FPR Commemorates The 50th Running of the Bathurst 1000.
In racing news, the Annual Bathurst 1000 Race will be held as always in New South Wales, Australia this coming weekend, and this year’s race will be more exciting for two special reasons. One being that this year’s race marks the 50th Anniversary of the Bathurst 1000, and two, Ford had a one, two (1-2) podium finish here 35 years ago.
The Bathurst 1000 Race is a race that spawned from a long line historic races that span over 50 years, going all the way back to 1960, when the original race was called the 1960 Armstrong 500. From that point all the way up until 1999, a variety of Australian based cars were used to race on the fairly long circuit. When 1999 rolled around the race was set up exclusively for V8 cars, and then the serious battle between Ford (FPR), and Holden (GM) began to surface, and has been going on ever since.
As I mentioned before this year’s race commemorates two major events. The first being the 
50th Anniversary of the Bathurst 1000, and the 1-2 podium finish of driving legends, Alan Moffat, and Colin Bond in 1977. With that in mind the graphics designers, and CEO’s of FPR (Ford Performance Racing) wanted to honor the names of those two great men who conquered the track, as well as all of their competition that day. What the team at FPR did was replicate the 1977 graphics package that sat on the Ford Falcons of that year. Every single detail was captured from original pictures, to the detail orientated spec sheets on where each sticker was supposed to lay on the cars. All of this information was given to a vinyl wrap specialist, and then the cars were covered in their respective commemorative garbs. A total of three cars will be wearing the decorative racing fashions for this weekends race, and they look stunning doing so.
First up is the #5, Orrcon Steele car that is driven by Mark Winterbottom & Steve Richards, that will be a replica of the 1977 Ford XC Falcon driven by Alan Moffat. Next in line, is the #6, FPR Trading Post Falcon driven by Will Davidson & John McIntyre, and this car will replicate the other Ford XC Falcon driven by the great Colin Bond, who came in 2nd place during the 1977 race at Bathurst. And last, but not least is the Bottle-O Racing Falcon driven by David Reynolds & Dean Canto, this car was also decorated to honor the 45th Anniversary win of racing legend Harry Firth & Fred Gibson, when they too rolled across the finish line in 1st place during the 1967 running of the Armstrong 500.
With racing legends giving their blessings, and fans for miles around getting ready for this weekend’s historic, there will be a level of energy that will not be surpassed for years to come. Be sure to check out the YouTube video of some of these great race highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdA3ESzRGuo
