10 1972 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase IV
I have chosen this to represent the zenith of the Australian muscle car era which flourished briefly in the late 60s and early 70s. In 1972 an article in the Sydney newspaper by Evan Green titled “160mph Supercars” created an enormous controversy, highlighting the homologation requirements that saw 300 Bathurst race cars (aka “bullets on wheels” in the article) have to be sold to the public. Within days several state governments were threatening to boycott fleet purchases from the manufacturers, and ban registrations of “super cars”, and the quickly manufacturers folded and abandoned the Bathurst specials they were working on. This was complemented by a change in touring car regulations to avoid the requirement for homologation specials.
The GTHO Phase III is celebrated for its dominant 1971 Bathurst victory (taking the first 6 places) and being the fastest four-door car in the world at the time, and these days fetching near million-dollar pricetags, yet the Phase IV would have eclipsed it. All areas were improved, including the engine, aerodynamics and handling, and it had a top speed of 170mph as confirmed by the owner of one of the three surviving cars. Only four cars were built, three by the race team and one that went down the production line.
http://www.bowdensown.com.au/cars/phase4.html
11 1972 Holden Torana GTR XU-1
The giant-killer, and a truly versatile competition car, the XU-1’s highlight was its performance balance. With components taken from larger cars and development by Harry Firth, it had fantastic handling with brakes and tyres also well-matched to its weight and speed. It won on the race track and in the forests. The Supercar Scare mentioned above saw the end of a V8 “XU-2” replacement, of which a few prototypes had been constructed and one was even raced.
http://www.toranagtrxu-1.com/index.shtml
12 1972 Chrysler Charger R/T E49
The third member of the “Bathurst special” triumvirate was the Weber-fed, straight six powered Charger. With the celebrated Weber carburetor setup had been perfected in Italy giving 302 bhp from the 4.3L (265ci) engine. In acceleration the E49 posted faster times for the quarter mile and 0-100mph (14.4 sec) than the much more powerful GTHO (mainly courtesy of lower gearing).
Chrysler always operated on a lower budget than its GM and Ford counterparts, and this was reflected in its race team. The E49 iteration of the Charger R/T finally had a fourth gear in its box, but the non power-assisted brakes were said to have cost 5 sec per lap around Bathurst. Despite this, the Charger had the performance to land on the podium twice, with a heartbreaking “if only” tale that might have seen victory. The factory team had realised fuel economy could be an advantage, and with the E49’s 35 gallon () tank managed to do the entire 500 mile race on one pit stop. Unfortunately the spanner in the works was attempting to attach the new set of tyres with a new set of wheel nuts – the cold wheel nuts would not go on the hot studs, and ultimately the car was sent back out on the old set of tyres, having squandered crucial, agonising minutes, to finish two laps down in 3rd place.
http://www.valiant.org/charger.html