John Gowland

Profile interview courtesy of speedcafe.com to read full interview please see below

John Gowland may not feature in the record books as a household name in Australian motorsport history but he does hold a special place in the archive files.

Gowland was the person responsible for the Falcon nameplate claiming its first Bathurst victory in 1967 with the XR GT.

Then a year later, Gowland masterminded Ford Australia’s three- car assault on the gruelling 16,000km Daily Express London to Sydney Marathon.

The three XT GT Falcons of Ian Vaughan, Bruce Hodgson and Harry Firth finished third, sixth and eighth respectively. It was an achievement good enough to take the prestigious teams prize.

Gowland, a career-long executive with the blue oval brand, started with Ford in London in 1965 and joined Ford Australia in 1966.

Ralph Hosking was the PR Manager at the time and his department controlled the motorsport program. When current Competition Manager Les Powell retired, a young Gowland went to Hosking and said, “I am your man to run the race team.”

Ford agreed with Gowland, so at the age of 25 he was given the responsibility of steering Ford Australia’s motorsport fortunes that included both circuit racing and rallying.

The drivers under Gowland’s control read like the who’s who of motorsport stars. The circuit racing roster included ’67 Bathurst winners Harry Firth and Fred Gibson, the Geoghegan brothers, Bruce McPhee, Alan Hamilton, John French and one Allan Moffat.

Ford upped the ante and introduced the Phase One Falcon XW GTHO in 1969.

Power output and engine size had been dramatically increased with the GTHO boasting a 351 V8 engine. Holden also increased engine power and capacity with the 350 Monaro. At Bathurst that year the mountain would see the debut of both Allan Moffat and Peter Brock.

Joining Moffat in the Ford team were Alan Hamilton, Fred Gibson, Bo Seton, and the Geoghegan brothers, Ian and Leo.

It was around this time that Al Turner was brought in from the USA to develop the Falcon GTHO’s with Gowland remaining in the Competitions Department managing logistics and team administration. Gowland ran Lot 6 Mahoney’s Rd (where the Competitions department was based).

Gowland retired from Ford after 35 years in 1999.

In the first of a two-part series Speedcafe recently sat down with Gowland to talk about those halcyon days at Ford and get the definitive answer on a long held rumor about the ’67 Bathurst winner.