1988 Tooheys 1000

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Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit Mount Panorama street racing circuit in Australia.svg
Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit

The 1988 Tooheys 1000 was a 1000 km endurance motor race for Group A Touring Cars. [1] It was held on 2 October 1988 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race was the opening round of the 1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship [2] and was the 29th running of the Bathurst 1000. [3]

The race winning Longhurst/Mezera Ford Sierra RS500 Longhurst-sierra.jpg
The race winning Longhurst/Mezera Ford Sierra RS500

The 1988 edition was the only race in the history of the Bathurst 1000 to have commenced with a rolling start.

Controversy

On the Friday afternoon immediately at the close of final qualifying, Holden Special Vehicles driver Tom Walkinshaw lodged a formal protest against the leading Australian Ford Sierras, targeting all three Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) cars, along with the Tony Longhurst and Colin Bond entries. No European-built Fords (or those with some European build/driver connection) were protested, Walkinshaw claiming it was only the Australian cars as they were the fastest, despite the presence of the Eggenberger Motorsport built Allan Moffat ANZ Sierra as fourth fastest qualifier (faster than Bond and the third DJR entry). Also left alone in the protest was the Sierra of teammates Andrew Miedecke (fifth in a car with a technical link to Andy Rouse, while Miedecke's co-driver at Bathurst was Steve Soper) and Andrew Bagnall (seventh set by co-driver Pierre Dieudonné), and the Team CMS Sweden Sierra (tenth).

The feeling among the protested Australian Sierra teams was that the protest was designed to severely disrupt their race preparations, with only Longhurst's team able to get their Sierra somewhere near its pre-protest speed. All three teams had to pull their cars' engines and suspension apart after Friday's qualifying for the scrutineers before having to put them back together again before Saturday's Tooheys Top Ten. This was particularly disruptive for Dick Johnson's team as they had all three of their cars protested, despite the #18 car only qualifying 12th compared to Johnson's pole and John Bowe in second. The protest prompted DJR team owner Johnson to say at a press conference that Walkinshaw would "Protest against the cut in his bagpipes if he could" and that "All he wants to do is win and he doesn't care how he does it".

The Walkinshaw protest was countered by DJR team manager Neal Lowe who protested the three HSV team Holden Commodores, calling on his knowledge of the Commodore from his time with the old Holden Dealer Team in 1986. The counter-protest by DJR focused on the front air dam, steering rack and the size of the rear spoiler on only the factory backed Commodores.

On race day, Walkinshaw advised the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) and FISA officials that should one of the protested cars win the race, his protest against that car was to be immediately withdrawn. His reasons given for this was so that the winner would be known on the day rather than months later, as had been the case with the 1987 race.

Ultimately the Walkinshaw protests were found to be invalid and was dismissed. The HSV team cars had been entered by Perkins Engineering and not by TWR, therefore the Scot had no authority to lodge a protest and the stewards of the meeting erred in allowing it to proceed, though all of the Sierras were eventually cleared by FISA. However, the damage was done to the leading Australian Fords and it was only race winners Tony Longhurst Racing who managed to get their car back up to speed after being dismantled by scrutineers on the Friday before the Top Ten run off.

In an ironic twist, the DJR protest against two of the three HSV team cars (only the Perkins built cars and not the TWR British built Walkinshaw/Jeff Allam car) was successful with the modifications made to the cars steering racks found to be illegal. Ultimately the Australian Racing Drivers Club saw no need to change the results to show the cars as disqualified as the spare HSV Car (#40) was only driven in Wednesday's practice session, while the Larry Perkins/Denny Hulme/Walkinshaw #10 car, as well as the #20 Walkinshaw/Allam car both failed to finish. The fact that the Perkins built cars were disqualified and the Sierras were cleared raised some eyebrows as during the 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship Larry Perkins had been vocal that the Sierras were running illegally and was pushing for CAMS to enforce the rules.

Race summary

The 1988 race, under the first time sponsorship of Tooheys Brewery, was won by Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera driving a Ford Sierra RS500. It was the first victory in the "Bathurst 1000" for a turbocharged vehicle, and the first victory by a four-cylinder car since Bob Holden and Rauno Aaltonen won in a Morris Cooper S in 1966. It was also the only time in the race's history that there was a rolling start, as dictated by FISA regulations, rather than the traditional standing start. The Ford Sierras dominated the race as expected, but reliability had plagued the Fords. Several that had led the race retired, however sufficient examples finished to fill the three podium positions. Second was the last survivor of the three-car Dick Johnson Racing team, driven by former factory Toyota racer John Smith and DJR lead drivers Dick Johnson and John Bowe whose own hastily re-built cars had both failed early. Alfredo Costanzo qualified in the #18 DJR Sierra but did not get to race, as Johnson and Bowe took over that car. Third was the Caltex-sponsored Sierra of Colin Bond and 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones. The Caltex Sierra had to survive the Walkinshaw protest and post race disqualification (later overruled) to be finally classified third in December 1988. Indeed, it was Bond who successfully argued that Walkinshaw had no authority to lodge the original protest. Unfortunately for Bond, as a result of the protest his car had lost what the team considered to be their best turbocharger and they were forced to use their spare engine for the race which was reported to be some 50 bhp (37 kW; 51 PS) down on their main rivals putting their race speed at around the same level as the leading Commodore's which was around 3–4 seconds per lap slower than they had been expecting.

Defending race winners Peter Brock, David Parsons and Peter McLeod all failed to finish the race. Brock and Parsons, driving BMW M3s for Brock's Mobil 1 Racing, were both out with engine trouble just after halfway through the race. It had been hoped by the team that the reliability shown by the BMW's in the European Touring Car Championship against the much faster, but still relatively fragile Ford Sierras would see them leading late in the race. Ironically the reverse was true and it was the factory backed BMW's which proved fragile. McLeod, driving one of the new Holden Commodores (built by Brock) with Melbourne solicitor Jim Keogh, was out with engine failure on lap 7. It was the team's second engine failure of the day having lost their race engine in the Sunday morning warmup session forcing the team into a rapid engine change that saw them start the race from pit lane. It was a cruel blow for the McLeod team after both McLeod and Keogh had crashed during practice and qualifying, but work on the car and a Saturday night change of setup had seen McLeod lap over one second faster in the race morning warmup than either driver had managed in qualifying.

Class 2 was won by the BMW M3 of New Zealand's Trevor Crowe and "Captain" Peter Janson who finished a strong fourth outright. Class 3, for cars up to 1600cc, was predictably won by the Toyota Team Australia Corolla GT of John Faulkner and Drew Price who finished ninth outright after an all-day sprint. This marked the first time that a small capacity class car had finished in the top ten at Bathurst since 1978.

The race saw the 18th and last start for 1983 James Hardie 1000 winner John Harvey. He drove a Holden Commodore with fellow Sydney veteran and 1974 race winner Kevin Bartlett to finish in 14th place.

Class structure

Cars competed in three engine capacity classes. [4]

Class 1

Taylor/Kennedy Mitsubishi Starion Stariontaylor.jpg
Taylor/Kennedy Mitsubishi Starion

For cars of over 2500cc engine capacity, [4] it featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras, Nissan Skylines and Mitsubishi Starions, the V8 Holden Commodores and a BMW 635 CSi.

Class 2

For cars of 1601-2500cc engine capacity, [4] it was composed of BMW M3s and a Mercedes-Benz 190E.

Class 3

For cars of up to 1600cc engine capacity, [4] it was composed exclusively of various models of Toyota Corolla.

Tooheys Dozen

Due to FISA regulations the Top 10 run-off was not for Pole Position in 1988, but only for AUD$40,000 in prizemoney. With the exception of 2022, this was the only time since the run off began as Hardies Heroes in 1978 that the top 10 grid positions had not been decided in the run off. As a result, the Australian Racing Drivers Club invited non-top 10 qualifiers and former race winners Allan Grice (Holden Commodore – 11th) and Peter Brock (BMW M3 – 16th) to participate.

After 10 years of being known as "Hardies Heroes", the name of the runoff was changed to the "Tooheys Top 10" (dozen for 1988) to go along with new race sponsor Tooheys Brewery.

PosNoTeamDriverCarTDQual
19 Allan Moffat Enterprises Flag of Germany.svg Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS500 2:18.242:18.02
225 Benson & Hedges Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony Longhurst Ford Sierra RS500 2:18.512:17.96
328 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Bowe Ford Sierra RS500 2:18.952:17.52
417 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 2:19.222:16.46
56 Miedecke Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrew Miedecke Ford Sierra RS500 2:19.602:18.78
64 Caltex CXT Racing Team Flag of Australia (converted).svg Colin Bond Ford Sierra RS500 2:20.332:19.84
78 Andrew Bagnall Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Pierre Dieudonné Ford Sierra RS500 2:20.712:20.34
821Team CMS Sweden Flag of Sweden.svg Ulf Granberg Ford Sierra RS500 2:21.822:22.20
910 Holden Special Vehicles Flag of Australia (converted).svg Larry Perkins Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 2:22.472:21.00
1015 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg George Fury Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 2:22.722:21.92*
112 ICL Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Allan Grice Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 2:22.872:22.32
1256 Mobil 1 Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Brock BMW M3 2:25.112:23.76

* 9th fastest qualifier George Fury used the #15 Nissan Skyline as co-driver Mark Skaife had crashed the #30 car in practice and it was still being repaired at the time of the Top 10. This was only allowed as the Top 10 didn't count for grid positions.
* Fury and former Volvo factory driver, Swedish train driver Ulf Granberg were the only drivers to actually go faster than their qualifying times.
* Jim Richards set the qualifying time of 2:23.76 in the #56 Mobil 1 Racing BMW M3, but Peter Brock drove the car in the runoff. Predictably in the underpowered, naturally aspirated 4 cyl BMW, Brock was the slowest in the runoff with a time over 2.2 seconds slower than 11th placed Allan Grice.
* Klaus Niedzwiedz became the second West German driver in succession to win the runoff after his Eggenberger teammate Klaus Ludwig had won in 1987. Driving Allan Moffat's Eggenberger built Ford Sierra RS500, Niedzwiedz's time of 2:18.24 was 1.28 seconds slower than Ludwig's 1987 time, but it was 2.72 seconds faster than he had gone in the 1987 runoff.
* As the shootout was not for grid positions, Tom Walkinshaw withdrew the #10 HSV Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV of Larry Perkins (who was suffering from the flu). Its place was to be taken by the Mitsubishi Starion Turbo of 1986 pole winner Gary Scott. However, a determined Perkins was re-included and the Starion was removed from the list at the last minute.
* Allan Grice had an unconventional start to his shootout lap, using the escape road at Murrays Corner to gain more speed along pit straight. It didn't work as his Les Small prepared Commodore finished 11th, 4/10ths slower than Perkins.

Official results

PosClass [4] NoTeamDriversCarLapsQual
Pos
1125 Benson & Hedges Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony Longhurst
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tomas Mezera
Ford Sierra RS500 1613
2118 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Smith
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dick Johnson
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Bowe
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alfredo Costanzo
Ford Sierra RS500 16012
314 Caltex CXT Racing Team Flag of Australia (converted).svg Colin Bond
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Jones
Ford Sierra RS500 1586
4253 John Sax Flag of New Zealand.svg Trevor Crowe
Flag of New Zealand.svg Peter Janson
BMW M3 15636
5144 Caltex CXT Racing Team Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bruce Stewart
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Giddings
Ford Sierra RS500 15528
6137Brian Callaghan Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brian Callaghan
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Barry Graham
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 15220
7146Sunliner Campmobiles Flag of New Zealand.svg Tony Hunter
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Harrington
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 15133
8124Jagparts Flag of Australia (converted).svg Gerald Kay
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Geoff Munday
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 15038
9371 Toyota Team Australia Flag of New Zealand.svg John Faulkner
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Drew Price
Toyota Corolla GT 14641
10131 Ralliart Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Terry Shiel
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brad Jones
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mike Preston
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 14527
11373Toyota Team Australia Flag of New Zealand.svg Brett Riley
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter McKay
Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE82 14542
12374Bryan Bate Flag of New Zealand.svg Andrew Maher
Flag of New Zealand.svg Bryan Bate
Flag of New Zealand.svg Dave Barrow
Toyota Corolla GT AE86 14543
13123Chris Lambden Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Chris Lambden
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kerry Baily
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 14135
14112 Bob Forbes Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kevin Bartlett
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Harvey
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 14022
1512 ICL Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Allan Grice
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Win Percy
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 13911
16372Toyota Team Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mike Freeman
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mike Oliver
Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE82 13344
17378 Bob Holden Motors Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bob Holden
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jim Faneco
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Damon Beck
Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE82 12845
18149Alcair Air Conditioning Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bob Tindal
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Wayne Park
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 12732
DNF122Lusty Engineering Flag of Australia (converted).svg Graham Lusty
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Lusty
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 14134
DNF110 Holden Special Vehicles Flag of Australia (converted).svg Larry Perkins
Flag of New Zealand.svg Denny Hulme
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tom Walkinshaw
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 1378
DNF139 Lansvale Smash Repairs Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Reed
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Trevor Ashby
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 13526
DNF19 Allan Moffat Enterprises Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Allan Moffat
Flag of Germany.svg Klaus Niedzwiedz
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Gregg Hansford
Ford Sierra RS500 1294
NC141Mulvihill Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony Mulvihill
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Geoff Leeds
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 11831
DNF375Belgrave 2-Way Radio Services Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Ratcliff
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mike Mortimer
Toyota Corolla GT AE86 11848
NC255Bryce Racing Flag of New Zealand.svg Paul Radisich
Flag of Germany.svg Ludwig Finauer
BMW M3 11319
DNF145 Mark Petch Motorsport/
Wolf Racing Australasia
Flag of New Zealand.svg Robbie Francevic
Flag of Germany.svg Armin Hahne
Ford Sierra RS500 10314
DNF16 Miedecke Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrew Miedecke
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Steve Soper
Ford Sierra RS500 1025
DNF150Leeson Civil Engineering Flag of Australia (converted).svg Garry Willmington
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Leeson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 10130
DNF254 John Sax Flag of New Zealand.svg John Sax
Flag of New Zealand.svg John Sorenson
Flag of New Zealand.svg Kayne Scott
BMW M3 10040
DNF256 Mobil 1 Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Brock
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Crompton
Flag of New Zealand.svg Jim Richards
BMW M3 8916
NC376 Bob Holden Motors Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dennis Rogers
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Garry Jones
Toyota Corolla GT AE86 8947
DNF116 Ralliart Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Gary Scott
Flag of Japan.svg Akihiko Nakaya
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 8815
NC377Marc Ducquet Flag of Australia (converted).svg Marc Ducquet
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brian Selby
Toyota Corolla GT AE86 8546
DNF119Mathews/Finnigan Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Terry Finnigan
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ken Mathews
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 8423
DNF126Formula 1 Investments Flag of Australia (converted).svg Graham Moore
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony Noske
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 7921
DNF257 Mobil 1 Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg David 'Skippy' Parsons
Flag of New Zealand.svg Jim Richards
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Crompton
BMW M3 6824
DNF136Everlast Battery Service Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bill O'Brien
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ray Lintott
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brian Sampson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 6625
DNF133 Garry Rogers Motorsport Flag of Australia (converted).svg Garry Rogers
Flag of the United States.svg John Andretti
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 3718
DNF251 Phil Ward Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Phil Ward
Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Clement
Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 2739
DNF128 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Bowe
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Robb Gravett
Flag of New Zealand.svg Neville Crichton
Ford Sierra RS500 262
DNF117 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Dick Johnson
Flag of Australia (converted).svg John Bowe
Ford Sierra RS500 221
DNF114Netcomm Australia Flag of Australia (converted).svg Murray Carter
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Masterton
Ford Sierra RS500 2237
DNF130 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg George Fury
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mark Skaife
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 179
DNF18 Andrew Bagnall Flag of New Zealand.svg Andrew Bagnall
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Pierre Dieudonné
Ford Sierra RS500 97
DNF13Yellow Pages Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter McLeod
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jim Keogh
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 729
DNF121Team CMS Sweden Flag of Sweden.svg Ulf Granberg
Flag of Sweden.svg Christer Simonssen
Flag of New Zealand.svg Ian Tulloch
Ford Sierra RS500 610
DNF120 Holden Special Vehicles Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tom Walkinshaw
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jeff Allam
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 513
DNF115 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Glenn Seton
Flag of Sweden.svg Anders Olofsson
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 017
DNQ111Ray Gulson Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ray Gulson
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Graham Gulson
BMW 635 CSi
DNQ147Craig Kinmoth Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alf Grant
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Craig Kinmoth
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A
DNQ138Grellis Marketing Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ray Ellis
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bruce Williams
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A
DNQ148Tony Kavich Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tony Kavich
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ken Davison
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A
DNQ129The Xerox Shop Flag of Australia (converted).svg Alan Taylor
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kevin Kennedy
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo
DNQ [5] 142 [6] Steve Williams [6] Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Williams [5]
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Chris Clearihan [5]
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A [6]
DNS140 Holden Special Vehicles Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tom Walkinshaw
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Larry Perkins
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV

Italics indicate driver practiced in the car but did not race.

Statistics

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Tooheys 1000 Bathurst 1988, touringcarracing.net Retrieved on 29 January 2013
  2. FIA Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship – 1988 Index, touringcarracing.net Retrieved on 29 January 2013
  3. Records, Titles and Awards, 1989 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 55
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Entry List, Official Programme, Tooheys 1000, 2 October 1988
  5. 1 2 3 Bill Tuckey, The Great Race 8, page 169
  6. 1 2 3 Bill Tuckey, The Great Race 8, page 78