Harry Firth - Ford Works Team

Ford Works Team

In 1962 the Firth Motors workshop at Queens Avenue, Auburn (Melbourne) became the base for the Ford works team. Firth and Jane drove a Ford Works Team Ford Falcon XL to victory in the 1962 Armstrong 500 at Philip Island. Firth and Jane recorded the races first hat-trick of wins when they won the 1963 Armstrong 500 driving a Mk.I Ford Cortina GT at Bathurst (the race had moved to Bathurst that year due to the poor state of the Phillip Island Circuit following the 1962 race). In 1964 Firth and Hoinville won the Ampol Round Australia Trial in a Cortina GT.

Firth and John Reaburn finished 3rd in the 1964 Armstrong 500 in a Cortina GT, while Bob Jane won his 4th in a row, teaming with George Reynolds, also in a GT. Firth and Reaburn also teamed in the 1965 Armstrong 500, but while the winning Ford Works car of Barry Seton and Midge Bosworth was the Harry Firth developed Ford Cortina GT500, Firth and Reaburn finished only 14th outright but won Class A for cars priced under £920 in a Mk.I Ford Cortina 220.

As part of his work with Ford, Firth was recommended by a young Canadian born Aussie racing in the new Trans-Am series in the United States, Allan Moffat, as a driver and he traveled to the US and co-drove with Moffat in an Under-3 liter Lotus Cortina in two races, a six-hour race at the Green Valley Raceway in Smithfield, Texas, and a four-hour race at Riverside in California. Following the Riverside race, the American's reportedly wanted Firth to stay and help the team but Firth refused, stating that he had to be back in Australia for a rally. Harry Firth won the rally in question, the inaugural Southern Cross Rally, with navigator Graham Hoinville, driving a Ford Cortina GT.

The Ford Works Team didn't enter any cars for the 1966 Gallaher 500 at Bathurst and Firth teamed with Ern Abbott in a Morris Cooper S to finish in 6th place. The first nine finishers in the race all drove the famed Cooper S.

1967 saw Firth notch up his last victory as a driver in the annual 500 mile race at Bathurst, winning the 1967 Gallaher 500 with a young Fred Gibson in a Ford XR Falcon GT, the first Australian made Ford Falcon to use a V8 engine. Sydney based racer/designer Frank Matich was scheduled to co-drive with Firth but had to withdraw due to other commitments. Firth wouldn't have minded so much on missing out on the driving talents of Frank Matich, he was always of the belief that drivers used to being able to drive their specially built race cars hard weren't well suited to Series Production racing as you had to be much easier on what was really a road going car. Matich then recommended Gibson for the drive with Firth meeting Gibson for the first time at a Bathurst hotel on the Friday before the race. Firth and Gibson were actually flagged in 2nd behind their Works Ford team mates, Ian and Leo Geoghegan but following a re-count of the lap charts, were correctly awarded 1st place later that night.

Harry Firth won the Australian Rally Championship in 1968, his last championship win as a driver. That year he also led a three car Ford Australia assault on the inaugural London–Sydney Marathon, preparing a trio of Ford XR Falcon GT's for the event which started on 24–25 November at Crystal Palace in London and traveled through Europe, the Middle East and South Asia before arriving in Bombay, India on 1–2 December. From there, the teams and their cars had an eight day boat trip to Fremantle, Western Australia. The cars then traveled across the Nullarbor into South Australia before finally crossing into New South Wales and arriving at the Warwick Farm Raceway in Sydney on 18 December. The Ford Works Team cars, which included Firth in the driving line up, survived the tough conditions of the marathon rally and finished 3rd, 6th and 8th and claiming the Teams Prize.