1983 James Hardie 1000
# 1983 James Hardie 1000

The 1983 James Hardie 1000 was a motor race for Group C Touring Cars contested at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia on 2 October 1983. It was the 24th "Bathurst 1000" and the third to carry the James Hardie 1000 name. The race, which took place as part of Round 4 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship, was contested over 163 laps of the 6.172 km circuit, a total distance of 1006.036 km.

The Holden Dealer Team took a controversial, but legal, victory with the team's second Holden VH Commodore SS driven by John Harvey, Peter Brock and Larry Perkins. Harvey and Phil Brock qualified the car but after the #05 car blew its engine on lap 8, Peter Brock and Perkins transferred themselves into Harvey's car. Phil Brock never drove the car on race day and was forced to spectate as his three teammates won the race in the car he qualified in, a decision that he claimed was made by Perkins as team manager despite Perkins being the slowest qualifier of the quartet and despite it also being legal for four drivers to drive one car (something Perkins refutes claiming the rules only allowed a maximum of three drivers per car). The car was also the car which Peter Brock and Larry Perkins had won the race in 1982 and updated to 1983 specs, meaning this Holden Commodore became the first race car to win the Bathurst 1000 twice. The Holden Dealer Team Commodore finished a lap ahead of Allan Moffat and Japanese driver Yoshimi Katayama in their Peter Stuyvesant sponsored Mazda RX-7. It would be the closest Mazda would get to winning the race. Third was the STP Roadways Racing Holden Commodore driven by 1982 pole sitter Allan Grice and 1969 winner Colin Bond.

Only three cars in the race were driven by drivers who had both previously won the race. The three cars were: the #05 Holden Dealer Team (entered Holden VH Commodore SS of defending race winners Brock and Perkins), the #17 Ford XE Falcon of Dick Johnson and Kevin Bartlett, and the #16 Nissan Bluebird Turbo of Fred Gibson and John French.

## Class structure

Entries were divided into two classes based on engine capacity:

### Over 3000 cc

For cars of over 3000cc engine capacity, it featured BMW 635 CSi, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Mazda RX-7 and Nissan Bluebird.

### Under 3000 cc

For cars of under 3000cc engine capacity, it featured Alfa Romeo GTV6, Audi 5+5, Ford Capri, Isuzu Gemini and Nissan Pulsar.the race for the under 3 litre class was won by Australian Driver Allan "ACE" Cant and co driver and team owner NZ born Les Grose in the #64 wideline windows ford capri.

## Hardies Heroes

The final order of the first ten grid positions was established in the "Hardies Heroes" session on the day before the race. This involved the fastest eight cars from qualifying plus two others at the discretion of the organisers contesting two, single timed laps, one car at a time. The fastest lap of each car set its grid position.

| Pos | No | Entrants | Driver | Car | HH | Qual |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pole | 05 | Marlboro Holden Dealer Team | Peter Brock | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:16.270 | 2:15.3 |
| 2 | 15 | Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L | George Fury | Nissan Bluebird Turbo | 2:17.509 | 2:17.2 |
| 3 | 3 | Cadbury-Schweppes Pty. Ltd. | David Parsons | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:18.212 | 2:17.8 |
| 4 | 31 | JPS Team BMW | Jim Richards | BMW 635 CSi | 2:18.414 | 2:17.6 |
| 5 | 25 | Marlboro Holden Dealer Team | John Harvey | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:18.549 | 2:18.0 |
| 6 | 22 | Cullen Automotive Industries | Warren Cullen | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:18.563 | 2:18.3 |
| 7 | 11 | Soundwave Discos | Garry Rogers | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:18.648 | 2:18.5 |
| 8 | 6 | STP Roadways Racing | Allan Grice | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:18.963 | 2:17.8 |
| 9 | 4 | John Sands Racing | Bob Morris | Holden VH Commodore SS | 2:21.184 | 2:19.1 |
| 10 | 17 | Palmer Tube Mills | Dick Johnson | Ford XE Falcon | No time | 2:16.3 |

* This was Peter Brock's record 5th pole position at Bathurst having previously taken pole in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979. This saw him move one clear of Allan Moffat who had been on pole four times. It was also the last time he would set pole driving a Holden, though he did sit on pole in 1997, but it was his co-driver Mark Skaife who had set the time in the runoff
* Dick Johnson crashed in Hardies Heroes destroying his Greens-Tuf Falcon. In a show of goodwill no other teams in the race objected to the replacement #17 car starting the race from 10th position.
* 1983 saw the first appearance by BMW in Hardies Heroes with Jim Richards qualifying his JPS Team BMW 635 CSi in 4th place. BMW became the 6th manufacturer to appear in Hardies Heroes following Holden, Ford, Chevrolet, Mazda and Nissan. The BMW was also the first 6 cyl engined car to appear in the runoff.
* 1983 Australian Touring Car Champion and winner of the recent Castrol 400 at Sandown Allan Moffat was expected to easily make the top ten with his 13B powered Mazda RX-7, but could only qualify the car 14th, two places behind teammate Gregg Hansford whose car was running the less powerful 12A engine. This led to accusations of sandbagging by other leading teams, especially the Holden Dealer Team which claimed that Moffat was deliberately holding the car back in qualifying rather than showing its real speed.
* The 4cyl Nissan Bluebird Turbo driven by George Fury was the first non-V8 powered car to start on the front row at Bathurst since Peter Brock started second in 1973 in a 6cyl Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1.
* With seven VH Commodore's in the top 10 this was Holden's greatest representation ever in the runoff. On the other side of the coin, Johnson's Falcon was the only Ford in the top 10, the lowest ever number for that manufacturer.

## Official results

Full results of the 1983 James Hardie 1000 were:

| Pos | Class | No | Entrants | Drivers | Car | Laps | Qual Pos | Shootout Pos |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Over 3000 cc | 25 | Marlboro Holden Dealer Team | John Harvey Peter Brock Larry Perkins (Phil Brock) | Holden VH Commodore SS | 163 | 7 | 5 |
| 2 | Over 3000 cc | 43 | Peter Stuyvesant International | Allan Moffat Yoshimi Katayama | Mazda RX-7 | 162 | 14 | |
| 3 | Over 3000 cc | 6 | STP Roadways Racing | Allan Grice Colin Bond | Holden VH Commodore SS | 160 | 5 | 8 |
| 4 | Over 3000 cc | 14 | STP Roadways Racing | Steve Harrington Garth Wigston | Holden VH Commodore SS | 158 | 11 | |
| 5 | Over 3000 cc | 50 | Petrolon Slick 50 | Peter McLeod Graeme Bailey | Mazda RX-7 | 158 | 19 | |
| 6 | Over 3000 cc | 12 | Team Toshiba | Jim Keogh Leo Leonard | Holden VH Commodore SS | 157 | 17 | |
| 7 | Over 3000 cc | 27 | Alf Grant | Alf Grant David Seldon | Ford XD Falcon | 156 | 26 | |
| 8 | Over 3000 cc | 4 | John Sands Racing | Bob Morris Rusty French | Holden VH Commodore SS | 154 | 10 | 9 |
| 9 | Over 3000 cc | 35 | Tokico | Phil Alexander Ron Gillard | Mazda RX-7 | 153 | 24 | |
| 10 | Over 3000 cc | 9 | Andrew Harris | Andrew Harris Gary Cooke | Ford XE Falcon* Holden VH Commodore SS | 151 | 30 | |
| 11 | Over 3000 cc | 41 | B.F. Goodrich Australia Ltd. | Barry Jones Rod Millen | Mazda RX-7 | 151 | 40 | |
| 12 | Over 3000 cc | 11 | Soundwave Discos | Garry Rogers Clive Benson-Brown | Holden VH Commodore SS | 149 | 9 | 7 |
| 13 | Over 3000 cc | 8 | Everlast Battery Service | Garry Willmington Mike Griffin | Ford XD Falcon | 147 | 33 | |
| 14 | Over 3000 cc | 24 | Scotty Taylor Holden | Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy | Holden VH Commodore SS | 146 | 36 | |
| 15 | Under 3000 cc | 64 | Les Grose | Les Grose Alan Cant | Ford Capri Mk. III | 144 | 47 | |
| 16 | Over 3000 cc | 13 | Greg Symes | Greg Symes Bruce Smith | Holden VH Commodore SS | 141 | 31 | |
| 17 | Under 3000 cc | 58 | Ray Gulson | Ray Gulson Gerard Murphy | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 141 | 51 | |
| 18 | Over 3000 cc | 51 | Tony Mulvihill | Tony Mulvihill John Murden | Mazda RX-7 | 138 | 49 | |
| 19 | Over 3000 cc | 26 | Everlast Battery Service | Bill O'Brien Brian Sampson | Ford XD Falcon | 136 | 22 | |
| 20 | Over 3000 cc | 47 | Brian Callaghan | Barry Graham Brian Callaghan | Ford XE Falcon | 136 | 28 | |
| 21 | Over 3000 cc | 32 | Johnnie Walker | Johnnie Walker Gene Cook | Mazda RX-7 | 135 | 44 | |
| 22 | Over 3000 cc | 16 | Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L | Fred Gibson John French | Nissan Bluebird Turbo | 134 | 18 | |
| 23 | Over 3000 cc | 19 | Ken Mathews Prestige Cars P/L | Ken Mathews Greg Toepfer | Holden VH Commodore SS | 132 | 23 | |
| 24 | Under 3000 cc | 63 | Chris Heyer's Kingswood Import Centre | Chris Heyer Don Bretland | Audi 5+5 | 132 | 57 | |
| 25 | Under 3000 cc | 61 | John White | John White Bernie McLure | Isuzu Gemini | 125 | 52 | |
| 26 | Under 3000 cc | 59 | Capri Components | Lawrie Nelson Peter Jones | Ford Capri Mk. III | 114 | 48 | |
| DNF | Under 3000 cc | 55 | Barry Seton | Barry Seton Glenn Seton | Ford Capri Mk. III | 134 | 41 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 15 | Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L | George Fury Garry Scott | Nissan Bluebird Turbo | 130 | 3 | 2 |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 37 | Eurocars (Northside) Pty. Ltd. | Terry Shiel Wally Storey | Mazda RX-7 | 122 | 15 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 33 | Dreamworld | Mike Burgmann Tony Longhurst | Chevrolet Camaro Z28 | 121 | 21 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 53 | Fred Geissler | Fred Geissler Ralph Radburn | Holden VH Commodore SS | 116 | 29 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 22 | Cullen Automotive Industries | Warren Cullen Ron Harrop | Holden VH Commodore SS | 116 | 8 | 6 |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 3 | Cadbury-Schweppes Pty. Ltd. | Peter Janson David Parsons | Holden VH Commodore SS | 106 | 6 | 3 |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 42 | T. P. Ryan | Terry Ryan Graham Storah | Mazda RX-7 | 84 | 56 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 48 | Roger Manson Holden | Andrew Manson Geoffrey Manson | Holden VH Commodore SS | 80 | 38 | |
| NC | Over 3000 cc | 38 | Gawler, SA | Bernie Stack Bob Jennings | Holden VH Commodore SS | 68 | 32 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 10 | Terry Finnigan | Terry Finnigan Geoff Leeds | Holden VH Commodore SS | 62 | 16 | |
| DNF | Under 3000 cc | 57 | L. J. Hazelton | Laurie Hazelton Jerry Strauberg | Ford Capri Mk. III | 61 | 54 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 17 | Palmer Tube Mills | Dick Johnson Kevin Bartlett | Ford XE Falcon* | 61 | 2 | 10 |
| NC | Over 3000 cc | 34 | Peter Stuyvesant International | Gregg Hansford Garry Waldon | Mazda RX-7 | 49 | 12 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 29 | John Donnelly | John Donnelly Kerry Baily | Ford XD Falcon | 37 | 46 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 36 | Gerry Burges | Gerry Burges Roger Mandeville | Mazda RX-7 | 35 | 39 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 23 | Bryan Byrt Ford | John English Paul Gulson | Ford XD Falcon | 32 | 27 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 21 | Ron Dickson | Ron Dickson Bob Stevens | Mazda RX-7 | 24 | 34 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 20 | King George Tavern | Joe Moore Graham Moore | Ford XE Falcon | 17 | 35 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 2 | Masterton Homes Pty. Ltd. | Steve Masterton Bruce Stewart | Ford XE Falcon | 17 | 13 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 18 | Valentine Greetings | Murray Carter David Clement | Mazda RX-7 | 14 | 25 | |
| DNF | Under 3000 cc | 60 | Nissan Motor Co. Australia P/L | Christine Gibson Bob Muir | Nissan Pulsar EXA | 14 | 37 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 05 | Marlboro Holden Dealer Team | Peter Brock (Larry Perkins) | Holden VH Commodore SS | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 39 | John Bundy | John Bundy (Norm Carr) | Mazda RX-7 | 8 | 42 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 31 | JPS Team BMW | Jim Richards (Frank Gardner) | BMW 635 CSi | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 45 | Gary Hinton | Gary Hinton Lester Smerdon | Holden VC Commodore | 5 | 50 | |
| DNF | Under 3000 cc | 56 | Hulcraft Autos | John Craft Don Smith | Ford Capri Mk. III | 3 | 43 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 40 | CDT Performance Vehicles | Tony Hubbard (Jim Faneco) | Ford XE Falcon | 3 | 45 | |
| DNF | Over 3000 cc | 52 | Ron Grose | (Ron Grose) David Grose | Mazda RX-7 | 3 | 53 | |
| DNS | Under 3000 cc | 62 | Daily Planet | (Bob Holden) (Gordon Spice) | Toyota Celica | 0 | 55 | |
| DNS | Over 3000 cc | 28 | Bayside Spare Parts | (Barry Lawrence) (Geoff Russell) | Holden VH Commodore SS* | | 20 | |
| DNS | Over 3000 cc | 30 | Tony Kavich | (Paul Jones) (Tony Kavich) | Mazda RX-7 | | 58 | |
