Bevan Gibson's Fatal Crash @ Mount Panorama 1969
- 7 months ago
Bevan Gibson was the son of Hazel and Godfrey Angus "Hoot" Gibson, a car and tractor dealer in Mansfield, state of Victoria, Australia. Widely regarded as one of Australia's most promising drivers of the late 1960s, Bevan Gibson was the protege of Victorian businessman and racing driver Bob Jane.
Bevan entered the Mount Panorama Trophy Race for Division One Sports Cars with a Jane-owned red Elfin 400-Repco, on Easter Monday, 07 April 1969. It was a fast sportscar, but some - as fellow driver Frank Matich who raced it longtime - believed that its long nose configuration generated a dangerous amount of lift at high speeds.
Bevan Gibson experienced exactly that during the practice sessions: at the infamous hump at the final stage of the mile-long Conrod Straight the front end of the Elfin would become terminally light - to the point of lifting its wheels from the ground. The night before the race Gibson asked for a front wing to be made, but the team decided that hastily introducing such aerodynamic changes and without the opportunity to test them might lead to unpredictable results. Worse, doing that between practice sessions and race, and at a track like Mount Panorama, could be disastrous. The team requested Gibson instead to "take it easy over the hump" and the two parties agreed on that approach. On the heat of the battle, though, things would be very different.
Race started, Matich took the lead on his own Matich SR4-Repco while Gibson stayed at distance. But Matich’s car began to suffer fuel metering problems, what led to misfiring; it began to lose ground. Gibson, enticed by that, charged on and on - including going faster over the hump than the predetermined safe limit.
Bevan Gibson drove closer and closer to the hole in the air that followed Matich's SR4. He decided to take a chance over the last hump, but went too far and the consequences were tragic. At some 260 km/h (161.6 mi/h) the Elfin shot straight up in the air as the wind got right under it. As the bodywork flew vertically into the air at an estimated height of 60-80 feet, the rest of the car slid to the right of the circuit, hit a bank and flipped. The car spun on its crushed rollover bar for at least 200 yards before coming to rest in flames on the right hand side of the circuit approximately 50 yards before Murrays Corner.
The secretary of the meeting dispatched the Fire Tender from the (old) Control Tower reverse direction up the circuit. The tender drove through heavy flames to reach the car, but when the fire was finally extinguished Bevan Gibson was already dead.
R.I.P
Bevan entered the Mount Panorama Trophy Race for Division One Sports Cars with a Jane-owned red Elfin 400-Repco, on Easter Monday, 07 April 1969. It was a fast sportscar, but some - as fellow driver Frank Matich who raced it longtime - believed that its long nose configuration generated a dangerous amount of lift at high speeds.
Bevan Gibson experienced exactly that during the practice sessions: at the infamous hump at the final stage of the mile-long Conrod Straight the front end of the Elfin would become terminally light - to the point of lifting its wheels from the ground. The night before the race Gibson asked for a front wing to be made, but the team decided that hastily introducing such aerodynamic changes and without the opportunity to test them might lead to unpredictable results. Worse, doing that between practice sessions and race, and at a track like Mount Panorama, could be disastrous. The team requested Gibson instead to "take it easy over the hump" and the two parties agreed on that approach. On the heat of the battle, though, things would be very different.
Race started, Matich took the lead on his own Matich SR4-Repco while Gibson stayed at distance. But Matich’s car began to suffer fuel metering problems, what led to misfiring; it began to lose ground. Gibson, enticed by that, charged on and on - including going faster over the hump than the predetermined safe limit.
Bevan Gibson drove closer and closer to the hole in the air that followed Matich's SR4. He decided to take a chance over the last hump, but went too far and the consequences were tragic. At some 260 km/h (161.6 mi/h) the Elfin shot straight up in the air as the wind got right under it. As the bodywork flew vertically into the air at an estimated height of 60-80 feet, the rest of the car slid to the right of the circuit, hit a bank and flipped. The car spun on its crushed rollover bar for at least 200 yards before coming to rest in flames on the right hand side of the circuit approximately 50 yards before Murrays Corner.
The secretary of the meeting dispatched the Fire Tender from the (old) Control Tower reverse direction up the circuit. The tender drove through heavy flames to reach the car, but when the fire was finally extinguished Bevan Gibson was already dead.
R.I.P