What might have been in 1980 - Frank Gardner run Ford Dealer Team

[Ford17]

Hadn't heard of this before, but apparently Frank Gardner was set to head a factory Ford Dealer Team for the 1980 season.

Edsel Ford II was behind the concept, with Jim Richards and Colin Bond earmarked as the drivers; before it was ultimately knocked on the head by the then managing director Brian Inglis.

Further details here:
https://www.whichcar.com.au/features...n-factory-team

Interesting Moffat wasn't mentioned though.

[jpd80]

After the crushing 1977 Bathurst double whammy, Moffat sensed that Ford would be eternally grateful and was delighted to receive a summons to Broadmeadows for a boardroom lunch two days later. This would be the thankyou from the big boss Sir Brian Inglis and the hard-to-like marketing chief Max Gransden. Sir Brian delivered a wonderfully positive speech spelling out Ford’s gratitude to Moffat and his role in the “Win Sunday; sell Monday” sales fight.

Then he handed Moffat a sealed envelope. Payday! Moffat was thinking $50,000 or maybe $100,000 to reinforce his Ford future.

Later, in the car park, he opened the envelope. The cheque was for $1000. Tight-****d Ford’s Bathurst-win bonus didn’t even cover Moffat’s post-race party.

[Rob 351]

We had some other Ford team which started in 1980. Still going in part form even today!
Called Dick Johnson Racing.
The only time Ford has been serious about racing in this country was between 1967 and 1973! The rest of their efforts have been half ****d at best!
Thank god for Dick Johnson who has carried the blue oval pretty much for the last 38 years. Other Ford teams come and go but DJ is blue to the core....

[PooDog]

Originally Posted by Rob 351

We had some other Ford team which started in 1980. Still going in part form even today!
Called Dick Johnson Racing.
The only time Ford has been serious about racing in this country was between 1967 and 1973! The rest of their efforts have been half ****d at best!
Thank god for Dick Johnson who has carried the blue oval pretty much for the last 38 years. Other Ford teams come and go but DJ is blue to the core....

[Terror_Tree]

A very interesting article, the speed people were getting out of the light XD was amazing, imagine what a factory backed team could have done. Brian Inglis was certainly a killjoy when it came to "performance". I remember reading an article, back when Ford killed off the V8 in the XE, that Brian instructed the engineers to change the cross member (or something in the front end) of the XE to make it difficult for a V8 to be reintroduced in the XE or XF.

Just imagine if Ford had put EFI on the 5.8 litre in the XE/F. Would have made a great basis for a race car.

[rjk74]

Originally Posted by Rob 351

We had some other Ford team which started in 1980. Still going in part form even today!
Called Dick Johnson Racing.
The only time Ford has been serious about racing in this country was between 1967 and 1973! The rest of their efforts have been half ****d at best!
Thank god for Dick Johnson who has carried the blue oval pretty much for the last 38 years. Other Ford teams come and go but DJ is blue to the core....

Just found this on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyJBxznU7cE

[Rob 351]

Best thing about the ‘Yank’ 74 XB (B52) unfortunately was that Brut 33 paint job. One of the best liveries to grace our race tracks!!
Poor ol Moff had no end of troubles with it though at Bathurst and retired very early on!
Funny thing is though he ran the Aussie built XB (not B52) at the Sandown 400 a few weeks prior and blew everyone away that day.
B52 all came about because of Fords decision to pull out of Motorsport at the end of the 73 season.

[outback_ute]

Interesting that it has been kept quiet all these years

[Syndrome]

Was Brian Inglis the worst managing director In Ford Australia's history?

[bathurst-racer]

Originally Posted by Rob 351

Best thing about the ‘Yank’ 74 XB (B52) unfortunately was that Brut 33 paint job. One of the best liveries to grace our race tracks!!
Poor ol Moff had no end of troubles with it though at Bathurst and retired very early on!
Funny thing is though he ran the Aussie built XB (not B52) at the Sandown 400 a few weeks prior and blew everyone away that day.
B52 all came about because of Fords decision to pull out of Motorsport at the end of the 73 season.

The 1974 Sandown winner was indeed the Project B52. The woes Moffat had at Bathurst with the car were of his own making and the protest instigated by Harry Firth on the Saturday morning of the race weekend.

[Mesa]

Originally Posted by bathurst-racer

The 1974 Sandown winner was indeed the Project B52. The woes Moffat had at Bathurst with the car were of his own making and the protest instigated by Harry Firth on the Saturday morning of the race weekend.

To quote page 224 from his biography. 'I came back for the 1974 Sandown 500. The B52 was still in the states undergoing final testing so I ran the touring-car championship car'

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Was Brian Inglis the worst managing director In Ford Australia's history?

Sales figures say no.

[bathurst-racer]

[QUOTE=Darren290;6165804]To quote page 224 from his biography. 'I came back for the 1974 Sandown 500. The B52 was still in the states undergoing final testing so I ran the touring-car championship car.
That quote goes against all the reports of the time and Ray Cutchie sat at my kitchen table and told us all about the trip to the States and why the B52 failed at Bathurst after dominating Sandown.
What car exactly was the "touring car championship car"?
Moffat wrote off the 1973 car at Phillip Island at the end of that year and was given the former Gibson car. He raced this car in 1974 early on and quit the championship chase to take the car to America.
Australian Muscle Car magazine ran the story a couple of years ago too.

[Rob 351]

I think someone opened up a can of worms with the B52...
Certainly not going to argue with you Bathurst racer as you sound like a bloke who knows what he's talking about...
Anyway this is where I got my info...




When the Ford Works team withdrew from racing at the end of the 1973 racing season Allan Moffat set about building up a Falcon of his own which would become the most publicised and possibly the most expensive in the history of the race.
He utilised facilities and personnel of Ford people from both the United States and Europe in this attempt at winning his fourth Bathurst.
Although the plan eventually failed dismally it was a mammoth project which deserved better and promised much more. At Sandown a few weeks earlier Moffat appeared in a dark blue Falcon which simply blew the rest of the field into the weeds, winning easily and setting a new lap record on the way.

But this was not the same car that had been built up in America for the Bathurst race. although it did incorporate a few of the lessons learnt there..
The actual Bathurst race car was unveiled at a spectacular function hosted by Moffat's long-time sponsor BP, and its credentials and development history were impressive to say the least.
The Falcon, painted the same dark blue as at Sandown, but sporting the Australian flag and a "Moffat Ford Dealers" motif along each wing, was pretty much the same as the Sandown car, but built and developed during an intensive four week period in Ohio USA.

Its engine. fitted with newly homologated Ford parts. was alleged to give around 440 bhp, and unlike the Sandown race car it featured a four barrel Holly carb, rather than the twin choke Weber setup favored by the works team in 1973.
Dieter Glemser was nominated as the car's co-driver. while one-time arch rival of Moffat. Horst Kwech, was relief driver for the pair of them.
Horst is Australian basically, having emigrated to the USA from Sydney in 1962. He became a pro' driver in the States, as well as a small car preparation expert there. In 1966, Kwech beat Moffat to the 1600cc sedan class in the amateur racing finals of the SCCA at Riverside.
Subsequently, Moffat and Kwech shared a Mustang at Daytona and Sebring Trans Am races in 1968.

Looking after the pits was Lee Dykstra, an American who was Moffat's superior during his time as a test driver at Kar Kraft.
Dykstra, along with chassis ace John Mulrine, worked on the development programme of the Falcon in America.
Originally a General Motors man, he joined Ford in the mid-sixties, where, at the age of 26, he was involved in the Ford GT 40 programme, and later in the Trans Am Mustang development programme.
In 1968 Dykstra headed up the design team on Carroll Shelby's Mustangs which, as we said earlier, Moffat drove at Daytona and Sebring.
Later he transferred to Kar Kraft. When that part of the Ford empire closed down, he was appointed to research and safety design on Ford passenger vehicles. Lee Dykstra finally began supervising Horst Kwech's efforts racing a Capri V6 in the U.S. with the result that he was invited to Cologne to pass on a few of his findings to the European factory racing team.

The Bathurst Falcon GT ran the modified 5.7-litre V8 developed in Australia by AMR chief mechanic Ray Cutchie.
Part of a 90-day engine development programme by Cutchie and other engine shop mechanics used information gained from running a 351 V8 In Moffat's Mustang sports sedan.
A test engine, in Bathurst form, was put in the Mustang for track evaluation at Sandown.

Said Moffat: "The Mustang was set up for sprint conditions and we ran the engine flat out at Sandown. Best lap time was 1-16.0. Which is not hanging around.
"We were more than happy to set a new record lap of 1-16.9 with this engine in the Falcon at the Sandown 250. And we were carrying about 36 gallons of fuel at the time. We didn't have the track to ourselves either.

Two engines were flown to the United States for dynamometer and in-vehicle testing with the emphasis on oil surge problems, durability and reliability.
In the United States the engines were run long and hard - much harder than at Bathurst and for longer than the race distance. Not in an engine shop, but out on the track where it counts.
During the team's time in America, two Bathurst rehearsals were run on the 7 '/2-mile speed and endurance track at the Transporation and Research Centre in mid-Ohio. The 10,000-acre centre at East Liberty cost $26 million and Moffat describes it as an automotive Disneyland - is used by the Detroit car makers for vehicle testing. . . from Greyhound buses to prototype cars for 1980.
It was then the most advanced and newest facility in the world for the study of vehicle behavior, performance and durability.

Moffat along with Ray Cutchie and electrical wizard Graham "Jackie" Stewart spent four weeks working there with U.S. engine, suspension and tyre experts developing the Falcon.
The project was code-named Falcon B52. On both Bathurst trials, the Falcon was run for greater than race distance and was clocked at more than 160 miles an hour rocketing on to the 30-degree banking that links each of the three-mile straightaways.
The plan was to check the possibility of engine oil surge - a critical factor at Bathurst - high-speed stability, braking capacity, and the durability and grip of the Goodyear tyres which were tailor-made for the Falcon.
The car was run on BP Corse 50 oil, which was flown to Ohio from Melbourne.

An interested spectator was all-American champion Mark Donohue, a long-time friend and Trans-Am rival of Moffat, who was testing the new Penske Formula One racer at the centre.
Donohue was invited to drive the Falcon and give his opinion - he is one of the world's top development drivers. He stayed out on the track so long that he had to be finally black-flagged in!
His comment: "That's a great little car. I was having a ball out there. It sure as hell beats the 'stockers' I used to drive."

More oil surge and handling tests were done at the centre's skid pan, which covers an area of 50 acres, has a one-inch fall at the extremities and has nothing to hit. Tyres were one of the main factors in the whole expensive operation.
While Moffat was making his last appearance in the 1974 touring car championship at Sydney's Oran Park - he won that round and the earlier Sandown heat in one of the Former Ford works GTs - the Bathurst engine programme headed by Ray Cutchie was getting underway.

At the same time, an XB model Falcon GT two-door was being pulled down and carefully rebuilt from the ground up by Moffat's mechanics.
As tyre testing was an important part in producing a Bathurst winner, the decision was made to send the car to the United States.
For obvious reasons - testing could be carried out close to the Goodyear factory in Akron, new compounds, mixes and designs could be developed quickly. Results of tests could be put in the pipeline on the spot and modifications made. And the finest technical help was readily available.
As well, there was no facility in Australia for duplicating and exceeding Bathurst speeds and conditions.
The Ohio test centre was arranged and the Falcon was flown out in the belly of a Boeing 747.
Two of the engines which had been prepared and tested in Melbourne in Moffat's Mustang were later airfreighted to the United States.

The car was given a shakedown run at a short circuit close to Detroit before being sent to Ohio for a proper workout.
Moffat also took the opportunity of consulting with American experts on long distance racing and renewing friendships with suspension and engine designers, including Lee Dykstra.
The car was flown back to Australia, .but too late to compete in the Sandown 250.

With the car finally at Bathurst things started going bad and never really improved throughout the weekend, despite the fact that Moffat arrived as the overwhelming popular favourite for the event.
Ten minutes before the first official practice session had even started Harry Firth, then Manager of the Holden Dealer Team, put in a 15-point protest on the Number 33 Falcon.

Moffat was incensed.
In a terse press interview he stated:
"This is the greatest insult I have received in Australia and shows the level of sportsmanship of the opposition.
"If I have to pull the whole vehicle apart tonight to prove its eligibility, I will do so."
The car came through the investigation but had less luck during the practice session, losing all oil pressure. It was given an engine change and returned for the final practice but Dieter Glemser did only a few laps on a wet track to qualify before the ignition was swamped. They would have to start from 15th on the grid.
Moffat charged into fourth place on the opening lap but was forced to pit on the 12th lap, the first of many stops. A blown clutch eventually ended the run after suffering from distributor, bearing, gearbox and brake problems. Bathurst was obviously more demanding than Ohio and it was the end of one of the most expensive and glamorous attempts at winning the race.

This particular car raced on into the next season of 1975 but Moffat only raced the car a few times in the Australian Touring Car Championship events. It was later repainted red with number 25 on its flanks and was released with a huge new transporter from International Harvester.

Onto Bathurst once again, this time with Pete Geoghegan co-driving again, but it was another bad year for Moffat. After leading for a number of laps a gearbox broke and had to be replaced and then the car was later retired when a lower control arm in the suspension broke.
At the next race: at Surfers Paradise the car finally won a race for Moffat.

[GT450]

It was not a particularly happy time in 74/75 for AMR at Bathurst. I worked at Inters at the time and was there when they presented him with the transporter , the first of it's kind here, but it too turned out to be unlucky although it did get replaced after the fire.
His ex wife Pauline, ended up marrying Lee Dykstra and to this day , i believe , still lives in the US.
GT450

[Bossxr8]

Hard to imagine a car that was so thoroughly tested ended up having so many problems.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by GT450

...
His ex wife Pauline, ended up marrying Lee Dykstra and to this day , i believe , still lives in the US.
GT450

Yes, and made quite a name for herself too, she kept the Moffat name;
2012 WOMAN OF INFLUENCE: Pauline Moffat

Pauline Moffat didn’t create the IndyFringe Festival. She simply used her marketing and public relations experience—and her force-of-nature personality—to make the 10-day annual event an integral part of Indianapolis’ arts calendar....

Moffat arrived in Indianapolis from Australia in 2004, just after the Fringe was created. Within a year, she rose from volunteer to board member to director of the festival. Under her leadership, the festival has grown to 15,000 tickets sold in 2012, compared with 3,000 the first year....

“My background is in marketing, pr and motor racing,” Moffat said. “I had that instilled in me from a very young age that when the flag drops, you’d better be ready.”

Moffat moved to Indianapolis with her husband, auto-racing engineer Lee Dykstra. (She has a son from a previous marriage, Andrew, a musician/teacher who lives in Australia....

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Sales figures say no.

But decisions made during his tenure lost a generation of buyers long after he was gone.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

But decisions made during his tenure lost a generation of buyers long after he was gone.

Did it really though? EF was market leader a generation later. It was the poorly recieved looks of the AU that did more damage.

And in reality the V8 was only gone 8 years, and DJ was still holding the Ford flag high on the track.

Ford was doing so well during this period it almost sank Holden. Only the GM bail out saved them from bankruptcy.

[GT450]

During those 8 years or so many V8 fans went elsewhere and i suspect many never returned which would have had a knock on effect of losing future buyers costing Ford more than just 8 years of lost sales, and it takes a generation to rebuild that again.
GT450

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by GT450

During those 8 years or so many V8 fans went elsewhere and i suspect many never returned which would have had a knock on effect of losing future buyers costing Ford more than just 8 years of lost sales, and it takes a generation to rebuild that again.
GT450

Exactly. So many Ford people deserted the brand in the 1990s because if you wanted a Ford V8 either you had to buy a pre 1980s bomb or fork out big cash for a newer V8 Falcon. Commodore V8s were plentiful.

[bathurst77]

Frank successfully did it to Moff again a few years later when Allan started discussions with BMW about them backing him. Apparently negotiations suddenly went silent.
Then Gardner launched his BMW operation

[GT450]

It was Gardner who protested the Texaco sierras in 1987 after they had been scrutineered and approved to run and won. He did so at the behest of one P Brock as he was buying Gardners BMWS fo 1988 and Frank was moving to Ford Sierras in 1988. The whole thing was a stitchup. Brocky got Bmws Frank bought 2 sierras , but paid a price as the British operation were none too happy about the shonky protest being up held and Brocky being declared a very late winner, so many of the sierra parts from Britain were not to well manufactured. Payback for being Brocks Judas. Let's not forget the fule scandal for the Texaco cars too , which was also never proved despite the heresay by Crompton on the TV.
BMW won the only truly run World touring car championship because of this outcome at Bathurst , the fix was in. Had the original result stood Ford would have been World Champions, bur Brock gained another dubios Bathurst , his last as it turned out , and never got that elusive 10th which so many seemed so eager to donate to him.
Never had any love of Gardner after this even though his sierra, albeit in the same configuration as the cars that had been sin 1987, won the 1988 race.
GT450

[Ford17]

Is this your opinion, or do you have any facts or sources to support it?

The Brock BMW deal was not done until after Bathurst, and the 1987 protest was originally instigated by Gardner, along with Perkins and a few others. While Brock was originally in the initial protest discussions, he didn't officially proceed.

Gardner did himself so favours by proceeding with the protest, as Sierra competition parts became very hard for him to obtain from 1988 onward (Ford motorsport effectively black banned him).

I think you'll have to accept Brock won that race fair and square, and Gardner's protest was his own legitimate initiative, rather than try to rewrite history here.

[GT450]

Sorry but you do not let 3 cars run in the same guise after scrutineering then effectively ban them on protest after the race after 3 days of practice in the same format , so Brock did not win it fairly and squarely. The brock deal was well and truly happening before Bathurst as holden had told him he was persona non gratis after he released the director.

It was common knowledge what happened after the race but you will not see many reports on it as it affected Peter the great and in many eyes he was untouchable. Bill Tuckey would put you wise but sadly we lost him a while ago. You believe waht you want to , some know the truth.
GT450

[Ford17]

Given the Gardner BMW team had just won the ATCC, then showed up the European/Factory BMW teams at Bathurst 1987, to effectively be the better cars (in global competition); they would thus be extremely salable if offered in the market place.

So why on earth would Gardner (1) go to such elaborate lengths to try and sell his team, and (2) 'cut off his nose to spite his face' with Ford?
Doesn't make much sense, if any at all.

Tuckey's annual Bathurst book mentions the protest in detail, but doesn't even hint of this elaborate theory. And this book even hints at Skaife cheating to get his Gazelle qualified.