1992 Bathurst 1000
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The 1992 Tooheys 1000 was the 33rd running of the
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 rece ...
touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...
race. It was held on 4 October 1992, at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The race was held for cars eligible for International
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 ...
touring car regulations and a class available for those who had built cars eligible to the new for 1993 class, CAMS Group 3A touring car regulations. The race was won for the second year in a row by Jim Richards and
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 ...
driving a Gibson Motor Sport prepared Nissan Skyline GT-R, the pair becoming the first back to back Bathurst winners 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 ...
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 ...
had won in
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
and
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
. Richards and Skaife had to be declared the winners after a rainstorm swept across the race in the closing stages causing many accidents in conditions deemed by race officials too dangerous to continue. The race results were issued as at the end of the 143rd lap, 18 laps short of full race distance. This was the second time in the event's history where the race was stopped and results declared before the scheduled laps were completed (previous occasion was in
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
). The
Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team currently fields the #11 and #17 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GTs for Anton de Pasqu ...
run
Ford Sierra The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coeffi ...
of Dick Johnson and John Bowe was classified in second position with Richards and Skaife's teammates Anders Olofsson and
Neil Crompton Neil Crompton (born 30 July 1960) is a well-known Supercars presenter and commentator. Racing career Highlights According to the official V8 Supercars website, Crompton has competed in 357 various motor racing events, finishing in the first ...
in third. Former
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Champion
Denny Hulme Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992), commonly known as Denny Hulme, was a New Zealand racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his f ...
suffered a heart attack at the wheel; he came to a halt at the side of the track and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.


Class structure and entry list


Class structure

;Class A 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 ...
cars of over 1600cc engine capacity, it featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras,
Nissan Skyline The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold i ...
s and
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 ...
s, V8 Holden Commodores, four cylinder BMW M3s and a
BMW 635CSi The BMW E24 is the first generation of BMW 6 Series range of grand tourer cars, which was produced from January 1976 to 1989 and replaced the BMW E9 coupé. The E24 was produced solely in a 2-door coupé body style. All models used petrol straig ...
. ;Class B 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 ...
cars of under 1600cc engine capacity, it was composed exclusively of various models of Toyota Corolla. ;Class C A class for the new V8 touring car class that would take over Australian touring car racing in
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
that would later become known as
V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
. It was composed of three
Holden VP Commodore The Holden Commodore (VP) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden from 1991 to 1993. It was the second iteration of the second generation of the Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VP) and Holden Calais (V ...
s and a Ford EB Falcon.


Entry list

47 cars were entered in the race.


Race

Nine time Bathurst winner
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 ...
had his worst ever start to the race when the tailshaft of his new VP Commodore broke on the starting line. After sitting on the side of the circuit for a number of laps, the car was eventually towed into the pits where the
Mobil 1 Mobil 1 is a brand of synthetic motor oil and other automotive lubrication products. Originally developed by the Mobil oil company, it is now globally marketed and sold by ExxonMobil. Mobil 1 engine oil was introduced in 1974. The brand range no ...
crew fitted a new tailshaft while Brock explained to the television audience that it was a brand new tail shaft fitted that morning that had broken. Brock, whose co-driver was
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
DTM driver and winner of the
1989 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 57th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 10 and 11 June 1989. Race The race was the last time the 24 Hours of Le Mans ran without the two chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight; for the interest of safety t ...
,
Manuel Reuter Manuel Reuter (born 6 December 1961 in Mainz) is a German former race car driver. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice: *in 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for Sauber-Mercedes *in 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans for Joest Racing He also won the Interse ...
, rejoined the race on lap 15 in last position. After later breaking a second tailshaft and being pushed into a spin at Forrest's Elbow during the first rain storm by the
Holden Racing Team Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
Commodore of
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 ...
which forced Brock to pit when Grice pushed past and ground the front spoiler off of the Mobil 1 Commodore (causing Brock to vent on television about Grice's driving in a rare show of emotion), Brock and Reuter finished in 27th place. This race was notable for the winning car being crashed and undrivable at the race's conclusion. Due to heavy rain a large number of crashes occurred towards the end of the race leading to the race being stopped during the leader's 145th lap, requiring a windback to the completed 144th lap. However, many cars had crashed prior to the leader's completion of the 144th lap so the race was woundback an additional lap to allow them to be placed. Due to this windback, Richards' car which had hit the wall once suffering extensive damage—drivable but barely so—and had then slid off the track to join several other cars that had crashed about 200 metres past Forrest's Elbow onto Conrod Straight, was the winner since it was the lead car. Due to high concentrations of Ford and Holden fans and spectators generally upset that a crashed car had won race winner Jim Richards, who drove a Nissan, was vociferously booed as he took the podium. Distressed over the death his friend
Denny Hulme Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992), commonly known as Denny Hulme, was a New Zealand racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his f ...
which he was only informed about moments before he took to the podium (see below), as well as the crowd's reaction, in his very brief, international live feed broadcast victory speech he told the spectators, "You're a pack of arseholes." (see right for full comment) Richards later apologised for his comments. The race was also the last in which
turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...
powered cars such as the
Nissan Skyline The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold i ...
and
Ford Sierra The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coeffi ...
would be permitted to compete. As of 1 January 1993 the turbos were banned in favor of the previously mentioned V8 formula which would later evolve into V8 Supercars. 1992 was also significant in that it saw the return of the
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 ...
to Bathurst for the first time since the end of the
Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
era in
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
.
Glenn Seton Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) 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 s ...
and new
team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...
recruit Alan Jones qualified their 1993 V8 spec Ford EB Falcon in 4th place, the fastest of the 1993 cars (all 4 of which qualified in the Top 10). While the new Falcon V8 performed above even Seton's expectations, unfortunately their race ended on lap 84 with fuel pump failure. The other three 1993 spec cars were the Holden VP Commodore's from the Holden Racing Team and Peter Brock's example. Australia's 1987 500cc Grand Prix World Champion
Wayne Gardner Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle and touring car racer. His most notable achievement was winning the 1987 500 cc Motorcycle World Championship, becoming the first Aus ...
made his touring car racing debut in the race partnering Sydney veteran Graham Moore in Moore's
Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV The Holden Commodore (VN) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden from 1988 to 1991. It was the first iteration of the second generation of this Australian made model, which was previously a mid-size car, as well as the first Commodo ...
. Moore qualified the car in 21st position and they eventually finished in 26th place. Gardner's first ever race drive came while rain lashed the circuit. Gardner's presence in the race saw two former Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions driving in the race.
Johnny Cecotto Johnny Alberto Cecotto Persello (born 25 January 1956), better known as Johnny Cecotto, is a Venezuelan former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer and auto racer. He rose to prominence as a teenage prodigy in 1975 when he became the you ...
, who had won World Championships in
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
and 1978, co-drove with Tony Longhurst in a BMW M3 Evolution. Cecotto almost didn't get to drive in the race after he crashed the car at Forrest's Elbow in the race morning warm up session, though the TAFE crash repair crew were able to repair the car for the start. Longhurst and Cecotto would finish in fourth place. The 1992 Tooheys 1000 was also a sad occasion as popular veteran driver and
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
world champion Denny Hulme, 56 years old from
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and that country's only World Drivers' Champion, died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
suffered during lap 33. Hulme, driving the second Benson & Hedges Racing BMW M3 with young driver Paul Morris, started the race in 18th position. On lap 33 when the race was under heavy rain, Hulme radioed into his team while coming through Forrest's Elbow that he could not see. Coming down Conrod Straight, the yellow #20 BMW went off the track and glanced the wall on the left hand side before continuing across the track to the outside wall where the car came to a stop, Channel 7 cameras capturing the incident. Most concern was with the driver. While the race continued under the safety car, Hulme was removed from the car and taken by ambulance to nearby Bathurst Hospital where he was later pronounced dead from heart failure. According to unconfirmed reports, Hulme was still alive, though unconscious, when track marshals reached the BMW a few seconds after it came to a stop just before the right hand kink into Caltex Chase.


Tooheys Top 10

* 1992 was the second and final time Dick Johnson claimed pole position at Bathurst. He had also been on pole in
1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
. Johnson's time of 2:12.898 was almost one second faster than any other Sierra had ever been around the mountain and over 3 seconds faster than his shootout time from
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
. Johnson surprised many by driving in the shootout as it was Bowe who had set the cars fastest qualifying time. Unconfirmed rumours (denied by DJR) had the Sierra using a special qualifying engine putting out around . 1992 was also Johnson's 15th straight appearance in the runoff meaning he had appeared in every runoff since it was first used in 1978.
* After only qualifying 11th in 1991,
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 ...
surprised in qualifying by putting his 2.5L, 4 cyl BMW M3 Evolution into provisional 5th place. Longhurst admitted his lap was helped by getting a tow on the straights from
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 ...
in his Holden Commodore. Without the benefit of the tow in the runoff, Longhurst dropped to 9th place
* Larry Perkins, the winner of the recent
1992 Sandown 500 The 1992 Don't Drink Drive Sandown 500 was an endurance motor race open to Group 3A Touring Cars (commonly known as Group A cars), 1993 Group 3A 5.0 Litre Touring Cars (later to become known as V8 Supercars) and Group 3E Series Production Cars. I ...
, also surprised by qualifying his older model VL Commodore in 2nd place in both official qualifying and the runoff. While many questioned the legality of the older model Commodore to go so fast, Perkins pointed out that he was only 8/10ths faster than he was in the same model in 1990 while the Sierra's (Johnson) had improved considerably more.
*
Glenn Seton Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) 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 s ...
qualified his 1993 spec V8 Ford EB Falcon in 4th place, the fastest of the new cars. This put the Falcon on the second row of the grid one place behind what Dick Johnson attained in
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
, the previous time
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 ...
s had appeared in The Great Race.
* With a popoff valve allegedly limiting the power of the car to , as well as an extra 140 kg of weight,
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 ...
in his
Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. Alt ...
was almost two seconds slower than his 1991 pole time of 2:12.630, though this didn't stop him claiming provisional pole with a time of 2:13.82. Over 15 years later, team boss Fred Gibson admitted the GT-R's were actually running close to .
* With four
Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...
in the top 10, Holden had their best representation in the runoff during the
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 ...
era of 1985–92, though this was still three short of the Commodore record of 7 cars under
Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
rules in
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
. The two
Holden Racing Team Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
(HRT) cars, as well as
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, were the new 1993 spec VP Commodores, all of which used a
Chevrolet V8 engine 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 ou ...
. Larry Perkins' 1988 model Commodore used the
Holden V8 engine The Holden V8 engine is an overhead valve (OHV) V8 engine that was produced by the Australian General Motors subsidiary, Holden (GMH), between 1969 and 2000. The engine was initially fitted to the Holden HT series in 1969 and was later utilis ...
. 1992 was also the first time that the HRT managed to get both team cars into the shootout.


Official results


Statistics

* Provisional Pole Position - #1 Mark Skaife - 2:13.82 * Pole Position – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:12.898 * Fastest Lap – #1 Mark Skaife – 2:16.47 - Lap 114 * Average Speed – 138 km/h * Race Time - 6:27:16.22


See also

1992 Australian Touring Car season The 1992 Australian Touring Car season was the 33rd year of touring car racing in Australia since the first runnings of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the fore-runner of the present day Bathurst 1000, the Armstrong 500. There were 1 ...


References


External links


Official V8 Supercar website

Australian Titles
Retrieved from www.camsmanual.com.au on 1 February 2009





Retrieved from www.autopics.com.au on 1 February 2009 {{Bathurst 1000 races Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales Tooheys 1000