Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

1989 Tooheys 1000

Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit

The 1989 Tooheys 1000 was the 30th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 1 October 1989 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, Australia. The race was held for cars eligible under International Group A touring car regulations with three engine capacity classes.

The race was won by the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra of Dick Johnson and John Bowe. The pair lead almost the whole of the race and was only seriously threatened by the Allan Moffat run Sierra of German drivers Klaus Niedzwiedz and Frank Biela. Third and fourth places were awarded to the official factory Nissan team entries with the Nissan Skyline of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife finishing third.

The Tooheys Top Ten runoff for pole position was notable for Peter Brock discharging his Ford Sierra's engine bay Halon gas fire extinguisher which was angled across the intercooler substantially boosting the power of the engine in the crucial drive up the mountain straight. As this was not technically against the rules the scrutineers did not find any misconduct, but the Entrants Association levied a $5000 fine on Brock for a moral infringement of the rules.[1]

Class structure

Cars competed in three classes[2] defined by engine capacity.

Class 1

Class 1 (Over 2501cc)[2] featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras, Nissan Skylines, Toyota Supras and Mitsubishi Starions, the V8 Holden Commodores and BMW 635CSis.

Class 2

Class 2 (1601 to 2500cc)[2] comprised BMW M3s and a Nissan Gazelle.

Class 3

Class 3 (Up to 1600cc)[2] was contested exclusively by various models of Toyota Corolla.

Tooheys Top Ten

The race winning Ford Sierra RS500 (pictured in 2010)

The Tooheys Top Ten was contested on the Saturday by the fastest ten cars from Friday to determine the final positions for the first five rows on the grid.[3] For the first time since the advent of the Top Ten in 1978, television broadcaster Channel 7 aired the runoff in a one-hour package on the Saturday afternoon rather than the half-hour package of previous years. The extra time meant that each lap was shown in full for the first time rather than just sections of the laps run.[4]

Pos No Entrant Driver Car TT10 Qual
Pole 05 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Peter Brock Ford Sierra RS500 2:15.80 2:16.60
2 17 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Australia Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 2:16.79 2:16.58
3 25 Benson & Hedges Racing Australia Tony Longhurst Ford Sierra RS500 2:16.98 2:16.98
4 10 Allan Moffat Racing West Germany Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS500 2:17.42 2:17.02
5 105 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Brad Jones Ford Sierra RS500 2:19.09 2:18.20
6 6 Miedecke Motorsport Australia Andrew Miedecke Ford Sierra RS500 2:19.88 2:18.14
7 2 Nissan Motorsport Australia New Zealand Jim Richards Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 2:20.09 2:18.86
8 30 Peter Jackson Racing Australia Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500 2:20.52 2:19.06
9 20 Benson & Hedges Racing Australia Alan Jones Ford Sierra RS500 2:20.63 2:19.06
10 8 Miedecke Motorsport New Zealand Andrew Bagnall Ford Sierra RS500 DNF 2:19.10

* Peter Brock's only ever pole position at Bathurst where he didn't drive a V8 powered Holden. It was his first Bathurst pole since 1983 (and the last he would set himself), and his first front row start since 1984. It was also his record 6th Bathurst pole having been fastest qualifier in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979 and 1983.
* Andrew Bagnall crashed his Ford Sierra RS500 on top of The Mountain during the runoff and was allowed to start from 10th position, much like Dick Johnson who crashed his Ford XE Falcon in the runoff in 1983. Unlike Johnson in 1983 however, Bagnall's car was able to be repaired and did not need to be replaced.
* 1989 was the first time that a V8 Holden had not qualified for the Top Ten runoff. The fastest Holden was the #16 Holden Racing Team VL Commodore SS Group A SV of Larry Perkins and defending race winner Tomas Mezera in 11th with a 2:19.11 set by Perkins, missing out by only 0.01 seconds to Bagnall's Sierra.
* 1989 saw the only time between 1981 and 2003 that a car in which Larry Perkins was listed as a driver did not feature in the runoff.
* 1989 saw the first and so far only time where every car in the Top Ten runoff was powered by a turbocharged engine, with nine Sierra RS500's and the lone factory Nissan Skyline of Jim Richards making up the 10 runners.

Official results

Pos Class No Entrant Drivers Car Laps Qual
Pos
Shootout
Pos
1 1 17 Shell Ultra Hi Racing Australia Dick Johnson
Australia John Bowe
Ford Sierra RS500 161 1 2
2 1 10 Allan Moffat Racing West Germany Klaus Niedzwiedz
West Germany Frank Biela
Ford Sierra RS500 161 4 4
3 1 2 Nissan Motorsport Australia New Zealand Jim Richards
Australia Mark Skaife
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 160 7 7
4 1 3 Nissan Motorsport Australia Australia George Fury
Sweden Anders Olofsson
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 160 13
5 1 20 Benson & Hedges Racing Australia Alan Jones
New Zealand Denny Hulme
Australia Tony Longhurst
Ford Sierra RS500 158 8 9
6 1 16 Holden Racing Team Australia Larry Perkins
Australia Tomas Mezera
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 158 11
7 1 7 Holden Racing Team United Kingdom Win Percy
Australia Neil Crompton
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 158 18
8 1 18 Shell Ultra Hi Racing United Kingdom Jeff Allam
United Kingdom Robb Gravett
Ford Sierra RS500 158 12
9 1 105 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Brad Jones
New Zealand Paul Radisich
Ford Sierra RS500 153 6 5
10 1 15 ICL Racing Australia Allan Grice
New Zealand Peter Janson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 153 19
11 1 37 Brian Callaghan Australia Brian Callaghan
Australia Barry Graham
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 152 22
12 1 55 Playscape Racing Australia Kevin Waldock
Australia Bryan Thomson
Ford Sierra RS500 152 23
13 1 12 Lansvale Smash Repairs Australia Steve Reed
Australia Trevor Ashby
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 151 29
14 1 22 Lusty Engineering Australia Graham Lusty
Australia Alfredo Costanzo
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 146 24
15 1 34 Ray Gulson Australia Ray Gulson
Australia Graham Gulson
BMW 635 CSi 143 39
16 2 52 M3 Motorsport Australia Peter Doulman
Australia John Cotter
BMW M3 142 42
17 3 33 Toyota Team Australia Australia Mike Dowson
Australia Neal Bates
Toyota Corolla FX-GT 141 48
18 1 44 Sutherland Mitsubishi Australia Gary Scott
Australia Kevin Bartlett
Australia Terry Shiel
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 141 26
19 3 32 Toyota Team Australia New Zealand John Faulkner
Australia Peter McKay
Toyota Corolla FX-GT 140 46
20 1 30 Peter Jackson Racing Australia John Goss
Australia Glenn Seton
Australia Tony Noske
Ford Sierra RS500 140 9 8
21 1 60 Scotty Taylor Australia Alan Taylor
Australia Roger Hurd
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 139 44
22 1 54 Clive Smith Australia Clive Smith
Australia Paul Trevathan
Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 137 47
23 3 78 Team Madison Racing Australia Geoff Full
Australia Michael Adcock
Toyota Corolla[2] 136 53
24 2 49 David Sala Australia Ross Burbidge
Australia Steve Williams
Nissan Gazelle 134 50
25 1 38 Mulvihill Motorsport Australia Tony Mulvihill
Australia Graham Moore
New Zealand Glenn McIntyre
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 133 37
26 1 4 Caltex CXT Racing Team Australia Colin Bond
New Zealand Bruce Stewart
Ford Sierra RS500 131 16
27 1 48 Mistic Mould Destroyer Australia Wayne Park
Australia John Giddings
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 130 27
NC 1 28 Joseph Sommariva Australia Joseph Sommariva
Australia Warren McKellar
BMW 635 CSi 118 45
DNF 1 45 Lester Smerdon Australia Lester Smerdon
Australia Gary Hinton
Australia Marty Turpin
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 112 43
NC 3 13 Bob Holden Motors Australia Bob Holden
New Zealand Joe McAndrew
Australia Tim Hall
Toyota Corolla[2] 108 54
NC 1 69 Garry Willmington Performance Australia Ray Lintott
Egypt Reda Awadullah
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 106 51
DNF 3 51 Bob Holden Motors Australia Dennis Rogers
Australia Marc Ducquet
Australia Richard Vorst
Toyota Corolla 103 56
DNF 2 50 Bryce Racing New Zealand Brett Riley
West Germany Ludwig Finauer
BMW M3 101 28
DNF 2 57 Sax Racing New Zealand Craig Turner
New Zealand Kent Baigent
New Zealand Lou Vandermeer
BMW M3 98 41
DNF 1 8 Miedecke Motorsport New Zealand Andrew Bagnall
New Zealand Graeme Crosby
Ford Sierra RS500 97 10 10
DNF 1 35 Peter Jackson Racing Australia Tony Noske
Australia Glenn Seton
France Alain Ferté
Ford Sierra RS500 92 17
DNF 1 24 Jagparts Australia Gerald Kay
Australia Alf Grant
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 91 38
NC 1 68 Garry Willmington Performance Australia Garry Willmington
Australia Tom Watkinson
Toyota Supra Turbo 91 49
NC 1 23 Chris Lambden United Kingdom Chris Lambden
Australia Greg Crick
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 90 25
DNF 2 56 Sax Racing New Zealand Graham Lorimer
New Zealand John Sax
BMW M3 82 36
DNF 1 05 Mobil 1 Racing Australia Peter Brock
United Kingdom Andy Rouse
Ford Sierra RS500 81 2 1
DNF 1 41 Leeson Civil Engineering Australia Bob Tindal
Australia Des Wall
Australia John Leeson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV[5] 79 55
DNF 1 43 Everlast Battery Service Australia Bill O'Brien
Australia Brian Samspon
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 65 33
DNF 1 19 Caltex CXT Racing Team Australia Ken Mathews
Australia Garry Rogers
Ford Sierra RS500 50 20
DNF 1 21 Bob Forbes Racing Australia Mark Gibbs
Australia Rohan Onslow
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 44 21
DNF 1 46 Reithmuller Pentecost Racing West Germany Llyndon Reithmuller
Australia Ian Green
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 43 34
DNF 1 31 Toyota Team Australia Australia John Smith
Australia Drew Price
Toyota Supra Turbo A 35 35
DNF 1 9 Allan Moffat Racing Australia Gregg Hansford
Belgium Pierre Dieudonné
Ford Sierra RS500 30 14
DNF 1 96 Barbagallo Motorsport New Zealand Tim Slako
Australia Damon Smith
Australia Geoff Leeds
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 28 30
DNF 1 25 Benson & Hedges Racing Australia Tony Longhurst
New Zealand Neville Crichton
Ford Sierra RS500 27 3 3
DNF 1 27 Mark Petch Motorsport New Zealand Robbie Francevic
Italy Gianfranco Brancatelli
Ford Sierra RS500 14 15
DNF 1 40 Terry Finnigan Australia Terry Finnigan
Australia Geoff Leeds
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 14 31
DNF 1 14 Murray Carter Australia Murray Carter
Australia John Mann
Ford Sierra RS500 10 32
DNF 1 42 Matt Wacker Australia Matt Wacker
Australia Frank Porter
Australia Mike King
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 4 40
DNF 1 6 Miedecke Motorsport Australia Andrew Miedecke
Australia Charlie O'Brien
Ford Sierra RS500 0 5 6
DNS 3 39 David Sala Australia David Sala
Australia Richard Vorst
Toyota Corolla

Statistics

  • Provisional Pole Position – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:16.58
  • Pole Position – #05 Peter Brock – 2:15.80
  • Fastest Lap – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:19.12 – Lap 2
  • Average Speed – 154 km/h
  • Race time of winning car – 6:30:53.44

See also

1989 Australian Touring Car season

References

  1. ^ 1989 – Johnson Goes the Distance!, www.therealmountpanorama.com, as archived at web.archive.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f The 1989 Toohey 1000 Entry List, Official Programme, Tooheys 1000, Mount Panorama – Bathurst, 1 October 1989, pages 64 & 65
  3. ^ What's different in the rules, Official Programme, Tooheys 1000, Mount Panorama – Bathurst, 1 October 1989, page 46
  4. ^ Tooheys Top Gun 1989, www.youtube.com
  5. ^ The image of car #41 on page 192 of The Great Race 1989/90 shows it to be a Group A SV