Fathers Day Thunder Down Under
Sydney's Eastern Creek will host a meeting of 1970s Australian muscle cars at the 40th anniversary of Ford's Falcon GT-HOIf you only go to one event a year and you have fond memories of Australian saloon car racing in the early 1970s, then ink-in Eastern Creek on Father's Day, September 6, as a date not to miss.
Coinciding with the 40th birthday of the Ford Falcon GT-HO that defined factory-built racecars at the time, the eagerly anticipated Muscle Car Masters event will bring together a collection of racecars from the era to recreate the spectacle of Fords, Holdens and Chryslers slugging it out in the hands of now-legendary race drivers.
The line-up of cars will include Falcon GT-HO, Chrysler Valiant R/T Charger, and Holden trio Monaro GTS, Torana XU-1 and Torana A9X.
The luminary roll-up of drivers will include Colin Bond, Fred and Chris Gibson, Allan Moffat, John French, Harry Firth, Leo Geoghegan, Alan Grice, Kevin Bartlett, Jim Richards, Barry and Glenn Seton, John Harvey, John Bowe, Murray Carter, Phil Brock and Bob Holden.
Moffat and French will be driving the GT-HO that won them the Sandown Three-Hour race in 1969.
"The 1960s and '70s were defined by cars that you could race on Sunday and buy in the showroom on the Monday - Muscle Car Masters is no different" said Allan Moffat before the event.
The day will be further enlivened by events including the Biante Touring Car Masters, New Zealand Central Muscle Cars, Group C and Group A Bathurst touring cars and Historic Touring cars from the 1960s and '70s.
Early 1970s race car fans will be treated to an Australian muscle car show and shine, as well as a special homage to the GT-HO.
The GT-HO went through three stages during its tumultuous years on Australian race circuits, starting in 1969 with the XW Phase 1 and progressing through to the GT-HO Phase II in 1970 and, unquestionably the most famous of all, the XY-based 1971 GT-HO Phase III.
The HO appellation stood for "Handling Option" with Ford claiming at the time the cars were merely enhanced versions of regular Falcon GTs. No accurate power figures were quoted, Ford merely saying the output for Phase 1 and II versions was the same as the regular 224kW GT.
But it is accepted that all were fitted with increasingly powerful versions of Ford's small-block V8. In its final, Phase III form, the power figure was said to be 276kW. As was typical of the era, all GT-HOs ran rear drum brakes and a live rear axle.
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