Colin Bond - Bathurst 1977

[one five five]

Bond did the right thing. Followed his orders and endeared himself to Ford. Surely he knew any disobeying of orders would potentially hurt his running of the Escort rally team.

Was it Bonds promised Bathurst prizemoney (for first?) not being paid that caused the court action against Moffat in 1978?

Despite some memories, it wasn’t the rosy relationship between Moffat and Ford in 1977, perhaps that’s the reason for the measly “$1000” bonus he got from Ford after 1977?

Ford didn’t pull the pin on touring cars initially after the dreadful 1978 season for the Moffat Ford Dealers Team, but their 1979 plans didn’t include Moffat’s team running the cars.

The Ford plan was to run a works 2-car team of new XD Falcons for 1979, with Bond as lead driver and likely his team in Sydney prepping them (the other option was an in-house Ford team akin to Lot 6).

There was a chance Moffat would be offered a role as driver only, but the Malvern workshop wasn’t going to be involved.

Ford couldn’t work the XD into CAMS regs/CAMS wouldn’t work with Ford for 1979 though so Edsel Ford II pulled the pin completely….

Originally Posted by John Roberts

Hang on, up until this time Bond was a HOLDEN man through and through. Imagine how it would have looked if a former ATCC close-rival Holden driver won Bathurst in a Ford, just pipping his new boss.

I really admire Allan but as a serious Ford fan I have never forgiven him for what I consider to be a serious lapse in judgement in taking on Bond (where he risked Bond 'mishearing' his order) and see Bathurst '77 as a 1 for Moffat and nothing for Bond because he was a Holden man and should have been faithful to the brand (if he had left Holden and competed as a privateer I would have supported his win).

When Moffat teamed up with Brock in '86 (after all the REAL Bathursts were over anyway) he famously 'accidentally' crashed the 05 Mobil Commodore in practice. Heh, heh, heh.

Bond was every bit the Ford man by the end of 1977, running the works Escort rally team alongside his Moffat Dealer Team drives.

Moffat was every bit the professional team boss running the works ford team, he hired the best driver he could for the second seat.

Originally Posted by High_OCTANE_HSV

Gee that was a thread dredge and a half, almost 20 years.

The long loved relic of this forum, the “02 astc” thread will make a comeback next…..THAT covered some ground (and years)

[Henry]

Originally Posted by one five five

Despite some memories, it wasn’t the rosy relationship between Moffat and Ford in 1977, perhaps that’s the reason for the measly “$1000” bonus he got from Ford after 1977?

Ford didn’t pull the pin on touring cars initially after the dreadful 1978 season for the Moffat Ford Dealers Team, but their 1979 plans didn’t include Moffat’s team running the cars.

The Ford plan was to run a works 2-car team of new XD Falcons for 1979, with Bond as lead driver and likely his team in Sydney prepping them (the other option was an in-house Ford team akin to Lot 6).

There was a chance Moffat would be offered a role as driver only, but the Malvern workshop wasn’t going to be involved.

Ford couldn’t work the XD into CAMS regs/CAMS wouldn’t work with Ford for 1979 though so Edsel Ford II pulled the pin completely….

Now, THERE'S a story I hadn't heard! Please tell me more!!!

I don't find it surprising that the Moffat/Ford relationship might've been tetchy, as Moffat was strong on the hustle.... but when you think about it, the Ford commitment to rallying was consistently strong...

Although some of that may have been marketing budgets for particular models too. I recall an interview with CB about the 1979 Repco Trial, where the only model line with unallocated budget was the Cortina, which was the reason it was chosen over the then-new XD, the development and launch for which had consumed all the monies Ford was willing/able to commit to it. As there were no real changes to the TE Cortina for the year, and no real marketing hook to pin money on for it ("now with different coloured dash inserts - the 1979 Cortina!!"), Ford Australia could warrant using the allocated Cortina marketing kitty to race GM-H around Australia.

Imagine if they'd won it!

It does seem weird that any likely Ford factory Group C program didn't automatically centre around Allan Moffat though: he was consistently the standard bearer for the Blue Oval throughout the 70's... nobody in Falcons got near his results.

[one five five]

Perhaps Moffat was vocal with Ford over their lack of increased commitment during 1978 and it put Ford decision makers off-side?

It was front page news in AA in late-78 early-79, I will dig the specific articles out. The drivers and team preparation was interesting but was secondary to the back and forth with CAMS over the XD being run for 1979.

The 1980 rules were already set, Ford had no interest in running old XC’s when the XD was out but also Ford was baulking at developing the XD to 1979-regs then having to develop another XD to the new 1980 regs.

[Henry]

Originally Posted by one five five

Perhaps Moffat was vocal with Ford over their lack of increased commitment during 1978 and it put Ford decision makers off-side?

It was front page news in AA in late-78 early-79, I will dig the specific articles out. The drivers and team preparation was interesting but was secondary to the back and forth with CAMS over the XD being run for 1979.

The 1980 rules were already set, Ford had no interest in running old XC’s when the XD was out but also Ford was baulking at developing the XD to 1979-regs then having to develop another XD to the new 1980 regs.

I'd reckon Moffat definitely put the boardroom offside. He had a history of outspokenness - the *******ing he gave CAMS on live TV in 1978 after his Falcon caught fire during a pit stop as one notable example, and in 1982 telling the scribes during one of his "Claytons Press Conferences" at Bathurst that his sponsors "treat us like monkeys - they give us peanuts" would've made Rothmans blink a little, I'd opine.

Ford's commitment to racing the Blackwood series Falcon would make for an interesting review: while Wayne Draper maintained that Ford was strongly against racing the XD, the Group 5-ish bodied 1:5 wind tunnel model seemed too well-made, photographed and documented to have been a completely clandestine exercise undertaken by enthusiastic employees in direct defiance of a corporate directive.

The biggest problem Ford seemed to have with CAMS might've been similar to the problems they had with the local motoring media: I read a retrospective article recently where a motoring journalist admitted that much of the favourable judgement Holden received for their Commodore products over the Falcon came down to the personal relationship cultivation on behalf of Holden... he said Ford treated the press like the enemy, and thus the press decided to embrace the role, despite later admissions that the blue oval's product may actually have been comparatively far better than the press they were given would suggest.

Certainly, GM-H's racing representatives played the political game far better than Ford throughout the Group C era, and again in the Supercar period.

What might've been? Would a Bond-run works touring car equipe with Ford's backing - covert or otherwise - have been of a standard to match the HDT in 1979 and 1980?

[Tourer]

Such a long time ago but wasn't there something with the XD that Ford originally planned the car to be sold in 6 cylinder form only & that created homologation issues for racing it with a bent 8?

My memory's v-e-r-y hazy on it but I seem to recall something along those lines.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Henry

What might've been? Would a Bond-run works touring car equipe with Ford's backing - covert or otherwise - have been of a standard to match the HDT in 1979 and 1980?

My initial thought is no, John Sheppard’s HDT was slick and set the standard for the time, even if Morris did beat them to the 1979 ATCC, but the more I think about it, perhaps yes. If the rally team was anything to go by there was nothing wrong with the Bond team’s preparation and that extended into his Alfa team and Sierra team.

Having said that I doubt any alternate option Ford went with really would have been any better than staying with Moffat.

Some interesting alterings of history if a Bond/Ford team happened for 1979 though;

- Holden perhaps stays committed into 1980 and the Sheppard-HDT continues. No Brock HDT-Special Vehicles needed. Brock goes through the 80s as a driver only?
- Who gets the second Ford seat if Moffat does his own thing? The Bryan Byrt carried on into 1979 begrudgingly under new ownership for a season. But what if Johnson gets offered a seat alongside Bond? No DJR? No rock? And if he did hit the rock still but in a works Ford, there is no storyline other than bad luck….

[Henry]

Originally Posted by one five five

My initial thought is no, John Sheppard’s HDT was slick and set the standard for the time, even if Morris did beat them to the 1979 ATCC, but the more I think about it, perhaps yes. If the rally team was anything to go by there was nothing wrong with the Bond team’s preparation and that extended into his Alfa team and Sierra team.

Having said that I doubt any alternate option Ford went with really would have been any better than staying with Moffat.

Some interesting alterings of history if a Bond/Ford team happened for 1979 though;

- Holden perhaps stays committed into 1980 and the Sheppard-HDT continues. No Brock HDT-Special Vehicles needed. Brock goes through the 80s as a driver only?
- Who gets the second Ford seat if Moffat does his own thing? The Bryan Byrt carried on into 1979 begrudgingly under new ownership for a season. But what if Johnson gets offered a seat alongside Bond? No DJR? No rock? And if he did hit the rock still but in a works Ford, there is no storyline other than bad luck….

The era saw a lot of rapid change in how they all went racing: at the beginning of the decade, the racing landscape was far more regionally-divided; Ford and Holden had satellite presences in both Sydney and Melbourne (and in the HDT's case, Perth for a time) with each operating somewhat independently, but with factory-supplied cars. They offered lesser support, but support all the same, for dealer-run cars such as Zupps, Byrt, B&D Autos, Hodgson, McLeod. By the end of the decade, it was very different.

The biggest operators were almost eternally domiciled in Melbourne. After all, that's where corporate Head Office was for both Ford and Holden. and CAMS too. Dick Johnson dryly noted that even in the mid-80's "sometimes the phones don't work so well between Brisbane and Melbourne", and so proximity to the bigwigs was definitely something that made a difference.

The category was at a turning point; in order to remain competitive, the XC was going to need some concessions. While a renewed works presence might have added more clout to Moffat's push for freedoms for the Falcon, it was actually the new restrictions for 1980 that gave Group C a few more years before it became ridiculous (which it patently was getting by the end). When the Falcons stopped blowing motors in the late 70's after dropping nearly 100bhp for 1980, they could be reliable enough to run near the front in numbers greater than one bloke who had the magic (1981 was a relatively great year to be a Falcon driver, for instance)... but when they made back the power by 1984, the drivelines were fragile.

So, for mine in an alternate dimension:

Ford remains committed; Moffat is best-located geographically to remain as works team, and with improved Ford support, the relationship improves again. If Bond leaves at the end of 1978, Moffat offers the seat first to Fred Gibson, a steady pair of hands with a Ford history and ongoing relationship with the factory. If FG knocked him back, its feasible that Dick Johnson might've been a candidate; AM had offered him encouragement in earlier times, and I think he rated him a chance of succeeding. Whether DJ could adapt to a side-man role as affably as Bond did is far from certain, and to my mind, actually unlikely.

Holden's presence remains more overt, and they develop the entire VC homologation package themselves (I always marvel that the full homologation spec of the VC wasn't actually enforced until 1982 anyway: the 1980 and 1981 VC Group C cars were wild stripper specials.... but then what had the XD been? ).

Ford's package is more than an ESP, but still not called the GT; the euro-sophisticate facade is the New Thing, rather than GT stripes. The homologation skulduggery over stuff like weights and specification remains.

Commodore and XD Falcon don't appear until 1980 regardless.

The Ford works team gives the Holden works team a hiding in the 1980 ATCC (The Commodore, having been developed in 1979 is little changed in an alternate universe, but the Falcon has more money, and more attention from AMR for longer), but the politicking that we see in the real world in 1982 starts before the end of 1980.

Bathurst 1980 is more like 1981 actually was. The Fords are fast; Bob Morris, Dick Johnson, and Allan Moffat inside the Top Ten: if Bond is in the second Moffat car, he's up there too. FG just outside if its him. Brock hits a Gemini, Johnson hits a rock while being stalked by Moffat, Moffat wins handsomely, Brock and Richards rag the VC all day but can't run the works Falcons down.

The politicking goes stupid in 1981, but the Falcons are still in it.

Homologation of VH and XE occurs for the enduros in 1982, with Ford boffins called in to assist in taming the rear end at the You Yangs after an embarrassing enduro season.

The VH Commodore remains the machine to have in 1983, but Nissan's Bluebird wins the title.

Bathurst is a battle; 05 throws a rod, Johnson runs hard and wins.

In 1984, Ford consistency wins the ATCC after Brock misses a couple of rounds while he's overseas.

The end of Group C has been announced; Group A is the coming thing, and Ford Australia announce the end of their works program, as there simply isn't a product relevant to their market which fits the bill. They announce a comeback in 1987, when the Ford Cosworth RS will be homologated; they have offered clandestine support to Moffat and Johnson in the interim years in a Mustang and a Merkur XR4Ti respectively. Neither program produces much in the way of results.

Holden continue to homologate the Commodore for racing, and enjoy a good showing in Europe in 1986. John Sheppard retires and Tom Walkinshaw enters into a deal to run Holden Motorsport internationally.

[GTRMagic]

Interesting possibilities in the above..

I did wonder, in reading the stories here about perhaps shifting the Ford backing in touring car racing to Mr Bond, whether Mr Gibson figured in those plans given that he too was Sydney based. Perhaps as a driver/preparer. Sure didn’t hurt the Nissan program a few years later..

[Henry]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Interesting possibilities in the above..

I did wonder, in reading the stories here about perhaps shifting the Ford backing in touring car racing to Mr Bond, whether Mr Gibson figured in those plans given that he too was Sydney based. Perhaps as a driver/preparer. Sure didn’t hurt the Nissan program a few years later..

Fred's Road & Track prepared and maintained the Ford press fleet in Sydney, from memory, and he built the KGT XD & XE for Joe Moore; there was still a Ford relationship, even when he was engaged to drive Howards Bluebird in Sydney.

His relationship with Moffat endured too (he co-drove the #2 in 1978, and has remained one of the parties who have looked after AM in recent times), so he could well have figured in a continued works Falcon association, had Bond dropped out and Ford continued with Moffat. He was still regarded well enough as a steerer for Marsden to put him in a Bluebird, and was Moffat's pick for the famous XC Falcon slalom ad.

[Henry]

I do wonder now, if a Ford Motorsport may have induced them to apply turbocharging to the 3.3 six-pot for the XF, in order to homologate a Falcon turbo for Group A. The early turbo equivalency factory of 1.4 would get the 3.3 under the 5000cc change in minimum weight (which was the reasoning for the Holden 308 being altered to 304 cubic inches).

The later change to a 1.7 factor would have necessitated changes to under 3 litres, and then Godzilla would've made it all a moot point anyway.

Still, I wonder what sort of performance the Ford/HKS program which was curtailed in 1984 might've developed from an XF/3.3 turbo for 1985-7.

[Kingair]

Holden with the recession and rising fuel prices in the early 80’s might have gone with running 4cylinder Commodores in the ATTC!

Then switched to the mighty JB Camiras in the mid 80’s.

After all we had a bloody Kiwi driving a Volvo in the ATTC, and they reckon we are nation of racists.

Long live the memory of Bathurst77.

[mite5255]

a

[mite5255]

Brock had a real !-2 in 84, both cars running strong at the end

[chavez]

Originally Posted by mite5255

Brock had a real !-2 in 84, both cars running strong at the end

Having watched the race a number of times I still can't work out how the 25 car beat the 42 car.

The 25 car loses four minutes in the pits to change the gear lever. All other pitstops are between 30 and 45 seconds.

The 42 car lost possibly 10 to 15 seconds after hitting Harrington. But all their pitstops were under 30 seconds, with the faster being 18 seconds.

The Moffat team believed they had finished in front of the 25 car, but took it no further after they discovered an anomaly in their own lap scoring.

[one five five]

The January 18, 1979 edition of AA sheds some light on the other end of Fords 1979 plans, namely the idea of re-establishing an in-house Ford works team.

The rumoured man to run the new in house operation? Howard Marsden! The story went that Datsun were starting to wind down their rally program and it would allow Marsden to leave mid-year to rejoin Ford and prepare the team’s XD’s for Bathurst.
Datsun did wind down the rally team in 1981, but we know why.
In this scenario Bond and Moffat were believed to be going to be offered drives first

Perhaps by this time Ford had given up on the ATCC and were looking to Bathurst. It wasn’t until late-February that Ford announced their complete withdrawal, by which time the ATCC was only two weeks away from starting and Moffat had already been racing his XC privately in Camel colours in the South Pacific Touring Car Series supporting the Rothmans F5000 Series.

Originally Posted by mite5255

Brock had a real !-2 in 84, both cars running strong at the end

Real 1-2? The 25 was two laps down and only inherited second in the late laps when Alan Jones needed a splash of fuel

[bathurst77]

There is also a story that before approaching Bond, Moff tried to pinch Brock.

Whether true or not I dont know, but how different the world would have been.

There is no way Brock would have complied to the 1 2.
No one two means holden might not have doubled down.
If ford pulled the plug, they may have as well.

And of course if brock wasnt the "holden legend" and HDT commodore street cars were never made.... no HDT no FDT.. no hrt or tickford or fpv XR6/T/8??

Would group C and A even have lasted long enough. and how could we have Supercars?

All because brock said "Thanks, but I might give it a miss Al."

Well this could be science fiction.... but those scientists who talk about infinite universes, would tell you that this did happen ... in one of them!

[bathurst77]

Colins thoughts shortly after the race.

[bathurst77]

For the sandown 500 in 77 (I think) the sponsor was "Bonds" the clothing and Tshirt company, who were promoting the "Gotcha by Bonds" brand shirts. so the cars had to (or were eligible for extra mone) if they carried the sticker.

Colin, never let the chance for mischief go by, oh lord, he never let a chance go by!"