Bad Press
A short time before the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo,
Australian motoring enthusiasts were shocked
and angered with the treatment the new Chrysler,
Holden and Ford cars for the race were getting
from the daily press. The Chrysler Charger V8,
the Holden Torana V8 and the Ford Falcon GTHO
Phase 4 were set upon in editorials and articles,
the journalists responsible (or perhaps irresponsible),
applying the descriptive phrase "Supercar" to
the new cars and making very loud noises about
how such cars could all top 160 mph in road trim,
and how, with homologation regulations requiring
200 of each to be built, a lot of the general
public would certainly be either killed or injured
if they were ever allowed to drive them.
A lot
of newsprint was dedicated to the cause of ensuring
these cars were never built, and unfortunately
for the manufacturers and motor sport followers
it didn't take very long for general public opinion
to swing against the cars. The campaign was relentless,
and the Government had it’s back to the wall, such was the
growing condemnation from people who, arguably,
didn’t really know what they were talking
about.
In the end the manufacturers shelved their
intended new cars and, in a hasty re-shuffling
of plans, the main competitors for the 1972 Bathurst
race remained similar to 1971, except for detail
changes to the car. Holden had its
3.3 litre
LJ XU-1 Torana, by now well developed and regarded
as favourite for the race. Ford, after having
the GTHO Phase 4 effectively banned, had to retain
the Phase 3 which, although faster and no less
reliable than in 1971, was no longer a current
model - and in racing, anything that is not right
up to date must be doubtful.
The Charger E49
Chrysler introduced a slightly modified Charger to
Bathurst. Called the E49, it featured more power from its 4.3
litre 265ci motor (302 bhp at 5600 rpm), plus
a four-speed gearbox, making it an extremely
rapid motor car - its acceleration was actually
slightly better than a GTHO Phase 3, although
it was some 10 mph down in top speed.
A new system of classing was introduced for the 1972 race,
replacing the familiar method of classing the
cars according to their retail price. The new
system divided the cars into four groups of Capacity/Price
(CP) units. These CP units were simply the capacity
of the car's engine, in litres, multiplied by
the retail price. For example, a car of 1.5 litres
capacity which cost $3000 would have a CP rating
of 1.5 by 30001 which is 4500. The classes were: - A - up to 3000 CP units; B - 3001 to 9000 CP
units; C - 9001-1800 CP units; D - over 1800
CP units. This put the Falcons and E49 Chargers
in Class D, and the Torana XL1-1s and a lone
E38 Charger in Class C.
Race practice saw Allan
Moffat in the number one works car on pole position
again, with an incredible 2:35.8, just 3.1 seconds
faster than 1971. Beside him was John Goss, who,
despite blowing a motor in practice, still managed
to clock a best of 2:37.2. Behind them were John
French and Fred Gibson, driving the number two
works car. Race day was pouring with rain and
the start was an incredible sight, with a huge
cloud of spray blanketing the field, which looked
more like a power boat fleet than a pack of cars.
This year, luck wasn't to be with the Falcons.
The first trouble they struck was with Fred Gibson,
who lost it at McPhillamy Park, hit the bank
and rolled over a couple of times, about 50 yards
short of an XU-1, which had also rolled a few
seconds before. The driver of the XU-1 was none
other than Bill Brown, who must be the unluckiest
driver in the country as far as Bathurst is concerned.
Des
West's Falcon retired because of a clutch failure
and John Goss blew another engine. But it was
also with Moffat's car, Ford's main hope for
an outright win, that things weren't looking
terribly bright. He had a spin at Reid Park,
which cost him his lead, and when he pitted for
fuel and
tyres, he was penalised one minute for
starting his engine while fuel was still being
put aboard the Falcon. Meanwhile, John French
was going very well,
steering his Falcon into
the lead on lap 54.
At the same time it was becoming
obvious that Moffat was in a great deal of trouble,
as his
brakes were not working anywhere near
as well as they should have been and he very
nearly hit the fence at Murray's Corner at the
end of Conrod Straight. From this point, Moffat's
chances of victory became virtually nil. He drove
desperately in an effort to make up time - with
no effective
brakes he was only just making it
around some of the corners. In his second pit
stop, he was penalised yet again for restarting
the car before refuelling had been completed,
and finally he had to have one of the front brakes
disconnected.
John French saved the day for Ford
with his fine second outright; the Gulson car
was the next Falcon home in seventh place, followed
by Moffat in eighth and Murray Carter in 10th.
The problem with the
brakes on Moffat's car was
found to be in the disc pads, which were literally
disintegrating from the effects of heat. Upon
examination of Fred Gibson's rolled car it was
found that if he had continued, his
brakes would
have suffered the same fate as Moffat's. The
winner was Peter Brock in his Holden Dealer Team
LJ Torana XU-1, by the huge margin of five laps.
His car ran without trouble all day and he thoroughly
deserved his win.
