![Mount Panorama 1938-1986](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Mount_Panorama_1938-1986.png)
The 1983 James Hardie 1000 was a motor race for
Group C Touring Cars
In relation to Australian motorsport, Group C refers to either of two sets of regulations devised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) for use in Australian Touring Car Racing from 1965 to 1984. These are not to be confused with t ...
contested at the
Mount Panorama Circuit
Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama (Wahluu) and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour ...
,
Bathurst,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
on 2 October 1983. It was the 24th "
Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
" and the third to carry the James Hardie 1000 name. The race, which took place as part of Round 4 of the
1983 Australian Endurance Championship
The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars.CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1983, page 95 The championship was contested over a six round series with all rounds run concurr ...
, was contested over 163 laps of the 6.172 km circuit, a total distance of 1006.036 km.
The
Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
took a controversial, but legal, victory with the team's second
Holden VH Commodore SS
The Holden Commodore (VH) is a mid-size car that was produced by Holden from 1981 to 1984. It was the third iteration of the first generation of the Holden Commodore.
This new Commodore was an evolution of the previous Holden VC series model ...
driven by
John Harvey John Harvey may refer to:
People Academics
* John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician
* John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...
,
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...
and
Larry Perkins
Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia.
Biography Early years
Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Eddi ...
. Harvey and Phil Brock qualified the car but after the #05 car blew its engine on lap 8, Peter Brock and Perkins transferred themselves into Harvey's car. Phil Brock never drove the car on race day and was forced to spectate as his three teammates won the race in the car he qualified in, a decision that he claimed was made by Perkins as team manager despite Perkins being the slowest qualifier of the quartet and despite it also being legal for four drivers to drive one car (something Perkins refutes claiming the rules only allowed a maximum of three drivers per car). The car was also the car which Peter Brock and Larry Perkins had won the race in
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
and updated to 1983 specs, meaning this Holden Commodore became the first race car to win the Bathurst 1000 twice. The Holden Dealer Team Commodore finished a lap ahead of
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four ...
and Japanese driver
Yoshimi Katayama
was a Japanese professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and auto racer.
Motorsports career
Born in the Hyōgo Prefecture, Katayama began his Grand Prix career in 1964 with Suzuki. He enjoyed his best season in 1967 when he won two races ...
in their
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Net ...
sponsored
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.
...
. It would be the closest Mazda would get to winning the race. Third was the
STP
STP may refer to:
Places
* São Tomé and Príncipe (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, IOC country code, and FIFA country code STP)
* St Pancras railway station, London St Pancras (Domestic) railway station (National Rail code STP)
* St. Paul Downtown Air ...
Roadways Racing
Roadways Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian Touring Car racing in the 1980s. It also competed in the 1986 European Touring Car Championship.
Roadways Racing
Roadways Racing’s origins can be traced back to ...
Holden Commodore driven by 1982 pole sitter
Allan Grice
Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver o ...
and
1969 winner
Colin Bond
Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...
.
Only three cars in the race were driven by drivers who had both previously won the race. The three cars were: the #05
Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
(entered
Holden VH Commodore SS
The Holden Commodore (VH) is a mid-size car that was produced by Holden from 1981 to 1984. It was the third iteration of the first generation of the Holden Commodore.
This new Commodore was an evolution of the previous Holden VC series model ...
of defending race winners Brock and Perkins), the #17
Ford XE Falcon of
Dick Johnson and
Kevin Bartlett, and the #16
Nissan Bluebird Turbo
The is a compact car with a model name introduced in 1957. It has been Nissan's most internationally recognized sedan, in multiple body styles, and is known for its dependability and durability. The Bluebird originated from Nissan's first vehic ...
of
Fred Gibson and
John French.
Class structure
![BMW 635CSi - Jim Richards](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/BMW_635CSi_-_Jim_Richards.JPG)
Entries were divided into two classes based on engine capacity:
[Entry List, Official Programme, James Hardie 1000, Mount Panorama Bathurst, Sunday 2 October 1983, pages 64 & 65]
Over 3000 cc
For cars of over 3000cc engine capacity, it featured
BMW 635 CSi,
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...
,
Ford Falcon
Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide.
* Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970.
* Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991.
* Fo ...
,
Holden Commodore
The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endin ...
,
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.
...
and
Nissan Bluebird
The is a compact car with a model name introduced in 1957. It has been Nissan's most internationally recognized sedan, in multiple body styles, and is known for its dependability and durability. The Bluebird originated from Nissan's first vehic ...
.
[
]
Under 3000 cc
For cars of under 3000cc engine capacity, it featured Alfa Romeo GTV6
The Alfa Romeo Alfetta (Type 116) is a front-engine, five-passenger sedan and fastback coupé manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1972 to 1987 with a production total over 400,000.
The Alfetta was noted for the rear position of it ...
, Audi 5+5, Ford Capri
The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the Euro ...
, Isuzu Gemini
The Isuzu Gemini is a subcompact car produced by the Japanese automaker Isuzu from 1974 until 2000. The same basic product was built and/or sold under several other names, sometimes by other General Motors brands, in various markets around the wo ...
and Nissan Pulsar
The is a line of automobiles produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1978 until 2000, when it was replaced by the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy in the Japanese market.
Between 2000 and 2005, the name "Pulsar" has been used in Australia and New ...
.[the race for the under 3 litre class was won by Australian Driver Allan "ACE" Cant and co driver and team owner NZ born Les Grose in the #64 wideline windows ford capri.
]
Hardies Heroes
The final order of the first ten grid positions was established in the "Hardies Heroes" session on the day before the race.[Bil Tuckey and David Greenhalgh, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, The First 30 Years, Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited, 1990, pages 151 to 160] This involved the fastest eight cars from qualifying plus two others at the discretion of the organisers contesting two, single timed laps, one car at a time.[ The fastest lap of each car set its grid position.][
* This was ]Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...
's record 5th pole position at Bathurst having previously taken pole in 1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
, 1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
, 1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
and 1979. This saw him move one clear of Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four ...
who had been on pole four times. It was also the last time he would set pole driving a Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
, though he did sit on pole in 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, but it was his co-driver Mark Skaife
Mark Skaife (born 3 April 1967) 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, as well as a six-time Bath ...
who had set the time in the runoff
* Dick Johnson crashed in Hardies Heroes destroying his Greens-Tuf Falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
. In a show of goodwill no other teams in the race objected to the replacement #17 car starting the race from 10th position.
* 1983 saw the first appearance by BMW in Hardies Heroes with Jim Richards qualifying his JPS Team BMW
JPS Team BMW is a former Australian motor racing team that ran from 1981–1987. The team's main focus was touring car racing but also ran in sports sedans and GT cars as well. The team, under the management of former British Touring Car Cham ...
635 CSi in 4th place. BMW became the 6th manufacturer to appear in Hardies Heroes following Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
, Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
, Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
and Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
. The BMW was also the first 6 cyl engined car to appear in the runoff.
* 1983 Australian Touring Car Champion and winner of the recent Castrol 400 at Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
Allan Moffat was expected to easily make the top ten with his 13B powered Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.
...
, but could only qualify the car 14th, two places behind teammate Gregg Hansford
Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford (8 April 1952 – 5 March 1995) was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1978 to 1981 and in Australian to ...
whose car was running the less powerful 12A engine. This led to accusations of sandbagging by other leading teams, especially the Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
which claimed that Moffat was deliberately holding the car back in qualifying rather than showing its real speed.
* The 4cyl Nissan Bluebird Turbo
The is a compact car with a model name introduced in 1957. It has been Nissan's most internationally recognized sedan, in multiple body styles, and is known for its dependability and durability. The Bluebird originated from Nissan's first vehic ...
driven by George Fury
George Fury (born 31 January 1945, in Hungary) is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Austr ...
was the first non- V8 powered car to start on the front row at Bathurst since Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...
started second in 1973 in a 6cyl Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1
The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 19 ...
.
* With seven VH Commodore's in the top 10 this was Holden's greatest representation ever in the runoff. On the other side of the coin, Johnson's Falcon was the only Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
in the top 10, the lowest ever number for that manufacturer.
Official results
Full results of the 1983 James Hardie 1000 were:
Notes
* The names of drivers who practiced in the car but did not take part in the race are shown within brackets.
* Harris/Cooke qualified 30th in the #9 Bendigo Falcon but their car was used to get Johnson/Bartlett back into the race after Johnson crashed the #17 Falcon in Saturday morning's Hardies Heroes. The Harris/Cooke team took part in the race after Johnson's sponsor Ross Palmer (owner of Palmer Tube Mills) acquired the Lawrence/Russell Commodore. The Commodore and Falcon were rebuilt and painted for the race in a marathon effort through Saturday night. After getting stewards and other teams approval the DJR Falcon was allowed to start from 10th while the Bendigo Commodore was allowed to start from position 30. Following the race the Falcon, leased from Harris by Palmer, was returned to the Bendigo Team while the Commodore was returned to Palmer who promptly sold it back to Barry Lawrence.
* Andrew Harris had to get permission from one of his sponsors, Melbourne's Jefferson Ford, to use their Ford dealership name on the re-painted Holden Commodore, which was dubbed the ''Fordore'' by the team (the Commodore also carried ''5.8'' signage, the litre capacity of the Ford 351 Cleveland engine used in the Falcons). In a TV interview during the race with Channel 7's Evan Green, Harris told that he had offered Dick Johnson's wife Jill his Falcon for DJR to get back into the race after seeing a visibly upset Jill Johnson in the pits following her husbands qualifying crash, reasoning that the Ford fans would rather see Johnson in the race than himself. Driving the Commodore Harris ended up finishing 10th and winning the Rookie of the Year award.
Statistics
* Provisional Pole Position - #05 Peter Brock - 2:15.3
* Pole Position - #05 Peter Brock - 2:16.270
* Fastest Lap - #25 Peter Brock - 2:18.5 (lap record)
* Race time of winning car - 6:28:31.6[Bil Tuckey and David Greenhalgh, Australia's Greatest Motor Race, The First 30 Years, Chevron Publishing Group Pty Limited, 1990, page 313]
* Average speed of winning car - 158 km/h
References
*Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84
*Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1960-1989 (©1990)
*James Hardie 1000, 1983/84
*Modern Motor, December 1983
External links
Race results, www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au
{{Bathurst 1000 races
Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales
James Hardie 1000