1983 Castrol 400

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.Wayne Webster, Endurance Championship Round Three - Sandown Park, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, pages 294 & 295 The race was staged over 129 laps of the 3.1 km circuit, totalling 399.9 km. It was Round 3 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship and Round 3 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.Wayne Webster, Australian Endurance Championship, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, page 288 The race, which was the 18th annual Sandown long-distance race,Records, Titles and Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-8 was won by Allan Moffat driving a Mazda RX-7. 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: Over 3000 cc Under 3000 cc Results Top 10 Qualifiers Pos No.Official Program, Sandown, Sept 11 (1983) Entrant Driver Car Time Pole 05 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team AUS Peter Brock Holden VH Commodore SS 1:10.7 2 17 Palmer Tube Mills AUS Dick Johnson Ford XE Falcon 1:10.7 3 6 STP Roadways Racing AUS Allan Grice Holden VH Commodore SS 1:10.7 4 3 Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd AUS David Parsons Holden VH Commodore SS 1:11.3 5 15 Nissan Motor Co. AUS George Fury Nissan Bluebird Turbo 1:11.4 6 43 Peter Stuyvesant International CAN Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 1:11.5 7 31 JPS/Team BMW NZL Jim Richards BMW 635 CSi 1:11.7 8 2 Masterton Homes AUS Steve Masterton Ford XE Falcon 1:12.3 9 50 Petrolon Slick 50 AUS Peter McLeod Mazda RX-7 1:12.5 10 11 Soundwave Discos AUS Garry Rogers Holden VH Commodore SS 1:12.6 Race PositionGraham Slater, An Injection of Power!, Racing Car News, October 1983, pages 25 to 27 Drivers No. Car Entrant Class Laps 1 Allan Moffat 43 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Over 3000cc 1292 Jim Richards 31 BMW 635 CSi JPS/Team BMW Over 3000cc 1293 Warren Cullen Ron Harrop 22 Holden VH Commodore SSStewart Wilson, Holden - The official racing history, 1988, page 358 W. Cullen Over 3000cc 1274 Murray Carter 18 Mazda RX-7 Valentine Greetings Over 3000cc 1275 Terry Shiel 37 Mazda RX-7 Eurocar's Northside P/L Over 3000cc 1236 Gregg Hansford Garry Waldon 42 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Over 3000cc 1227 Johnnie Walker Gene Cook 32 Mazda RX-7 J. Walker Over 3000cc 1208 Scotty Taylor Kevin Kennedy 24 Holden VH Commodore SS Scotty Taylor Holden Over 3000cc 1199 Lawrie Nelson 59 Ford Capri V6Stewart Wilson & Max Stahl, Ford - The racing history, 1989, page 311 Capri Components Under 3000cc 11910 Barry Jones Peter Dane 41 Mazda RX-7 BF Goodrich Australia Over 3000cc 11911 Jim Myhill 34 Mazda RX-7 John Myhill Racing Under 3000cc 11412 Terry Ryan Graham Storah 34 Mazda RX-7 T. Ryan Over 3000cc 11313 Ray Cutchie Mike Quinn 34 Ford Escort Bob Holden Motors Manly Vale Under 3000cc 11114 John White 61 Isuzu Gemini ZZThe 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. J. White Under 3000cc 10815 Brian Winsall Louis Stoopman 87 Isuzu Gemini 1.6 Litre Touring Car Association Under 3000cc 9516 Joe Beninca Peter Beninca 69 Alfa Romeo GTV Beninca Motors Under 3000cc 90NC Andrew Harris Gary Cooke 9 Ford XE Falcon A. Harris Over 3000cc 95NC Ken Harrison 80 Ford Escort K.J. Harrison Under 3000cc 78NC John Craft Don Smith 56 Ford Capri V6 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 Under 3000cc DNF Andrew Manson Geoff Manson 48 Holden VH Commodore SS Roger Manson Holden Over 3000cc DNF Jim Faneco Tony Hubbard 40 Ford XE Falcon CDT Performance Vehicles Over 3000cc DNF Jim Keogh Leo Leonard 12 Holden VH Commodore SS Team Toshiba Over 3000cc DNF Rusty French Alan Browne 4 Holden VH Commodore SS John Sands Racing Over 3000cc DNF Garry Rogers Clive Benson-Brown 11 Holden VH Commodore SS 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 Masterton Homes Over 3000cc DNF David Parsons Peter Janson 3 Holden VH Commodore SS Cadbury Schweppes Pty. Ltd. Over 3000cc DNF Peter Brock 05 Holden VH Commodore SS Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc DNF Fred Gibson 16 Nissan Bluebird TurboBill Tuckey, The enduros begin: and so do the politics, James Hardie 1000 1983/84, pages 62 to 73 Nissan Over 3000cc DNF George Fury 15 Nissan Bluebird Turbo Nissan Over 3000cc DNF Steve Harrington 14 Holden VH Commodore SS STP Roadways Racing Over 3000cc DNF Allan Grice 6 Holden VH Commodore SS STP Roadways Racing Over 3000cc DNF Mike Imrie Graeme Treasure 49 Ford XD FalconHeritage Touring Cars – Mike Imrie XD, Tuesday 21st April, 2015, www.speedcafe.com, as archived at web.archive.org CDT Performance Vehicles Over 3000cc 3 DNF Dick Johnson 17 Ford XE Falcon Palmer Tube Mills Over 3000cc 1DSQ John Harvey Peter Brock 25 Holden VH Commodore SS Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc 127 Note: Starters : 40 Classified finishers: 16 Running but not classified: 3 Peter Brock took over the car of John Harvey after his own car suffered brake problems. The Brock/Harvey car placed third, but was subsequently disqualified due to the unauthorized driver change. Statistics Pole position - #05 Peter Brock - (Holden VH Commodore) - 1:10.7 Race time - 3 hrs 20 mins 0.4 secs Fastest lap - #43 Allan Moffat - (Mazda RX-7) - 1:10.9 (new lap record) Notes & references External links Touring Cars 1983, autopics.com See also 1983 Castrol 400 - full race Sandown 400 1982 Castrol 400 1983 1984 Castrol 500 Category:Motorsport at Sandown Castrol 400 Category:Pre-Bathurst 500