The 1983 Castrol 400 was an endurance race for Group C Touring Cars held at the Sandown Park circuit in Victoria, Australia on 11 September 1983.[1] The race was staged over 129 laps of the 3.1 km circuit, totalling 399.9 km.[1] It was Round 3 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship and Round 3 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.[2]

The race, which was the 18th annual Sandown long-distance race,[3] was won by Allan Moffat driving a Mazda RX-7.[1] The ease in which Moffat won his fifth Sandown endurance race put him as the hot favourite for the upcoming James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. Moffat had stalked early race leaders Peter Brock and Allan Grice before they both fell by the wayside leaving the Mazda to take its second straight win in the Sandown enduro. Second place went to the JPS Team BMW 635 CSi of Jim Richards. The performance of the BMW suddenly saw the car as a darkhorse for Bathurst. Finishing third in their Holden Commodore were Warren Cullen and Ron Harrop.

Pre-race favourite and pole winner Peter Brock suffered a rare failure when he lost the brakes on his Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Commodore early on and actually hit the fence, forcing him out of the race. Brock later took over the second MHDT Commodore from John Harvey and eventually finished third on the road, however he was later disqualified as he had not cross-entered to drive the #25 car.

After a poor 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship in which he lost his crown to Moffat, Dick Johnson served notice that the Ford XE Falcon would be a force at Bathurst after development work had cured the big Ford's suspension problems. Johnson put the now green coloured car on the front row matching Brock's pole time, although after winning the start his race ended with gearbox failure only a few hundred metres later.

Classes

Cars competed in two classes:[4]

  • Over 3000 cc [4]
  • Under 3000 cc [4]

Results

Top 10 Qualifiers

Pos No.[4] Entrant [4] Driver Car Time
Pole 05 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Australia Peter Brock Holden VH Commodore SS 1:10.7
2 17 Palmer Tube Mills Australia Dick Johnson Ford XE Falcon 1:10.7
3 6 STP Roadways Racing Australia Allan Grice Holden VH Commodore SS 1:10.7
4 3 Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd Australia David Parsons Holden VH Commodore SS 1:11.3
5 15 Nissan Motor Co. Australia George Fury Nissan Bluebird Turbo 1:11.4
6 43 Peter Stuyvesant International Canada Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 1:11.5
7 31 JPS/Team BMW New Zealand Jim Richards BMW 635 CSi 1:11.7
8 2 Masterton Homes Australia Steve Masterton Ford XE Falcon 1:12.3
9 50 Petrolon Slick 50 Australia Peter McLeod Mazda RX-7 1:12.5
10 11 Soundwave Discos Australia Garry Rogers Holden VH Commodore SS 1:12.6

Race

Position[5] Drivers[5] No.[4] Car[5] Entrant[4] Class [4] Laps[5]
1 Allan Moffat 43 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Over 3000cc 129
2 Jim Richards 31 BMW 635 CSi JPS/Team BMW Over 3000cc 129
3 Warren Cullen
Ron Harrop		 22 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] W. Cullen Over 3000cc 127
4 Murray Carter 18 Mazda RX-7 Valentine Greetings Over 3000cc 127
5 Terry Shiel 37 Mazda RX-7 Eurocar's Northside P/L Over 3000cc 123
6 Gregg Hansford
Garry Waldon		 42 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Over 3000cc 122
7 Johnnie Walker
Gene Cook		 32 Mazda RX-7 J. Walker Over 3000cc 120
8 Scotty Taylor
Kevin Kennedy		 24 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Scotty Taylor Holden Over 3000cc 119
9 Lawrie Nelson 59 Ford Capri V6[7] Capri Components Under 3000cc 119
10 Barry Jones
Peter Dane		 41 Mazda RX-7 BF Goodrich Australia Over 3000cc 119
11 Jim Myhill 34 Mazda RX-7 John Myhill Racing Under 3000cc 114
12 Terry Ryan
Graham Storah		 34 Mazda RX-7 T. Ryan Over 3000cc 113
13 Ray Cutchie
Mike Quinn		 34 Ford Escort Bob Holden Motors Manly Vale Under 3000cc 111
14 John White 61 Isuzu Gemini ZZ[8] J. White Under 3000cc 108
15 Brian Winsall
Louis Stoopman		 87 Isuzu Gemini 1.6 Litre Touring Car Association Under 3000cc 95
16 Joe Beninca
Peter Beninca		 69 Alfa Romeo GTV Beninca Motors Under 3000cc 90
NC Andrew Harris
Gary Cooke		 9 Ford XE Falcon[7] A. Harris Over 3000cc 95
NC Ken Harrison 80 Ford Escort K.J. Harrison Under 3000cc 78
NC John Craft
Don Smith		 56 Ford Capri V6[7] Hulcraft Autos Under 3000cc 62
DNF Martin Power
Gerald Kay		 57 Triumph Dolomite Sprint Jagparts Under 3000cc
DNF Rob Shute
Ian Burrell		 66 Mitsubishi Colt Mirage R. Shute Under 3000cc
DNF Craig Bradtke
Bob Holden		 62 Toyota Celica Daily Planet Under 3000cc
DNF Ron Dickson
Bob Stevens		 21 Mazda RX-7 R. Dickson Over 3000cc
DNF Christine Gibson 60 Nissan Pulsar EXA Nissan Motor Co. Under 3000cc
DNF Andrew Manson
Geoff Manson		 48 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Roger Manson Holden Over 3000cc
DNF Jim Faneco
Tony Hubbard		 40 Ford XE Falcon[7] CDT Performance Vehicles Over 3000cc
DNF Jim Keogh
Leo Leonard		 12 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Team Toshiba Over 3000cc
DNF Rusty French
Alan Browne		 4 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] John Sands Racing Over 3000cc
DNF Garry Rogers
Clive Benson-Brown		 11 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Soundwave Discos Over 3000cc
DNF Peter McLeod
Graeme Bailey		 50 Mazda RX-7 Petrolon Slick 50 Over 3000cc
DNF Steve Masterton
Bruce Stewart		 2 Ford XE Falcon[7] Masterton Homes Over 3000cc
DNF David Parsons
Peter Janson		 3 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Cadbury Schweppes Pty. Ltd. Over 3000cc
DNF Peter Brock 05 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc
DNF Fred Gibson 16 Nissan Bluebird Turbo[9] Nissan Motor Co. Over 3000cc
DNF George Fury 15 Nissan Bluebird Turbo[9] Nissan Motor Co. Over 3000cc
DNF Steve Harrington 14 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] STP Roadways Racing Over 3000cc
DNF Allan Grice 6 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] STP Roadways Racing Over 3000cc
DNF Mike Imrie
Graeme Treasure		 49 Ford XD Falcon[10] CDT Performance Vehicles Over 3000cc 3 [10]
DNF Dick Johnson 17 Ford XE Falcon[7] Palmer Tube Mills Over 3000cc 1[1]
DSQ John Harvey
Peter Brock		 25 Holden VH Commodore SS[6] Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc 127[1]

Note:

  • Starters : 40 [5]
  • Classified finishers: 16 [5]
  • Running but not classified: 3 [5]
  • Peter Brock took over the car of John Harvey after his own car suffered brake problems.[1] The Brock/Harvey car placed third,[1] but was subsequently disqualified due to the unauthorized driver change.[6]

Statistics

Notes & references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Wayne Webster, Endurance Championship Round Three - Sandown Park, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, pages 294 & 295
  2. ↑ Wayne Webster, Australian Endurance Championship, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, page 288
  3. ↑ Records, Titles and Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-8
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Official Program, Sandown, Sept 11 (1983)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Graham Slater, An Injection of Power!, Racing Car News, October 1983, pages 25 to 27
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Stewart Wilson, Holden - The official racing history, 1988, page 358
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stewart Wilson & Max Stahl, Ford - The racing history, 1989, page 311
  8. ↑ The John White Gemini is listed in the Official Program as a Holden Gemini but the reference in the Racing Car News report to it being a "twin-cam Gemini ZZ" suggests that it was an Isuzu.
  9. 1 2 Bill Tuckey, The enduros begin: and so do the politics, James Hardie 1000 1983/84, pages 62 to 73
  10. 1 2 Heritage Touring Cars – Mike Imrie XD, Tuesday 21st April, 2015, www.speedcafe.com, as archived at web.archive.org

See also

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