The 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was a production car race held on 6 October 1968 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the ninth running of the Bathurst 500.

The race was won by the Wyong Motors entered Holden Monaro driven by Bruce McPhee (apart from one lap mid-race driven by Barry Mulholland) who defeated the big teams with a tactical strategy of running a buffed hard wearing street tyre rather than a racing tyre. Initially Des West and Ron Marks were classified second but were later disqualified for illegal engine modifications. Second place was then awarded to the factory supported Holden Dealer Racing Team Holden Monaro of Jim Palmer (to that point the best finish by a New Zealander) and Phil West. The AM Roberts entered Holden Monaro driven by Tony Roberts and Bob Watson finished third.

Future two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Allan Grice made his Mount Panorama debut in 1968. Driving with author Bill Tuckey in a Class D Fiat 124 Sport for Scuderia Veloce, the pair finished the race in 18th outright and 9th in class, 11 laps down on the McPhee/Mulholland Monaro.

Midge Whiteman and Christine Cole (who would later be better known as Christine Gibson, the wife of driver Fred Gibson), driving in a Morris Mini De Luxe, contested the race as an all female duo, placing fifth in their class.

Class structure Cars competed in five classes based on the purchase price (in Australian dollars) of the vehicle.

Class A Class A was for cars which cost up to $1,850. It was contested by Datsun 1000, Ford Cortina, Hillman GT, Morris Mini De Luxe and Toyota Corolla.

Class B The $1,851 to $2,250 class entries were dominated by the Datsun 1600, but also included Hillman Arrow, Hillman Gazelle and Morris 1100S.

Class C The $2,251 to $3,000 class was contested by Ford Falcon, Holden Kingswood, Fiat 125 and Morris Cooper S.

Class D The $3,001 to $4,500 class featured the outright contenders, Ford Falcon GT and Holden Monaro GTS 327, and also included single entries of Chrysler VE Valiant, Fiat 124 Sport and Studebaker Lark.

Class E For cars over $4,500, the class was contested by Alfa Romeo 1750 GTVs and a single Citroen DS21 Pallas.

Top 10 Qualifiers Pos No Team Driver Car Qual Pole 13 Wyong Motors Pty Ltd Bruce McPhee Holden HK Monaro GTS327 2:56.7 2 14 Lorack Motors (Granville) Pty Ltd Des West Holden HK Monaro GTS327 2:56.9 3 23 Holden Dealer Racing Team Paul Hawkins Holden HK Monaro GTS327 2:59.3 4 8 Ford Motor Company of Australia Ian Geoghegan Ford XT Falcon GT 2:59.8 5 25 Holden Dealer Racing Team Brian Muir Holden HK Monaro GTS327 3:00.1 6 24 Holden Dealer Racing Team Jim Palmer Holden HK Monaro GTS327 3:00.5 7 7 Ford Motor Company of Australia Spencer Martin Ford XR Falcon GT Auto 3:00.5 8 9 Ford Motor Company of Australia Fred Gibson Ford XT Falcon GT 3:00.9 9 15 AM Roberts Tony Roberts Holden HK Monaro GTS327 3:02.1 10 3 Brian Foley Motors Brian Foley Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 3:02.4

Results

Pos Class No EntrantHow they finished last year..., Official Programme, 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500, Mount Panorama, Sunday, October 5, page 27 Drivers Car Laps QualPos 1 D 13 Wyong Motors Pty Ltd Bruce McPhee Barry Mulholland Holden HK Monaro GTS327 130 1 2 D 24 Holden Dealer Racing Team Jim Palmer Phil West Holden HK Monaro GTS327 130 6 3 D 15 AM Roberts Tony Roberts Bob Watson Holden HK Monaro GTS327 129 9 4 E 1 Alec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd Kevin Bartlett Doug Chivas Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 129 11 5 D 25 Holden Dealer Racing Team Brian Muir George Reynolds Holden HK Monaro GTS327 127 5 6 E 3 Brian Foley Motors Brian Foley Laurie Stewart Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 126 10 7 D 10 Wright Ford Motors Bruce McIntyre Ken Stacey Ford XR Falcon GT 125 15 8 E 5 Canberra Speed Shop Peter Brown Ray Gulson Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 125 18 9 D 17 Stanmore Auto Port Chris Brauer Murray Harrod Ford XT Falcon GT 125 17 10 C 30 C Smith Don Holland Charlie Smith Morris Cooper S 123 23 11 C 34 Ford Motor Company of Australia Barry Arentz Mike Champion Ford XT Falcon 500 V8 123 20 12 D 8 Ford Motor Company of Australia Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan Ford XT Falcon GT 123 4 13 D 21 Needhams Motors Pty Ltd Warren Weldon John Hall Studebaker Lark 123 13 14 C 29 Marque Motors Digby Cooke Mal Brewster Morris Cooper S 121 22 15 B 50 Datsun Racing Team John Roxburgh Doug Whiteford Datsun 1600 120 32 16 C 38 Denis Geary Motors Pty Ltd Damon Beck Gary Hodge Morris Cooper S 120 21 17 C 63 R Marquet Alan Cant Ray Marquet Morris Cooper S 120 24 18 D 26 Scuderia Veloce Allan Grice Bill Tuckey Fiat 124 Sport 119 30 19 B 46 Peter Langwill Autos Pty Ltd Bruce Stewart George Garth Datsun 1600 118 38 20 C 36 W Gracie Warren Gracie Don James Morris Cooper S 118 36 21 B 49 Datsun Racing Team Kunimitsu Takahashi Yoshikayo Sunago Datsun 1600 118 28 22 B 65 Vern Curtin Motors Alton Boddenberg Rusty French Hillman Gazelle 117 35 23 C 61 Varsity Auto Centre John Prisk Alan Cameron Morris Cooper S 116 31 24 B 42 Dependable Motors Pty Ltd Dennis Cooke Hans Tholstrup Datsun 1600 116 44 25 C 33 Tony Basile Motors Tony Basile Gary Leggatt Fiat 125 116 42 26 B 41 Dependable Motors Pty Ltd Bruce Darke Bill Ford Datsun 1600 115 45 27 C 27 Scuderia Veloce Mike Kable Ron Kearns Fiat 125 114 40 28 C 35 Young & Green Pty Ltd Sib Petralia Jim Sullivan Holden HK Kingswood 186S 114 43 29 D 22 C Hodgins Clyde Hodgins Stan Pomroy Chrysler VE Valiant Auto 113 34 30 A 56 AMI Racing Team Bruce Hindhaugh Bob Morris Toyota Corolla 113 49 31 D 9 Ford Motor Company of Australia Fred Gibson Barry Seton Ford XT Falcon GT 113 8 32 A 55 AMI Racing Team Barry Ferguson Brian Sampson Toyota Corolla 113 47 33 B 45 WH Motors Pty Ltd Don Smith Herb Taylor Datsun 1600 112 33 34 B 64 MG Car Club NSW Matt Daddo Peter Ulbrich Datsun 1600 111 56 35 C 66 A Olsen Arthur Olsen Ray Scanlen Morris Cooper S 110 46 36 B 47 Austen & Butta Motors Pty Ltd Joe Butta Bob Genders Hillman Arrow 109 53 37 B 48 Tynan Motors Trevor Mason Neil Mason Morris 1100S 109 54 38 A 52 Central Auto Sales & Services Lionel Ayers Max Volkers Ford Cortina Mk.II 220 107 58 39 B 43 Kenthurst Motors Carl Kennedy Jack Mullins Datsun 1600 107 55 40 A 58 A Johns David Frazer Allan Johns Hillman GT 107 57 41 A 54 P & R Williams Christine Gibson Midge Whiteman Morris Mini De Luxe 98 60 42 D 7 Ford Motor Company of Australia Spencer Martin Jim McKeown Ford XT Falcon GT Auto 95 7 43 C 32 W & N Howes Martin Chenery Ernie Johnson Fiat 125 88 39 44 C 28 Marque Motors Lindsay Adcock Bill Stanley Morris Cooper S 81 26 45 A 57 AMI Racing Team Brian Reed Dick Thurston Toyota Corolla 74 50 46 A 60 North Shore Sporting Car Club Bob Drane Jim Laing-Peach Toyota Corolla 74 52 47 C 31 Frank Croft Motors Pty Ltd Gary Cooke Bob Muir Fiat 125 69 29 48 D 16 M Savva Mike Savva Bob Wilkinson Ford XT Falcon GT 62 16 DNF C 39 Vern Potts Rick Radford David Seldon Morris Cooper S 37 DNF C 40 Vern Potts Ron Heylen John Smailes Morris Cooper S 88 25 DNF D 11 Wright Ford Motors Bob Beasley Ray Morris Ford XT Falcon GT 87 14 DNF B 44 Eiffeltower Motors "Jack Eiffeltower" David O'Keefe Hillman Gazelle 54 27 DNF E 4 Citroen Cars (Citco) Pty Ltd Bill Daly Glyn Scott Citroen DS21 Pallas 41 DNF D 19 I Haynes Ian Haynes Max Stahl Holden HK Monaro GTS327 19 DNF A 62 Imp Spares & Repairs Mel Mollison Roger Withers Hillman GT 59 DSQ D 14 Lorack Motors (Granville) Pty LtdClass D (entry list), Official Programme, 1968 Hardie Ferodo 500, Mount Panorama, Sunday, October 6, page 35 Des West Ron Marks Holden HK Monaro GTS327 130 2 DSQ E 2 Alec Mildren (Qld)Adrian Ryan, Alfa's uncontested win, Racing Car News, November 1968, pages 30 to 32 John French Frank Gardner Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV 12 DSQ D 23 Holden Dealer Racing Team Paul Hawkins Bill Brown Holden HK Monaro GTS327 3 DSQ A 51 Datsun Racing TeamGeorge Stefanoff, All conquering Corollas, Racing Car News, November 1968, pages 24 to 25 Bill Evans John Colwell Datsun 1000 112 48 DSQ A 53 Datsun Racing Team Dick Sorenson Bevan Gibson Datsun 1000 112 51 DNS D 12 Jubilee Motors Pty Ltd Roy Griffiths Wayne Rogerson Ford XT Falcon GT DNS A 59 Bryan Thompson RacingClass A (entry list), Official Programme, 1968 Hardie Ferodo 500, Mount Panorama, Sunday, October 6, page 13 Adrian Ryan Bryan Thompson Ford Cortina 220 Mk.IImages of the No 59 Ford Cortina in the "1968 Bathurst" section of the autopics.com.au DVD "The Great Race – 1960 to 1996 – 30,000 images" shows the car to be a Mark 1 rather than a Mark II DNSAustralian Muscle Car, Issue 17, January /February 2005, page 38 D 20 Ken Waggott Speed Equipment N Petrilli W Slattery Holden HK Monaro GTS327

Note : Jack Nougher competed in car 44 under the name "Jack Eiffeltower" in this race.

Statistics Pole Position – No.13 Bruce McPhee – 2:56.7 Fastest Lap – No.13 Bruce McPhee – 2:58 (lap record) Average Speed – 119 km/h Race time of winning car – 6:44:07

References

Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1981, pages 130–137

Racing Car News, November 1968, pages 24–32

External links CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles race results