1966 Gallaher 500


The 1966 Gallaher 500 was an endurance motor race for production cars, held on 2 October 1966 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales in Australia. It was the seventh running of the Bathurst 500 race and the first time that the event had been staged under the Gallaher 500 name. 250 examples of a particular model had to be registered for a vehicle to be eligible for the race, up from the 100 examples required in previous years.
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.

Class structure

Cars competed in four classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars.

Class A

The Up to $1,800 class was contested by Datsun 1300, Fiat 850, 1.2 litre Ford Cortina, Morris Mini De Luxe and Morris 850.

Class B

The $1,801 to $2,040 class featured 1.5 litre Ford Cortina, Hillman Minx, Isuzu Bellett, Morris Cooper, Prince Skyline, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona.

Class C

The $2,041 to $2,700 class entry list was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also included a Fiat 1500, and a Toyota Crown.

Class D

The $2,701 to $4,000 class featured Chrysler Valiant, Holden HD X2, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122S.

Results

Pos.ClassNo.EntrantDriversCarLaps
1C13BMC Pty. Ltd. Rauno Aaltonen
Bob Holden
Morris Cooper S130
2C17Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd. Fred Gibson
Bill Stanley
Morris Cooper S129
3C22Regal Motors Pty. Ltd. Bruce McPhee
Barry Mulholland
Morris Cooper S129
4C27Marque Motors Arthur Davis
Paul Mander
Morris Cooper S128
5C10Baulkham Hills Service Station Peter Brown
Bob Cook
Morris Cooper S128
6C9L. Gordon Dent Pty. Ltd. Harry Firth
Ern Abbott
Morris Cooper S128
7C24W. Jamieson John Leffler
Bill Jamieson
Morris Cooper S127
8C23BMC Pty. Ltd. John French
Steve Harvey
Morris Cooper S127
9C16B. Arentz Barry Arentz
Barry Seton
Morris Cooper S125
10D5Eiffel Tower Motors Jack Nougher
David O'Keefe
Chrysler VC Valiant V8 Automatic124
11D6Advanx Motor Service Pty. Ltd. Alton Boddenberg
Digby Cooke
Chrysler VC Valiant V8 Automatic122
12B41Gordon Stewart's Sports Car Centre Don Holland
Peter Cray
Morris Cooper120
13D3Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Max Stewart
Bob Young
Triumph 2000120
14C20R. C. Kearns Ron Kearns
Barry Quayle
Fiat 1500120
15D8British & Continental Cars Kevin Bartlett
John Harvey
Volvo 122S119
16C14Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Bill Buckle
Allan Mottram
Toyota Crown119
17B33Vern Potts Doug Chivas
Doug Chivas, Jr.
Morris Cooper119
18B42Brian Foley Motors Pty. Ltd. Laurie Stewart
Ray Morris
Morris Cooper119
19D7M. Savva Mike Savva
Herb Taylor
Holden HD X2118
20B37Australian Motor Industries Brian Reed
Des Kelly
Toyota Corona117
21B29Canopus Motors Pty. Ltd. George Reynolds
Barry Ferguson
Isuzu Bellett 1500117
22A54Nissan Motor Company Pty. Ltd. Moto Kitano
Kunimitsu Takahashi
Datsun 1300117
23A49Nissan Motor Company Pty. Ltd. John Roxburgh
Doug Whiteford
Datsun 1300116
24A53Peakhurst Tyre Service Pty. Ltd. Brian Lawler
Harry Gapps
Ford Cortina Mk.I 220116
25B45Motor Racing Components Lionel Ayers
Max Volkers
Hillman Minx Series 6116
26A51Nissan Motor Company Pty. Ltd. John Colwell
Fred Sutherland
Datsun 1300116
27B32Australian Motor Industries Brian Sampson
Lew Marshall
Toyota Corona116
28A47Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd. Trevor Meehan
Ian Hindmarsh
Fiat 850113
29A55Marque Motors Mike Schneider
Bruce Wright
Morris Mini De Luxe113
30B40John Rhodin Pty. Ltd. Arthur Treloar
Colin Bond
Isuzu Bellett 1500111
31A56Radial Tyre Service Pty. Ltd. George Garth
Ray Marquet
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1200110
32A50Ken Lindsay Motors Pty. Ltd. Ken Lindsay
Des West
Ford Cortina Mk.I 1200110
33B34Peter Williamson Pty. Ltd. Peter Williamson
Alex Macarthur
Toyota Corona110
34A57K. D. McCallum & Coy John T. Smith
Dennis Gregory
Morris Mini De Luxe109
35B43Renault R8 Bob Edgerton
Ross Edgerton
Renault R8106
36B31Varsity Auto Centre John Prisk
Mike Martin
Morris Cooper105
37B35Autobahn Motors Pty. Ltd. Bruce Darke
Don James
Isuzu Bellett 1500104
38D2Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd. Warren Weldon
Bill Slattery
Studebaker Lark88
39A48M. Bailey Malcolm Bailey
John Hicks
Morris 85087
40B38Wheelmar Distributors Pty. Ltd. Carl Kennedy
Doug Stewart
Prince Skyline 150082
41B30Denis Geary Motors Pty. Ltd. Gary Hodge
Denis Geary
Ford Cortina Mk.I 150074
DNFC21Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd. Frank Matich
Bruce Demuth
Morris Cooper S126
DNFA46Bill Burns Bill Burns
Alex Lazich
Fiat 850
DNFA58G. Shoesmith Gary Shoesmith
Tony Robards
Vauxhall Viva94
DNFC26M. Crampton Engineering Mick Crampton
Geoff Leeds
Morris Cooper S
DNFC18C. G. Smith Charlie Smith
Ron Haylen
Morris Cooper S64
NCC19Radford Carriers Rick Radford
David Bye
Morris Cooper S54
DNFD4British & Continental Cars Gerry Lister
Graham Porter
Volvo 122S52
DNFC15W. Yates Pty. Ltd. Ken Stacey
Mal Henderson
Morris Cooper S
DNFC28BMC Pty. Ltd. Paddy Hopkirk
Brian Foley
Morris Cooper S28
DNFC12Ron Hodgson Motors Pty. Ltd. Ron Hodgson
Bob Beasley
Morris Cooper S15
DNFC25P. Coogan George Forrest
Frank Hann
Morris Cooper S12
DNFB39Wheelmar Distributors Pty. Ltd. Jack Murray
Bill Ford
Prince Skyline 1500

Statistics