American Reacts to The 1966 GALLAHER 500 Bathurst 

Yes, I was 12 when the mini won in 1966. It is interesting that the cars back then were driven to the track as they were all road registered, then driven home after the race. No race seats, many had bench seats or bucket seats, very intersting era.

There were no sand traps then, if you ran off the end of conrod you could keep going all the way to the town center. When you see the mini doing a u-turn that's where he was. These cars were so stock that many teams fitted tow bars to the race car and towed a caravan to the track to live in. They removed the tow hook pumped up the tyres to 60 psi and went racing, then drove it home after the race.

In the early 90's I had a genuine Cooper S. It wind past the 100mph speedo easily, and smoke the front tyres from 1st to 3rd gear. I was young and stupid and traded it in on a vk commodore.

The race was dominated by the Morris Cooper S. It was won by the BMC entered example of Finnish rally star Rauno Aaltonen and experienced Australian Mini racer Bob Holden a lap ahead of Fred Gibson and Bill Stanley, leading home a flotilla of Cooper Ss that filled the first nine outright race positions. The best non-Mini was a Chrysler Valiant, some six laps behind Aaltonen and Holden in tenth position.

I use to working on some minis back in the day. They have a surprising amount of interior room. I'm a big unit and had no problem fitting behind the wheel. They were great fun to throw around (and these were just the bog standard road going ones).

I was 16 in 1966 when dad bought a Chrysler Valiant so naturally I was a fan of the Valiants. Our Valiant had the 225 Slant 6 but I think some of the Valiants in the race were the 318 V8 model. This was my favourite period for Bathurst. There were several classes, there was no chicane on conrod straight, tyres were cross ply, brakes were not disks, you could actually buy the cars that were competing and drive them on the road etc etc One of the teams (from Wheels Magazine I think) borrowed a Valiant from Chrysler, drove it to Bathurst from Sydney, removed the registration plates and went racing. The vehicle had a V8 and an automatic gearbox - the mighty Torqueflyte. They would come down Conrod Straight with the foot flat to the floor then at the breaking marker, pull the transmission into 2nd gear - the tacho would go off the end and they would brake like mad. They did this for the full 500 miles of the race. At the end, they refitted the number plates and drove back to Chrysler in Sydney where they left the car and a thank-you note. I decided to test dad's Valiant's brakes. I took it up to 60 mph on a nice straight quiet road and hit the brakes. It slowed to about 40mph and the brakes then disappeared and we just ploughed on. The following day I took our Renault 10 which had four wheel non powered disks and radial tyres. I did the same test from 60mph. The Renault simply stopped. Quickly. I was very careful in the Valiant from then on. I also got dad to put Michelin radials on the Valiant. He loved them - they seemed to last forever. Those were the days.

Gotta love how the commentators in all these old clips spoke with an Australian version of Received Pronunciation (RP). Back in the day news bulletins were all read with a "cultured" British-type accent. This was partly because a good number of the announcers and broadcasters were English but the other reason was due to a cultural cringe that Australia had at that time. In some circles, such as the media, the Australian accent was inferior and not to be tolerated and newsreaders were told to sound British or they would not be employed. Pretty sad. I am glad we finally broke free of the shackles of the "mother" country such as class consciousness.

Most of Australia did not get to see the race either. It took until the 1969 race until the TV coverage was extended to outside Sydney and parts of New South Wales. This coverage is from newsreel movies footage shown leading up to the main feature at cinemas.

Note that these cars have registration plates. Yep. Road worthy cars.

Up until 1972 the classes were based on price - with A being the cheapest, and going up to E by the late 60's/early 70's.

@3:00 "Looks like they're driving down a country road" They were. The Mt Panorama circuit, is in fact public roads, closed off for the race. You mentioned Ian, that these cars are 'basically stock'. In the day they were very stock, as the factory produced them. No machining of engine components (outside of reconditioning tolerances) permitted. Even with tyres (tires for you) if the particular model was built only with as an example, Olympic AireRide and no other option, it had to race on that very brand and model of tyre. Winning cars were taken aside after the race, and stripped down to check engine components like valves, camshaft, bore diameter, carb jets etc against the factory manual specs. If they didn't comply, it meant disqualification.

The Cortina’s actually won the first 3 years in a row at Bathurst. 63, 64, & 65. Bo Seton (Glen’s Dad) won in a Cortina GT500 ❤️❤️

Cool video. My first car was 1965 Toyota Corona. 4 speed on the column, no seat belts and the first mod was a poorly-fitted hotdog muffler. It hit 98 mph heading south on the Hume Highway north of Goulburn. The joys of life as a 17 year-old in 1976. Only by the grace of God did I survive, lol.

Those British Mini's were fire. Its so cool watching them hugging the track on the corners while everything else plods round. No wonder they used them in The Italian Job. The original mini with the dual steering for the stunt driver and the film driver still exists in a museum in Oxford in England, UK.

Chrysler's Valiant 225 slant 6 kicked off the power wars between Australia's "Big3" car manufacturers, and was the first local Bathurst entrant with a V8. Competition would lead to the development of such classic Australian muscle cars as the, R/T Charger, GTHO Falcon, and the A9X, SLR5000 Toranas.

Harry Firth, in the number 9 Mini. Harry was a works Ford driver, then he took over the Holden Dealer Team, and gave a young Peter Brock a career start. As or the brakes comment, conserving brakes was what won this race, and it was what made Brock such a good driver back in the day. He could drive a big heavy Monaro around while barely using them, while still being fast. Fun fact; Hell corner is named because usually when you arrived there you had no brakes left, after burning them at Murray's ;)

Ian, The other intriguing (frightening?) thing was the attitude to safety. Drivers in everyday trousers, shirts and jumpers (pullovers) and the very easy going attitude of the officials standing on the track to retrieve crashed cars! I was only 10 in 1966 but at the ripe old age of 40 something I raced alongside Bob Holden, he in a Group C Ford Escort & me in a Triumph Dolomite Sprint. Such a great bloke.

My first car was a '66 mini deluxe 998cc. She was my Rolls Canardly, rolls down hill and can hardly get up the other side, but not much could corner as quick. Later I purchased a Leyland S mini with a 1275cc and nothing could beat me for the first 20yards. I raced a '86 Corolla twin cam (100kw) up to Sassafrass from The Basin, with my 6'2" brother-in-law. I scared the pants off of him. He was amazed at the room inside and only struggled to get in and out as it was so low down. I had fitted Yokohama A008 tyres on widened rims, that gripped predictably. The Corolla would stretch the gap on the straights but hold me up around the corners. Another time racing a '78 351 GS wagon he had to brake more to turn into a side street from the left lane and me in the centre lane took the turn at 75kph across his nose. He later told me that my rear inside wheel was a foot of the ground. I sold it because my back couldn't handle the harshness of the suspension any longer, after an injury. I don't think I ever had an issue with the brakes and I drove it hard. I got her airborne over railway lines at 110kph on Riversdale Road and over raised pavements at 75kph which broke the rear trailing arm once. I settled down shortly after and drive more sedately these days, but have fond memories of the capabilities of those mini's and long to have another as a Sunday driver. p.s. Across the top of the mountain was extremely dangerous as there was nothing preventing you from going over the edge, hence the walls these days. Brave drivers back then, with little safety gear in car and services trackside.

I just quickly Googled Bathurst and found footage of the 1960 race, it's from abc tv, the original Conrod straight is 1mile long

I was 12 years old in 1966 the 1960s was the best decade for motoring

10:55 The wheel wants to return home to the pits It is very determined to get there. Though it wasn't a Good Year

A friend of mine used to race minis back then. I didn't take that much notice because I was busy doing the same with motor bikes. I came off there once. It's not a lot of fun when you're sliding along the track, heading towards those armour-all barriers at about 70mph.

My next door neighbour's Mum had a Mini I was about 8 or 9 so her Mum took 5 kids in the Mini and went to the bike track at the lagoon and drove around it!! Fun times!!

The minis had a habit of lifting a rear wheel under hard cornering. They were like a dog chasing the last post !

The police used cooper s minis as highway patrol cars back then. Back then the big cars only had drum brakes and some of the others had disc front brakes

Before Mount Pan there was the Vale Circuit at the foot of the Mount, a popular tourist drive. Also Gnoo Blas circuit in near by Orange (35 miles west) where Jack Brabham cut his teeth & is also a popular tourist drive

Back in the days when Bathurst WAS a Country Loop Road , accessing Farms in the Hills . And the Cars WERE pretty well Identical to what was in the Showrooms for general Sale , to Joe Public . The Mini's were something else at the time . Even the 850's were quite quick and the Cooper S 's had 1275cc's under the Bonnet . High Power to Weight .

I had a Studebaker Cruiser way back. And a Hawk. They had drum brake all around.

Hardie Ferodo 500 was the major sponsor of the race for many years from or before '69, even when it became the 1000 for a period.

In 1966 my Dad bought a 2nd hand Chrysler Valiant. . It was a very nice car in excellent condition painted burnt orange colour

They still run historic races using these cars. My brother raced a Mini in the histories for many years. They are still amazing. Try searching ‘Historic Winton’ and you might find some recent footage.

I had a mini 1000 non cooper model with a tiny bit of work done to it ( i was in the motor industry in those days ), it was very fast through the corners , mine had a top speed of 92 mph :) , had a lot of fun in that car , i would expect the race minis to be somewhat faster than that , they would leave the v8`s in the bends , and the v8`s would leave the minis on the straight . The little cooper s models out the factory where surprisingly quick through the gears , my mate had a 1963 cooper s brick with flared guards , and it was so much fun , and if you where in the passenger seat almost terrifying :) , if you ever get the chance to go for a spin in one Ian ... or take one for drive it is a must do .

I may of being 4 or 5 back in 66 but watching bathhurst back in those days were the best.

Fading brakes have been the Achilles heal for American imports ie. Studebaker, and Camaro's. Braking was Fred Flintstones Achilles heal as well. Literally.

A couple of quick comments - Cortinas won in the 3 years before this I believe and then got overrun by the Minis in 66. I also noticed a couple of Renault 8's in the starting lineup, and they ended up getting 12th and 18th places out of the 19 cars who actually finished!

I've owned 2of these genuine Cooper S and they will do 100mph no sweat. Probably the most fun you can have on 4 wheels. At the beginning of the video I think the commentator says they average 73mph, so they must've cracked the ton here and there. Fun video, I think I have seen an earlier video of the Armstrong race filled with Cortina's. Thanks for the fun memories, I miss my Cooper and my Gt Falcon. Regards Steve.

There was a Triumph 2000 in the race. My dad owned one of those. Brakes were a serious problem with it - stopping from speed took a long distance. He had to change pads every year, so I assume while racing at Bathurst they would have needed 4 pad changes during the race.

G'day Ian, l was 9 in 1966 and my Dad had a Mini for a short time, 3 speeding fines in a month and Mum told him to sell it, Dad missed that Mini, cheers, Neil 🤠.

The Bathurst 6 Hour for production cars is running tomorrow, and my nephew Duane West is running his Holden Commodore GTS with Tony D'Alberto, number 90 in class X

I was there, as I was twice a year for nearly 40 years. You comment that Mt Panorama looked like a country road. IT WAS and STILL IS. In those days at the end of conrod straight if you missed Murrays corner (to go back onto pit straight) you went down a dirt rate toward Bathurst. Unlike today there was no power steering and there was only one driver per vehicle for 9 hours straight. These were great days and as we moved into the 70's with the debut of the GTHO Falcon and XU1 Torana this race inspired driver from all over the world. The pit area was nothing like today as members of the ARDC we would set up a tent and it was magic. That's when motor racing was fun. Harry Firth (the silver fox) went on to be possibly the best team manager in history (HDT)

I am 61 so was quiet young. I guess I and my brother would have been laying on the floor. Mum was a Bathurst fan and it rubbed off on to us kids.

Thanks for the video I enjoyed seeing the old Bathurts and seeing how the Copper minies were until the Ford and Holden pulled out the big V8 in the next few years I would like to see how the race changers over the years

This is true production car racing. Buy a car Monday, tinker through the week and race it on the weekend. It would have been a great time to be a revhead.

That was the mini's only saving grace, it had bugger all straight line speed, BUT it could hold its max speed through the corners which out drove the bigger cars

Those straight 6 Toyota engines were so under rated. I had a 76 2.6L Crown. Toyotas Junior Cadillac

I agree with you, it would be nice to be there as it’s more on the sport not the politics you know, being honest and enjoying each other😊

Those mini's were so small and nimble. A 100hp in what looks like a dog-shed with NO safety equipment took a lot of courage. Drum brakes on all four corners and small 10-inch wheels with the tyre technology of the time. Would love to see this type of racing. Hopefully I can go to Goodwood in the UK one day.

Yeah I was 5 years old and my parents got their first black and white television ever ..... that year

Thanks for that. Correct 500 miles then to 1000 kms when we went metric. These early days were for basically stock road cars. The Minis were Cooper ‘S’ with the big 1275cc engine. The classes were by sales price and you would sometimes get cars with automatics running! Later years they switched to engine capacity to determine the classes. So Brock & Bond in the XU-1 was in a smaller class than Moffat in the GTHO Phase III but still trying for an outright win. This film was a couple of years before I started taking notice. The first result that resonated with me was 69 (I was 7) when Bond won in the HT Monaro 350. My Dad had photos of the corner at the bottom of Conrod turning into Pit Straight that he took in the 1930s at (I think) an Easter meet. The track was a dirt road at that time. I don’t know where the pictures are now unfortunately

I own and drove a mini cooper S. They are a blast to dive. Mine was a 12765 and I had it taken out to a 1310. It's top speed at the time was 115mph. The only problem was that it couldn't sustain that speed for long without overheating. I could beat the 253 Holden V8 to the ton, however he could stay there. I could beat 308s to 35mph and then they would come into their ow and whip past me. 351's well what can I say, I got across the intersection from a standing start and they were just blue smoke to the horizon. I did come up against a Mini Clubman and at the time I thought he only had a 1100, turns out he had modified it with the British Leyland racing motor and it was a 1410 with a straight laced gearbox and a crossflow head. That thing left me in the dust

Make note the VC Chrysler Valiants were running the 273 V8, drum brakes no booster and auto transmissions.

I worked at Bathurst in 1991 for Bob Holden when Ranuo came out for the first time since the this victory i was refueler on there car

Thanks for the vid Ian. Definitely deserves more views. On the topic of brakes, I used to get brake fade all the time in my HQ. They may have had better compounds in racing, even then but the speeds they are doing would also help to cool things down pretty quickly. Put modern tyres and brakes on just one of these vehicles, it would be interesting to see the difference.

Was 2 1/2 or 3 yo, living in Birchip Victoria at the time (look it up if you are bored), so unsurprisingly I don't remember it.

G'day Ian, 3:48 That Mini that went off at the end of conrod was probably just going into town to grab a beer 🍻😂 as the Bottom of Conrod is the main Entry Exit road. Yeah Top Speed on Conrod is not all you need, getting a good balance between the top of Mountain Straight & the Start of Conrod is also very important & is where the Kings of Bathurst rose above the others. This Early in the Bathurst History the Car Class was designated by $AUD Price Ranges so depending on Country of Origin + Spec Level you could get quite a mix of models in a class, later on they changed this to Engine CC Ranges which tended to put a model in a specific class unless it was something like a Ford Capri that raced as an I4 & V6 or Falcon that was raced as an I6 & V8 but this was pretty rare as most just chose the most powerful motor then lightest spec with that motor.

New South Wales cops used Mini Coopers as pursuit vehicles.

Well, I (now 72 of age and off grid and FB) raced on ice, with a Mini Cooper SS (with some secret funky going on) in north of Sweden. Drum brakes? Absolutely ;) But in winter and on ice OK ;) Drove later, even as elderly, Volvo PV = the best: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vzf6w4un08g.html

In those days all the cars where the same car you could buy stock tires stock engines stock bodywork not even roll cages. The saying was race on Sunday sell on Monday notice some of these cars had number plates.

This was an era of "Win on Sunday sell on Monday".

Just watched a V8 Supercar crash compilation that does have some monster crashes. The worst being a lose at the end of Conrod, First captured by the greatest camera in motor sport history. The ground level camera at the end of Conrod. The videos called, " Every 2021 Supercar Driver's Biggest Crash" at Lukas02.

Hey mate, You can still experience this type of racing. Look for Targa Tasmania. (Open road racing). A mixed bag nowdays. Some race super cars while others take their restored vintage cars at a more measured pace.

The very best, most interesting years of Bathurst, was when they raced stock standard off the showroom floor, family cars. It was called "Series Production". The cars mostly had bench seats, all ran on Michelin road tires, and absolutely no modifications were permitted. Consequently the cars really looked like they were being pushed hard, and it was a true test of the reliability of the car. But the Rules changed because really excellent family cars like the Toyota Corona just could not compete with cars like the Fiat 124 or Twin Cam Ford Escort, however the Toyota as a family car was the best of the bunch, just not fast. So they were loosing sales rather unfairly. So allowing homologated modified cars solved this problem, and we saw the birth of the Falcon GTHO and Holden Torana XU1, Valiant Charger E49. Where they only needed to build 500 examples to be eligible to race. In those days, ive seen when a V8 burnt a hole in one piston, so they removed and replaced the piston in the pits, and went back out to continue after loosing just 20 minutes! And the time that a Mazda rotary ran out of brakes at the sharp corner at the end of Conrod Straight, slammed into the barrier, so they hacked of the damaged front fender with an axe, and carried on racing... Nowdays, you cant tell what make the cars are, they all look the same, and they sit on the track like they are on rails, so for me, Ive lost interest in watching it.

when the cortinas fought with the minis youd see the minis lift a rear wheel as the cortina lifted its front through a corner, nice vid mate. very cool

I've gone to Bathurst 1000 every year since I was 4 years old, I'm 40 now and I've never seen this. Awesome 🤘

Loved the mini, aka "the flying brick"

1966 there were actually street registered racing in the race for some the car was driven to the track before the race

Hi Ian great video, the letter on the side of the car is the, Class they are in. Keep up the good work 👍 from Dave in Australia 🇦🇺

And Harry Firth (aka Silver Fox) was the guy who bought Brocky into the big league.

Ford changed the game in 1967 with the XR Falcon GT finishing 1st and 2nd.

Hubby raced his Mini at Bathurst and on the highways😂

G'day Ian, as you were saying th sat these cars were pretty much stock is correct but if you look closely at most cars they still have there licence plates on the cars. At that time a lot of drivers actually drove their cars to the race and hopefully drive them home again. Also on track lack of wall barriers, and some cars did roll down the hill on occasions. The good old days of Bathurst.

Both the Valiant V8 models that ran in 1966 beat all the Mini Cooper cars. But they were beaten by nine of the faster and newer Mini Cooper S cars. The S indicating a newer faster Mini model.

Funny you cover this one my dad was part of the pit crew for winning team.

these cars where so stock that the all where road registered and some where driven to the track before the race. no modifications .

The standard Mini most people bought back then was an 850 cc car with drum brakes and narrow tyres. The Morris Mini Cooper S were a 1275 cc engine that was much more powerful and had special racing strength internals. Disc brakes and bigger wheels and tyres. Stated by someone in the racing section of BMC Australia that BMC lost money on every Mini Cooper S they sold since the motor was built to such a high specification. The Mini Cooper S was more expensive to buy and so sold in much smaller numbers than the standard versions. Yet every Mini these days gets called a Mini Cooper. I think only one in a thousand were built to Cooper S spec.

They had posts on the track to protect the marshalls These drivers had Big Bollocks!

!!! I was at this race with my dad! (I was 2 years old..lol..but still!) It was the first time he took me to Bathurst. It was also the first time I 'met' his good mate Moffat. How this track has improved, but not totally changed! Awesome video! This was a lovely surprise for me..thanks :)

bob holden still races today with the group a and c cars and still does alright

Yeah, 500 miles. In that year, 1966 was when the change to decimal for currency happened, but we still hadn't changed from imperial to metric with measuring distance, weight, height etc. I was born in 1968 so this happened 2 years before me even, but yeah, they really drove by the seat of their pants back then. None of the safety features and requirements that the race cars of today have.

Old Grey Mare Ain't What She Used To Be.... Did a lap of the mountain on my way home from Goulburn just yesterday! They certainly have killed that track- "encased it in a coffin of concrete" is what Ive claimed for years now. Just like they've killed of most grass roots motor racing here as well- but thats another story :v Will send link to clip puttering around the remains of Oz's most famous 'closed road' circuit. Personally, my favourite is the Bungonia GP track @ 52m/84km- but that was only used once ;)

I was only 5 when this one ran. I have more complete memories from 1968 onwards. Back then it was more about the driver than the car being able to take it to the absolute limit yet be kind enough to the car to bring it home. Just about all cars ran on drum brake at this Bathurst and they were on cross ply tyres as there were no radial tyres yet. Traction on cross plies is almost a non event. My first car had them and they were frightening. So by early afternoon there was a lot of brake fade and it didn't have to be that hot before some of the cars would boil. It would take minutes to take fuel and change wheels and sometimes they would forget to put final tension on the nuts so it was common to see a car lose a wheel. If they had to change brakes that took nearly an hour and even then the mechanics hands needed treatment for burns afterwards. So the first half of the race was about establishing a lead and the second half was about nursing mechanical injuries to the finish and rare was a sprint to the finish. Oddly for us today that the different classes were originally based on how much the car cost rather than engine size that came later. Some of the sport models of the Mini could reach about 110mph and Conrod Straight was just long enough for them to reach it as long as they could pull up at the end of it. So for their day the Mini was no slouch. The V8s of the time were more about towing than performance. The only thing I hate about this time period is that TV producers didn't believe motor racing was exciting enough so they dubbed in screeching type noises.

I’m lucky Enough to still have my first car not going at the moment it’s a 1965 mini deluxe which is the smaller 998cc motor still much fun also my 3 car 1967 deluxe complete but needs a floor change (rust) been in storage since I’ve been married I’ve had the money to restore them a few times but family and kids come first but hopefully in the next year they should be running fingers crossed 🤞

Australia has a smorgasbord of cars. American, Asian and European. Even had our own which dominated for many years. 1st car was a '63 mini so a bit bias, underpowered but so much fun.

I feel super old after realizing l popped out only 5 years after this race. 😂

Distsh is only 2 feet deep but Mini tires/wheel only 12 inch sizes = no need a lot to get over roof roll.

Next to look at is 1965 to see the winning Cortina or 67 for the first Falcon GT winning in colour.

Mate, did you notice a lot of the cars had registration plates on them? A lot were driven there and home after the race. I have some footage from the 50s taken by my Dad. Cars, bikes and open wheelers. When I can figure out how to upload a CD I’ll get onto it.

You got to love ❤old school racing

and lets say i was 3 months old when this race was run lol

Datsun 510 fixed up right is awful hard to beat a sign of things to come for years in this one.

The minis were a beast back then, as someone who liked small cars you should enjoy this.

When the GT's came in the following years it was game over for the smaller cars

the mini that went off the road the driver wanted to make a pit stop....................ta boom tishhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Notice how whenever one of these old cars has an accident or rolls over the car is not breaking up into hundreds of little pieces like the modern cars do now.

Wow! ...I was born in '66! I've not seen this before!

Hey you might already know this but the v8s are racing this weekend in Melbourne . always great there as it's a fast track.

race them on Sunday and you can go out and buy one on Monday that was the philosophy back then such a shame we went away from that but also understandable in terms of safety.

Great video thanks Ian :) Another I've never seen.

high Ian in these days, there were rules you had too follow, first up their had to be a certain number of car's sold to the public, and all race car's had to be registered too drive on the road, and you had too drive them to the track that is why in the clip you Will see number plates on these car's,a safety check was done and they were put out in a open paddock till the start of the race and you were not allowed to touch your car, on race day only the drivers were aloud to go into the the paddock and bring there car to the grid, if it didn't start you were on your own, once all the running car's were on the track they wood allow pit crews into start the rest, they would line up in the rear of the field and the race would begin, I think the rego was because the track was still a public road.

The Studebaker story in Australia and how they were so close to winning the early 500 races from Shannon's : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SHHTPLw-oNM.html Police motorsport club drivers bought ex Police cars at the Police auctions. Nearly a real world Blues Brothers connection. I think Australia was the only place on the world where Studebakers were circuit raced back then Helped that they were locally assembled and more common on the roads here than Buick. Oldsmobile, Dodge, Plymouth, Mercury, Cadillac and Lincoln. Also helped that they were a common Police car in Victoria for a while.