The Toby Lee Series was an Australian motor racing series run at

Oran Park Raceway Oran Park Raceway was a Auto racing, motor racing circuit at Narellan, New South Wales, Narellan south west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010. The track was desig ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, between 1970 and 1975. In 1970 Oran Park, with backing from sponsors Toby Lee (a brand of shirts) and department store

Grace Bros Grace Bros was an Australian department store chain, founded in 1885. It was bought by Myer (later Coles Myer) in 1983. There were 25 stores across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory plus a few in Victoria, until they wer ...

, launched a new series of races for Group E Series Production sedans. The "Toby Lee Series" usually featured a 100 lap final round and quickly became very popular, attracting large crowds to Oran Park. The series featured a number of leading Sydney-based drivers, such as

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driver

Colin Bond Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is an Australian former racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...

, emerging

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privateer John Goss, Ford stalwart Fred Gibson and

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drivers

Leo Geoghegan Leo Francis Geoghegan (16 May 1936 – 2 March 2015) was an Australian racing driver. He was the elder of two sons of former New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, both of whom become dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s. ...

and

Doug Chivas Douglas Gordon Chivas (c.1922–2004) was an Australian rally and racing car driver. Chivas drove the first Lotus Mark 6 in Australia in the early 1950s winning many races. Career In the 1960s and 1970s he drove for some of the most important r ...

. The Toby Lee played its part in popularising production sedan racing and in establishing the passionate Holden-Ford rivalry that would endure for decades to come. After three years of racing under Series Production regulations (1970–1972) the Toby Lee Series switched to

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for the 1973 and 1974 seasons. 1973 saw competitive racing with big fields. Leading contenders included

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics *John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician *John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture a ...

and Colin Bond in Torana Repco V8s, Bill Brown and Jim McKeown driving

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s, Leo Geoghegan's Porsche 911S, and

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. But when John McCormack rolled out his highly modified

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Repco V8 in 1974 it dominated the series. This led to a lessening of interest in the series and the fields dwindled in the second half of 1974. For its final year of 1975 a radical switch was made away from sedan racing altogether and the Toby Lee became an open-wheeler

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series.

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's Lola T400 won the 1975 series from the Matich A53 of John Goss.

List of winners

, - ! Year ! Driver ! Car ! Team , - , 1970 , Fred Gibson , Ford Falcon GTHO Phase I , Road & Track , - , 1971 , Fred Gibson , Ford Falcon GTHO Phase II , Road & Track , - , 1972 ,

, Holden Torana GTR XU-1 ,

, - , 1973 ,

, Holden Torana Repco V8 , Bob Jane Racing , - , 1974 , John McCormack ,

Chrysler Charger Charger or Chargers may refer to: * Charger (table setting), decorative plates used to enhance a place setting * Battery charger, a device used to put energy into a cell or battery * Capacitor charger, typically a high voltage DC power supply des ...

Repco Holden Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retail company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialised manufacturing, for which it gained a high reput ...

V8 , Ansett Team Elfin , - , 1975 ,

Australian Competition Yearbook 1976 , Lola T400 , Sharp Racing Team , -

References

{{Reflist Auto racing series in Australia Recurring sporting events established in 1970 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1975 Touring car racing series 1970 establishments in Australia 1975 disestablishments in Australia