1983 James Hardie 1000

1983 James Hardie 1000
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The 1983 James Hardie 1000 was the 24th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was an endurance race for Touring Cars complying with CAMS Group C regulations. It was held on October 2, 1983 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, and was Round 4 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship. The race distance was 163 laps x 6.172 km = 1006.036 km.

The Holden Dealer Team took a controversial, but legal victory with the team's second Holden VH Commodore SS driven by John Harvey, Peter Brock and Larry Perkins. 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 as was forced to spectate as his three team-mates won the race in the car he qualified in, a decision 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 and updated to 1983 specs, meaning this Holden Commodore became the first and only race car to win the Bathurst 1000 twice. The Holder Dealer Team Commodore finished a lap ahead of Allan Moffat and Japanese driver Yoshimi Katayama in their Peter Stuyvesant sponsored Mazda RX-7. It would be the closest Mazda would get to winning the race. Third was the STP Roadways Racing Commodore driven by 1982 pole sitter Allan Grice and 1969 winner Colin Bond.

Only three cars in the race featured both nominated drivers who had previously won the race. The #05 HDT Commodore of defending race winners Brock and Perkins, the #17 Ford XE Falcon of Dick Johnson and Kevin Bartlett, and the #16 Nissan Bluebird Turbo of Fred Gibson and John French. Ironically, sitting next to the Gibson/French Bluebird on the starting grid was the #50 Mazda RX-7 of future winners Peter McLeod and Graeme Bailey.

Class structure

The 22nd-place finishing Bluebird Turbo of Gibson/French

Jim Richards and Frank Gardner shared a BMW 635 CSi, but did not finish. (Car pictured in 2015)

Entries were divided into two, engine capacity based classes.

Class A

Class of cars of over 3000cc engine capacity, it featured BMW 635 CSi, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Mazda RX-7 and Nissan Bluebird.

Class B

For cars of under 3000cc engine capacity, it featured Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Audi 5+5, Ford Capri, Isuzu Gemini and Nissan Pulsar.

Hardies Heroes

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	HH	Qual
Pole	05	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:16.270	2:15.3
2	15	Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L	George Fury	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	2:17.509	2:17.2
3	3	Cadbury-Schweppes Pty. Ltd.	David Parsons	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:18.212	2:17.8
4	31	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards	BMW 635 CSi	2:18.414	2:17.6
5	25	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:18.549	2:18.0
6	22	Cullen Automotive Industries	Warren Cullen	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:18.563	2:18.3
7	11	Soundwave Discos	Garry Rogers	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:18.648	2:18.5
8	6	STP Roadways Racing	Allan Grice	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:18.963	2:17.8
9	4	John Sands Racing	Bob Morris	Holden VH Commodore SS	2:21.184	2:19.1
10	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford XE Falcon	DNF	2:16.3

* This was Peter Brock's record 5th pole position at Bathurst having previously taken pole in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979. This saw him move one clear of Allan Moffat who had been on pole four times. It was also the last time he would set pole driving a Holden, though he did sit on pole in 1997, but it was his co-driver Mark Skaife who had set the time in the runoff
* Dick Johnson crashed in Hardies Heroes destroying his Greens-Tuf Falcon. 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 635 CSi in 4th place. BMW became the 6th manufacturer to appear in Hardies Heroes following Holden, Ford, Chevrolet, Mazda and Nissan. 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 Allan Moffat was expected to easily make the top ten with his 13B powered Mazda RX-7, but could only qualify the car 14th, two places behind team mate Gregg Hansford whose car was running the less powerful 12A engine. This led to accusations of sandbagging by other leading teams, especially the Holden Dealer Team who believed Moffat was deliberately holding the car back in qualifying rather than showing its real speed.
* The 4cyl Nissan Bluebird Turbo driven by George Fury was the first non-V8 powered car to start on the front row at Bathurst since Peter Brock started second in 1973 in a 6cyl Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1.
* 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 in the top 10, the lowest ever number for the Blue Oval.

Official results

Full results of the 1983 James Hardie 1000 were:

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos
1	A	25	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey Peter Brock Larry Perkins Phil Brock	Holden VH Commodore SS	163	7	5
2	A	43	Peter Stuyvesant International	Allan Moffat Yoshimi Katayama	Mazda RX-7	162	14
3	A	6	STP Roadways Racing	Allan Grice Colin Bond	Holden VH Commodore SS	160	5	8
4	A	14	STP Roadways Racing	Steve Harrington Garth Wigston	Holden VH Commodore SS	158	11
5	A	50	Petrolon Slick 50	Peter McLeod Graeme Bailey	Mazda RX-7	158	19
6	A	12	Team Toshiba	Jim Keogh Leo Leonard	Holden VH Commodore SS	157	17
7	A	27	Alf Grant	Alf Grant David Seldon	Ford XD Falcon	156	26
8	A	4	John Sands Racing	Bob Morris Rusty French	Holden VH Commodore SS	154	10	9
9	A	35	Tokico	Phil Alexander Ron Gillard	Mazda RX-7	153	24
10	A	9	Andrew Harris	Andrew Harris Gary Cooke	Ford XE Falcon* Holden VH Commodore SS	151	30
11	A	41	B.F. Goodrich Australia Ltd.	Barry Jones Rod Millen	Mazda RX-7	151	40
12	A	11	Soundwave Discos	Garry Rogers Clive Benson-Brown	Holden VH Commodore SS	149	9	7
13	A	8	Everlast Battery Service	Garry Willmington Mike Griffin	Ford XD Falcon	147	33
14	A	24	Scotty Taylor Holden	Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy	Holden VH Commodore SS	146	36
15	B	64	Les Grose	Les Grose Alan Cant	Ford Capri Mk. III	144	47
16	A	13	Greg Symes	Greg Symes Bruce Smith	Holden VH Commodore SS	141	31
17	B	58	Ray Gulson	Ray Gulson Gerard Murphy	Alfa Romeo GTV6	141	51
18	A	51	Tony Mulvihill	Tony Mulvihill John Murden	Mazda RX-7	138	49
19	A	26	Everlast Battery Service	Bill O'Brien Brian Sampson	Ford XD Falcon	136	22
20	A	47	Brian Callaghan	Barry Graham Brian Callaghan	Ford XE Falcon	136	28
21	A	32	Johnnie Walker	Johnnie Walker Gene Cook	Mazda RX-7	135	44
22	A	16	Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L	Fred Gibson John French	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	134	18
23	A	19	Ken Mathews Prestige Cars P/L	Ken Mathews Greg Toepfer	Holden VH Commodore SS	132	23
24	B	63	Chris Heyer's Kingswood Import Centre	Chris Heyer Don Bretland	Audi 5+5	132	57
25	B	61	John White	John White Bernie McLure	Isuzu Gemini	125	52
26	B	59	Capri Components	Lawrie Nelson Peter Jones	Ford Capri Mk. III	114	48
DNF	B	55	Barry Seton	Barry Seton Glenn Seton	Ford Capri Mk. III	134	41
DNF	A	15	Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L	George Fury Garry Scott	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	130	3	2
DNF	A	37	Eurocars (Northside) Pty. Ltd.	Terry Shiel Wally Storey	Mazda RX-7	122	15
DNF	A	33	Dreamworld	Mike Burgmann Tony Longhurst	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	121	21
DNF	A	53	Fred Geissler	Fred Geissler Ralph Radburn	Holden VH Commodore SS	116	29
DNF	A	22	Cullen Automotive Industries	Warren Cullen Ron Harrop	Holden VH Commodore SS	116	8	6
DNF	A	3	Cadbury-Schweppes Pty. Ltd.	Peter Janson David Parsons	Holden VH Commodore SS	106	6	3
DNF	A	42	T. P. Ryan	Terry Ryan Graham Storah	Mazda RX-7	84	56
DNF	A	48	Roger Manson Holden	Andrew Manson Geoffrey Manson	Holden VH Commodore SS	80	38
NC	A	38	Gawler, SA	Bernie Stack Bob Jennings	Holden VH Commodore SS	68	32
DNF	A	10	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan Geoff Leeds	Holden VH Commodore SS	62	16
DNF	B	57	L. J. Hazelton	Laurie Hazelton Jerry Strauberg	Ford Capri Mk. III	61	54
DNF	A	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson Kevin Bartlett	Ford XE Falcon*	61	2	10
NC	A	34	Peter Stuyvesant International	Gregg Hansford Garry Waldon	Mazda RX-7	49	12
DNF	A	29	John Donnelly	John Donnelly Kerry Baily	Ford XD Falcon	37	46
DNF	A	36	Gerry Burges	Gerry Burges Roger Mandeville	Mazda RX-7	35	39
DNF	A	23	Bryan Byrt Ford	John English Paul Gulson	Ford XD Falcon	32	27
DNF	A	21	Ron Dickson	Ron Dickson Bob Stevens	Mazda RX-7	24	34
DNF	A	20	King George Tavern	Joe Moore Graham Moore	Ford XE Falcon	17	35
DNF	A	2	Masterton Homes Pty. Ltd.	Steve Masterton Bruce Stewart	Ford XE Falcon	17	13
DNF	A	18	Valentine Greetings	Murray Carter David Clement	Mazda RX-7	14	25
DNF	B	60	Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L	Christine Gibson Bob Muir	Nissan Pulsar EXA	14	37
DNF	A	05	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock Larry Perkins	Holden VH Commodore SS	8	1	1
DNF	A	39	John Bundy	John Bundy Norm Carr	Mazda RX-7	8	42
DNF	A	31	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards Frank Gardner	BMW 635 CSi	6	4	4
DNF	A	45	Gary Hinton	Gary Hinton Lester Smerdon	Holden VC Commodore	5	50
DNF	B	56	Hulcraft Autos	John Craft Don Smith	Ford Capri Mk. III	3	43
DNF	A	40	CDT Performance Vehicles	Tony Hubbard Jim Faneco	Ford XE Falcon	3	45
DNF	A	52	Ron Grose	Ron Grose David Grose	Mazda RX-7	3	53
DNS	B	62	Daily Planet	Bob Holden Gordon Spice	Toyota Celica	0	55
DNS	A	28	Bayside Spare Parts	Barry Lawrence Geoff Russell	Holden VH Commodore SS*		20
DNS	A	30	Tony Kavich	Paul Jones Tony Kavich	Mazda RX-7		58

Notes

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, a Bendigo Ford dealer called Jeffersons, to use his 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.
Drivers in italics practiced in the car but did not take part in the race.

References

Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84
James Hardie 1000, 1983/84
Modern Motor, December 1983

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)
Average Speed - 158 km/h
Race Time - 6:28:31.6

External links

Bathurst 500/1000

Phillip Island 500	1960 1961 1962

Bathurst 500	1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972

Bathurst 1000	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Bathurst 1000 (Supercars)	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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