'Meant the world to me': Larkham leads stirring tributes to Allan Moffat

Allan Moffat has been remembered at a state memorial service at the Melbourne Town Hall.

The Canadian-born racing legend passed away aged 86 last month. Moffat, a four-time Bathurst winner and four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, later called Melbourne his adopted home.

On Tuesday, he was farewelled by several big names in the motoring industry, with three famous Moffat cars flanking the stage — the 1969 Coca-Cola Mustang, the 1977 Bathurst-winning Falcon and the 1987 World Touring Car Championship race-winning Commodore.

Speaking at the service, Supercars racer turned broadcaster Mark Larkham shared an early memory of Moffat, who acknowledged him during a race in his youth.

"You'll quickly work out that l'm not a professional emcee — I'm here because of my love for Allan and everything he achieved in our sport," Larkham said.

"For a little bit of perspective, l'm a late-teenager living out at Griffith. I'm a serious Allan Moffat fan and a Ford fan.

"I drove with one of my buddies — I mean, motor racing was so foreign to us, out there in the bush — we drove to Amaroo Park, a seven-hour, 700km drive.

"Allan was racing there that day. We didn't have enough money to get into the pits or anything like that.

"I remember standing on the outside of the fence. Moff got out of his car and I yelled just, 'hey Moff!'

"The fact that he lifted his arm and gave me a quick acknowledgement meant the world to me. So imagine how humbling it is for me to stand up here today at this service.”

Moffat was credited to raising the professional standard in Australian motorsport.

The likes of Neil Crompton, Charlie O’Brien, Phillip Christensen, Mark Fogarty and son Andrew Moffat also shared memories of the late racer.

Larkham concluded his tribute by presenting a series of statistics that pitted Moffat against old rivals and current greats. Each metric showed Moffat atop the tree, from pole percentage to win percentage, and even podium percentage.

Larkham said: "I stand here and think, how do we measure how good Allan Moffat was?

“It’s like trying to compare a Donald Bradman with a modern cricketer, it's just not that easy. And it's not easy in our game either, because formats change, how many races you do a year change.

"But at the end of the day, the stats don't lie.”

Andrew Moffat added: “He had a magnificent life. He did it all himself. He lived like no one else. He was going to be the best, and he was going to do it his way.

“There were many versions of Allan Moffat, but to me, it was just my dad.

“We’ve barely scratched the surface on a unique and wonderful life. So many people have so many memories. Please keep them alive.”