Winterbottom to run 1977 Bathurst tribute livery

Prodrive Racing Australia will pay homage to Allan Moffat and Colin Bond’s famous 1977 Bathurst one-two with a special livery for this weekend’s Great Race.

Mark Winterbottom and Dean Canto’s #5 PRA Ford will carry its own version of the livery made famous by the Moffat Ford Dealers XC Falcons four decades ago.

The ’77 race has gone down in Ford motorsport history, with Moffat and Ickx taking victory ahead of Bond and Alan Hamilton in a formation finish, more than a lap clear of Peter Janson and Larry Perkins.

“Allan Moffat was one of my heroes growing up, and still is, so I feel very honoured to be racing in the livery he made so famous 40 years ago,” said Winterbottom.

“It will be great to have Allan and Colin trackside to watch the race this year and a big thanks to The Bottle-O team for making all of this happen.

“Dean and I would like nothing more than to take the famous livery to another win on the 40th anniversary.”

The livery is also a shrewd bit of cross-promotion for PRA, which earlier this year announced that its road car tuning arm Tickford is producing a ‘Tickford Bathurst ’77 Special’ version of the new Ford Mustang.

Just 77 of the tuned road-registered ‘Stangs are being produced by the Melbourne-based company.

It’s also not the first time PRA has paid tribute to Moffat’s ’77 success, having run a similar livery across its two cars at Mount Panorama back in 2012.

Erebus also reveals new livery

David Reynolds’ #9 Erebus Motorsports Commodore will also run a new livery for Bathurst this weekend. The team trades its regular gold features for what it regards as “a truly Australian look. ”

 This year marks the second time the Penrite Holden has run a one-off livery at Mount Panorama

“It’s sure to attract plenty of attention and it doesn’t get much bigger than Bathurst,” said Penrite Oil’s general manager of sales and marketing, Toby Dymond.   “It’s the biggest event of the year and is the perfect opportunity to showcase our brand in a different way. 

 “We’re often mistaken for being an American brand and we’re simply not, we are 100 percent Australian-made and -owned and I think it’s important that we send a reminder.”