Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III 1972 Bathurst #3D

Before the dust had settled on the 1971 Bathurst race, both Ford and General Motors Holden (GMH) were heavily into development of their new model programs for 1972. GMH were building a 5.0 litre version of the Torana XU-1 and Ford were developing their Phase Four GT-HO version of the new XA Falcon. Chrysler was also putting together a 5.5 litre V8 version of their six cylinder Valiant Charger with a new four-speed transmission.
The Phase Three GT-HO XY Falcon had the title of being the fastest four door production sedan of its time and a newer faster model was on its way.The Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper ran a story stating that two major car manufacturers were building 160mph (256kph) ‘Supercars’, which would be available to the public (a requirement to run at Bathurst). The story outraged the public and created a political storm.
With pressure applied from the Government, the ‘Supercars’ were dead. Ford discontinued the Phase Four GT-HO, GMH postponed the V8 Torana by two years and Chrysler dropped the idea of the V8 and continued with the six-cylinder incorporating the newly developed transmission.
With the new racecars shelved, the main competitors cars for the 1972 Bathurst were very similar to the cars that lined up for the 1971 race.A new classification system was introduced for the 1972 Bathurst race. Previously classes were divided only by price; now they were divided into four groups of Capacity/Price (CP). CP was calculated by multiplying the cars engine size (in litres) by the purchase price. Class A allowed up to 3000 CP units; Class B 3001 to 9000 CP units; Class C 9001 to 18000 CP units; and Class D over 18000 CP units. This new classification system put all of the Phase Three GT-HO XY Falcons and Chrysler E49 Chargers in Class D, with the Holden LJ XU1 Toranas and a lonely Chrysler E38 Charger in the lower Class C.
Out of the 60 starters, Murray Carter in his Phase Three GT-HO Falcon qualified in 22nd position with a time of 2:49.2s. Falcons had captured the first 4 qualiying positions, with Allan Moffat scoring pole position with a time of 2:35.8s, followed by John Goss, John French and Fred Gibson. In a first, the Bathurst race started in pouring rain, conditions not suited for the large Falcons. Peter Brock in a Torana started from 5th on the grid and had moved up to 2nd place, just behind
Moffat by the end of lap 3.The rain lasted until lap 23, where the Falcons were now able to record some good lap times on the drying track. But they were now
suffering a problem, the extreme brake temperatures were proving too much for the factory pads.
Carter was having a good race moving his way through the grid, but late in the race he struck problems when he bounced his Falcon off the fence at Murray’s Corner, the damaged guard cutting the right front tyre at Forrest's Elbow later in the lap. Carter continued on three wheels making it back to the pits. His pit crew then set upon his car with an axe to remove the part of offending guard. A new tyre was fitted and Carter was able to continue racing, but he incurred a one-minute penalty after requiring a push-start from the pits. Murray Carter finished the race with a very second-hand looking car in overall 10th position (one position behind Allan Moffat), 8 laps down on the overall winner Peter Brock.

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Item includes certificate with individual production number.