Born : July 29 1942
Deceased : March 3 2025
Biography Alan Hamilton
In 1951, Alan Hamilton’s father had a coincidental encounter with Richard von Frankenberg, during a drive from Austria to Switzerland to investigate the latest in pump technology for Australia’s nation-building Snowy Hydro project. This encounter finally led Norman Hamilton to being introduced to Ferry Porsche. Ferry Porsche and Alan Hamilton’s father immediately saw opportunites, and the result was that Hamilton became the second Porsche agent outside Europe, following Max Hoffman in the USA. Alan Hamilton was 9 years old, and didn’t realize how much that would influence his further life.
During his education at Camberwell High School, Alan showed both interest in the family company, next to a large admiration for the cars his father imported in Australia. Alan joined the family firm in 1962 by establishing the marque’s service division in Melbourne and later moved to retail sales. Alan led the growth and expansion of Porsche in Australia for many years, during which time he created his landmark Melbourne dealership in Church Street, Richmond. Norman and Alan Hamilton laid the foundations for Porsche in Australia for 41 years, paving the road for the Porche sports car brand, a marque that has become one of the longest continuously represented makes in the Australian motor industry.
Hamilton was well known in Melbourne for the redevelopment of the historic Bryant & May match factory site in Richmond. Initially used as a base for the Hamilton Porsche business, it was the cause of great financial distress that cost the family the Porsche business. Ultimately the family save some money when selling the property for asubstantial sum in the last few years.
Alan Hamilton built a winery business at Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula as he eased up. He remained active, intensely interested in motorsport and was as sharp as a tack in exchanges with the writer in recent years about all manner of topics.
Race Career
The big marker in Alan Hamilton’s life came on his 18th birthday on 29 July 1960 when he passed his driving test and got his racing licence from Motorsport Australia the same Friday afternoon. The latter was essential, as he was already entered in his first motorsport event – a motorkhana at the Templestowe Hillclimb venue – that Sunday in the old small window 1954 VW Beetle he already owned. Things went more serious when Hamilton spent some time in Stuttgart, and returned home with a Porsche 904. He made his mark with this machine on the circuits and in the hills, winning the Australian Hillclimb Championship (AHC) with it at Collingrove in 1966. This car was succeeded by a pair of Porsche 906s. In his race career Hamilton used various cars including a special 911 T/R in which he almost secured the 1969 Australian Touring Car Championship.
1969 Australian Touring Car Championship
The first round at Calder saw the V8s dominate. Hamilton claimed third and in the following races at Bathurst, Mallala, Surfers Paradise and Symmons Plains, he finished a remarkable second place in all four. While the Victorian could not match the one lap pace, he would always be there at the end.
Across the five round affair, Hamilton outscored the entire pack, finishing with three more championship points than Geoghegan and his Mustang.
However, the regulations of the time stated that each entrant would drop their worst round score over the five events. For Hamilton, his third place at Calder was put in the bin, and for Geoghegan, his disqualification (for push starting his car in pit lane) from the last round at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains was his dropped score.
The final result? Geoghegan won the title by one point on a count back, claiming his fourth (of five) crowns and denying Hamilton and the 911 the underdog upset that championship would have ever seen.
And the circumstances of the final round were even more amazing. With Geoghegan out of the picture, Hamilton needed to win the race to take the title. Beechey’s Monaro had won the penultimate round at Surfers Paradise and had a stranglehold on the race, only for a gearbox issue to jam his car in top gear. Chasing down the smoking HK, Hamilton was all over Beechey at the final corner but could not make a pass before the line, denying him the title.
Pictures courtesy as mentioned
