Robert Morris is an Australian former racing driver. Morris was one of the leading touring car drivers during the 1970s and continued racing until 1984. Morris won Australia's premier Touring car

Touring car

A touring car, or tourer, is an open car seating five or more. Touring cars may have two or four doors. Often, the belt line is lowered in the front doors to give the car a more sportive character. They were often fitted with a folding roof and side curtains. Engines on early models were either in...

 race, the Bathurst 1000

Bathurst 1000

The Bathurst 1000 is a touring car race held annually at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia...

 in 1976. He also won the Australian Touring Car Championship

Australian Touring Car Championship

The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...

 in 1979. Morris was inducted into the V8 Supercar Hall of Fame

V8 Supercar Hall of Fame

The V8 Supercar Hall of Fame was instituted in 1999 with the first running of the V8 Supercars Championship Series, initially known as the Shell Championship Series. It was established to recognise the efforts of past champions and prominent figures within the sport. The initial inductees were...

 in 2004.

Early years

Morris got his early start in racing through his father Ray Morris who was racing at the time in early sports sedan racing with a modified Ford Falcon

Ford Falcon (Australia)

The Ford Falcon is a full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960. Each model from the XA series of 1972 onward has been designed, developed and built in Australia and/or New Zealand, following the phasing out of the American Falcon of 1960–71 which had been re-engineered...

. Bob Morris made his Bathurst 1000 debut in 1968 driving a Toyota Corolla

Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...

 with Bruce Hindhaugh in the team backed by Australian Toyota importers AMI

Australian Motor Industries

Australian Motor Industries was an automobile assembly firm that was significant in the early history of the automobile industry in Australia.- Start of production :...

 that his father Ray also drove for. Morris and Hindhaugh won their class. Morris again registered a class win the following year with Brian Sampson

Brian Sampson (racing driver)

Brian Sampson is a retired Australian racing driver.Sampson had a long career throughout the 60s and 70s, which he still continues as a hobby...

, again in an AMI Corolla.

In 1970, spotted by team boss Harry Firth

Harry Firth

Harry L. Firth is an Australian former racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager well into the 1970s...

, Morris was picked up by the Holden Dealer Team

Holden Dealer Team

The Holden Dealer Team was Holden’s semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1987, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and sports sedans during the 1970s...

. He was paired with the HDT's other young charger, Peter Brock

Peter Brock

Peter Geoffrey Brock, AM otherwise known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain" or simply as "Brocky" was one of Australia's best-known and most successful motor racing drivers. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, although he raced vehicles of other...

 in a Torana GTR XU-1 but a troubled race saw them finish well back in the field. 1971 saw Morris paired with father Ray, taking out fastest lap at Bathurst in a Ford Falcon GTHO but the family team retired early, the big Ford overheating.

In 1973 Morris received backing from Sydney car dealer Ron Hodgson Motors and the Seven TV Network

Seven Network

The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

 for his Torana GTR XU-1 campaign. In the 1973 and 1974 seasons Morris was very competitive in the Sun-7 Chesterfield Series

Sun-7 Chesterfield Series

The Sun-7 Chesterfield Series, also known as the Sun-7 Gold Medal was an Australian touring car racing series run at Amaroo Park in Sydney, during the early and mid 1970s....

 at Amaroo Park

Amaroo Park

Amaroo Park was a motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It opened in 1967, hosting its first motorcycle meeting on 26 February with a 30 lap production race won by Larry Simons on a BSA Spitfire in heavy rain. The...

 driving against the Holden Dealer Team's Colin Bond

Colin Bond

Colin John Bond is a retired Australian 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...

 and other top Sydney drivers. Then in 1975 he won his first Touring Car Championship round at Amaroo.

1976 Bathurst victory

In 1975 Morris finished second at Bathurst in the Ron Hodgson Torana SL/R5000 L34 with co-driver Frank Gardner

Frank Gardner (driver)

Frank Gardner OAM was a racing driver from Australia. He was best known as a Touring car racing and Sports car racing driver. He also participated in nine World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 July 1964. He scored no championship points...

. The following year Bob Morris, with British touring car ace John Fitzpatrick

John Fitzpatrick (racing driver)

thumb|upright=0.7|John Fitzpatrick in 1972John Fitzpatrick is a former British racing driver, winning many titles throughout his career. He still works within motorsport as a consultant doing corporate events and driver management...

 as co-driver, went one better – winning in a dramatic finish at Bathurst. In the final laps of the 1976 race John Fitzpatrick nursed home the ailing Morris Torana which was trailing smoke. Rival Torana driver Colin Bond was within striking distance of the lead if Fitzpatrick had to pit and there were emotional scenes as chief Ron Hodgson team mechanic, Bruce Richardson, slumped disconsolately in the pits seemingly resigned to seeing victory snatched from the team's grasp. Meanwhile, a nervous Bob Morris paced up and down the pits with fingers crossed but the slowing Ron Hodgson Torana managed to make it to the finish line first with Bond in 2nd place on the same lap.

Touring Car Champion

In 1979 Bob Morris, in an A9X Torana, won a hard-fought Australian Touring Car Championship

Australian Touring Car Championship

The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...

 title ahead of Holden Dealer Team driver Peter Brock. Morris also won the AMSCAR Series, run at Amaroo Park. At the Bathurst 1000 that year Morris was 2nd fastest qualifier but Brock, in his new A9X Torana, ran away from the field at the start of the race, leading every lap of the event. Hodgson, having seen his team beat the HDT to the Touring Car title, withdrew from racing, having achieved all he had set out to do. Morris was re-united with Frank Gardner, who was team manager of Allan Grice

Allan Grice

Allan Maxwell Grice OAM , known to motor-racing fans as Gricey, is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 , and as a privateer driver of a Holden in the Australian Touring Car Championship.Grice also had a successful second...

's team. Morris developed a new Commodore

Holden Commodore

The Holden Commodore is an automobile manufactured since 1978 by the Holden subsidiary of General Motors in Australia, and, formerly, in New Zealand. In the mid-1970s, Holden established proposals to replace the long-serving Kingswood nameplate with a smaller, Opel-based model...

 during the Touring Car Championship, but by the enduros he had left the team and raced Bill O'Brien's Falcon during the 1980 endurance season.

Collision at 1981 Bathurst

Bob Morris was involved in a dramatic collision during the 1981 Bathurst 1000. Morris' Falcon, when running in 2nd place, came together with the Falcon of Christine Gibson leading to a six car pile-up that blocked the track. The other cars involved were the Commodores of Garry Rogers and Tony Edmondson, the Gemini

Isuzu Gemini

General Motors sought a replacement for their world car T-body Kadett / Gemini, and this time, instead of building one design on several continents, they decided to build a world car in one location and export it to several continents...

 of David Seldon and the Chevrolet Camaro

Chevrolet Camaro

The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...

 of Kevin Bartlett

Kevin Bartlett (race driver)

Kevin Bartlett , often known by his nickname "KB", is an Australian former open wheel and touring car racing driver who won the CAMS Gold Star in 1968 and 1969, as well as the prestigious Bathurst 1000. Bartlett was named in Wheels magazine's annual yearbook in 2004 as one of Australia's 50...

. The officials declared the race over 43 laps short of the full distance and so the Bob Morris/John Fitzpatrick car was awarded 2nd place. The crash though would have repercussions for Morris' racing career. Morris would have balance issues that affected his ability to race, but the talent was always there.

1982 would see a two car 'super team' with Alan Jones

Alan Jones (Formula 1)

Alan Stanley Jones MBE is an Australian former Formula One driver. He was the first driver to win a Formula One World Championship with the Williams team, becoming the 1980 World Drivers' Champion....

, but with the two drivers steering different cars, Morris a XE Falcon

Ford Falcon (Australia)

The Ford Falcon is a full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960. Each model from the XA series of 1972 onward has been designed, developed and built in Australia and/or New Zealand, following the phasing out of the American Falcon of 1960–71 which had been re-engineered...

, Jones a Mazda RX-7

Mazda RX-7

Series 1 is commonly referred to as the "SA22C" from the first alphanumerics of the vehicle identification number. This series of RX-7 had exposed steel bumpers and a high-mounted indentation-located license plate, called by Werner Buhrer of Road & Track magazine a "Baroque depression."In 1980...

. The partnership dissolved at the end of the 1982 season, in particular after a disappointing Bathurst which saw the very competitive Falcon badly damaged in a crash on Saturday afternoon, the car irreparable for the Sunday morning start.

Morris returned to full time touring car racing part way through the 1984 season in a Barry Jones prepared RX-7. After winning the Oran Park

Oran Park Raceway

Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from 1962 to 2010....

 ATCC round Morris had his final start at Bathurst with Barry Jones co-driving. That year Morris retired from competitive driving, at the comparatively young age of 36, to live on his property at Kangaroo Valley.

Career results

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
1973 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 14th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains on 5 March 1973 and ended at Warwick Farm after eight rounds. The series was won by Allan Moffat in a Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III.-Teams and drivers:The following...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	10th	Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1	Ron Hodgson Motors
1974 1974 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1974 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 15th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains on 4 March 1974 and ended at Adelaide International Raceway on 9 June after eight rounds. The series was won by Peter Brock in a Holden Torana LJ XU1 and Holden...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	2nd	Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1	Ron Hodgson Motors
1975 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 16th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains and ended at Lakeside International Raceway after seven rounds...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	6th	Holden LH Torana SLR/5000 L34	Ron Hodgson Motors
1976 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship was a series of motor races for Touring cars conforming to the Australia Group C touring car regulations. It was the 17th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains Raceway on 29 February and ended at Phillip Island...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	6th	Holden LH Torana SLR/5000 L34 Triumph Dolomite Sprint	Ron Hodgson Motors
1977 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing championship open to Group C Touring Cars. It was the 18th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship and it began at Symmons Plains Raceway on 7 March and ended at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on 20...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	5th	Holden LH Torana SLR/5000 L34 Ford Capri	Ron Hodgson Motors
1978 1978 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1978 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 19th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains and ended at Adelaide International Raceway after eight rounds...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	2nd	Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback	Ron Hodgson Motors
1979 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 20th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains and ended at Adelaide International Raceway after eight rounds...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	1st	Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback	Ron Hodgson Motors
1979	AMSCAR Series	1st	Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback	Ron Hodgson Motors
1980 1980 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1980 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 21st running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. Peter Brock won his third and final ATCC title, driving a Holden VB Commodore for the Holden Dealer Team.-Teams and drivers:...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	5th	Holden VB Commodore	Craven Mild Racing
1984 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 25th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship, and was the last year of Group C regulations. The following year would see the introduction of the international Group A regulations...	Australian Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the V8 Supercar Championship Series awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.-History:The...	13th	Mazda RX-7	Bob Jones Racing