Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar 1996

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Born in Canada, Moffat moved to Australia as a college student with his parents in the early 1960s when his father was transferred to Melbourne for work and in the early 1960s embarked on his record-setting motor racing career. He started his racing career at the wheel of a Triumph TR3.



Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar


Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar (1996) - Front Angle

Moffat first entered the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) in 1965, driving a Lotus Cortina. By 1969 he had become a regular competitor and his bright red Coca-Cola-sponsored Ford Boss 302 Mustang, which was supplied brand-new to Moffat from Ford's American 'in-house' race car fabrication and engineering facility "Kar Kraft", was unmistakable at circuits around Australia. With the help of Tom Hamilton, he would go on to win 101 touring car races (from 151 starts) in this car between 1969 and 1972, yet his dream of winning the ATCC in the Mustang eluded him.



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Although Moffat and a number of other drivers raced Mustangs for ATCC competition - the five ATCC titles from 1965 to 1969 were all won by Mustang drivers - this car, modified to CAMS Improved Production Touring Car regulations was ineligible for the Bathurst 500 (later Bathurst 1000), which was restricted to standard production cars prior to 1973. Moffat therefore made his debut in that race in 1969 in a Ford works team entered Ford Falcon XW GTHO. He and co-driver Alan Hamilton finished fourth.



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The following two years would see Moffat come into his own as one of Australia's most dominant race drivers, and the Falcon GTHO as an almost unbeatable car. For 1970, Ford Australia had made significant improvements to the Falcon XW GTHO Phase II over the previous year's model and Moffat, racing without a co-driver, took the car to two crushing victories in both the 1970 and 1971 Bathurst races. In 1971 he became the first driver to lead the Bathurst 500 from start to finish while driving the famed Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III



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Moffat looked headed for an historic third straight Bathurst victory in 1972 when Ford unveiled plans for a "Phase IV" Falcon GTHO, even faster but more subtle than the Phase III which Moffat had taken to victory in 1971. The Australian press caught wind of these plans however and headlines across the country screamed, "160mph Supercars On Our Roads!" Facing pressure from the media and government not to produce this car, as entering it at Bathurst would also require at least 200 units to be sold at dealerships in Australia, Ford scrapped production of the Phase IV and forced Moffat and other Ford drivers to resort to year-old Phase III cars for Bathurst that year. Peter Brock won the race that year for arch-rival manufacturer Holden after wet weather and brake dramas hobbled the Fords. This race would be seen as the start of the Moffat-Brock rivalry that would dominate Australian touring car racing in the years to come.



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1996 Ford Mustang Cobra


62 views Ford Mustang Cobra

In 1973, both the ATCC and the Bathurst endurance race were open for the first time only to the newly introduced CAMS Group C Touring Cars. These mildly modified cars replaced both the existing highly modified Group C Improved Production Touring Cars (which had contested the ATCC since 1965) and the virtually standard Group E Series Production Touring Cars (which had previously contested the Bathurst event). Ford, smarting from the Phase IV controversy the year before, withdrew their factory teams from competition at the end of 1973. This left Moffat and other Ford drivers to form their own privateer teams, despite the Factory team and Moffat being victorious in both the 1973 ATCC - his first ever - and the 1973 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 (with co-driver Ian Geoghegan). Moffat, Geoghegan and Ford have the distinction of being the first winners of the Bathurst race following its conversion from a 500-mile event to 1000 km.



Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar - Front



Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar - Front


Moffat struggled through the 1974 and 1975 seasons. He failed to finish Bathurst in those years, and was only moderately competitive in ATCC races. In 1975 he drove a BMW 3.0CSL with Brian Redman to win the 12 Hours of Sebring.



48 views Ford Mustang Cobra



Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar


Ford Mustang Cobra Racecar


1996 Ford Mustang Cobra


2001 Ford Mustang Cobra

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