HO, HO, HO   Graham Smith - 1998   Used with permission of Graham Smith - as appeared in Unique Cars December 1998       When, in 1969, Ford unleashed its barely disguised racer, the brutish Falcon GTHO, it shifted the power race with Holden firmly into top gear and kicked off the most exciting chapter in our motor racing history. The 1969 ‘Phase I’ was the first of three distinct ‘phases’ that make up the history of the Falcon GTHO. All were awesome road and race cars but it was the last, the ‘Phase III’, that was to become the ultimate definition of the Australian muscle car. The HO came about because Ford feared a challenge to its domination of local production car racing once Holden moved to V8 power with its HK models of 1968. Ford’s fear was well founded, V8-powered Monaros won at Bathurst in 1968 and 1969 and were a little too close to the Falcon GT for comfort.       The HO was Ford’s response and it marked the start of the supercar era in production car racing and for the next three years Holden, Ford and Chrysler traded blows with faster and more powerful cars that were unveiled just before Bathurst each year until public outcry put an end to it in 1972.       Like the GTHO, Allan Moffat was then the most feared driver in Australia and his name became synonymous with Ford. No driver knows the HO better than Moffat, he was at the wheel to record its first race win, and he was there at both Bathurst wins. With that in mind we decided to get the three HOs together for a day at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne to celebrate the success of the legend with the man who helped in its creation.       Phase I       Late in 1969, just after the release of the XW Falcon, came the news of a hot new super sedan that was to be built with one objective, to win Bathurst. The Ford catalogue listed it, not as a model in its own right, but as an option on the already hot XW Falcon GT, for in Ford’s internal parlance, HO stood for Handling Option’, a curious tag given that, except for a rear stabiliser bar, the other components were all clearly aimed at improving the performance or reliability of the 351 cubic inch (5.7 litres) V8-powered GT in a race situation.       In years to come it would be known as the Phase I but at the time these GTs were simply called HOs. The HO came about in the wake of Harry Firth’s defection from Ford to Holden. With Firth’s help Ford had ruled the race track through the ‘60s with such race-bred specials as the Cortina GT500 and the Falcon GT, but when Holden launched its V8-powered Monaro in 1968, Ford realised it was under serious attack. The attack was perceived as even more deadly when Firth then set up the semi-factory Holden Dealer Team.       Understanding Firth’s ability to turn family sedans into racetrack winners, Ford was eager to shore up its supremacy and stepped up its own race program. Ford’s American president, Bill Burke, called in his compatriot Al Turner to mount a counter attack. Turner had been a long time Ford employee in the U.S. and had been involved in many company racing programs, making him perfectly suited to the task he was assigned. Turner took the XW GT, raided the performance parts bin in the U.S. and came up with all the goodies to build his race special, all without disrupting Ford’s regular production. Turner replaced the 450 cubic feet per minute (cfm) four-barrel Holley carburettor with a bigger 600 cfm carby, plus an aluminium dual plane intake manifold and a hotter camshaft with high-speed, limited travel hydraulic valve lifters.       He chose the well-proven top-loader four-speed gearbox, a three-inch (76mm) diameter tail shaft, plus a heavy duty radiator and alternator. Externally the HO could be recognised by the fibreglass front spoiler. So equipped the HO became a road burner, accelerating from zero to 100km/h in 7.9 seconds, 0.3sec faster than the GT, and would race through the standing 400 metres in 15.0sec, half a second gain on the GT. About the same time a young Canadian race ace named Allan Moffat decided to make Australia his home after working with Ford’s Kar Kraft racing division in Detroit. He made contact with Turner and it was to Moffat that Turner went when Burke asked him to build a prototype of the car he wanted to race.       In reality they built a realistic mock-up that could be presented to Ford’s marketing people. It had a front air dam fabricated in Moffat’s race shop, where his Trans Am Mustang was prepared, and the engine modifications, but otherwise it was just a standard GT. Ford’s marketing department embraced the car enthusiastically, giving approval to build the 500 cars needed for homologation before the coming Sandown and Bathurst endurance races. At Sandown, in the 250-mile race, the cars ran like clockwork with Moffat a clear winner and seemingly unbeatable at Bathurst, but as history records Bathurst 1969 was a low point for Ford. After qualifying in dominant fashion the HOs led the early going but it soon became clear they were in tyre trouble, or so Ford would like you to think. Turner had made the controversial decision to go with some new race tyres from Goodyear and was soon perplexed when his cars began shredding them with monotonous regularity. The right–rear was most affected and all the factory HOs except Moffat’s were in the pits for replacements well before their scheduled stops.       Alarmed, Turner called Moffat in early as a precaution, probably costing him his first Bathurst victory. Moffat, with co-driver Alan Hamilton, went on to finish fourth behind the winning Monaro GTS350 of Colin Bond and Tony Roberts. Ford’s advertising the following morning carried the banner ‘We’re feeling a little deflated’ which unfairly deflected the blame from the cars to the Goodyear tyres, but on reflection Moffat said the problem wasn’t the tyres, but the drivers’ lack of understanding of the Detroit Locker diffs used in the cars.       “The diff was either in or out,” Moffat recalled recently, “and you had to wait for it to click in before you applied the power. If you didn’t you simply fried the tyres, and the off-camber right-hander at the top of Mountain Straight was the killer.”       Sliding behind the wheel of a Phase I at Calder recently Moffat was reminded of the lack of support from the seats and the thin-rimmed steering wheel that could easily slip through sweaty hands in a race. He was also transported back to past glories when the Windsor V8 burst into life and he heard again the characteristic ‘purr’ from the twin exhaust.       “We would rev the engine to around 6000rpm, perhaps a little more,” he recalled, “but I remember the enormous torque that was there even as low as 1500rpm. That really helped balance the car in corners so when you were ready to reapply the throttle the engine was there to pull you out of the corner.” The Falcon was a relatively large car, but had a poise that belied its size which made it a satisfying car to race provided you were smooth. “It was amazingly well balanced,” he said, “but you couldn’t throw it around.”       Phase II       The Holden victory in 1969 forced Turner and his team to go back to the drawing board and believing Holden would hot up the pace for 1970, Turner went back to the Ford parts bin and came up with the Phase II. The major change was under the bonnet where the Windsor V8 was replaced by the new small block 351 cubic inch (5.7 litres) Cleveland V8 that had cylinder heads with big open ports and big canted valves that ensured plenty of gas flow.       The 600cfm Holley carby gave way to an even bigger 750cfm, there was a dual-point distributor with full mechanical advance, and a wilder cam. Ford was always coy about the power output of its V8 engines and continued to rate the Cleveland engine at the same 300bhp (224kW) as the Windsor, but pundits thought output was more like 350bhp (261kW). There was also a choice of transmissions in the Phase II with an optional close-ratio four-speed available. The Phase II also received some work on its suspension with heavier front springs to cope with the heavier engine, new front geometry and a retuned rear anti-roll bar. Externally the only real change was the five-slot wheels, replacing 12-slotters.       For Moffat the Phase II was an awesome racing machine that, on a bright sunny day in October 1970, brought him his first victory at Bathurst. After the traumas of the previous year, 1970 was relatively incident-free, Moffat dominated the Sandown 250 two weeks before Bathurst and comfortably qualified on pole for the big race. At the end of the day, he and team-mate Bruce McPhee greeted the chequered flag in first and second, separated by 39 seconds.       Phase III       The HO Phase III is the one everyone remembers, for the output of the Cleveland V8 was further boosted by the ‘shaker’ air scoop that protruded through the bonnet and fed air directly into the bigger 780cfm Holley. Again there was the choice of wide or close-ratio gearboxes, diff ratios and along with the new air intake it had a wing mounted on the boot lid. As the speed of the HO increased the brakes became a real concern in races and drivers had to be careful to makes sure they didn’t overwork them. For Moffat talk of the 1971 race brings back memories of the beer carton that became wedged in his HO’s grille and caused some anxious moments in the pits where Turner (sic) feared the car might overheat. Moffat, watching the temperature gauge like a hawk, refused to come into the pits.       “I was brought in in 1969 when there was no need so there was no way I was coming in this time when I knew there was no problem,” he said.       Although the 1971 race appeared smooth and untroubled Moffat drove the entire race with a faulty alternator that threatened to end his race but it hung in there long enough to get a relieved Moffat across the line for his second straight Bathurst win. Concerns over the consequences of allowing such high performance cars into the hands of inexperienced drivers on the road effectively brought an end to the supercar era in 1972 and Ford scrapped plans for a Phase IV Falcon based on the new XA model. Falcons have won Bathurst many times in the 25 years since the Phase III last raced there, but none have come close to matching the awesome reputation of the mighty HO.