Vale: Alan Hamilton

Legendary American race team manager Carroll Smith described Alan Hamilton as the best amateur driver he’d ever worked with. That’s high praise from the man who helped oversee what is arguably Ford’s greatest triumph in world motorsport history, in the Le Mans 1966, and in Australia at Bathurst in 1977 for the famous, crushing ‘Form Finish 1-2’ for the Moffat Ford Dealers Falcon Hardtops - which is where he met Hamilton.

Story: Staff Writer

Alan Hamilton might have been an 'amateur' but he was a fast and accomplished driver who went close to winning some of Australian motor racing's most prestigious races and championships.

He was Colin Bond’s co-driver when Bond shadowed Ford team leader Allan Moffat across the line in second place at Bathurst in 1977. That was Hamilton’s best result in the Great Race – an event he might have won back in 1969 as part of the Ford factory squad, had it not been for a precautionary, but unnecessary, pitstop.

Hamilton co-drove with Colin Bond at Bathurst in 1977. Inset: Hamilton bond and Ickx pre-race.

There was another near miss for Hamilton that same year, when he came within a point of becoming Australian Touring Car Champion. It was the first year the ATCC was contested over a series of races rather than a single event, and Hamilton was denied in the final round by Ian Geoghegan as the Mustang driver clinch a record fifth ATCC crown. Had Hamilton won that year, he would have rewritten the record books as the first Porsche driver to win the title.

In motorsport, Hamilton might be more famous for his achievements in Fords, but across his career he was mostly associated with Porsche - both on the track and off it in his business life.

Hamilton and his father Norman were the Australian Porsche importers for 40 years. They regularly raced some of Stuttgart’s finest – including the 934 Turbo Alan Hamilton drove to victory in the 1977 Australian Sports Car Championship.

In a long career, Hamilton won four national hillclimb titles and also raced Formula 5000s – initially a McLaren M10B Chev in the early ‘70s, and later that decade in a Lola T430. He crashed the Lola heavily at Sandown in the 1978 Australian Grand Prix, sustaining head and leg injuries. He made a full recovery, but it effectively ended his racing career.

As the local Porsche concessionaire, Hamilton imported a Porsche 935 Turbo which Alan Jones used to dominate the 1982 Australian GT Championship, along with a 924/44 Turbo for Colin Bond – which Bond and Jim Richards shared in the all-antipodean assault on the 1981 Le Mans 24 Hour.