Ask Bathurst fans about the Armstrong 500 and odds-on they may not know about this historic event. The 500 mile race originally kicked-off in 1960 at Phillip Island (Victoria) before being relocated to Bathurst in 1963 where it has been held annually ever since.
It is reported that the Phillip Island track surface could not take the continuous pounding of race cars circulating for 500 miles, eventually breaking down and becoming unsafe. Hence the moving of the Armstrong 500 to Bathurst in New South Wales.
For many years the race was traditionally run on Labour weekend (the first Monday in October in New South Wales) before changing in 2001 to the second weekend of October.
The first Bathurst race in ’63 was won by Harry Firth and Bob Jane in a Ford Cortina GT (see main picture).
Bob Jane began a long association with Mount Panarama winning again in 1964, this time with George Reynolds.
In 1965 Jane opened his first Bob Jane T-Marts store in Melbourne. Eventually the business held the naming rights for the Bathurst 100 between 2002 and 2004.
Firth would go on to run the Holden Dealer Team (HDT) and in 1969 was instrumental in starting the careers of two future Australian champion drivers, Colin Bond and Peter Brock.
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