The Australian VW Beetle in competition
The first generation, rear-engined VW Beetle is a global automotive icon, having provided fun, reliable and affordable transport for millions of happy owners, starred in Hollywood movies, been the subject of countless books and magazines and been modified in a multitude of weird and wonderful ways.
A successful competition career, though, is perhaps an attribute you wouldn’t normally associate with this unique vehicle.
With the aerodynamics of a tea pot, an overtly rearward weight bias due to the engine hanging way out the back and swing-axle rear suspension prone to fearful amounts of camber change during cornering and braking, the Beetle’s chassis design and dynamics could not have been further from the racing car designer’s rule book!
However, it was those same design and performance characteristics that made the VW Beetle such a brilliant competitor in off road events. With its rugged, long travel torsion bar suspension, high static ride height, simple air-cooled engine and flat floor pan, it seemed the rougher and tougher the conditions became, the better the Beetle performed.
In Australia in the 1950s and ‘60s, the early Beetles became such a dominant force in the Round Australia Trials and other long distance endurance rallies that they actually hastened the demise of such events.
The Round Australia Trials
Several VW Beetles first competed in the 1954 Redex Round Australia Trial, but only two finished and didn’t make much of an impact.
The Beetle’s dominance started the following year, with a resounding 1-2 finish in the 1955 Redex which attracted 176 starters of which only 57 finished.
A total of 16 Beetles were entered for the car-busting 16,900 km event, but organisational problems ensured a messy end mired in protests and acrimony.
Much of it surrounded the legality of the top-running Beetles, which when inspected by scrutineers in Perth were found to have cracks in some of their wheel arches and floor pans which according to the event’s ‘reliability’ rules should have meant an immediate 500-point penalty for each car.
Rivals also complained that the VW crews had snuck off and secretly replaced the torsion bars in the front and rear suspensions, but as these bars were fully encased in tubular steel pressings it was impossible to check such claims.
No action was taken on either issue at the time. It was only when the event was completed that the knives came out again with numerous claims and counter-claims about legalities and illegalities which went as high as the National Control Council of CAMS, the sport’s governing body.
Once all the courtroom dust had settled, though, the dealer-entered VW Beetle driven by Laurie Whitehead and Bob Foreman was confirmed as the outright winner ahead of another Beetle driven by Eddie Perkins and his brother Lance. These cars led most of the way and were clearly the best cars and crews in the event, so the final result was considered by most to be well deserved.
Eddie (father of Bathurst legend Larry) and Lance Perkins proved their speed and endurance in the final Redex event was no fluke when they conquered the 1956 Mobilgas Round Australia Trial after another 13,600 kms of car-wrecking torture.
With a total of 22 Beetles entered, the German cars were by far the most popular marque amongst competitors as its many attributes for this gruelling style of competition had become obvious. Another Beetle finished a close second to the winning Peugeot in the rival 10, 400 km Ampol Trial held the same year.
The two long distance Trials backed by Mobilgas and Ampol were held again in 1957 and it was during these events that the VW dominance reached its arrogant peak. Incredibly, the top six places in the Mobilgas Round Australia Trial were filled by VW Beetles. And the German cars also recorded another dominant 1-2 finish in the Ampol Trial!
Such mastery of these truly arduous events by a single marque was remarkable and unprecedented, which established the Beetle’s credentials beyond question and made massive inroads for Volkswagen sales in the Australian car market.
However, such dominance by one make also meant that the press and public were rapidly losing interest in the contests. And with that decline, commercial sponsorship also started to wane.
VW drove the final nail into the Mobilgas coffin the following year, when Eddie Perkins led home Greg Cusack in another crushing VW 1-2 finish while another Beetle came within one point of outright victory in the rival Ampol Trial.
Enough was enough. Mobilgas and Ampol both withdrew their support, as there was little to be gained from sponsoring events with such predictable outcomes and dwindling media and public support.
A Blast From The Past
The Round Australia Trial concept would not be revived until 1979 and that was when the final chapter in the Beetle’s remarkable history in long distance rally events was penned in the 20,000 km Repco Round Australia Trial, but it was many years after the last Beetle had left a new car showroom.
Fresh from quitting his Formula One quest in Europe, Larry Perkins and his brother Garry teamed up in a budget-built ’63 Beetle which cost them only $5000 all-up to build themselves and get to the start-line.
The Perkins brothers were of course sons of Trial great Eddie Perkins, who had won similar events in VW Beetles in the 1950s. This historical link made the Perkins boys sentimental favourites, even though most observers rated them a zero chance of beating the numerous multi-car works teams.
Those same critics would have been choking on a large serving of humble pie when the budget-priced Beetle was mixing it with the factory cars in the top 20 in the early running and at one stage was running as high as 7th outright!
Sadly, the Perkins VW crashed out of the event in spectacular style in the Flinders Ranges.
The brothers emerged unscathed but their amazing Beetle was destroyed, with parts of the wreckage reportedly spread across a vast area. It was a sad end to the Perkins-VW rallying legacy.
Beetles in The Great Race
Like most cars sold in Australia just prior to or since 1960, the VW Beetle also put its reputation for durability on the line in the annual 500-mile (800 km) endurance race for stock standard production cars which has become known simply as ‘The Great Race’.
Before this iconic event moved to the Mount Panorama road circuit at Bathurst in 1963 it was held at Victoria’s Phillip Island circuit, which was plagued by a notoriously brittle track surface that turned into a minefield of windscreen-shattering rocks and suspension-busting pot holes each time the race was held there from 1960 to 1962.
At the first Armstrong 500 in 1960, there were four competing classes based on cubic engine capacity attracting several 1200cc VW Beetles to compete in Class B (751-1300cc).
Try as they did the German cars were outclassed by the competition, with Simca Arondes claiming the top three places in Class B ahead of a lone Triumph Herald and the best-placed Beetle driven by Ken Orrman and Max McPherson, finishing fifth in class and 14th outright.
Only one VW Beetle entered the Armstrong 500 the following year, under new class structures. Driven by Greg Cusack and future Great Race winner George Reynolds, the Beetle again finished 5th in class behind the dominant Peugeot 403s in first, second and fourth positions split by a lone Simca Montlhery in third.
The Armstrong 500’s class structures were changed again for the third and final Armstrong 500 at the Island in 1962, now based on retail price rather than engine capacity as organisers quite rightly figured that this was of more relevance to the new car buyer.
This restructure put the 1200cc Beetle into Class D for cars costing less than 900 pounds, which attracted several quality VW entries and a swarm of twin-carbed Morris Mini 850s, Triumph Heralds, Ford Anglias and a lone NSU Prinz.
This time the Beetle scored its first class win in the race, driven with great skill and patience on a disintegrating track by George Reynolds and future Cortina/Porsche racing star Jim McKeown.
1963: The Mountain Master
The VW Beetle’s finest moment in Bathurst history came the first year the Armstrong 500 was held at Mount Panorama in 1963.
The move from Victoria to its new home in regional NSW created a renewed sense of optimism about the race and attracted a bumper field of 58 entries across four competing classes, with five VW Beetles fronting again in what was now Class A (for cars costing less than 900 pounds).
And it was during this race that the Barry Ferguson/Bill Ford 1200cc Beetle became locked in a famous day-long arm wrestle with a Morris Mini 850 driven by Don Holland and Lindsay Little.
It was a tremendous tussle, with the class lead being swapped so many times between the two protagonists that they lost count.
Then, in what became a must-see moment on live TV, the Beetle and Mini arrived at the final corner on the final lap locked together - until the Mini slipped and rolled within sight of the chequered flag! The Ferguson/Ford Beetle powered across the finish line to win Class A, after what had been a monumental struggle.
However, a year is a long time in motor racing, and by the time the 1964 Armstrong 500 rolled around the 1963 Class A winner had become yesterday’s hero. The VW Beetles were totally outclassed by the new Vauxhall Vivas which claimed the top six places in Class A.
The David Walker/Brian Milton Beetle was the first VW home in 7th – four laps behind the winning Vauxhall. Not surprisingly, it was the last time a VW Beetle would compete in The Great Race.
