Murray Carter

Murray Wishart Carter (born 30 January 1931) is an Australian racing driver. For many years a stalwart of the Australian Touring Car Championship Carter has had one of the longest racing careers of any driver in Australian history, continuing to race into his 80s.

Racing history One of a generation of racing drivers that appeared in the 1950s as tyres and fuel, rationed for most of that decade in the post-war economic climate, became more widely available. After racing motorcycles and a Jaguar XK120, Carter built an open wheeler which was powered by a Chevrolet Corvette V8 engine, the car making its first appearance in 1959. The following year the car was rebuilt as a sports car He also embraced production car racing when it emerged in 1960 and raced at the first Armstrong 500, later to become famous as the Bathurst 1000, and won his class driving a Ford Customline.

Touring Cars Carter emerged as a regular in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1973. Driving Ford Falcons Carter was one of the leading privateer drivers during the 1970s and into the early 1980s. Famously Carter lent his Falcon to works driver Allan Moffat at the Adelaide International Raceway round of the 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship after Moffat's similar car was stolen from a local Ford dealer's workshop, the night before the race. Carter was a beneficiary of the work being done by Moffat and the Ford works team, getting new developments quickly, keeping him at the forefront of Ford racers through the 1970s. A career highlight came in 1975 when Carter benefitted from a season where many front running drivers and teams had fraught campaigns and finished runner up to Colin Bond in the 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship. The other major result of this period was a third placing at the 1978 Bathurst 1000 with New Zealand open-wheel ace Graeme Lawrence as co-driver.

Into 1980, Moffat and Carter were essentially left behind by Ford, as Dick Johnson became the prominent Blue Oval driver, gaining 'unofficial' works support via Ford's Motorcraft parts division. Moffat obtained the factory support of Mazda to enter their Mazda RX-7 into the Australian Group C racing category. By 1983, Carter was becoming increasingly frustrated with developing Ford's XE Falcon and achieving little reward, and switched to a cheaper-to-run Mazda RX-7. It was an ill-timed diversion, and Carter briefly stepped away from racing following the total demise of the Group C Touring Car category at the end of 1984.

In 1986, Carter returned with a Nissan Skyline DR30 RS, before returning to Ford with a Ford Sierra RS500 in 1988 with sponsorship from Netcomm Australia. During his Australian Touring Car Championship career Carter set a record for the most top three finishes without taking a win (20), a record which still stands as of 2017.

Carter's last year in touring cars was in 1990 in a privately entered Ford Sierra RS500. He raced in four of the nine ATCC rounds but did not score a point. He did provide a spectacular moment in the closing minutes of the series' return to Phillip Island for the first time since 1977 when he drove his smoking Sierra into the pits, pulling up just before entering pit lane with the engine of his car on fire. He then joined with Matt Wacker in the Sierra for what would be his last Bathurst 1000 in 1990. During practice, Wacker had a collision with Peter Brock's Sierra being driven by his co-driver Andy Rouse in The Dipper which sent the #05 car up on two wheels and into the fence. The #14 Sierra would be a DNF after 116 laps.

Production Cars By 1991, Carter had switched to production car racing, initially with a Nissan Pintara in the Australian Production Car Championship. He later raced a Nissan Pulsar and then a Mazda 626 in this series, with a highlight of finishing runner up to Phil Morris in the 1994 Australian Production Car Championship. In 1997 Carter began racing a Nissan 200SX Turbo in the Australian GT Production Car Championship. In 1999 a Chevrolet Corvette C5 followed and Carter transitioned with it into the new Australian Nations Cup Championship in 2000. Carter raced only occasionally into the 2000s, driving his Corvette in state level racing as late as 2008. In 2011, Carter still races the Corvette occasionally at Victorian championship level as he approaches 80 years of age. In 2017 Murray relinquished his Cams racing licence, and in 2019, sold his beloved Corvette to a W.A. company.

Career results

Complete Australian Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Phillip Island/Bathurst 500/1000 results The Ford Sierra RS500 that Carter raced in the 1988, 1989 and 1990 Tooheys 1000 races. The car is pictured in 2023. Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 1960 Sabina Motors Ray Gibbs Ford Customline E 154 23rd 1st 1970 Rollington Pty Ltd Ford XW Falcon GTHO Phase II E – DNS DNS 1971 J Harding Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III E 127 11th 6th 1972 M Carter Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III E 120 10th 6th 1973 Murray Carter - Shell Racing Lawrie Nelson Ford XA Falcon GT Hardtop D 150 7th 7th 1974 Murray Carter Mike Stillwell Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop 3001 – 6000cc 88 DNF DNF 1975 Murray Carter Ray Winter Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop D 53 DNF DNF 1976 Murray Carter Ray Winter Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop 3001cc - 6000cc 148 19th 8th 1977 Brian Wood Ford Bob Stevens Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop 3001cc - 6000cc 38 DNF DNF 1978 Brian Wood Ford Graeme Lawrence Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop A 160 3rd 3rd 1979 Brian Wood Ford Graeme Lawrence Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop 3001cc - 6000cc 74 DNF DNF 1980 Murray Carter Graeme Lawrence Ford XD Falcon 3001-6000cc 106 DNF DNF 1981 Murray Carter Racing Graeme Lawrence Ford XD Falcon 8 Cylinder & Over 109 DNF DNF 1982 Murray Carter Racing Rusty French Ford XE Falcon A 25 DNF DNF 1983 Valentine Greetings David Clement Mazda RX-7 A 14 DNF DNF 1984 Valentine Greetings John Murdern Mazda RX-7 Group C 0 DNF DNF 1986 Everlast Battery Service Bill O'Brien Nissan Skyline DR30 RS B 157 10th 3rd 1987 NetComm (Aust) Racing Steve Masterton Denis Horley Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 1 147 DSQ DSQ 1988 NetComm Australia Steve Masterton Ford Sierra RS500 A 22 DNF DNF 1989 Netcomm Australia John Mann Ford Sierra RS500 A 10 DNF DNF 1990 Netcomm Australia Matt Wacker Ford Sierra RS500 1 116 DNF DNF