Bathurst Bond

Colin Bond was not exactly an undiscovered talent when he got the call from Harry Firth to join the Holden Dealer Team in 1969. Bond was already well established and was generally considered a rising star of the sport. Even at this fairly early stage of his career, the trademark Colin Bond versatility was clearly evident – whether in rallying, hillclimbs, motorkhanas or circuit racing in NSW, more often than not Bond was the driver to beat.

By then he was a three-time NSW Hillclimb Champion (so dominant was Bond in this type of competition in NSW that he had become known as ‘Mr Hillclimb’), and he was a frontrunner in the forests, rallying a Mitsubishi Colt on a semi-works basis. Indeed, the tie-up with Mitsubishi might have taken Bond down a different career path had the call from Harry Firth not come. 

Surprisingly, Firth wasn’t all that familiar with Bond’s circuit racing and hillclimbing credentials. He knew full well of Bond’s prowess on dirt and gravel, though – Firth had competed against (and been beaten by) Bond’s Colt in rallies, when Firth was rallying his Ford Cortina while still at the helm of Ford’s motorsport effort.