1983 James Hardie 1000

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 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 Commodore driven by John Harvey winning. Harvey and Phil Brock qualified the car but after the team's lead car of Peter Brock and Larry Perkins broke down, 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. The car was also the car which Peter Brock and Perkins had won the race the previous year 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 Mazda RX-7. It would be the closest Mazda would get to winning the race. Third was the STP Roadways Racing Commodore driven by Allan Grice and Colin Bond.

Class structure

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	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	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	2:18.549	2:18.0
6	22	Cullen Automotive Industries	Warren Cullen	Holden VH Commodore	2:18.563	2:18.3
7	11	Soundwave Discos	Garry Rogers	Holden VH Commodore	2:18.648	2:18.5
8	6	STP Roadways Racing	Allan Grice	Holden VH Commodore	2:18.963	2:17.8
9	4	John Sands Racing	Bob Morris	Holden VH Commodore	2:21.184	2:19.1
10	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford XE Falcon	DNF	2:16.3

* 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 #17 car starting the race from 10th position.

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	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	160	5	8
4	A	14	STP Roadways Racing	Steve Harrington Garth Wigston	Holden VH Commodore	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	116	29
DNF	A	22	Cullen Automotive Industries	Warren Cullen Ron Harrop	Holden VH Commodore	116	8	6
DNF	A	3	Cadbury-Schweppes Pty. Ltd.	Peter Janson David Parsons	Holden VH Commodore	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	80	38
NC	A	38	Gawler, SA	Bernie Stack Bob Jennings	Holden VH Commodore	68	32
DNF	A	10	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan Geoff Leeds	Holden VH Commodore	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	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*		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
• Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1960-1989 (©1990)
• 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

• CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
• www.touringcarracing.net
• race results