1964 Australian Touring Car Championship

The 1964 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of Appendix J Touring Cars and Group E Series Production Touring Cars.^[1] The championship, which was the fifth Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a single race staged at the Lakeside International Raceway in Queensland, Australia, on 26 July 1964.^[2] The race was won by Ian Geoghegan, the first of his five Australian Touring Car Championship titles. Geoghegan drove a Ford Cortina GT in what was the first Australian Touring Car Championship victory for a Ford driver and the first time that a Jaguar driver did not win the title.^[3]

Race

Lakeside's proximity to Brisbane ensured a large crowd as for the first time the race appeared wide open with many fancied runners. The Jaguars had faded, although Bob Jane's Mark 2 was a potential front runner, partly due to the rise of the Ford Cortina in either its GT specification or the Lotus-tuned version, of which only Jim McKeown's was ready in time for the race. For the first time Holden was a front runner with the S4 version of the EH. In the lead up to the race Ian Geoghegan rolled and destroyed his Cortina and a factory test car was driven up from Melbourne to get him back into the race.

Qualifying consisted of four ten lap heats, with cars sorted based on engine capacity. Only twenty places were available on the grid, with times from the heats deciding which drivers qualified for the race. The first heat, for cars up to 1300cc, was won by Peter Manton, just ahead of Brian Foley and Ron Clarke. John French, Steve Harvey, Richard Arblaster and Brendan Hare also qualified. The second heat, for cars between 1300 and 2000cc, saw McKeown take victory of Geoghegan after the two collided early on. Harry Firth, Glyn Scott and Brian Michelmore were the other qualifiers. The third heat was for cars between 2000 and 2600cc and was won by Barry Seton ahead of Des West, Bob Lidgate and Malcolm Bailey. Bruce Neville and John Reilly both crashed during the heat, while Warren Weldon suffered gearbox problems. The final heat was for cars over 2600cc. Jane took an easy win ahead of Brian Muir, Norm Beechey and Clem Smith. Despite qualifying for the race, Lidgate withdrew to allow Weldon on to the grid. McKeown gained pole position ahead of Geoghegan, Jane, Muir, Beechey and Manton.^[3]

Muir, Jane and Beechey made the best of the start and took up the top three positions ahead of Geoghegan and McKeown. McKeown was able to pass Geoghegan for fourth by the end of the first lap, with the top five pulling away from the rest of the field. McKeown then passed Beechey and Jane on the next two laps to move into second, while Smith crashed on lap 2. Michelmore retired with mechanical problems on lap 5. McKeown took the lead from Muir on lap 7, while Beechey and Geoghegan were battling hard for fourth. Firth had dropped eight seconds behind the top five at this stage, while Weldon had made his way from the back of the grid to thirteenth.^[3]

Jane moved into second place on lap 11 and took the lead on the following lap when McKeown made a mistake and dropped to third behind Muir. Weldon locked a brake on lap 15, hitting the bank and rolling his car on its side just short of where Smith had crashed earlier. Five laps later, McKeown, under pressure from Beechey, clipped Weldon's car and spun into the fence. Meanwhile, Jane was building a lead over Muir, which got out to over 100 metres, before his car began suffering from a clutch problem on lap 31. Muir took the lead and Geoghegan and Beechey both passed Jane on the following lap. Muir led for the next six laps until his left-rear tyre went soft and he pitted for a replacement. While fetching the spare wheel, one crewman accidentally handed his motel keys to another crewman trying to open the boot lid. The delay cost Muir two laps and his chance of victory.^[3]

Beechey held the lead under increasing pressure from Geoghegan, who was able to take the lead on lap 43. Geoghegan held on for the last seven laps to take the win, just 1.2 seconds ahead of Beechey. Jane, despite his clutch problems, finished in third, thirty seconds behind, while Foley and Manton were the last finishers on the lead lap. Scott, Muir, French, Seton and Firth completed the top ten.^[3]

Results

Class winners are indicated by bold text.

Pos.	Class	No.	Driver	Entrant	Car	Laps	Time/Retired
1	1301–2000cc	5	Ian Geoghegan	Total Team	Ford Cortina Mark I GT	50	58:29.5
2	Over 2600cc	4	Norm Beechey	Neptune Racing Team	Holden EH Special S4	50	+1.2
3	Over 2600cc	7	Bob Jane	Autoland Australia	Jaguar Mark 2 4.1	50	+30.8
4	1001–1300cc	8	Brian Foley	P&R Williams Pty Ltd	Morris Cooper S	50	+44.9
5	1001–1300cc	18	Peter Manton	Neptune Racing Team	Morris Cooper S	50
6	1301–2000cc	25	Glyn Scott	Max Volkers Racing Team	Ford Cortina Mark I GT	49	+1 lap
7	Over 2600cc	1	Brian Muir	Scuderia Veloce Pty Ltd	Holden EH Special S4	49	+1 lap
8	1001–1300cc	76	John French	Peter Uscinski Pty Ltd	Morris Cooper S	48	+2 laps
9	2001–2600cc	51	Barry Seton	BP Boomerang Service Station	Holden 48-215	48	+2 laps
10	1301–2000cc	81	Harry Firth	Ford Motor Company of Australia	Ford Cortina Mark I GT	47	+3 laps
11	1001–1300cc	17	Richard Arblaster^[4]	K.B. Nicholson Motors	Austin Cooper S	47	+3 laps
12	Up to 1000cc	28	Steve Harvey	K.B. Nicholson Motors	Morris Cooper	40	+10 laps
13	2001–2600cc	10	Malcolm Bailey	Malcolm S Bailey	Ford Zephyr	37	+13 laps
14	Up to 1000cc	47	Brendan Hare	Brendan Hare	Renault 750	32	+18 laps
Ret	1001–1300cc	14	Ron Clarke	Scuderia Veloce Pty Ltd	Morris Cooper S	43	Accident
Ret	2001–2600cc	27	Des West	Waggott Engineering Pty Ltd	Holden 48-215	37	Engine^[5]
Ret	1301–2000cc	3	Jim McKeown	Neptune Racing Team	Ford Cortina Mark I Lotus	19	Accident
Ret	2001–2600cc	91	Warren Weldon	Waggott Engineering Pty Ltd	Holden 48-215	14	Accident
Ret	1301–2000cc	67	Brian Michelmore	Brian Michelmore	Ford Cortina Mark I GT	4	Mechanical
Ret	Over 2600cc	46	Clem Smith	Clem Smith Motors	Chrysler Valiant RV1	1	Accident
DNS	2001–2600cc	75	Bob Lidgate	Bob Lidgate	Holden		Withdrew¹
Sources:^[3]^[6]^[5]

Notes:

^1 Bob Lidgate originally qualified for the race but withdrew his entry to allow Warren Weldon, who had gearbox troubles in his qualifying heat, to start the race.^[3]

Statistics

Pole position: Jim McKeown^[3]
Fastest lap: Bob Jane, 1:08.6 (126.68 km/h)^[3]
Race distance: 50 laps, 120.70 km^[3]
Average speed: 123.81 km/h^[3]

References

^ CAMS Manual Of Motor Sport, 1964, pages 48–51
^ Jim Shephard, A History of Australian Motor Sport, 1980, page 103
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Greenhalgh, David; Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (2011). The official history: Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years. St Leonards, New South Wales: Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 48–56. ISBN 978-0-9805912-2-4.
^ Arblaster was listed in the Official Programme as being from Malaya, although the Federation of Malaya had actually evolved into Malaysia in 1963
^ ^a ^b Ian Geoghegan is a champion, Australian Motor Sports, September 1964, pages 48-50
^ "Event 9 – Australian Touring Car Championship for Eagers Trophy (Final)". Eagers Present Australian Touring Car Championship Official Programme. 26 July 1964. p. 27.