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The 1961 Armstrong 500 was an endurance motor race for standard production sedans. The event was held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia on 19 November 1961 over 167 laps of the 3.0 mile circuit, a total of 501 miles (807 km).

It was the second event held in the combined history of the Bathurst 1000, which had begun the previous year with the first Armstrong 500. Interest in the event had weakened since the previous year with the entry for this year the lowest in the races history until the fields were restricted to V8 Supercars only in 1995.

Geoff Russell and David Anderson backed up their 1960 class victory in their Peugeot 403 by again winning in their class, although the changes in class capacity limits put them against slower opposition. Bob Jane and Harry Firth were the only combination to finish the full race distance, earning the pair the first of their four outright race wins, although the concept of an outright race win would not be officialy recognised until 1965. Mercedes-Benz, Studebaker and Renault all took their first class wins.

Class structure[]

Class A[]

Class A was for cars with an engine capacity over 2600cc. The class featured Ford Customline, Studebaker Lark and Vauxhall Velox.

Class B[]

Class B was for cars with an engine capacity between 1601cc and 2600cc. The class featured Ford Falcon, Holden EK and Mercedes-Benz 220SE.

Class C[]

Class C was for cars with an engine capacity between 1001cc and 1600cc. The class featured Morris Major, Peugeot 403, Simca Montlhery and Volkswagen Beetle.

Class D[]

Class D was for cars with an engine capacity of 1000cc or less. The class featured Ford Anglia, Morris 850, Renault Gordini and Triumph Herald.

Results[]

Class A[]

Pos. No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps
1 43 York Motors

David McKay

Brian Foley

Studebaker Lark 166
2 41 WF Coad

Frank Coad

John Roxburgh

Vauxhall Velox 165
3 44 Canada Cycle & Motor Co

Fred Sutherland

Bill Graetz

Studebaker Lark 165
DNF 42

Peter Boyd-Squires

Peter Will

Ford Customline

Class B[]

Pos. No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps
1 32 Autoland Pty Ltd

Bob Jane

Harry Firth

Mercedes-Benz 220SE 167
2 35 KJ Harper

Ken Harper

Syd Fisher

John Raeburn

Ford Falcon XK 161
Disq 33 IM Strachan

Ian Strachan

John Lanyon

Holden EK 134

Class C[]

Pos. No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps
1 24

GLA Russell

Geoff Russel

Dave Anderson

Peugeot 403 163
2 26 W Cox

Bill Coe

Ron Lilley

Peugeot 403 161
3 22 BJ Auto Service

Bob Brown

Lionel Marsh

Michael Lempriere

Simca Montlhery 160
4 25

Bob Holden

Ken Brigden

Albert Bridge

Peugeot 403 153
5 21

George Reynolds

Greg Cusack

Volkswagen 152
DNF 27

Charlie Smith

Bruce Maher

Tony Osborne

Morris Major 141
DNF 28

Eddie Clay

Jack French

Jim Gray

Morris Major 135

Class D[]

Pos. No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps
1 3 Monash Service Station

Jim Gullan

Brian Sampson

John Connolly

Renault Gordini 157
2 4 WM March

Bill March

Norm Beechey

Renault Gordini 156
3 9 JGR Poulton

George Poulton

Joe Vanaria

Triumph Herald 155
4 10

Bill Jane

Norm Henthorn

Jim White

Triumph Herald 155
5 15 Alan Coffey Motors

Lou Molina

Doug Whiteford

Ford Anglia 152
6 2

Les Park

Stan Martin

Renault Gordini 150
7 11

Alan Caelli

J Edwards

M Watson

Ford Anglia 149
8 14

Kevin Lott

Brian Devlin

Peter Candy

Ford Anglia 148
9 12

John Brindley

Lou Burke

Ford Anglia 148
10 16

Peter Coffey

Ian Trudinger

Ford Anglia 146
11 7

Neil Johannesen

Graham Mills

Jacques Sapir

Morris 850 136
Disq 8

Hoot Gibson

Paul England

Triumph Herald 12
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