Fred Gibson (racing Driver) - Competitor

Competitor

After a career that began in small production sports cars, first an MGA, and later the first Lotus Elan to run in Australian competition, Gibson quickly moved up into the touring car ranks. In just his second Bathurst start he claimed second place in the 1966 Gallaher 500.

In 1967, Frank Matich (who was to co-drive one of the new Ford Falcon GT's at Bathurst with Harry Firth but had to pull out due to other commitments), recommended Gibson as his replacement to Ford Works Team boss Firth. Gibson met Firth on the Thursday before the Gallaher 500 and later set the 2nd fastest qualifying time behind team mates Pete and Leo Geoghegan. Alongside his team boss, Gibson scored his first major win, defeating the Geoghegan's after a re-count of laps (the Geoghegan's were flagged in 1st but a lap scoring error had been made during their first pit stop). The leading V8 Falcon GT's battled for most of the race with the Alfa Romeo's, but for the first time in the history of the race, the bigger cars proved up to the challenge and went on to a strong win over the leading Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV of Doug Chivas and Max Stewart.

Gibson became a mainstay with the Ford team for the next six years, taking much success at Sydney's Oran Park and Amaroo Park in particular. Gibson won the competitive Oran Park production sedan series, the Toby Lee Series, in 1970 and 1971 driving his Falcon GTHO supported by his Sydney speedshop, Road & Track. At Bathurst however in the early 1970s he suffered a string of retirements. When the racing industry went into decline during the 70's Gibson raced less frequently but was a still regular at Bathurst.

In 1981 Gibson joined the newly formed Nissan touring car team, headed by his former Ford Australia boss Howard Marsden. Gibson became the team's regular number two driver alongside George Fury during the Group C era while running the cantankerous Nissan Bluebird, pioneering turbo charged touring cars in Australia. Gibson's racing involvement generally was as lead driver of the teams second car at the Sandown and Bathurst enduros, selected ATCC races and generally 'flying the flag' for Nissan at the AMSCAR series run at Sydney's Amaroo Park.

Fred Gibson gave Nissan its first touring car race win in Australia (and the first turbocharged win in Australian touring car racing) when he won heats 2 and 3 of Round 3 of the 1983 AMSCAR series. After finishing 2nd in heat 1, Gibson won the round, going on to eventually finish 3rd in the series final pointscore behind Sydney based privateer's Terry Sheil (Mazda RX-7) and Terry Finnigan (Holden Commodore).

Gibson's win in the AMSCAR round was his first major touring car win since he drove the Ford teams new XA Falcon Hardtop to win the Chesterfield 250 at the Adelaide International Raceway in 1973, giving him the distinction of being the first winner in both the Falcon Hardtop and the turbocharged Bluebird. His 1983 AMSCAR win would also prove to be the last win of Gibson's driving career.