Panorama Circuit at Bathurst in New South Wales. The Bathurst 500 was organised and promoted by a consortium of the Seven Network, the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) and Bathurst Regional Council, an arrangement which would continue until 1998. Its popularity grew rapidly, chiefly because it became a means for car manufacturers to showcase their products as the race cars had to be identical to those available on the showroom floor. The first years on the Mount Panorama circuit were dominated by swift and agile small cars, such as the Ford Cortina and Mini Cooper. The class structure was retained so that there were many "races within the race" but the emphasis on achieving first outright increased. In 1963, Bob Jane and Harry Firth again triumphed, this time in a Cortina GT. In 1964 the pair drove competing Cortina GTs; Jane won with George Reynolds as co-driver. Barry 'Bo' Seton was second with Herb Taylor. Harry Firth was third with John Reaburn. The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport introduced new Group E Series Production Touring Car regulations in 1965 but the Armstrong 500 continued with its own regulations. 1965 brought victory for the first overt "Bathurst Special", the Cortina GT 500. Bo Seton and Midge Bosworth completed the 130 laps first. Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland were second in an identical car. Third outright and first in Class C were Brian Foley and Peter Manton in a Morris Cooper S. The Geoghegan brothers, Ian and Leo, famously drove the race wearing business suits supplied by McDowells. In 1966 and 1967 an Irish tobacco company sponsored the race, which became known as the "Gallaher 500". 1966 was the last four cylinder victory for more than two decades. Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden drove their Mini Cooper S to a hard-fought win against stiff competition which mainly consisted of other Coopers. Mini Coopers filled the first nine places in Class C and outright. Class D was won by a Chrysler VC Valiant V8 that completed 124 laps. Class A was won by the Nissan Factory backed Datsun 1300 of Moto Kitamo and Kunimitsu Takahashi. Class B was taken out by an 1100cc version of the Mini Cooper. 1967 rule changes mandated a minimum number of pit-stops to negate the advantage economical smaller cars had of requiring fewer stops. This change favoured the larger, thirstier Fords and Holdens. The Minis handled the corners