1984 Castrol 500

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Layout of the Sandown Raceway international circuit (1984-1998) Sandown.JPG
Layout of the Sandown Raceway international circuit (1984-1998)
The race winning Brock/Perkins Holden Commodore Brock-vk.jpg
The race winning Brock/Perkins Holden Commodore

The 1984 Castrol 500 was an endurance motor race staged at the Sandown Park circuit in Victoria, Australia on 9 September 1984. The event was open to Group C Touring Cars, competing in two engine capacity classes, Up to 3000cc and Over 3000cc. It also included a class for Group A cars which were to replace Group C cars in Australian Touring Car racing in 1985. The race, which was held over a distance of 503 km, was Round 3 of the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship. [1]

Contents

This was the first Sandown endurance race where the distance was 500 km and the first of five races on the new 3.878 km (1.928 mi) long 'International Circuit'. Prior to 1984 the Sandown Enduro had been held over distances including: 6 Hours (1964–65), 3 Hours (1968–69), 250 miles (1970–75) and 400 km (1976-83), all held on the old 3.100 km (1.926 mi) circuit. The meeting also saw the opening of the new International standard Sandown Park with changes including the relocating of the pits from between turns 1 and 2 to a new $600,000 pit complex at the start of the main straight, and the lengthening and re-profiling of the circuit to the minimum length required for an International circuit of 3.9 km, primarily by the inclusion of an 800-metre infield section, which for the first time saw the circuit cross to the inside of the venue's horse racing track.

Qualifying

Nissan driver George Fury sat on pole in his Bluebird Turbo with a time of 1:46.2 for the new track. Alongside Fury in a brand new Roadways Racing Holden VK Commodore was Allan Grice who was only 0.1 behind. Filling out the second row of the grid was newly crowned Australian Touring Car Champion Dick Johnson in his "Greens-Tuf" Ford XE Falcon, and the Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore of Peter Brock. The third row of the grid consisted of the top two finishers from 1983. Winner Allan Moffat in his Mazda RX-7 and Jim Richards in the JPS Team BMW 635 CSI.

Fury's pole time remains the fastest ever recorded time by a touring car of the 3.878 km International Circuit.

1982 Australian Sports Car Champion Chris Clearihan, who was to have co-driven with David Grose in a Mazda RX-7, was excluded from the meeting after qualifying following an altercation in the pits with Allan Moffat in which punches were allegedly thrown. Moffat and Clearihan had tangled out on the circuit with a confrontation following in the pits. After Clearihan's exclusion, the 1983 Sports Car Champion Peter Hopwood who was driving in the final round of the 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship at the meeting, was given permission to take his place in the RX-7.

Race

Due to the new length of 500 km, teams were required to have at least two drivers per car as no one driver was permitted to complete the entire distance without a break. This saw most teams use their upcoming Bathurst pairings.

Driving with regular co-driver and HDT team manager Larry Perkins, Peter Brock won his 9th and last Sandown enduro. The pair finishing a lap ahead of the Moffat/Gregg Hansford RX-7 with the second HDT Commodore of John Harvey and new team recruit David Parsons finishing 3rd. Early race leader Dick Johnson suffered gearbox failure on lap 37, attributed to the increased strain from the tight new infield section, while pole sitter Fury was out on lap 32 with head gasket failure. The only other car to lead the race, the Roadways Racing VK Commodore of Grice/Steve Harrington, stopped with a broken gearbox while running 2nd on lap 103. Grice had the consolation on the day of not only winning the final round of the 1984 Australian GT Championship (and subsequently his third Sports Sedan/GT national title) in his Chevrolet Monza, but also setting the fastest lap of the Sandown 500 in his new Commodore before it expired. As this was the only Group C touring car race held on the new 3.9 km long international circuit, Grice's lap of 1:48.3 remains the category lap record for the circuit.

Dean Lindstrom and Larry Kogge won the Up to 3000cc class and finished 9th outright in their RX-7, 18 laps down on Brock/Perkins, while the winner of the new Group A category was Peter Williamson and Charlie O'Brien who finished 6th outright driving an ex-BTCC Toyota Celica Supra formerly driven by Win Percy.

Results

Top 10 Qualifiers

Pos.DriverNoCarEntrant [2] Time
Pole Flag of Australia (converted).svg George Fury 15 Nissan Motor Co. Nissan Bluebird Turbo 1:46.2
2 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Allan Grice 6 Roadways Racing [3] Holden VK Commodore 1:46.3
3 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dick Johnson 17 Palmer Tube Mills Ford XE Falcon 1:46.9
4 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Brock 05 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore1:47.0
5 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Allan Moffat 2 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Mazda RX-7 1:47.5
6 Flag of New Zealand.svg Jim Richards 31 JPS Team BMW BMW 635 CSi 1:47.8
7 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Warren Cullen8K. Mart Auto RacingHolden VK Commodore1:48.7
8 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ron Harrop9K. Mart Auto Racing Holden VH Commodore SS 1:49.0
9 Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Harvey 25 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore1:49.1
10 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Murray Carter 18Valentine GreetingsMazda RX-71:49.9

Race

Position [4] DriversNo.CarEntrant [2] ClassLaps
1 Peter Brock
Larry Perkins
05 Holden VK Commodore Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc129
2 Allan Moffat
Gregg Hansford
43 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Over 3000cc128
3 John Harvey
David Parsons
25 Holden VK Commodore Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc127
4 Murray Carter
John Goss
18 Mazda RX-7 Valentine GreetingsOver 3000cc125
5Bernie Stack
Wayne Clift
Jim Keogh
20 Holden VH Commodore SS Jim KeoghOver 3000cc122
6Peter Williamson
Charlie O'Brien
77 Toyota Celica Supra Peter Williamson ToyotaGroup A119
7Alf Grant
Craig Harris
27 Ford XD Falcon Bryan Byrt FordOver 3000cc118
8Tony Mulvihill
Brian Nightingale
51 Mazda RX-7 TokicoOver 3000cc113
9Dean Lindstrom
Larry Kogge
74 Mazda RX-7 Dean LindstromUp to 3000cc111
10John Craft
Les Grose
56 Ford Capri Mk III Hulcraft AutosGroup A109
11Brian Bolwell
Ray Cutchie
28 Ford Escort Mk II Brian BolwellUp to 3000cc107
12Warren Cullen
Alan Jones
8 Holden VK Commodore K. Mart Auto RacingOver 3000cc102
13Ken Harrison
Ian Wells
80 Ford Escort Mk II Ken HarrisonUp to 3000cc96
14Martin Power
Philip Larmour
49 Triumph Dolomite Sprint Martin PowerUp to 3000cc95
NCRusty French
Geoff Russell
10 Holden VH Commodore SS John Sands RacingOver 3000cc91
DNF Allan Grice
Steve Harrington
6 Holden VK Commodore Roadways Racing [3] Over 3000cc103
DNF Colin Bond
Peter Fitzgerald
70 Alfa Romeo GTV6 Network Alfa Group A93
DNFGraham Lusty
John Lusty
21 Holden VH Commodore SS Lusty Engineering Pty LtdOver 3000cc84
DNFLawrie Nelson
Peter Jones
64 Ford Capri Mk III Capri ComponentsUp to 3000cc76
DNF Jim Richards
Tony Longhurst
31 BMW 635 CSi JPS Team BMW Over 3000cc72
DNFJohn White
Les Szreniawski
61 Isuzu Gemini John WhiteUp to 3000cc70
DNFJohn Bundy
Barry Jones
39 Mazda RX-7 J. BundyOver 3000cc64
DNF Peter McLeod
Graeme Bailey
50 Mazda RX-7 Petrolon Slick 50Over 3000cc57
DNF Peter Janson
Garry Rogers
3 Holden VH Commodore SS Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd Over 3000cc46
DNFJim Keogh
Terry Shiel
19 Holden VH Commodore SS Jim KeoghOver 3000cc44
DNFAndrew Harris
Ron Harrop
9 Holden VH Commodore SS K. Mart Auto RacingOver 3000cc43
DNFBill O'Brien
Garry Cooke
30 Ford XD Falcon Everlast Battery ServiceOver 3000cc41
DNF Dick Johnson
John French
17 Ford XE Falcon Palmer Tube Mills Over 3000cc37
DNF George Fury
Gary Scott
15 Nissan Bluebird Turbo Nissan Motor Co. Over 3000cc32
DNFSteve Masterton
Phil Ward
2 Ford XE Falcon Masterton Homes Pty LtdOver 3000cc14
DNFColin Campbell
John Faulkner
38 Holden VH Commodore SS Bayswater Auto WreckersOver 3000cc9
DNS [5] Chris Clearihan32 Mazda RX-7 Berklee Exhausts [6] Over 3000cc

Statistics

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References

  1. Australian Motor Racing Year, 1984/85, pages 298–301
  2. 1 2 Official Programme, Castrol 500, Sandown, September 9 (1984)
  3. 1 2 Car No. 6 was not listed in the Official Programme
  4. Barry Naismith, Bathurst 1984/85, pages 42–53
  5. Leach, Brad; Webster, Wayne (1984–85). Berghouse, Ray (ed.). "Australian Endurance Championship". Australian Motor Racing Year. Killara, NSW Australia: Berghouse Publishing Group (14): 298. ISSN   0158-4138.
  6. Car No. 32 was not listed in the Official Programme

Further reading

Preceded by Sandown 500
1984
Succeeded by