A recently-purchased Group C racer is heading back to the track in Heritage Touring Cars …
MANY regular followers of the Heritage Touring Cars category for Historic Group A and C Touring Cars will know of Ed Singleton and his familiar STP Roadways Racing Commodore V8.
Ed and his ex-Allan Grice Commodore have done plenty of racing in the last few years but it’s his recent acquisition that has plenty of Ford fans salivating.
Singleton has recently purchased the ex-John Goss K-Tel Ford Falcon XC Group C racer from the Bowden Collection and plans to take the two-door Coupe back into the track soon in HTC competition.
The car was on display at Heritage Touring Cars’ recent round at the Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park, so we figured it timely to do a focus on the last Falcon driven in ‘The Great Race’ at Bathurst by two-time ‘1000 winner John Goss.
Built new in 1977 as an XC Falcon, the car made its racing debut at that year’s Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst as part of a two-car John Goss Racing team with the great Sir Jack Brabham and his sponsor base joining Goss.
Run in a blue livery with backing from radio station 2SM and Citizen Watches, the car looked the part.
Goss’ existing XB GT Falcon was upgraded to XC specification and was used at the pre-Bathurst, Hang Ten 400 at Sandown by Brabham to serve as a warm-up for his return to Mount Panorama.
The new XC made its race debut at Bathurst as the #5 entry driven by Goss and French Le Mans star Henri Pescarolo, qualifying 16th and not being classified as a finisher with only 113 laps completed due to gearbox troubles.
Goss raced the car for the remainder of the 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship. Bathurst was not a round of the ’77 ATCC, however the rest of the endurance races were and the 1974 Bathurst winner competed in all of them to round out the season.
He finished eighth at Adelaide International Raceway despite a refueling fire, sixth at Surfers Paradise and retired from the final round at Phillip Island.
Low on racing budget, Goss elected to park his XC Falcon during 1978 and save it up for another assault on Mount Panorama.
Instead of running up the miles on his new car, he elected to use his older car in some rounds of the 1978 ATCC before returning with Pescarolo for Bathurst in the newer machine.
The duo qualified a lowly 28th and were out of the race after 67 laps with suspension problems.
Goss returned for one more crack at the Mountain in 1979, though this time with the XC Coupe now in white livery with Cobra blue striping and backing from K-Tel.
After failing set a time in timed practice and lining up 58th on the grid due to a crash in earlier practice, he and Pescarolo again were not classified as finishers with 118 laps.
The XC had been an early pit visitor with fuel pressure problems though at least this time the Frenchman was able to turn some laps in the race.
The two-door Falcons were phased out of Aussie touring car racing in 1980, so Goss’ XC was sold to South Australia and had two owners before it was purchased by the well-known Bowden family of Queensland.
The car was never modified from its Group C specification, save for the dry break-refueling nozzle being removed and road tyres fitted given it was road registered during its time in South Australia!
Recently purchased by Singleton, the car was on display alongside his STP Roadways Commodore at the Muscle Car Masters and had some on-track time in the Heritage Hot Laps sessions.
Singleton intends to race the car in Heritage Touring Cars, so we look forward to seeing this mighty Coupe back on the track at race speed!
Many thanks too to Australian Muscle Car Magazine for use of period images of the John Goss Racing Falcon at Bathurst in 1977, 1978 and 1979.
Keep checking back to the Heritage Touring Cars website for more Car Profiles on interesting and important cars in the weeks and months to come.
Images thanks to Australian Muscle Car Magazine & The Coventry Collection