The 1991 Don't Drink Drive Sandown 500 was an endurance race for Group 3A Touring Cars. The event was held on 8 September 1991 at the Sandown circuit in Victoria, Australia over 161 laps of the 3.10 km "long" circuit, totalling 499 km. The race was the first round of both the 1991 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1991 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
The Sandown 500 is an annual endurance motor race which has been staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia since 1964. Historically it was held in September, the month before Australia's premier endurance race, the Bathurst 1000. However in 2019 it will be held in November.
Group A was a set of motorsport regulations introduced by FIA covering production-derived vehicles intended for outright competition in Touring car racing and Rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, the Group A referred to production-derived vehicles limited in terms of power, weight, allowed technology and overall cost. Group A was aimed at ensuring a large number of privately owned entries in races.
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its "drag strip" front and back straights being 899 and 910 metres long respectively.
The race was won by first time winners Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow and the Bob Forbes Racing team in just their second race since taking delivery of the team's new Gibson Motorsport developed Nissan Skyline GT-R. With six classified it was the smallest number of classified finishers in the history of the Sandown 500 touring car race.
Bob Forbes Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1988 and 1993.
Gibson Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1981 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GTHOs in Series Production during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name of the team was also the name of Fred Gibson's automotive business in Sydney. As Gibson was also a driver for the Ford Works Team, his team was sometimes a pseudo-works team when the Ford factory did not enter.
The Nissan Skyline GT-R is a sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range.
Although no official Top 10 run off was held during qualifying for the Sandown 500, the top 10 qualifiers were:
Pos | No | Team | Driver | Car | Qual |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30 | Peter Jackson Racing | ![]() | Ford Sierra RS500 | 1:14.17 |
2 | 4 | GIO Racing | ![]() | Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | 1:14.66 |
3 | 05 | Mobil 1 Racing | ![]() | Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 1:14.67 |
4 | 11 | Mobil 1 Racing | ![]() | Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 1:14.73 |
5 | 16 | Holden Racing Team | ![]() | Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 1:15.38 |
6 | 28 | Playscape Racing | ![]() | Ford Sierra RS500 | 1:16.39 |
7 | 16 | Holden Racing Team | ![]() | Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 1:16.43 |
8 | 25 | Benson & Hedges Racing | ![]() | BMW M3 Evolution | 1:17.27 |
9 | 26 | Gemspares | ![]() | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | NA |
10 | 13 | Car Trek Racing Pty. Ltd. | ![]() | Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV | NA |
Glenn Seton is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 and 1997 while driving for his own team. Although he never won the Bathurst 1000 like his father Barry did in 1965, Glenn started from pole position in 1994 and 1996, and finished second three times. He came close to winning the race in 1995, holding a significant lead in the closing stages, but his engine failed nine laps from the finish.
The Bathurst 1000 is a 1,000-kilometre (620 mi) touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as a championship event for Supercars.
Mark Stephen SkaifeOAM is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship. He is also a six-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. On 29 October 2008, he announced his retirement from full-time touring car racing. Since retiring from driving, Skaife has worked as a commentator and presenter for the series for both the Seven Network and Fox Sports Australia.
Jim Richards is a New Zealand racing driver who won numerous championships in his home country and in Australia. While now retired from professional racing, Richards continues to compete in the Touring Car Masters series.
John Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a Holden Torana in the Touring Car Masters series.
The 1990 Sandown 500 was an endurance race for Group 3A Touring Cars. The event was held at Sandown Park on 9 September 1990. The race distance was 161 laps of the 3.10 km circuit, totaling 499 km.
The 1985 Castrol 500 was an endurance race for "Group A" Touring Cars staged at the Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit in Victoria on 15 September 1985. Race distance was 129 laps of the 3.878 km (1.928 mi) circuit, totaling 500.262 km.
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The 1991 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group 3A Touring Cars. The championship, which was the eighth running of the Australian Endurance Championship, began on 8 September 1991 at Sandown Raceway and ended on 6 October at the Mount Panorama Circuit after two rounds. The title was won by Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow who shared a Bob Forbes Racing Nissan Skyline GT-R. The 1991 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, which was run concurrently with the Endurance Championship, was awarded to the Nissan Motor Co (Australia).
The 1991 Tooheys 1000 was the 32nd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1991 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The 1000 km race was held for cars complying with the provisions of Australian Group 3A Touring Car regulations with the field divided into three engine capacity divisions. It was the Round 2 of both the 1991 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1991 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
John McIntyre is a New Zealand racecar driver who competes in the V8SuperTourer championship and is a co-driver for Ford Performance Racing in the V8 Supercar Series at Sandown and Bathurst.
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The 1992 Don't Drink Drive Sandown 500 was an endurance motor race open to Group 3A Touring Cars, 1993 Group 3A 5.0 Litre Touring Cars and Group 3E Series Production Cars. It was held at the Sandown International Motor Raceway, in Victoria, Australia, on 13 September 1992, over 136 laps of the 3.1 km circuit, a total distance of approximately 422 km. The race, which was the 27th Sandown 500, was won by Larry Perkins and Steve Harrington driving a Holden VL 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.
The 1986 Castrol 500 was an endurance race for cars complying with CAMS Touring Car regulations, which were based on FIA Group A rules. The event was staged on 14 September 1986 over 129 laps of the 3.9 km Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit in Victoria, Australia, a total distance of 503 km. The race, which was Round 3 of both the 1986 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, was the 21st "Sandown 500" endurance race.
Anders Olofsson was a Swedish racing driver.
Preceded by 1990 Sandown 500 | Sandown 500 1991 | Succeeded by 1992 Don't Drink Drive Sandown 500 |