Harry Firth
| Harry Firth | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born |
18 April 1918 Orbost, Victoria |
| Died | 27 April 2014 (aged 96) Melbourne, Victoria |
| Awards | |
| 2007 | V8 Supercars Hall of Fame |
Henry Leslie "Harry" Firth (18 April 1918 – 27 April 2014) was an Australian 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 with first the Ford works team and then the famed Holden Dealer Team (HDT) well into the 1970s. Firth’s nickname was "the fox", implying his use of cunning ploys as a team manager.
Firth won the Bathurst 500, including its predecessor at Phillip Island, four times (twice in the final two races held at the Island and twice at Bathurst). He also won the Southern Cross Rally and the Australian Rally Championship. He was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2007.
Firth has often been described as a 'bush engineer', someone who could probably build a race winning engine from nothing more than a roll of wire, while leading Australian Motoring journalist and former part-time racer Bill Tuckey once wrote of Firth that as a driver, engineer and team manager, he was "As cunning as an outhouse rat".
On Sunday 27 April Harry Firth died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his family, he was aged 96.
Firth was born in Orbost, Victoria. After returning from service in World War II, Firth turned his attention to motorsport. He was involved in preparing the winning BMW 328 for the 1948 Australian Grand Prix (driven by Frank Pratt). In the 1950s Firth successfully competed in Porsche 356’s in races and hillclimbs. Firth had a great record in the Alpine Rally winning the event five times between 1953 and 1962. Firth then teamed with Bob Jane in a Mercedes-Benz 220SE to win the 1961 Armstrong 500 at Philip Island.
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