan – The Greatest". Publishers Photo Digest Pty Ltd.
  8. James Laing-Peach, Geoghegan: A Title Regained, Sports Car World, June 1966, pages 42, 43 & 62
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

australian-touring-car-championship-seasons 1966-in-australian-motorsport motorsport-in-bathurst,-new-south-wales
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1966 Australian Touring Car Championship — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report