He’s little known today but the first man to nearly win a Bathurst 500 in a thumping V8 was Bert Needham in 1964 (with co-driver Warren Weldon). That year he had the latest model Studebaker Lark entered in Class D, for the most expensive production cars. He surprised everyone by going into the lead and staying there.
“In the early stages of the race it quickly became apparent that the Needham/Weldon Studebaker was the fastest car in the race and quite a match for the Cortinas for outright… but would it go the distance on brakes?” wondered one reporter.
Brakes were not the problem, but wheels were. The Studebaker was still leading the race at the 400-mile mark when it made a regulation pit stop, changed a wheel, then came limping into the pits three laps later. The centre section of the new wheel had torn away from the rim.
It took nearly 15 minutes to replace the wheel. According to the rules, this had to be done with the standard jack in the boot. The race was lost but the Studebaker still finished only two laps behind Bob Jane in the Cortina and easily won its class. Needham’s top speed down Conrod was 114.65 mph, the fastest of any car in the race. That alone made a lot of competitors start reconsidering their options.
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