1984 Sandown 1000

the Australian Endurance Championship touring car motor race 1984 Castrol 500 January 2021 January 2012 thumb|250px|Layout of the Sandown Raceway international circuit (1984-1998) The 1984 Sandown 1000 was an endurance motor race staged at the Sandown Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1984.Official Programme, Sandown 1000, page 43 It was the eleventh and final round of the 1984 FIA World Endurance Championship and was the first FIA World Championship race to be held in Australia. It was to be the first of a three-year contract to race at Sandown, though the final two years would be cancelled. The event was the final round of the World Endurance Championship for Drivers1985 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 86 but did not count towards the associated World Endurance Championship for Manufacturers,1985 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 87 the Group C2 Prototype FIA Cup,1985 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 88 or the FIA Grand Touring Cup.Autosport, 31 January 1985, page 37 The race was open to Group C1 Sports Prototypes, Group C2 Sports Prototypes, Group B GT Cars and IMSA GTP, GTX, GTO & GTU cars. With their drivers no longer in a position to win the Drivers Championship and no manufacturers points on offer, the Martini Racing team did not participate in this event with their Ferrari powered Lancia LC2s. An invitational class for "Australian Cars" (AC) was also included for cars that raced in the Australian GT Championship, and the Australian Sports Car Championship. These Group D GT, Group B Sports Sedan, and Group A Sports Cars, did not conform to World Endurance Championship regulations. The FIA only allowed five AC cars to compete and the drivers were not eligible to score championship points. Only four of these cars started, with the Bryan Thompson / Brad Jones Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC powered by a twin turbo, 4.2 litre Chevrolet V8 engine did not start due to overheating issues in practice and qualifying. Fittingly in Australia's first ever FIA World Championship event, the race included Australia's only two World Drivers' Champions. Sir Jack Brabham (1959, 1960 & 1966) and Alan Jones (1980) both participated as part of the factory backed Rothmans Porsche team. The race was Sir Jack's first and only World Championship race since the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix, though between 1970 and 1984 he had been a semi-regular competitor in Australian touring car racing. The race proved to be a financial disaster for promoters, the Light Car Club of Australia. The club failed to secure a major sponsor for the race, and were late in arranging a television deal so the race could be broadcast back to Europe. It wasn't until the last minute that the ABC decided to telecast the race (of Australia's major television stations, the Seven Network was committed to showing the 1984 Australian Open tennis from Kooyong in Melbourne, Channel 9 was showing a match between Victoria and the touring West Indies cricket team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground while Channel 10 was covering the Australian federal election). The official attendance was just 13,860, though many observers put the figure at less than 10,000. It was estimated that the LCCA lost anywhere from A$300,000 to 500,000 on the race. thumb|A Porsche 956, similar to the race winning car. (Image from 2013) Qualifying As expected, the factory Rothmans Porsche 956 of Stefan Bellof took pole with a time of 1:31.600 (prior to the race, the lap record of the new 3.9 km circuit was 1:36.9 set by John Bowe in a 1.6 litre Ford powered Ralt RT4/85 Formula Mondial car during the final round of the 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship). Sharing the front row was his teammate and rival for the World Endurance Championship Jochen Mass with a lap of 1:32.300. British driver Gordon Spice qualified 12th and was the fastest Group C2 runner with a time of 1:38.000 in his 3.3 litre Tiga CG84-Cosworth DFL. Four times CAMS Gold Star winner, Melbourne resident Alfredo Costanzo, qualified the 1984 Australian Sports Car Championship winning Romano WE84-Cosworth he would share with car owner Bap Romano in 13th place and fastest of the AC class with a 1:38.400 lap, despite persistent understeer in the slow corners (due to 70 kg of lead ballast the car was required to carry for the race), Costanzo twice stripping second gear in the car and an overnight engine change from the 3.0 litre Cosworth DFV engine to a more powerful 3.9 litre Cosworth DFL. In the only IMSA car in the field, American driver Jim Cook qualified 15th in Chuck Kendall's Lola T600-Chevrolet V8 with a 1:39.500, while Altfrid Heger qualified his Group B BMW M1 in 28th with a time of 1:50.500. The Group B BMW M1's (powered by the 3.5 litre BMW M88 Straight-six engine) actually proved slower than the production based Australian Group C touring cars had been at the circuit three months earlier, including being almost 3 seconds slower than the BMW 635 CSi touring car which used the same M88 engine. Qualifying results Pos. Class No EntrantOfficial Programme, Castrol 500, Sandown, September 9 (1984) Car Time Pole C1 2 FRG Rothmans Porsche Porsche 956 1:31.600 2 C1 1 FRG Rothmans Porsche Porsche 956 1:32.300 3 C1 3 FRG Rothmans Porsche Porsche 956 1:32.400 4 C1 33 GBR Skoal Bandit Porsche Team GBR John Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 956B 1:32.600 5 C1 11 FRG Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche 956B 1:32.800 6 C1 14 GBR GTi Engineering Porsche 956 GTi 1:35.030 7 C1 7 FRG New-Man Joest Racing Porsche 956 1:32.900 8 C1 10 FRG Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche 956 1:33.600 9 C1 55 GBR Skoal Bandit Porsche Team GBR John Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 956 1:35.200 10 C1 12 FRG Schornstein Racing Team FRG Joest Racing Porsche 956 1:36.000 11 C1 34 AUS Team Australia GBR John Fitzpatrick Racing Porsche 962 1:36.000 12 C2 70 GBR Spice-Tiga Racing Tiga GC84 Ford-Cosworth 1:38.000 13 AC 61 AUS Bap Romano Racing Romano WE84 Ford-Cosworth 1:38.400 14 C1 56 FRG Rothmans Porsche GBR GTi Engineering Porsche 956 1:38.900 15 IMSA 131 USA Kendall Racing Lola T600 Chevrolet 1:39.500 16 C1 17 FRG Porsche Kremer Racing Porsche-Kremer CK5 1:40.100 17 C2 80 ITA Scuderia Jolly Club Alba AR2 Giannini 1:40.200 18 AC 64 AUS Re-Car Racing Chevrolet Monza 1:40.300 19 C2 74 FRG Gebhardt Motorsport Gebhardt JC843 Ford-Cosworth 1:40.500 20 C2 72 GBR ADA Engineering FRG Gebhardt Motorsport Gebhardt JC843 Ford-Cosworth 1:42.100 21 C2 81 ITA Scuderia Jolly Club Alba AR2 Giannini 1:42.200 22 AC 62 AUS JPS Team BMW BMW 320i 1:44.400 23 C2 73 FRG Gebhardt Motorsport Gebhardt JC842 BMW 1:44.600 24 C2 99 FRG Gebhardt Motorsport Tiga GC84 Ford 1:44.800 25 AC 65 AUS Jeff Harris JWS C2 Mazda 1:46.600 26 AC 63 AUS Thomson-Fowler Motorsport Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC Chevrolet 1:47.100 27 C2 90 DEN Jens Winther Denmark URD C81 BMW 1:47.200 28 B 106 FRG Helmut Gall BMW M1 1:50.500 29 B 83 GBR Roger Andreason Racing Lola T610 Ford-Cosworth 1:53.900 30 B 113 GBR Strandell Racing Porsche 930 1:55.700 Race Without the factory Lancia's, the Group C class turned into a Porsche benefit with the first 10 places on the grid being filled by the 956 model and position 11 being the newer Porsche 962 run by John Fitzpatrick Racing for Australia's "Mr Versatile" of motor racing Colin Bond, and open wheel driver Andrew Miedecke. Alan Jones had the honour of leading the first lap of the race having got the jump on temporary teammates Bellof and Mass. As in qualifying, the race was a Porsche benefit with the German cars finishing in the top 9 places (the 962 of Bond/Miedecke finished 6th). Rothmans Porsche drivers Bellof and Derek Bell won the race, giving Bellof the 1984 World Endurance Championship in the process. Teammates Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx finished three laps behind in 2nd, with Jonathan Palmer and Jan Lammers a further lap down in 3rd place in their Richard Lloyd Racing 956B. The only car to actually challenge the Rothmans Porsche's during the race, the Skoal Bandit 956B of Thierry Boutsen and David Hobbs, was the only Group C1 car not to finish after suffering a burnt-out an ignition coil on lap 171. The first non-Porsche finisher was the Group C2, 3.3L Cosworth DFL powered Tiga GC84 of Gordon Spice and Neil Crang in 10th place. The Tiga won C2 after a race long battle with the Italian Alba's and the German Gebhardt JC843-Cosworth. The AC class was won by the JPS Team BMW's 320i of Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst who finished in 14th place overall despite several spins and punctures caused by the road surface in the new infield section breaking up under the strain of the 650 bhp kW PS 0 on ground effect Group C Porsche's. The BMW was followed in 15th place by the Group B winning BMW M1 of Helmut Gall and Altfrid Heger. The only IMSA car in the race, a Lola T600-Chevrolet run by Chuck Kendall failed to finish having completed 95 laps. The race distance was to be 257 laps, or 1000 km (620 mi) long. However, under WEC rules, with the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, races had a time limit of 6 hours. The six-hour mark was reached when the Bellof/Bell Porsche had run only 206 laps (803.4 km), thus the race was declared at the time limit some 51 laps (197.78 km or 122.89 mi) short of the 1000 km distance. Official results Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps Engine 1 C1 2 FRG Rothmans Porsche FRG Stefan BellofGBR Derek Bell Porsche 956 Dunlop 206 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 2 C1 1 FRG Rothmans Porsche FRG Jochen MassBEL Jacky Ickx Porsche 956 Dunlop 203 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 3 C1 14 GBR GTi Engineering GBR Jonathan PalmerNLD Jan Lammers Porsche 956 GTi Dunlop 202 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 4 C1 10 FRG Porsche Kremer Racing South Africa 1928 Sarel van der MerweSouth Africa 1928 George Fouché Porsche 956 Goodyear 200 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 5 C1 11 FRG Porsche Kremer Racing FRG Manfred WinkelhockAUS Rusty French Porsche 956B Goodyear 200 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 6 C1 34 AUS Team AustraliaGBR John Fitzpatrick Racing AUS Colin BondAUS Andrew Miedecke Porsche 962 Dunlop 198 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 7 C1 7 FRG New-Man Joest Racing FRG Klaus LudwigFRA Henri Pescarolo Porsche 956 Dunlop 197 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 8 C1 3 FRG Rothmans Porsche AUS Vern SchuppanAUS Alan Jones Porsche 956 Dunlop 196 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 9 C1 55 GBR Skoal Bandit Porsche TeamGBR John Fitzpatrick Racing GBR Rupert KeeganAUT Franz Konrad Porsche 956 Goodyear 194 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 10 C2 70 GBR Spice-Tiga Racing GBR Gordon SpiceAUS Neil Crang Tiga GC84 Avon 189 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8 11 C1 12 FRG Schornstein Racing TeamFRG Joest Racing FRG "John Winter"FRG Dieter SchornsteinFRA Paul Belmondo Porsche 956 Dunlop 184 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 12 C2 74 FRG Gebhardt Motorsport FRG Frank JelinskiFRG Beate NodesFRG Günter Gebhardt Gebhardt JC843 Avon 181 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8 13 C1 17 FRG Porsche Kremer Racing NED Kees KroesemeijerNZL Peter JansonESP Jesús Pareja Porsche-Kremer CK5 Dunlop 179 Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6 14 AC 62 AUS JPS Team BMW NZL Jim RichardsAUS Tony Longhurst BMW 320i Yokohama 178 BMW M10 2.0L I4 15 B 106 FRG Helmut Gall FRG Helmut GallFRG Altfrid Heger BMW M1 Dunlop 170 BMW M88 3.5L I6 16 C2 99 GBR JQF Engineering GBR Jeremy RossiterGBR Roy BakerGBR Gary Evans Tiga GC284 ? 156 Ford Cosworth BDT 1.7L Turbo I4 NC C2 83 GBR Roger Andreason Racing GBR Richard JonesGBR Don BurroughsGBR John Bartlett Lola T610 Avon 120 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8 NC C1 56 FRG Rothmans PorscheGBR GTi Engineering GBR Johnny DumfriesAUS Jack BrabhamGBR Richard Lloyd Porsche 956 Dunlop 108 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 NC AC 61 AUS Bap Romano Racing AUS Bap RomanoAUS Alfredo Costanzo Romano WE84 Avon 106 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.9L V8 DNF C1 33 GBR Skoal Bandit Porsche TeamGBR John Fitzpatrick Racing BEL Thierry BoutsenGBR David Hobbs Porsche 956B Goodyear 171 Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6 DNF AC 65 AUS Jeff Harris AUS Jeff HarrisAUS Ray HangerAUS Barry Jones JWS C2 Avon 114 Mazda 13B 1.3L 2-Rotor Turbo DNF C2 81 ITA Scuderia Jolly Club ITA Guido DaccòAUS Lucio Cesario Alba AR2 Avon 114 Giannini Carma FF 2.0L Turbo I4 DNF C2 73 FRG Gebhardt Motorsport FRA Cathy MullerAUS Sue RansomUSA Margie Smith-Haas Gebhardt JC842 Avon 95 BMW M88 3.5L I6 DNF IMSA 131 USA Kendall Racing USA Chuck KendallUSA Jim CookAUS Peter Fitzgerald Lola T600 ? 95 Chevrolet 5.8L V8 DNF C2 80 ITA Scuderia Jolly Club ITA Martino FinottoITA Carlo FacettiITA Guido Daccò Alba AR2 Avon 91 Giannini Carma FF 2.0L Turbo I4 DNF C2 72 GBR ADA EngineeringDEU Gebhardt Motorsport GBR Ian HarrowerNZL Neville CrichtonAUS Richard Davison Gebhardt JC843 ? 64 Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8 DNF C2 90 DEN Jens Winther Denmark DEN Jens WintherDEN Lars Viggo-Jensen URD C81 Avon 42 BMW M88 3.5L I6 DNF B 113 GBR Strandell Racing GBR Nick FaureSWE Kenneth LeimGBR Peter Clark Porsche 930 ? 0 Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6 DSQ AC 64 AUS Re-Car Racing AUS Allan GriceAUS Dick JohnsonAUS Ron Harrop Chevrolet Monza Dunlop 114 Chevrolet 6.0L V8 DNS AC 63 AUS Thomson-Fowler Motorsport AUS Bryan ThomsonAUS Brad Jones Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC Avon - Chevrolet 4.2L Twin Turbo V8 DNA C1 16 AUS Terry Hook AUS Terry HookAUS Warwick Brown Lola T610 ? - Chevrolet 6.0L V8 Note: Cars that failed to complete 75% of the winner's distance were Not Classified and are marked as NC in the above table. Statistics Group C Pole Position - Stefan Bellof - #2 Porsche 956 - 1:31.600 Group C2 Pole Position - Gordon Spice - #70 Tiga CG84 Cosworth - 1:38.000 AC Pole Position - Alfredo Costanzo - #61 Romano WE84 Cosworth - 1:38.400 IMSA GTP Pole Position - Jim Cook - #131 Lola T600 Chevrolet - 1:39.500 Group B Pole Position - Helmut Gall - #106 BMW M1 - 1:50.500 Fastest Lap - Stefan Bellof - #2 Porsche 956 - 1:34.500 Average Speed - 166.468 km/h References Further reading Australian Motor Racing Year, 1984/85 14 Berghouse Publishing Group 1985 0158-4138 76–81 External links http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1984.html#11 FIA World Endurance Championship 1988 World Sports Racing Prototypes 2 October 2005 22 January 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20061230194431/http://wsrp.ic.cz/wsc1984.html 30 December 2006 http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1984/84sandown.html 1984 Sandown Park 1000 km Team Dan Motorsport Almanac 21 December 2003 22 January 2008 http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sandown-1984-12-02.html Sandown Park 1000 Kilometres 1984 (Photo Archive) Racing Sports Cars 11 June 2006 30 April 2010 1984 World Sportscar Championship 1984 1000km of Kyalami None Sandown Sandown 1000 Category:Motorsport at Sandown