Race
This, the first Australian touring car race to be run under a set of national regulations which defined a level of modification, was dominated by the three Jaguar Mark 1 drivers. The journalist racer David McKay, remembered for his efforts promoting racing cars and sports cars with his Scuderia Veloce team, claimed the racing achievement he is best remembered for, in a touring car race.
Ron Hodgson led away from the McKay and Bill Pitt at the start. The three Jaguar drivers missed their braking markers at the end of the long back straight, Hodgson running wide at the apex of Windsock corner and McKay and Pitt spinning. Despite this, McKay managed to take the lead from Hodgson at Windsock corner on the next lap after Hodgson had mechanical dramas which left him down the order and one minute behind McKay, who was battling with Pitt for the lead. Hodgson regained third place from Max Volkers, who was settling into a lonely race as the fastest Holden runner.
McKay led Pitt by 26 seconds at three-quarters race distance when rain started to fall. Roy Sawyer fell victim to the rain, sliding into the bank at Connaghan's corner and rolling, narrowly missed by Jack van Schaik's Simca and scraped by Ken Miller's Holden. Des West, who was behind Sawyer at the time of the incident, stopped to help his fellow Holden driver escape the wreckage and this, coupled with a stopped Ford Zephyr, caused the track to be blocked. McKay was warned by a flag marshal about the incident and was able to slow before he reached it. McKay pushed the Zephyr out of the way with his own car, but Pitt had caught up by this stage, turning the final five laps into a duel between the two Jaguar drivers.
McKay spun at Mrs Muttons corner on lap 16 and allowed Pitt to take the lead, but the positions reversed once more on lap 18 when Pitt has gearbox troubles. McKay held on to win by six seconds over Pitt, with Hodgson a distant third, 77 seconds behind. Volkers took fourth, one lap down on the Jaguars.
Read more about this topic: 1960 Australian Touring Car Championship
Famous quotes containing the word race:
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