 The Ford XW Falcon GTHO Phase I powered by the 5.8 L, 351 "Windsor" V8 engine looked to be a big threat at the 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 against the new Holden HT Monaro GTS350 with the GTHO's proving to have a slight speed advantage over the 5.7 L, 350 Chevrolet V8 powered Monaros, but Al Turner's tactic of flying in untested special tyres from the USA proved to be the undoing of the Ford challenge as Falcons kept pulling into the pits with shredded tyres.Ironically, the one Ford works car that did not chew through its tyres was the one driven by Moffat and Allan Hamilton.Moffat contends that had he not been called into the pits early to change tyres after the failures on the Geoghegan brothers car and the Gibson/Seton car, that he would have won the race.