The 1985 Castrol 500 was an endurance race for "

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...

" Touring Cars staged at the Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

on 15 September 1985. Race distance was 129 laps of the 3.878 km (1.928 mi) circuit, totaling 500.262 km. The event was Round 3 of both the 1985 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1985 Australian Manufacturers' Championship. There were 36 starters, of which 21 were classified as finishers.Barry Naismith, Bathurst 1985/86, page 77 The race was won by the

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 of Australian Touring Car Champion Jim Richards, and his co-driver

Tony Longhurst Anthony Lawrence Longhurst (born 1 October 1957 in Sydney) is an Australian racing driver and former Australian Champion water skier. He is most noted for his career in the Australian Touring Car Championship and V8 Supercar series. Longhurst is ...

. It was Longhurst's first major win in Australian touring car racing. JPS Team BMW made it a 1-2 finish when their second car, driven by

Neville Crichton Neville Alexander Crichton is a New Zealand businessman who was also a competitor in Australasian motor and yacht racing. Biography Born in New Zealand in 1945, Crichton left school aged 14 and entered the automotive industry. In 1972, he open ...

and on-loan

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 ...

team driver

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 Aust ...

finished only a few seconds behind. Finishing in third place was the surprising

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name "supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations of the Supra were pr ...

of Peter Williamson and

1985 Motorcraft Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series The 1985 Motorcaft Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series was an Australian motor racing competition open to Formula Ford racing cars.Programme, Mallala, Sunday,March 17, 1985 It was the 16th Australian Formula Ford Series and the first to be conteste ...

winner

Tomas Mezera Tomas Mezera (born 5 November 1958 in Czechoslovakia) is a naturalised Australian racing driver. Mezera won the 1988 Bathurst 1000, and for many years was a member of the Holden Racing Team as both a driver and team manager. Mezera's sporting c ...

. The 1985 Castrol 500 was the first time since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

that neither

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, al ...

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 win ...

had won the Sandown enduro.

1984 Castrol 500 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 ...

winner Brock, who claimed pole position with a time of 1:52.3 in his

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 ...

VK Commodore, suffered engine failure after 41 laps, while Moffat, who was without a drive in 1985 due to

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 ...

not racing in

, was part of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television commentary team.

Classes

The field was divided into three classes according to engine displacement.Official Programme, Castrol 500, September 14 and 15, 1985 *Class A : 3001 cc to 6000 cc *Class B : 2001 cc to 3000 cc *Class C : Up to 2000 cc

Results

Top 10 Qualifiers

Race

Notes

* Pole Position: #05

Holden Commodore (VK) The Holden Commodore (VK) is a mid-size car that was produced by Holden from 1984 to 1986. It was the fourth iteration of the first generation of the Holden Commodore and introduced the luxury variant, Holden Calais (VK) sedan. Overview The ...

- 1:52.3 * Fastest Lap: Dick Johnson /

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 ...

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

- 1:53.6 (New lap record) * Race Time: 4:12:26.4

References

*Australian Motor Racing Year, 1985/86 *James Hardie 1000, 1985/86 *Official Programme, Castrol 500, 14 and 15 September 1985 *The Australian Racing History of Ford, 1989 *The Official Racing History of Holden, 1988

External links

1985 Castrol 500 - full race
{{s-end Motorsport at Sandown Castrol 500 Pre-Bathurst 500