Geoghegan’s Mustang changed the racing car landscape

To this day, Geoghegan’s Mustang is the only individual chassis to win three consecutive Australian Touring Car Championships (between 1967 and 1969).

It reigned over the racing world for five years, taking an impressive 89 wins from its 144 starts.

The three back-to-back-to-back championships put the Mustang nameplate into the history books as an iconic powerhouse.

Past the podium placings, the vehicle inspired a technical revolution.

John Sheppard, the master mechanic who built it, pushed ‘improved production’ regulations to their limits as he set to work replacing the factory automatic transmission with a manual top loader and upgrading the V8 engine to a sophisticated, aircraft-inspired Lucas fuel injection system, setting a new benchmark for building race cars.

Australian touring car racing then saw a shift from an amateur hobby to a sophisticated engineering discipline.

Geoghegan’s impressive driving style often caused the Mustang’s inside front wheel to lift off the track in a dramatic visual that excited fans of the sport and the racing prodigy.

Countless spectators at Lakeside and Warwick Farm racing circuits remember the redefinition of motorsport when the iconic GTA, with its green and white Castrol livery, sparked the Ford-versus-Holden rivalry, which might not exist on the racetrack anymore, but is still alive and well in Australia today.

Geoghegan’s Mustang is currently on display at MOVE’s Emerald Bank motoring museum.