1969 Rothmans 12 Hour Classic

The 1969 Rothmans 12 Hour Classic was an endurance motor race for production cars^[1] held at the Surfers Paradise International Raceway in Queensland, Australia on 5 January 1969.^[2] It was the first of two such races to be held at the circuit.^[3]

The race was won by Bill Gates and Jim Bertram driving a Ford XT Falcon GT.^[2]

Classes

Cars competed in five classes based on the retail price of the vehicle in Australian Dollars.^[1]

Results

Position^[4]	Drivers^[2]	No.^[4]	Car^[4]	Entrant^[4]	Laps^[4]
	Outright Winner
	Bill Gates, Jim Bertram	16	Ford XT Falcon GT	McCluskey Ford	427
	Class A : Up to $1850^[5]
1	B Tapsall, R Sorensen, R Gibson	62	Datsun 1000	Datsun Racing Team	404
2	W Scott, E Olsen	66	Toyota Corolla	W Scott	392
3	W Evans, J Cosworth	61	Datsun 1000	Datsun Racing Team	383
4	T Floyd, P Wherrett, A Vincent	65	Toyota Corolla	MTR Services	368
5		64	Toyota Corolla	MTR Services	359
6	Noel Riley, Ken Brian	63	Honda Scamp	Team Honda	334
	Class B : $1851 to $2250^[5]
1	John Roxburgh, Doug Whiteford	54	Datsun 1600	Datsun Racing Team	415
2	W Coad, F Sutherland	53	Datsun 1600	Datsun Racing Team	411
3	P Lefrancke, R Skelton, B Reed	57	Toyota Corolla SL	Farsley Motors	404
4	A Whitchurch, T Gilltrap	58	Datsun 1600	Coolangatta Tweed Heads Car Club	403
5		55	Hillman Gazelle	Eiffel Tower Motors	403
6		49	Datsun 1600	MTR Services	381
7	Edgerton	49	Renault R10	Robert Edgerton	375
DISQ	Wooton, Morrow^[2]	52	Datsun 1600^[2]	McInnes Auto Conversions^[2]
	Class C : $2251 to $3000^[5]
1	Garry Hodge, John Leffler	42	Morris Cooper S	Denis Geary Motors	426
2	John Smailes, John Millyard	35	Morris Cooper S	Martinz Place	421
3	T Basile, F Leggatt	31	Fiat 125	Tony Basile Motors	414
4	J Eiffeltower, D O'Keefe	39	Hillman Hunter GT	Eiffeltower Motors	413
5	Gracie	32	Morris Cooper S	W.R. Gracie	409
6	Cooke, Brewster, Hindmarsh	41	Morris Cooper S	Marque Motors	404
7	Haylen (?)^[2]	33	Morris Cooper S	Grand Prix Auto Service	374
DNF^[2]	Joe Camilleri, John Humphries^[2]	?	Morris Cooper S^[2]
DNF^[2]	Ian Kenny, Hans Marquard^[2]	?	Morris Cooper S^[2]
DSQ	John Goss, John Cooke^[6]	37 or 38	Holden HK Kingswood^[6]	The High Performance School^[6]
DSQ	Bill Tuckey, Sib Petralia^[6]	37 or 38	Hullman Hunter GT^[6]	The High Performance School^[6]
	Class D : $3001 to $4500^[1]
1	Bill Gates, John Bertram	16	Ford XT Falcon GT	McCluskey Ford	427
2	Glyn Scott, Keith Williams	25	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	Glyn Scott Motors	420
3	R Jones, R Forbes, D West	21	Fiat 124S Coupe	Nanda Marcaroni Products	413
4	G Trebilcock, N Trebilcock, H Woelders	22	BMW 1600	Gerry Trebilcock	411
5	Lionel Ayers, Max Volkers	18	Ford XT Falcon GT	Central Auto Sales	405
6	Seldon, Kearns	23	Volvo 144	British & Continental	355
7	Denis Geary, Bill Brown	19	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	Denis Geary Motors	310
8	Bruce McPhee, Doug Chivas	13	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	Bruce McPhee	245
DNF^[2]	Paul Zacka,^[7] Graham Perry^[2]	?	Holden HK Monaro GTS327 ^[2]
	Class E : Over $4500
1	Kevin Bartlett, John French	1	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	Alec Mildren Pty. Ltd.	424
2	R Gulson, P Brown	2	Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV	Canberra Speed Shop	408
3	Ivan Tighe, B Schuster	5	Citroen DS21	Glyn Scott Motors	349

References

^ ^a ^b ^c 45 In Road Race, The Courier Mail, Thursday, Jan 2, 1969 page 9
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p Sweet Smell of Success, Racing Car News, February 1969, pages 30-33
^ Paradise Lost, Australian Muscle Car, Issue 41, pages 88-98
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Provisional Results (Issued 7.1.69), Rothmans 12 Hour Race, 5 January 1969, as reproduced in Australian Muscle Car magazine, Issue 105, page 37
^ ^a ^b ^c 12 Hour Guessing game, Modern Motor, March 1969
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Goss on the Bathurst Kingswood, Australian, Muscle Car, 1 May 2015
^ Gates’ 3 lap win in 12-Hr, The Courier Mail, Monday, 6 January 1969, page 9

Classes

Results

References

Further reading