1987 Australian Group A Touring Car Races - Discussion & Results

[Jesper OH]

A link to the Hazelton Volvo, providing the entry list for the Castrol Dash for Clash at Oran Park: http://www.ovlov.net/page.php?page_name=gallery

William, that is an awesome work you have put in. I'll see what contributions I can help with, but suspect few with what you have already provided!

Jesper

[brendonwood1]

Excellent results. There's nothing I can add. You mention that Kent Baigent and Graeme Bowkett made their ATCC debut at Sandown, but the results for Surfers the round before lists both cars. So would it be right to assume they actually made their debut at Surfers?

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

A link to the Hazelton Volvo, providing the entry list for the Castrol Dash for Clash at Oran Park: http://www.ovlov.net/page.php?page_name=gallery

Cheers Jesper, that entry list comes in quite handy!

Originally Posted by brendonwood1

Excellent results. There's nothing I can add. You mention that Kent Baigent and Graeme Bowkett made their ATCC debut at Sandown, but the results for Surfers the round before lists both cars. So would it be right to assume they actually made their debut at Surfers?

Quite right, the presence of the plain white cars at Surfers had completely slipped my mind. Whoops


Also, the race programme for the Sandown ATCC round says results for the 2L race were taken from the first 13 laps of the touring car race. I don't think I've seen these published anywhere.

[chavez]

Re the Castrol Clash race.

A multi car crash that stopped the Formula Ford race held prior the the Castrol Clash resulted in the flip flop being hosed down, leaving that part of the circuit quite wet.

Graeme Lusty spun on the warm-up lap. Don Smith retired at the end of the warm-up lap.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Castrol Clash
Oran Park South Circuit, NSW (15/2/1987)

Circuit Length: 1.96 km
Race Distance: 25 laps
Weather: Rain clearing

Oran Park was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and on the programme was the first Group A race for 1987 in Australia. A 25-lapper on the original short-circuit drew a solid local entry, with the bigger names mostly still on their way home from New Zealand's Nissan-Mobil Series. Larry Perkins entered, but didn't quite make it back in time.

Cars making their debut were Colin Bond's long-awaited Alfa Romeo 75, and two Ford Sierra RS Cosworths from the OXO team. Tony Noske planned to have his first run in his ex-Perkins VK but put it into the wall during practice, while Phil Ward had the first of many drives in his ex-AMG Mercedes-Benz 190E.

Reed mastered the greasy early conditions to run out a comfortable winner from Bond. Laurie Hazelton backed his Volvo into the pit wall late in the race, injuring a TV cameraman. Magazine sources disagree over whether the crash caused the race to be stopped, something I suspect the TV coverage would solve.

The TV coverage does answer a few of the questions

The race almost didn't happen after a crash in the preceeding Formula Ford race dumped coolant all over the top of the dogleg, leaving that part of the track very slippery, and the rest of the track dry. Officials originally ordered all cars to race on wet tyres, however the drivers refused, for obvious reasons as 95% of the track was dry.

In the end a compromise was reached, with the organisers basically telling the drivers it was 'on their heads'. They had 3 siting laps (in which Craig Harris spun on the coolant), then the race started.

Reed's win was down to the fact he was the only driver not to run on slicks, he ran on Intermediates. Bond dominated early until it started to rain, and Reed came through to take an easy win.

The race was stopped because of the Hazelton crash, as the seriousness of the crash was noted straightaway. The race was red-flagged while Reed was already on his 25th lap.

Some car numbers to help with the above results;

Terry Finnigan - #8
Graham Moore - #22
Graham Lusty - #21
Tony Mulvihill - #19
Phil Ward - #10
Paul Jones - #16
Daryl Hendrick - #86
Graham Gulson - #27
David Ratcliff - #58
Laurie Hazelton - #50
Kevin Clark - #18

Don Smith ran as #35, while Craig Harris was #36, while on the entry list i have, Tony Noske was entered as #2

This is a great thread, 1987 provided a great and varied season of Group A racing in Australia... and the best thing was every race was covered on TV (even Sandown, to an extent)

[racer69]

Some other quick notes;

- Don Smith ran as #36 at the Calder and Symmons Plains ATCC rounds

- Rd2 of the AMSCAR Series was promoted as the "Wilson Fabric AMSCAR Series". Of course Rd1 was promoted as the "Hardie Iplex AMSCAR Series"... perhaps the overall name for the series was just the "James Hardie Building Products AMSCAR Series" as it was in 1988, they just gave some of their other companies naming rights of the individual rounds? (abit trivial i know, but isn't this what these threads are about )

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

James Hardie Industries Iplex AMSCAR Series
Round 1 (27/3/1987)

Circuit Length: 1.946 km

The first AMSCAR round of the year saw Frank Gardner enter three of the little M3s, with the team's engine builder Ludwig Finauer making his first Group A start. Peter Williamson also entered his Supra, hopefully free of the bad luck that seemed to have plagued it since the car dealer brought it into the country.

The rounds would follow the same structure: three heats of 5, 10 and 15 laps. The winner of the round was a surprise, Trevor Ashby upsetting the JPS armada after Richards' exhaust problems in heat 2. Ashby's win in that heat would be the last race win for a Commodore (excluding Brock's 'eventual' win at Bathurst) until the end of 1988.

Heat 1
Race Distance: 5 laps


Heat 2
Race Distance: 10 laps


Heat 3
Race Distance: 15 laps

I know that Trevor Ashby was credited with the overall win, and given the points lead after Round 1, but i very much struggle to understand how.

In the three heats Ashby had a 3rd, 1st & 3rd
Longhurst had a 2nd, 3rd & 1st

How did Ashby wind up ahead?

[William Dale Jr]

Cheers chavez and racer69, didn't know about any of that, especially the numbers and the AMSCAR meeting names.

I was wondering about the red flag since on that Volvo site there's a picture of the crashed Hazelton car with Reed in the background receiving the Last Lap board. It's strange that the results count the whole 25 laps. Shouldn't they have reverted to a couple of laps previous?

Originally Posted by racer69

I know that Trevor Ashby was credited with the overall win, and given the points lead after Round 1, but i very much struggle to understand how.

In the three heats Ashby had a 3rd, 1st & 3rd
Longhurst had a 2nd, 3rd & 1st

How did Ashby wind up ahead?

The points system for the AMSCAR Series that year were biased toward class positions, with bonuses for outright places:

Class: 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1
Outright: 3, 2, 1

Ashby won his class in each of the heats (27 pts) and received 5 bonus points for his overall placing in each heat. Longhurst received 6 bonus points for his overall placings, but only won his class in two of the heats (24 pts), so Ashby beat him to the overall win by two points, 32 to 30.

The ARDC's point systems seemed to help out the smaller cars, 1986 is another example (not that I've managed to work out how the points worked, yet).

[racer69]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

The points system for the AMSCAR Series that year were biased toward class positions, with bonuses for outright places:

Class: 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1
Outright: 3, 2, 1

Ashby won his class in each of the heats (27 pts) and received 5 bonus points for his overall placing in each heat. Longhurst received 6 bonus points for his overall placings, but only won his class in two of the heats (24 pts), so Ashby beat him to the overall win by two points, 32 to 30.

The ARDC's point systems seemed to help out the smaller cars, 1986 is another example (not that I've managed to work out how the points worked, yet).

That explains it all.... i had been as bewildered as Tony Longhurst was on the podium that afternoon about how Ashby had won.

The points system is similiar to how the ATCC awarded points from 1972-1982.

The '83-'86 points system is very complex to explain, but simple in reality. To use 1983 as an example, as there was just an Over & Under 3-Litre class, points were only awarded to finishing positions, but if you were a lower class car, your spot earned more points....

If you finished first in the race, but were in the O3L class, you got 25pts
If you finished first in the race, but were in the U3L class, you got 30pts

If you were second in the race, but were in the O3L class, you got 23pts
If you were second in the race, but were in the U3L class, you got 27pts

If you were third in the race, but were in the O3L class, you got 20pts
If you were third in the race, but were in the U3L class, you got 24pts

and so on.... (i have the full 1983 pts structure somewhere)

Thats how, for example Allan Moffat won Rd1 in 1983 from George Fury, yet trailed Fury in the pointscore 27-25....

I'm not sure though how it applied to the three class system from 1985, nor the four class structure in 1986..... (plus we are getting off topic lol)

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by racer69

I'm not sure though how it applied to the three class system from 1985, nor the four class structure in 1986..... (plus we are getting off topic lol)

Quite right. So let's move to the 1986 thread...

[racer69]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Cheers chavez and racer69, didn't know about any of that, especially the numbers and the AMSCAR meeting names.

I was wondering about the red flag since on that Volvo site there's a picture of the crashed Hazelton car with Reed in the background receiving the Last Lap board. It's strange that the results count the whole 25 laps. Shouldn't they have reverted to a couple of laps previous?

You would think the results would have been classified as at 23 laps.... the TV coverage shows all the cars pulled in when the red flag came out, so none of them other than Reed managed 25 laps.... perhaps just an error in the reporting?

It was an outstanding win for Reed, and coupled with Ashby's AMSCAR success, the team had won two of their first four Group A outings....

[Jesper OH]

I had a soft spot for the Ashby-Reed combo for no apparent reason. At a time when I only had the oppertunity to see midfield runners and backmarkers on grainy video images, the Lansvale Smash Repairs Commodores looked well presented. Besides they always seemed quite competitive with the other privateer Commodores, and in turns of results both drivers must have been quite equal. As I remember they weren't only partners in their racing team, but also in business.

Jesper

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

As I remember they weren't only partners in their racing team, but also in business.

And still are to this day, and still running, amongst other interests they have, Lansvale Smash Repairs.

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Sun 300?
Calder Park, VIC (9/8/1987)

Circuit Length: 4.22 km
Race Distance: 70 laps
Weather: Cloudy

This was the first meeting on the combined road course and Thunderdome, later to be used for the WTCC round in October. Not completely sure what the race was called, though. Can anyone confirm it was called the Sun 300?

Larry Perkins' delivered his first customer car to Bill O'Brien, and nearly co-drove it to a win. After a bump while lapping a slower car damaged the steering, Larry left it until the final lap to perform the driver change, but the Bowe/Shiel Skyline snuck through for the win.

On the TV coverage the race is called the "Bob Jane T-Marts 300"

An interesting little race this one, the Commodore's set the pace, the BMW nipped at their heels and basically had the race in their pocket (due to one less pitstop) when Tony Longhurst ran up the back of Perkins, while the Nissan plodded along and gained a last minute win at the end.


Looking back on it, Commodore's had the chance to win a few more races than they did in 1987, the first two rounds of the ATCC for example (abit like 1986)

[DV_08]

Round 8 Amaroo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6sGLWKRpiA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfoMfjuW3bI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFu5M6qLhz4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyh9H4pnumg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rOjFBAltkM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEMD0ksKz2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULeYmaTd5Pk

Round 9 Oran Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaMLFZlt3WM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8e0uVxGkd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9CYlujZPIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgsuNGX4zQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iARAWi3oq-g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJe_gtdlu2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5yB3SUzanI

[racer69]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

Pepsi 250
Oran Park, NSW (30/8/1987)

Circuit Length: 2.62 km
Race Distance: 100 laps
Weather: Cloudy with showers

Colin Bond's Alfa had undergone a post-ATCC rebuild, including a switch to RHD. The work paid dividends with Bond putting the red car third on the grid, although turbo problems would put the car out early. The factory Starion missed the race after new driver Gary Scott hit a patch of oil and crashed the car during practice.

Peter Brock finally had his VL on the pace, and came close to winning the race until a slow pitstop and driver change let Richards and Longhurst go through for an easy win.

To get abit pedantic, some changes with the car numbers;

#3 - Jim Richards
#4 - Longhurst/Finaur
#22 - Moore/Stevens
#24 - Denny Hulme
#48 - Park/Douglas
#63 - Bill O'Brien/Brian Sampson

[racer69]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

I recall perhaps seeing a pic of this car at some point in the past... was this the ex-Garry Rogers ex-Jim Richards BMW?

[William Dale Jr]

It was the ex-Keogh BMW, which was also an ex-JPS car, I believe the second Group C 635. It was converted to Group A, used by Neville Crichton in one round of the 1985 ATCC while his car was rebuilt, then sold to Glenn Molloy, then to Jim Keogh.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

South Australia Cup
Adelaide Grand Prix Circuit, SA (12/11/1987)

Circuit Length: 3.78 km
Race Distance: 32 laps
Weather: Sunny

The last touring car race on Australian soil for the year. Delays in shipping cars back from New Zealand hampered the preparations of some, while Fred Gibson stole a march over his opposition by air-freighting his cars back.

Johnson worked his way into a comfortable lead after the early laps. Both Brock - who was notified that morning that he had actually won Bathurst - and Seton went out after challenging early while, behind Johnson, Grice and Perkins resumed their now-usual battle. Fury made his way past the dueling Commodores late in the race, and started closing rapidly on Johnson when the Sierra started having fuel pick-up problems in the last couple of laps. Johnson brought the ailing car over the line for his second victory of 1987, a consolation after a terrible year. Fury finished second, with Perkins beating Grice to third.

I have a dubious date of November 14, which would have been Saturday, but more likely than November 12. When answering to this post it might be said that the John Smith TTA Celica was likely sourced from New Zealand. Running as a class C car it would likely be a 2.0, as that was the version homologated.

Jesper

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

James Hardie Industries Iplex AMSCAR Series
Round 4 - Hardie Irrigation 100 (2/8/1987)

Circuit Length: 1.946 km
Race Distance: 100 laps

The first "enduro" of the year and the last AMSCAR round of the year. The JPS team won comfortably, although there was a near-miss early in the race. Steve Reed crashed the Lansvale Commodore exiting the Dunlop loop in the slippery early conditions, sliding to a stop in the middle of the road. The car was then collected by an unsighted Terry Shiel in the Peter Jackson Gazelle, badly damaging both cars. Richards, lapping Shiel, only just avoided getting caught up in the accident.

I watched this race on DVD last night and spent the whole time looking for my car. If I had read this post first I would have known that it didn't qualify.......

[Oran Park Forever]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I had a soft spot for the Ashby-Reed combo for no apparent reason. At a time when I only had the oppertunity to see midfield runners and backmarkers on grainy video images, the Lansvale Smash Repairs Commodores looked well presented. Besides they always seemed quite competitive with the other privateer Commodores, and in turns of results both drivers must have been quite equal. As I remember they weren't only partners in their racing team, but also in business.

Jesper

Ashby & Reed, two of the best guys Australian motorsport has ever had. In the early 90s, they had their own Clubman Sprint Karts & ran with a bunch of us at Oran Park North each month (or whenever they weren't on Group A duties). No 'FIGJAM' attitudes what so ever, just a couple of guys having fun......their nicknames:
Crashby & Speed!



.

[racer69]

Given the very late cancellation of the 1987 Surfers Paradise 300 enduro (the race is still mentioned as being on during the 'Hardie Irrigation 100' two weeks, was an entry list ever released for this race?

Was Johnson going to be debuting his RS500's there?

Given there were three GrA cars present at the state meeting that replaced the event on August 16, one assumes they were part of the original entry too (Lester Smerdon VK, Clift/Stack VK, Bruce Smith Mustang)

[Amaroo Park]

Originally Posted by Oran Park Forever

Ashby & Reed, two of the best guys Australian motorsport has ever had. In the early 90s, they had their own Clubman Sprint Karts & ran with a bunch of us at Oran Park North each month (or whenever they weren't on Group A duties). No 'FIGJAM' attitudes what so ever, just a couple of guys having fun......their nicknames:
Crashby & Speed!



.

COuldnt agree more, knowing both of them but particularly Steve Reed. Great blokes and exceedingly underrated

[DV_08]

I now have every atcc race in full on youtube including 10 odd minutes of the industrial action affected coverage of the sandown round.

Round 1 Calder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqXycx5bMJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ww3WjroOE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_cUw7bTHCk

Round 2 Symmons Plains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTkvmueyEA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pp8hHkW_zU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCBpy_y_81s

Round 3 Lakeside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ZnpB9Og9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFTEuuCCnpc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oZ1b_ox5HY

Round 4 Waneroo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLk52yh8aL4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe-YygFlKcc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnpLLKVKS08

Round 5 AIR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-0MPm9eUwU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZLawMJO7o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1TBLA1o_7w

Round 6 Surfers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOWVtNz7oOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSgF_zXhhQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUlkRMm4OhY

Round 7 Sandown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01LNdR1IXd4

Round 8 Amaroo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6sGLWKRpiA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfoMfjuW3bI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFu5M6qLhz4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyh9H4pnumg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rOjFBAltkM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEMD0ksKz2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULeYmaTd5Pk

Round 9 Oran Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaMLFZlt3WM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8e0uVxGkd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9CYlujZPIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgsuNGX4zQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iARAWi3oq-g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJe_gtdlu2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5yB3SUzanI

[racer69]

Originally Posted by William Dale Jr

The points system for the AMSCAR Series that year were biased toward class positions, with bonuses for outright places:

Class: 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1
Outright: 3, 2, 1

Ashby won his class in each of the heats (27 pts) and received 5 bonus points for his overall placing in each heat. Longhurst received 6 bonus points for his overall placings, but only won his class in two of the heats (24 pts), so Ashby beat him to the overall win by two points, 32 to 30.

Was a final pointscore for the 1987 AMSCAR Series ever printed? I don't have any of the relevant RCN's or AA's from that year to check, and AMRY ignores the '87 AMSCAR Series (and the non-WTCC enduro's too...). Jim Richards won it of course, but beyond him?

One assumes the AMSCAR points awarded for the round that doubled as the ATCC round, and the Hardie Irrigation 100, were awarded on the same format as the above?

[Holden308]

Originally Posted by Jesper OH

I have a dubious date of November 14, which would have been Saturday, but more likely than November 12. When answering to this post it might be said that the John Smith TTA Celica was likely sourced from New Zealand. Running as a class C car it would likely be a 2.0, as that was the version homologated.

Jesper

From 1985-88 the Group A support race at the AGP in Adelaide was run on the Saturday afternoon an hour after final F1 qualifying had been completed (i.e. the Group A race was always scheduled to start at 3pm). From either 1989 or 1990 they changed it to a race in the usual Saturday timeslot with a second race on the Sunday morning. That being the case, you are correct Jesper and 14 November is the correct date as the 1987 AGP was run on Sunday 15 November.

[Holden308]

I watched the Adelaide round of the ATCC recently and it was interesting to hear Mike Raymond say that Allan Moffat (back in Oz before heading back to Spa) noted that it was night and day between the JPS BMW M3's and the M3's he had been racing against in Europe (meaning that the Schnitzer and CiBiEmme cars would have wiped the floor with Frank's All Blacks).

IIRC, neither Jum or Tony had a full blown M3 until the Surfers round, and even then it was only the #3 car. This was because the JPS cars were pretty much last cab off the rank when it came to parts supply from BMW, the WTCC teams being first in line, then the M3's running in the UK and Europe, then Franks little team in Sydney.

From what I know (and I may be wrong), the JPS M3's pretty much ran with 325i running gear and suspension for the first half of the ATCC, although Richards finished second at Symmons and won at Lakeside (and had pole at Calder and Adelaide). Its no coincidence that once the team got their hands on a full M3 that Jim Richards started to show how good the little car was and won 3 of the last 4 rounds to take the title from under Glenn Seton's nose.