Layout of the Sandown Raceway international circuit (1984-1998)
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]

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. Driver No Car Entrant[2] Time
Pole Australia George Fury 15 Nissan Motor Co. Nissan Bluebird Turbo 1:46.2
2 Australia Allan Grice 6 Roadways Racing[3] Holden VK Commodore 1:46.3
3 Australia Dick Johnson 17 Palmer Tube Mills Ford XE Falcon 1:46.9
4 Australia Peter Brock 05 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore 1:47.0
5 Canada Allan Moffat 2 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Mazda RX-7 1:47.5
6 New Zealand Jim Richards 31 JPS Team BMW BMW 635 CSi 1:47.8
7 Australia Warren Cullen 8 K. Mart Auto Racing Holden VK Commodore 1:48.7
8 Australia Ron Harrop 9 K. Mart Auto Racing Holden VH Commodore SS 1:49.0
9 Australia John Harvey 25 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore 1:49.1
10 Australia Murray Carter 18 Valentine Greetings Mazda RX-7 1:49.9

Race

Position[4] Drivers No. Car Entrant[2] Class Laps
1 Peter Brock
Larry Perkins
05 Holden VK Commodore Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc 129
2 Allan Moffat
Gregg Hansford
43 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Over 3000cc 128
3 John Harvey
David Parsons
25 Holden VK Commodore Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc 127
4 Murray Carter
John Goss
18 Mazda RX-7 Valentine Greetings Over 3000cc 125
5 Bernie Stack
Wayne Clift
Jim Keogh
20 Holden VH Commodore SS Jim Keogh Over 3000cc 122
6 Peter Williamson
Charlie O'Brien
77 Toyota Celica Supra Peter Williamson Toyota Group A 119
7 Alf Grant
Craig Harris
27 Ford XD Falcon Bryan Byrt Ford Over 3000cc 118
8 Tony Mulvihill
Brian Nightingale
51 Mazda RX-7 Tokico Over 3000cc 113
9 Dean Lindstrom
Larry Kogge
74 Mazda RX-7 Dean Lindstrom Up to 3000cc 111
10 John Craft
Les Grose
56 Ford Capri Mk III Hulcraft Autos Group A 109
11 Brian Bolwell
Ray Cutchie
28 Ford Escort Mk II Brian Bolwell Up to 3000cc 107
12 Warren Cullen
Alan Jones
8 Holden VK Commodore K. Mart Auto Racing Over 3000cc 102
13 Ken Harrison
Ian Wells
80 Ford Escort Mk II Ken Harrison Up to 3000cc 96
14 Martin Power
Philip Larmour
49 Triumph Dolomite Sprint Martin Power Up to 3000cc 95
NC Rusty French
Geoff Russell
10 Holden VH Commodore SS John Sands Racing Over 3000cc 91
DNF Allan Grice
Steve Harrington
6 Holden VK Commodore Roadways Racing[3] Over 3000cc 103
DNF Colin Bond
Peter Fitzgerald
70 Alfa Romeo GTV6 Network Alfa Group A 93
DNF Graham Lusty
John Lusty
21 Holden VH Commodore SS Lusty Engineering Pty Ltd Over 3000cc 84
DNF Lawrie Nelson
Peter Jones
64 Ford Capri Mk III Capri Components Up to 3000cc 76
DNF Jim Richards
Tony Longhurst
31 BMW 635 CSi JPS Team BMW Over 3000cc 72
DNF John White
Les Szreniawski
61 Isuzu Gemini John White Up to 3000cc 70
DNF John Bundy
Barry Jones
39 Mazda RX-7 J. Bundy Over 3000cc 64
DNF Peter McLeod
Graeme Bailey
50 Mazda RX-7 Petrolon Slick 50 Over 3000cc 57
DNF Peter Janson
Garry Rogers
3 Holden VH Commodore SS Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd Over 3000cc 46
DNF Jim Keogh
Terry Shiel
19 Holden VH Commodore SS Jim Keogh Over 3000cc 44
DNF Andrew Harris
Ron Harrop
9 Holden VH Commodore SS K. Mart Auto Racing Over 3000cc 43
DNF Bill O'Brien
Garry Cooke
30 Ford XD Falcon Everlast Battery Service Over 3000cc 41
DNF Dick Johnson
John French
17 Ford XE Falcon Palmer Tube Mills Over 3000cc 37
DNF George Fury
Gary Scott
15 Nissan Bluebird Turbo Nissan Motor Co. Over 3000cc 32
DNF Steve Masterton
Phil Ward
2 Ford XE Falcon Masterton Homes Pty Ltd Over 3000cc 14
DNF Colin Campbell
John Faulkner
38 Holden VH Commodore SS Bayswater Auto Wreckers Over 3000cc 9
DNS[5] Chris Clearihan 32 Mazda RX-7 Berklee Exhausts[6] Over 3000cc

Statistics

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

  • Stewart Wilson & Max Stahl, Ford – The Racing History, 1989, page 312
  • Stewart Wilson, Holden – The official Racing history, 1988, page 359
  • Bill Tuckey, James Hardie 1000, 1984/85, pages 114–121
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