John Goss was born in Hobart on May 2, 1943.

He began racing in his home state in Holden FJs and Ford Customlines.

He then built his own sports car, the Tornado Ford, which he took to the mainland with some success, scoring points in the Australian Sports Car Championship in both 1969 and 1970.

John also raced Ford Falcon GTHOs in production car racing from 1969 and stayed loyal to Ford for much of his career.

He made his touring car debut in the Bathurst 500 in 1969 driving a Ford Falcon GTHO, but his co-driver Dennis Cribbin crashed at Forrest Elbow.

In 1970 John Goss posted the fastest lap during the Bathurst 500 in his Falcon.

The following year he won two rounds of the Toby Lee Series at Oran Park against such opposition as Colin Bond and Fred Gibson.

John won the 1972 South Pacific Touring Car Series and the 1972 Sandown 250 endurance race, both in Series Production Ford Falcon GTHOs.

He also put his Falcon on the front row of the grid at the Bathurst 500, qualifying second fastest.

With the Series Production class being replaced by the new Group C Touring Car class in

1973, John Goss was the first driver to develop and race the new Ford Falcon XA GT Hardtop.

He and Kevin Bartlett teamed up for the 1973 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst and qualified on pole position, but failed to finish despite leading for much of the race.

In 1974, the pair returned to Bathurst in the same car - repainted from yellow to blue after losing Shell as their major sponsor - and proved to have the reliability needed to last through a race marred by driving rain, finishing first.

To celebrate the victory, Ford Australia released a limited edition XB Falcon Hardtop in 1975 called the John Goss Special.

In 1980 John began campaigning the Jaguar XJS at Bathurst at first with no luck, but sharing a drive with influential Scottish team owner Tom Walkinshaw in 1984 would lead to a turnaround in fortune the following year.

John’s second Bathurst victory came in 1985 - with co-driver Armin Hahne - as a member of the JRA Jaguar Team.

John Goss also raced open wheelers with some success and won the Sandown Park round of the 1975 Tasman Series in an Australian-build Matich and finished second in the Toby Lee Formula 5000 Series.

The following year he won the Australian Grand Prix at the same circuit, driving a Matich A53 Repco Holden, also finishing fifth in the Rothmans International Series.

John Goss is the only Australian racing driver to win Australia’s two most prestigious races, the Bathurst 1000 (twice, in 1974 and 1985), and the Australian Grand Prix (1976).

Written by Martin Agatyn, with assistance from Jon Chandler

Photos courtesy of www.autopics.com.au