Motor Sport
The Valiant Charger was raced in Australia in an official capacity during 1971 and 1972, with most effort concentrated upon the annual Bathurst 500 mile touring car event. Chrysler Australia employed the services of racing driver Leo Geoghegan to assist in the development of the Charger as a touring car racer. The Charger won the the first race it entered, the Toby Lee 100 at Oran Park, driven by Doug Chivas. In the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst, a VH Charger R/T E49 driven by Doug Chivas finished the race third outright.
With the furore that erupted politically in 1972 regarding 'supercars for the streets', Australian touring car regulations changed in 1973 such that manufacturers no longer had to produce strict street versions of their racing cars. These rule changes led to principally Chrysler and then Ford abandoning official racing touring car programs in Australia.
In New Zealand, where the touring car rules were less open, the Charger proved to be virtually unbeatable from 1971 through to 1979 at the famous B&H 500 mile (later 1000 km) series held at Pukekohe Park Raceway. The most successful of New Zealand drivers were Leo Leonard and Jim Little.
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