1962 Armstrong 500

The 1962 Armstrong 500 was an endurance race for Australian built production cars. The race was held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia on 21 October 1962 over 167 laps of the 3.0 mile circuit, a total of 501 miles. Cars competed in four classes based on the retail price of each model. Officially, only class placings were awarded but the No 21 Ford Falcon driven by Harry Firth and Bob Jane was recognised as "First across the line". This was the third and last Armstrong 500 to be held at Phillip Island prior to the race being moved to the Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst in New South Wales where it later became known as the Bathurst 1000.

Class structure

For the 1962 race the division of classes was changed from engine capacity, used in the previous two Armstrong 500's, to the purchase price (in Australian pounds, the currency of the era) of the vehicle on the Australian market, the intention being to allow the public to make comparisons according to their potential financial circumstances rather than approximating cars of equivalent vehicle performance. An upper limit of £2000 was established to prevent the race from becoming dominated by sports exotica. In terms of actual cars entered the changes saw the Renault Gordinis move up from Class D to Class C, while the Volkswagens dropped from C to D. Volkswagen would break through for their first class victory this year.

Class A

Class A was for cars with a purchase price of between £1251 and £2000. The class featured Chrysler Valiant, Citroën ID19, Ford Zephyr, Studebaker Lark and Vauxhall Velox.

Class B

Class B was for cars with a purchase price of between £1051 and £1250. The class was dominated by the new Ford Falcon XL but also feature Austin Freeway and Holden EJ.

Class C

Class C was for cars with a purchase price of between £901 and £1050. The class featured Hillman Minx, Morris Major, Renault Gordini and Simca Aronde.

Class D

Class D was for cars with a purchase price of less than £900. The class featured Ford Anglia, Morris 850, Triumph Herald and Volkswagen.

Race

In a pointer towards the future the race results outright order was dominated by the new XL series Ford Falcon were three of the first four cars home, led by the factory supported car of defending race champions Harry Firth and Bob Jane. On the same lap as Firth/Jane was the Class A winning Studebaker of Fred Sutherland and Bill Graetz, who won the class by four laps, defeating the factory supported Ford Zephyr being driven by Geoff Russell and David Anderson, denying them of a third consecutive class victory. The performance of the big Studebaker was noteworthy in that while Larks continued to be entered into the race until 1968 this was as close as they would get to an outright victory.

In Class C one of the Renault Gordini's won despite being the victims of the new class structure with Rex Emmett, John Connolly and Brian Sampson racing to a four lap victory. Sampson in particular would become a fixture of the race in the next two decades, which after demolishing the 1974 field only to blow their engine, would finally win the race outright in 1975 as Peter Brock's co-driver.

There are some reports that the Class C winning Renault Gordini driven by Emmett, Connolly and Sampson was disqualified after the race along with the second placed Morris 850 in Class D driven by Allen and Hooker. However their original placing are still shown in the list of official results. This is likely due to the scrutineers taking days to finalise their results followed by protests by the entrants at their exclusions. The completed results were widely published before the disqualifications were finally enforced thus many subsequent publications show an incorrect finishing order including Bill Tuckey's "Australia's Greatest Motor Race". This would make the Morris Major driven by Edney and Fayer the correct winner of Class C.

Jim McKeown, an emerging star in small bore touring cars, and George Reynolds took their Volkswagen to the Class D victory, beating the leading Mini by a lap. Reynolds too had an outright victory in store in just two years time in 1964.

Aftermath

The toil placed on the cold mix bitumen surface by the race, with the largest entry the race had seen, overwhelmed the Phillip Island racetrack. Dangerous potholes formed all around the circuit, leaving a hefty repair bill, and an ominous threat to the future growth of the race. Staying at Phillip Island, as attractive as other factors presented, was plainly impossible and the search began by the promotors for a new home for the increasingly popular endurance production car race. Earlier the same year the Bathurst Six Hour Classic had been held at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst (won by a Daimler not eligible to run in the Armstrong), and that circuit immediately entered speculation.

Results

Pos	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps
Class A
1	2	Canadian Cycle and Motor Co	Fred Sutherland Bill Graetz	Studebaker Lark	167
2	10	Ford Motor Company	Geoff Russell David Anderson	Ford Zephyr Mk III	163
3	7	Continental and General Distributors	Norm Beechey Greg Cusack	Citroën ID19	160
4	5	Hawthorn Auto Wreckers	Vic Croft Wal Gillespie	Chrysler Valiant	160
5	8	Scuderia Veloce	Bill Buckle Brian Foley	Citroën ID19	156
6	9	Wallace Auto Racing Stable	Bill Wilson Mike Ide	Citroën ID19	155
7	6	Calder Motor Raceway	Pat Hawthorn G Hibberd	Chrysler Valiant	153
8	3	Hospital Hill Motors	Don Algie Kingsley Hibbard	Studebaker Lark	127
DNF	4	Auburn Garage	Peter White Peter Boyd-Squires	Chrysler Valiant	118
DNF	1	SA Cheney Pty Ltd	Frank Coad John Roxburgh	Vauxhall Velox	64
Class B
1	21	Ford Motor Company	Harry Firth Bob Jane	Ford Falcon XL	167
2	20	Ford Motor Company	Ken Harper John Raeburn Syd Fisher	Ford Falcon XL	166
3	25	Broon's Motors	Alan Caelli J Edwards John Bodinnar	Ford Falcon XL	165
4	26	LJ Callaway	John Callaway Frank Porter Jim Smith	Ford Falcon XL	161
5	22	Molybond Laboritories	Barry Foster Bob Brown David Catlin	Holden EJ	160
6	24	Hilltop Autos	Lex Davison John Brindley Phil Trueman [1]	Austin Freeway	159
7	23	C Smith	Charlie Smith Brucer Maher	Austin Freeway	145
8	27	New Oakleigh - New St Kilda Motors	Kevin Lott Tom Roddy Brian Devlin	Ford Falcon XL	134
Class C
1	30	Rex Emmett	Rex Emmett John Connolly Brian Sampson	Renault Gordini	162
2	34	Edney's Garage	Alan Edney Greg Fayers	Morris Major Elite	158
3	33	Eiffel Tower Group	Diane Leighton Anne Bennett Pam Murison	Simca Aronde	157
4	37	Clemens Sporting Car Service	Ian Wells Don Dunoon	Hillman Minx	151
5	36	W Nalder	Wes Nalder John Fish	Hillman Minx	145
DNF	31	Eiffel Tower Group	Jack Eiffeltower [2] Lionel Marsh Vern Curtin	Simca Aronde	121
DNF	32	Eiffel Tower Group	Bill Roberts J Hume W Murison	Simca Aronde	63
DNF	35	Carburettor Centre - Belvedere Motors	Les Darcy Don Castaldi	Simca Aronde	60
Class D
1	48	HG McLean Motors	George Reynolds Jim McKeown	Volkswagen	162
2			D Hooker Terry Allen	Morris 850	161
3	41	Ace Motors Pty Ltd	Geoffrey Waite Peter Macrow Rocky Tresise	Morris 850	160
4	50	Spencer Motors	Tony Theiler Bob Foreman Reg Lunn	Volkswagen	160
5	40	Jack Hunnam	Jack Hunnam John Hartnett	Morris 850	160
6	42	Head Bros	George Huse Clarrie Head	Morris 850	159
7	51	GA Gibson	Hoot Gibson Paul England Jack Madden	Triumph Herald	157
8	44	SD Hughes	Graham Hoinville Kevin Burns	Ford Anglia	157
9	47	SC Martin	Stan Martin Les Park	Triumph Herald	154
10	53	Sydney Grevett	Syd Grevett Cliff van Praag	Morris 850	150
11	45	McLure's Restaurants	George Poulton R Poulton M Watson	Triumph Herald	150
DNF	49	Whiteford Motors	Doug Whiteford Lou Molina	Volkswagen	148
DNF	52	AG Reynolds	Tony Reynolds A Humphries Frank McEnroe	Morris 850	101
DNF	46	High Road Auto Port	Jack Anderson J Binning Bob Bullock	Triumph Herald	13

Statistics

• Fastest Lap - #3 Algie/Hibbard - 2:42
• Race Time - 8:15:16.0

References

Sources

• Australian Motor Sports, December 1962
• Tuckey, Bill (1981). "1962: The end of the island:". Australia's Greatest Motor Race The Complete History. Sydney: Lansdowne Press. pp. 82–89. 
• Australia's Greatest Motor Race, The First 30 Years, © 1989
• The Age, Monday, 22 October 1962
• Wheels, January 1963
• Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). "1962 The end of the island". Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999 The first 40 years. Hornsby: Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited. pp. 108–113 & 452. ISBN 1-875221-12-3. 

External links

• CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
• race results
• Autopics Phillip Island images