1965 Armstrong 500

1965 was a year of dominance by the Ford Cortina GT500's, and even the lesser 220's. We couldn't put it any better than the Ford Sales Promotion team did at the time, and we quote them..."On Sunday, October the 3rd, under a clear blue sky, 55 contenders streaked away from the starting grid heading for the fastest, the most hard-fought, the most brutal Armstrong ever.

Driving the perfectly tuned, yet strictly stock-standard cars was the cream of Australia's racing drivers, plus (for BMC) crack drivers from overseas. At stake: Outright, or "first over the line" honours - the most coveted racing prize in Australia".

In Class D, for cars £1,301 to £2,000, and including the Studebakers, Volvo's, Triumph 2000's and Fiat 2300, the Cortina GT500's displayed their winning ability by coming in 1-2-3 in a line. Fourth car to finish in this class was a Triumph 2000 - 19 miles behind the winning Cortina! A Volvo 122S finished 5th, 34 miles behind, and a Studebaker was 6th, 37 miles behind.

The winning GT500, driven by Barry Seton and Midge Bosworth won after one refuelling stop only - the bonnet wasn't lifted, nor were the tyres changed. It covererd the distance of 500 miles in a fantastic 7 hours, 16 minutes, 45 seconds - clipping almost 25 minutes off last year's record which was set by a Cortina GT. It also gave Ford "4 in-a-row". Line houours were taken by Falcon in 1962, and by Cortina's in 1963 and 1964.

In Class A, for cars up to £920, interest was centred around the Cortina 220's, Morris Mini Deluxes and the Viva's. The 220's, equipped with 1500 motors, proved far too fast and better on the "Esses" than their competition, coming in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The winning 220 was driven by Harry Firth and John Raeburn, their 220 also recoring the fastest lap time for the class, at 3 minutes 35 seconds.

The Morris Mini Deluxes disappointed their drivers and BMC. Three were entered in the class, but they couldn't keep up wiht the pace set by the Cortina 220's and finished many miles behind. Significant, too, is the fact that 3 Datsun Bluebirds which were entered by the Nissan Distributors never started - they were withdrawn on the eve of the event after encountering wheel trouble during Saturday's parctice sessions.

A lone Cortina 240 in Class B (£921 to £1,020) demonstrated its superiority in the face of what appeared to be overwhelming odds. It was pitted against 4 Morris Coopers and 3 Toyota Corona's. The 240 entered by Ford and driven by M. Volkers and G. Scott flashed to victory ahead of 2 Corona's which finished 2nd and 3rd. Of the Morris Coopers? One was forced to withdraw, the others were just not good enough. Of the 60 original entries, 55 started and only 42 completed the race, many badly damaged. Five were complete wrecks.

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