1986 James Hardie 1000 Explained

The 1986 James Hardie 1000 was an endurance motor race held on 5 October 1986 at the Mount Panorama Circuit, just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the 27th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race, was the fourth round of both the 1986 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.

Allan Grice (in his 15th Great Race start) and his 1986 co-driver and team sponsor through his Chickadee Chicken business Graeme Bailey, took their Roadways Racing built Holden VK Commodore SS Group A to victory over the similar Holden Dealer Team Commodore John Harvey and Neal Lowe. Third was the factory backed Nissan Skyline of pole winner Gary Scott and Terry Shiel.

Dick Johnson and Gregg Hansford finished fourth in their Ford Mustang, while the "Super" team of former rivals Peter Brock and Allan Moffat, who had won 12 of the previous 16 races at Bathurst, finished in fifth place one lap down in their repaired HDT Commodore after losing almost 3 laps in the pits with an oil cooler problem while in a strong second place.

Belgian jeweller Michel Delcourt, who finished 7th with veteran Graham Moore in a Commodore, won the Rookie of the Year award. Moore and Delcourt had qualified a Mitsubishi Starion in 50th place for the 1985 race, but the car was withdrawn and did not start.

Class structure

The race was held for cars complying with Australian Touring Car regulations, which were based on International Group A touring car rules. It included three engine capacity classes.

Class A

For cars of up to 2000cc engine capacity, it saw a variety of cars entered. Most numerous were variations of Toyota Corollas, with individual entries of a turbocharged Fiat Uno, a Ford Escort and a Nissan Gazelle.

Class B

For cars of between 2001 and 3000cc engine capacity, it featured the turbos; Mitsubishi Starion, Nissan Skyline and Volvo 240, but also included Alfa Romeo GTV6, BMW 323i, Mercedes-Benz 190E and Toyota Supra.

Class C

For cars of over 3000cc engine capacity. Apart from a strong presence of BMW 635 CSi, the swansong of the V12 Jaguar XJS, and the first appearance of a turbocharged Ford Sierra, it was the domain of the V8; Holden Commodore SS Group A, Ford Mustang and Rover Vitesse.

Hardies Heroes

In a major change to the format, 1986 was the first time in the history of Hardies Heroes that drivers only had one lap to set a time. From 1978–1985, drivers had two laps in which to set a time.

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	HH	Qual
Pole	15	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Gary Scott	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	2:17.159	2:18.29
2	2	Roadways Racing	Allan Grice	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	2:17.246	2:16.16
3	30	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	George Fury	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	2:19.044	2:18.68
4	11	Enzed Team Perkins	Larry Perkins	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	2:19.433	2:19.39
5	44	Volvo Dealer Team	John Bowe	Volvo 240T	2:19.594	2:18.58
6	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford Mustang GT	2:19.808	2:18.84
7	6	Bob Jane T-Marts	Graeme Crosby	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	2:20.370*	2:19.93
8	1	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards	BMW 635 CSi	2:20.751	2:19.53
9	21	Goold Motorsport	Roberto Ravaglia	BMW 635 CSi	2:20.955	2:18.19
10	53	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Brad Jones	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	2:35.969	2:18.91

Peter Brock had qualified the #05 Holden Dealer Team Commodore 2nd fastest with a 2:18.10 but the car was heavily damaged in a crash in Fridays's qualifying by Allan Moffat and was not repaired in time for Hardies Heroes and was subsequently withdrawn from the session by the team. Race organisers the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) then elevated the Graeme Crosby Commodore into the Top 10 Runoff in its place. Brock had also qualified the HDT's #3 car with a time of 2:17.7 (good enough for 2nd behind Grice), but the race rules prevented car swapping in qualifying and his time only served to qualify him in car #3 for the race and not Hardie's Heroes. It was the first time Brock would not appear in the Saturday morning runoff since its inception in 1978, leaving Dick Johnson as the only driver to have done so.
* Allan Grice became the first Group A driver to lap the 6.172 km (3.835 mi) circuit at over 1000NaN0 with a 2:16.16 lap in Friday qualifying in his Holden VK Commodore SS Group A. Grice had also been the first to lap the track at over 100 mph in a Group C touring car in 1982 driving a VH Commodore. He had also set his qualifying time running on Dunlop Tyres and not the Yokohama's he was required by contract to run when the television cameras were running in the runoff.
* Through their mutual Philip Morris cigarette sponsorship, the Peter Jackson Nissan team had tyre warmers for their cars flown out from the McLaren Formula One team in England to cope with the cold conditions, the first time the technology had been used in Australian touring car racing. Despite this and the fact that he was the only driver to improve on his qualifying time, pole winner Gary Scott believed the tyres on the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 were still not up to full operating temperature.
* The 1986 version of Hardie's Heroes saw four new drivers contesting the Saturday morning runoff for pole position. Pole winner Scott, John Bowe (5th), Graeme Crosby (7th), and Brad Jones (10th). Scott (1979 and 1982) and Bowe (1985) had previously been in cars that had qualified for the runoff, but it was their respective co-drivers who had set the times.
* Brad Jones, whose Mitsubishi Starion had been the fastest car on Conrod Straight during qualifying at 2690NaN0, was forced by officials to run on smaller width wheels during the runoff after checks revealed the car was using wider tyres than was allowed. Jones aborted his lap in Hardies Heroes at the top of the mountain after the smaller wheels caused the car to handle badly.

Official results

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos
1	C	2	Roadways Racing	Allan Grice Graeme Bailey	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	163	1	2
2	C	3	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey Neal Lowe	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	163	13
3	B	15	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Gary Scott Terry Shiel	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	163	3	1
4	C	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson Gregg Hansford	Ford Mustang GT	162	5	6
5	C	05	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock Allan Moffat	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	162	11
6	C	1	JPS Team BMW	Jim Richards Tony Longhurst	BMW 635 CSi	161	8	8
7	C	22	Formula 1 Investments P/L	Graham Moore Michel Delcourt	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	158	18
8	C	8	Cullen Supa Salvage	Warren Cullen Gary Sprague	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	157	12
9	B	41	Bob Jane T-Marts	Denny Hulme Franz Klammer	Mercedes-Benz 190E	157	23
10	B	36	Everlast Battery Service	Murray Carter Bill O'Brien	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	157	42
11	B	42	Volvo Dealer Team	Graham McRae Neville Crichton John Bowe	Volvo 240T	156	24
12	C	37	Airport Car Rental	Chris Clearihan Fred Geissler	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	156	34
13	C	6	Bob Jane T-Marts	Graeme Crosby Wayne Wilkinson	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	156	10	7
14	C	19	Tony Mulvihill	Ken Mathews Tony Mulvihill Barry Jones	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	155	31
15	C	23	Lusty Engineering P/L	Graham Lusty John Lusty	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	154	37
16	C	38	Grellis Marketing	Kerry Baily Ray Ellis	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	150	33
17	C	26	Simon Emmerling	Simon Emmerling Trevor Hine	BMW 635 CSi	149	45
18	B	57	Network Alfa	Lucio Cesario Warwick Rooklyn	Alfa Romeo GTV6	148	47
19	A	61	Toyota Team Australia	John Faulkner Mike Quinn	Toyota Corolla GT	148	52
20	C	91	Graham Lorimer	Graham Lorimer Phil Myhre	BMW 635 CSi	146	51
21	A	60	Giddings Moss Vale Nissan	Bruce Stewart John Giddings	Nissan Gazelle	146	50
22	C	18	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan Steve Williams	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	144	30
23	C	48	The Xerox Shop	Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	144	44
24	C	10	John Goss	John Goss Bob Muir	Jaguar XJS	140	26
25	C	11	Enzed Team Perkins	Larry Perkins David Parsons	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	140	7	4
26	A	58	Ratcliff Transport Spares	David Ratcliff Don Smith	Toyota Sprinter AE86	140	58
27	A	13	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden Geoff Kimber-Smith	Toyota Sprinter AE86	138	55
DNF	C	47	Brian Callaghan	Barry Graham Brian Callaghan	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	140	25
DNF	C	24	Jagparts	Gerald Kay Martin Power	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	135	29
DNF	B	87	Brian Bolwell	Brian Bolwell Tony Farrell	BMW 323i	124	54
DNF	B	30	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	George Fury Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	114		3
DNF	B	44	Volvo Dealer Team	John Bowe Alfredo Costanzo	Volvo 240T	113	9	5
DNF	B	75	Network Alfa	Colin Bond Peter Fitzgerald	Alfa Romeo GTV6	111	36
DNF	C	34	Lansvale Smash Repairs	Steve Reed Trevor Ashby	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	111	16
NC	A	56	Frank Cecchele	Gordon Mitchell Allan McCarthy	Fiat Uno Turbo	110	59
DNF	C	9	JPS Team BMW	Kevin Bartlett Trevor Crowe	BMW 635 CSi	109	17
NC	C	32	John English	John English Glenn McIntyre	BMW 635 CSi	101	40
DNF	C	35	Lester Smerdon	Lester Smerdon Geoff Russell	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	100	28
DNF	C	50	John Donnelly	John Donnelly Simon Harrex	Rover Vitesse	98	53
NC	B	49	Ray Gulson	Ray Gulson Frank Porter	Alfa Romeo GTV6	94	46
NC	C	39	Trevor McLean	Trevor McLean Rod Downs	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	90	43
DNF	C	12	Garry Willmington	Garry Willmington Peter Janson	Jaguar XJS	88	14
DNF	C	43	Anderson & O'Leary Ltd.	Bruce Anderson Wayne Anderson	Ford Mustang GT	81	39
DNF	C	96	Tim Slako	Tim Slako Geoff Leeds	Rover Vitesse	77	32
DNF	B	53	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Brad Jones Akihiko Nakaya	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	61	6	10
DNF	C	4	Autopart Centre	Peter McLeod Glenn Clark	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	48	15
DNF	A	62	Bob Holden Motors	Keith McClelland Brian Nightingale	Toyota Sprinter AE86	38	57
DNF	C	29	Ken Davison	Ken Davison Wally Kramer	Ford Mustang GT	36	48
DNF	C	20	James Keogh	Jim Keogh Des Wall	BMW 635 CSi	30	41
DNF	C	40	Motorsport Pacific Ltd.	Robbie Francevic Leo Leonard	Ford Sierra XR4Ti	27	21
DNF	A	55	Motorsport Pacific Ltd.	Andrew Bagnall Ted Jarvis	Ford Escort RS 1600i	23	56
DNF	C	7	Goold Motorsport	Charlie O'Brien Garry Rogers	BMW 635 CSi	19	22
DNF	B	51	Team Nissan Racing NZ	Graeme Bowkett Kent Baigent	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	13	38
DNF	C	27	Dulux Auto Colour	Alf Grant John French	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	11	20
DNF	C	33	Michael Burgmann	Mike Burgmann Mal Rose	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	5	27
DNF	C	28	Yellow Pages	Tony Kavich Ralph Radburn	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	4	19
DNF	A	16	Toyota Team Australia	John Smith Drew Price	Toyota Corolla GT	3	49
DNF	C	21	Goold Motorsport	Roberto Ravaglia Dieter Quester	BMW 635 CSi	2	2	9
DNF	B	14	Bob Jane T-Marts	Andrew Miedecke Jörg van Ommen	Mercedes-Benz 190E	1	35
DNS	B	77	Peter Williamson Toyota	Peter Williamson Mark Skaife	Toyota Celica Supra
DNS	B	25	JPS Team BMW	Tony Longhurst Trevor Crowe	BMW 325i

Italics indicate driver practiced this car but did not race.

Statistics

Provisional Pole Position - #2 Allan Grice - 2:16.16
Pole Position - #15 Gary Scott - 2:17.159
Fastest Lap - #2 Allan Grice - 2:18.99
Average Speed - 155 km/h
Race Time - 6:30:35.68

Mike Burgmann

The 1986 James Hardie 1000 is unfortunately also remembered for the death of Sydney privateer Mike Burgmann. On lap 5, Burgmann's Holden VK Commodore SS Group A and the privateer Jaguar XJS of his friend Garry Willmington were neck and neck over the notorious second hump on Conrod Straight at approximately 2600NaN0 when the front of the Commodore got airborne (as cars did coming over the hump at that speed, more so for cars on the right hand side or outside part of the track which is where Burgmann was). The front of the Commodore moved slightly to the left and Burgmann, who was only a part-time racer, tried to correct by turning the wheel to the right. Unfortunately for Burgmann, the front tyres suddenly gripped when they landed and the car then turned into and hit the tyre barrier at the bottom of the well-known curved bridge at the end of Conrod with unabated speed causing the entire front end to be pushed back to the firewall. The car's roll cage did its job and the cabin survived the violent impact mostly intact. However, when officials reached the car they found Burgmann in what would normally be the back seat of the vehicle. While his driving seat had remained intact the force of the impact had broken the seat belt buckle which caused his body to be thrown out of the seat. Mike Burgmann became the first driver to die while competing in the Bathurst 1000 when he was pronounced dead on arrival at Bathurst Hospital.^[1]

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Drivers defend Bathurst . 4 June 2010 . Premier Media Group . Robert Wilson and Peter Kogoy . October 2006.