1985 Better Brakes 300

August 2014 Events August 2014 thumb|250px|Layout of the Amaroo Park Raceway The 1985 Better Brakes 300 was an endurance race for Group A touring cars held at the Amaroo Park circuit in Sydney, New South Wales on 4 August 1985. The race was the opening round of the 1985 Australian Endurance Championship. It was held over 155 laps of the tight 1.94 km mi on circuit for a total of 300.7 km mi on.1985 Better Brakes 300 at History of Touring Car Racing The field was divided into three classes according to engine displacement. Class A : 3001cc to 6000cc Class B : 2001cc to 3000cc Class C : Up to 2000cc The race was won by the 1985 Australian Touring Car Champion Jim Richards driving his championship winning JPS Team BMW 635 CSi. Richards won the race by two laps from two more New Zealanders, Kent Baigent and Neal Lowe driving an ex-Schnitzer BMW 635 CSi, with Peter Brock in his Mobil Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore finishing third. Colin Bond and Gregg Hansford finished 5th outright and 1st in Class B driving the Network Alfa Romeo GTV6 after a race long battle with the JPS BMW 323i of Tony Longhurst. Class C was won by the Team Toyota Australia Corolla of former open wheel star driver John Smith who also finished 7th outright. One of the pre-race favourites, the Volvo 240T of Kiwi Robbie Francevic was out before the race started as the left front wheel parted company with the car on the formation lap going through Suttons Corner. At the end of the first of two formation / warm up laps, the Mark Petch Motorsport team had done a practice pit stop. The car came down off the jacks and Robbie was waved out of the pits, unfortunately before the left front centre-lock wheel nut had been tightened. Allan Grice, having his first ever Group A start driving in The Toy Shop Alfa GTV6, was out after just three laps with gearbox failure. The Alfa was the original Network Alfa raced by his 1983 Bathurst co-driver Colin Bond in both Group E Series Production and later Group A before Bond sold it to The Toy Shop outfit in Sydney Richards qualified on pole for the race with a time of 53.80 seconds. Peter Brock, debuting the newly homologated (just 3 days earlier) 4.9L Commodore (which also came with a weight reduction of 75 kg lb 1 on to bring the Commodore down to 1325 kg lb 1 on), qualified in 2nd spot.1985 AEC Round 1 Amaroo highlights Results Position Class No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps Grid 1 A 62 JPS Team BMW NZL Jim Richards BMW 635 CSi 155 1 2 A 3 H. Kent Baigent NZL Kent BaigentNZL Neal Lowe BMW 635 CSi 153 8 3 A 05 Mobil Holden Dealer Team AUS Peter Brock Holden VK Commodore 153 2 4 A 7 Mobil Holden Dealer Team AUS David Parsons AUS John Harvey Holden VK Commodore 153 10 5 B 27 Network Alfa AUS Colin BondAUS Gregg Hansford Alfa Romeo GTV6 153 5 6 B 23 JPS Team BMW AUS Tony Longhurst BMW 323i 152 9 7 C 10 Toyota Team Australia AUS John Smith Toyota Corolla 148 11 8 A 19 Ken Mathews Prestige Cars AUS Ken MathewsAUS Terry Finnigan Holden VK Commodore 147 14 9 A 33 Mike Bergmann AUS Mike BergmannAUS Bob Stevens Holden VK Commodore 144 17 10 A 24 Jagparts AUS Gerald KayAUS Don Bretland Holden VK Commodore 144 16 ?? A 30 Yellow Pages AUS Tony KavichAUS Ralph Radburn Holden VK Commodore 13 ?? A AUS Bernie McClure Holden VK Commodore ?? A 39 NZL Graeme BowkettNZL Wayne Wilkinson Holden VK Commodore 15 ?? B 39 Chris Heyer AUS Chris Heyer Audi 5+5 19 ?? C 13 Bob Holden Motors AUS Bob HoldenAUS Mike Quinn Toyota Corolla AE86 12 ?? C 11 Toyota Team Australia AUS Drew Price Toyota Corolla AE86 18 ?? B 65 Hulcraft Autos AUS John Craft Ford Capri Mk.III 20 ?? B Hulcraft Autos AUS Les Grose Ford Capri Mk.III 22 ?? A 29 Ken Davison AUS Ken Davison Ford Mustang 24 ?? A 28 Capri Components AUS Lawrie Nelson Ford Mustang 21 DNF A 2 Masterton Homes AUS Steve Masterton Holden VK Commodore 6 DNF B 77 Peter Williamson Toyota AUS Peter WilliamsonAUS Charlie O'Brien Toyota Supra 7 4 DNF B 26 The Toy Shop AUS Allan Grice Alfa Romeo GTV6 3 7 DNS B 21 Mark Petch Motorsport NZL Robbie Francevic Volvo 240T 3 * The event attracted 24 starters. Notes Pole Position: #1 Jim Richards, BMW 635 CSi - 0:53.80 Fastest Lap: #1 Jim Richards, BMW 635 CSi - 0:55.11 Race Time: 2:28:08.6 References See also Australian Motor Racing Year, 1985/86 James Hardie 1000, 1985/86 The Australian Racing History of Ford, 1989 The Official Racing History of Holden, 1988 Better Brakes 300