Originally Posted by: Dr Terry Getting back to Bathurst lap times, things sure have changed since the days of the GTS327.
AFAIK Bruce McPhee's HK was the first Series Production car to break the 3.00 barrier, but the times quickly tumbled in the next few years.
1969 Geoghegan's GTHO qualified with a 2.48, while the best times during the race were the Moffat/Hamilton & Gibson/Seton GTHOs with 2.52.
1970 was a fraction slower with Moffat's 2.49 qualifier.
1971 saw Moff do a 2.38 qualifier & Bob Morris did 2.40 during the race.
1972 had Moffat qualifying in 2.35 & racing in 2.36. PB qualified with a 2.38 & won the race !! This was the last year of Series Prod rules.
1973, the first Group C year didn't see the huge improvement expected. Moff qualified & raced at 2.34.
By 1979 PB had his A9X qualify at 2.20 & race at 2.21, on the last lap IIRC.
These are are all on the shorter track before the Chase was added. It seems to add about 4 seconds. I think the biggest improvement has been with tyres, not so much engines.
I'll have to say that I'm not a fan of the new 'racing trucks' with smaller engines & a high centre of gravity, they won't be quite the same as the Holden/Ford V8 utes.
Dr Terry
Des West did 2.56.9 in early qualifying for Bathurst 1968, and Nick Petrilli was similar. Both were exceeding 130mph on Conrod. Bruce McPhee qualified late with 2.56.7, must have been a screamer of a lap as Bruce did not have the race pace of the West and Petrilli cars as he had a 3.08 rear axle, where the other two had 3.36. During the race it was clear the 3.36 rear axle was the one to have as West and Brown (23D) pulled away from the rest. The other car on the front row was 23D that also qualified with a sub 3 minute of lap of 2.59.3. The Geoghegan GT on the second row managed 2.59.8. West starting lapping other cars by the end of the 6th lap when he overtook 19D which had problems. There was no other car in sight from Murray's at the end of lap 6 than a GTS327:
http://autopics.com.au/6...otographer-ray-simpson/
The fastest official lap in 1968 by McPhee of 2.58 was not the actual fastest. It was Des West's but all his times were erased from the record in the cover up. I have seen copies of the original time sheets.
All the Holdens ran road tyres in 1968.
In early qualifying Geoghegan pulled off a 2.51.6 on
racing rubber, remembering the track was fully resurfaced after the 1968 race. Digby Cooke then did a 2.50.2 on racing rubber. Quickest cars on XAS were Bond with 2.54 and McPhee's GT with 2.55.4. Final qualifying times saw Geoghegan on 2.48.9 (GT race rubber), Cooke (HT race rubber), McPhee 2.51.1 (GT XAS), Bond 2.53.8 (HT XAS). Even 64D (Tuckey, Petralia HT) on row 5 with a time of 2.56.2 on Firestone racing rubber was faster than the 1968 pole. The only showroom stock car in that class in 1969 (49D HT of Sheldon/Holland running the stock GTS350 tyres) did 2.56.5 and qualified on the 6th row of the grid, also faster than the 1968 pole. The fastest officially recorded lap was Geoghegan's 2.52.1, although unofficial records show Brock doing a faster lap.
The 1970 race times show you that the BS hype about the PhaseII being superior to the original GT-HO is just that. The 1969 qualifying times, fastest race lap times and the total race time in 1970 were slower than 1969, despite the 1969 race being stopped for a period before the first lap was completed by the field to clear up Bill Brown's crash. I still believe that if HDT had kept the GTS350 for 1970 rather than switching to the XU1 that a HG may well have won the 1970 race. As it was Don Holland's XU1 in 3rd place was on the same lap as the two ailing XW's that filled the first two places and was rapidly catching them. Magazine articles from reporters who were there state that another few laps and the XU1 would have won. The official record of Holland being a lap down is wrong.
You cannot beat modern technology in engines, brakes, suspension and track surface! Not surprised many modern road cars are quicker than 1960's race cars. I bet not many are quicker than the 1968-72 Group C cars at Bathurst though!
After 1970 I don't think much year to year comparisons can be made as the tyres used were stating to really show up in lap times.