The 1989 Tooheys 1000 was the 30th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 1 October 1989 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, Australia. The race was held for cars eligible under International Group A touring car regulations with three engine capacity classes.

Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit

The race was won by the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra of Dick Johnson and John Bowe. The pair lead almost the whole of the race and was only seriously threatened by the Allan Moffat run Sierra of German drivers Klaus Niedzwiedz and Frank Biela. Third and fourth places were awarded to the official factory Nissan team entries with the Nissan Skyline of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife finishing third.

The Tooheys Top Ten runoff for pole position was notable for Peter Brock discharging his Ford Sierra's engine bay Halon gas fire extinguisher which was angled across the intercooler substantially boosting the power of the engine in the crucial drive up the mountain straight. As this was not technically against the rules the scrutineers did not find any misconduct, but the Entrants Association levied a $5000 fine on Brock for a moral infringement of the rules.[1]

Class structure

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Cars competed in three classes[2] defined by engine capacity.

Class 1

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Class 1 (Over 2501cc)[2] featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras, Nissan Skylines, Toyota Supras and Mitsubishi Starions, the V8 Holden Commodores and BMW 635CSis.

Class 2

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Class 2 (1601 to 2500cc)[2] comprised BMW M3s and a Nissan Gazelle.

Class 3

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Class 3 (Up to 1600cc)[2] was contested exclusively by various models of Toyota Corolla.

Tooheys Top Ten

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The race winning Ford Sierra RS500 (pictured in 2010)

The Tooheys Top Ten was contested on the Saturday by the fastest ten cars from Friday to determine the final positions for the first five rows on the grid.[3] For the first time since the advent of the Top Ten in 1978, television broadcaster Channel 7 aired the runoff in a one-hour package on the Saturday afternoon rather than the half-hour package of previous years. The extra time meant that each lap was shown in full for the first time rather than just sections of the laps run.[4]

Pos No Entrant Driver Car TT10 Qual
Pole 05 Mobil 1 Racing   Peter Brock Ford Sierra RS500 2:15.80 2:16.60
2 17 Shell Ultra Hi Racing   Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 2:16.79 2:16.58
3 25 Benson & Hedges Racing   Tony Longhurst Ford Sierra RS500 2:16.98 2:16.98
4 10 Allan Moffat Racing   Klaus Niedzwiedz Ford Sierra RS500 2:17.42 2:17.02
5 105 Mobil 1 Racing   Brad Jones Ford Sierra RS500 2:19.09 2:18.20
6 6 Miedecke Motorsport   Andrew Miedecke Ford Sierra RS500 2:19.88 2:18.14
7 2 Nissan Motorsport Australia   Jim Richards Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 2:20.09 2:18.86
8 30 Peter Jackson Racing   Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500 2:20.52 2:19.06
9 20 Benson & Hedges Racing   Alan Jones Ford Sierra RS500 2:20.63 2:19.06
10 8 Miedecke Motorsport   Andrew Bagnall Ford Sierra RS500 DNF 2:19.10

* Peter Brock's only ever pole position at Bathurst where he didn't drive a V8 powered Holden. It was his first Bathurst pole since 1983 (and the last he would set himself), and his first front row start since 1984. It was also his record 6th Bathurst pole having been fastest qualifier in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979 and 1983.
* Andrew Bagnall crashed his Ford Sierra RS500 on top of The Mountain during the runoff and was allowed to start from 10th position, much like Dick Johnson who crashed his Ford XE Falcon in the runoff in 1983. Unlike Johnson in 1983 however, Bagnall's car was able to be repaired and did not need to be replaced.
* 1989 was the first time that a V8 Holden had not qualified for the Top Ten runoff. The fastest Holden was the #16 Holden Racing Team VL Commodore SS Group A SV of Larry Perkins and defending race winner Tomas Mezera in 11th with a 2:19.11 set by Perkins, missing out by only 0.01 seconds to Bagnall's Sierra.
* 1989 saw the only time between 1981 and 2003 that a car in which Larry Perkins was listed as a driver did not feature in the runoff.
* 1989 saw the first and so far only time where every car in the Top Ten runoff was powered by a turbocharged engine, with nine Sierra RS500's and the lone factory Nissan Skyline of Jim Richards making up the 10 runners.

Official results

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Pos Class No Entrant Drivers Car Laps Qual
Pos
Shootout
Pos
1 1 17 Shell Ultra Hi Racing   Dick Johnson
  John Bowe
Ford Sierra RS500 161 1 2
2 1 10 Allan Moffat Racing   Klaus Niedzwiedz
  Frank Biela
Ford Sierra RS500 161 4 4
3 1 2 Nissan Motorsport Australia   Jim Richards
  Mark Skaife
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 160 7 7
4 1 3 Nissan Motorsport Australia   George Fury
  Anders Olofsson
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 160 13
5 1 20 Benson & Hedges Racing   Alan Jones
  Denny Hulme
  Tony Longhurst
Ford Sierra RS500 158 8 9
6 1 16 Holden Racing Team   Larry Perkins
  Tomas Mezera
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 158 11
7 1 7 Holden Racing Team   Win Percy
  Neil Crompton
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 158 18
8 1 18 Shell Ultra Hi Racing   Jeff Allam
  Robb Gravett
Ford Sierra RS500 158 12
9 1 105 Mobil 1 Racing   Brad Jones
  Paul Radisich
Ford Sierra RS500 153 6 5
10 1 15 ICL Racing   Allan Grice
  Peter Janson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 153 19
11 1 37 Brian Callaghan   Brian Callaghan
  Barry Graham
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 152 22
12 1 55 Playscape Racing   Kevin Waldock
  Bryan Thomson
Ford Sierra RS500 152 23
13 1 12 Lansvale Smash Repairs   Steve Reed
  Trevor Ashby
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 151 29
14 1 22 Lusty Engineering   Graham Lusty
  Alfredo Costanzo
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 146 24
15 1 34 Ray Gulson   Ray Gulson
  Graham Gulson
BMW 635 CSi 143 39
16 2 52 M3 Motorsport   Peter Doulman
  John Cotter
BMW M3 142 42
17 3 33 Toyota Team Australia   Mike Dowson
  Neal Bates
Toyota Corolla FX-GT 141 48
18 1 44 Sutherland Mitsubishi   Gary Scott
  Kevin Bartlett
  Terry Shiel
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 141 26
19 3 32 Toyota Team Australia   John Faulkner
  Peter McKay
Toyota Corolla FX-GT 140 46
20 1 30 Peter Jackson Racing   John Goss
  Glenn Seton
  Tony Noske
Ford Sierra RS500 140 9 8
21 1 60 Scotty Taylor   Alan Taylor
  Roger Hurd
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 139 44
22 1 54 Clive Smith   Clive Smith
  Paul Trevathan
Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 137 47
23 3 78 Team Madison Racing   Geoff Full
  Michael Adcock
Toyota Corolla[2] 136 53
24 2 49 David Sala   Ross Burbidge
  Steve Williams
Nissan Gazelle 134 50
25 1 38 Mulvihill Motorsport   Tony Mulvihill
  Graham Moore
  Glenn McIntyre
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 133 37
26 1 4 Caltex CXT Racing Team   Colin Bond
  Bruce Stewart
Ford Sierra RS500 131 16
27 1 48 Mistic Mould Destroyer   Wayne Park
  John Giddings
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 130 27
NC 1 28 Joseph Sommariva   Joseph Sommariva
  Warren McKellar
BMW 635 CSi 118 45
DNF 1 45 Lester Smerdon   Lester Smerdon
  Gary Hinton
  Marty Turpin
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 112 43
NC 3 13 Bob Holden Motors   Bob Holden
  Joe McAndrew
  Tim Hall
Toyota Corolla[2] 108 54
NC 1 69 Garry Willmington Performance   Ray Lintott
  Reda Awadullah
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 106 51
DNF 3 51 Bob Holden Motors   Dennis Rogers
  Marc Ducquet
  Richard Vorst
Toyota Corolla 103 56
DNF 2 50 Bryce Racing   Brett Riley
  Ludwig Finauer
BMW M3 101 28
DNF 2 57 Sax Racing   Craig Turner
  Kent Baigent
  Lou Vandermeer
BMW M3 98 41
DNF 1 8 Miedecke Motorsport   Andrew Bagnall
  Graeme Crosby
Ford Sierra RS500 97 10 10
DNF 1 35 Peter Jackson Racing   Tony Noske
  Glenn Seton
  Alain Ferté
Ford Sierra RS500 92 17
DNF 1 24 Jagparts   Gerald Kay
  Alf Grant
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 91 38
NC 1 68 Garry Willmington Performance   Garry Willmington
  Tom Watkinson
Toyota Supra Turbo 91 49
NC 1 23 Chris Lambden   Chris Lambden
  Greg Crick
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 90 25
DNF 2 56 Sax Racing   Graham Lorimer
  John Sax
BMW M3 82 36
DNF 1 05 Mobil 1 Racing   Peter Brock
  Andy Rouse
Ford Sierra RS500 81 2 1
DNF 1 41 Leeson Civil Engineering   Bob Tindal
  Des Wall
  John Leeson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV[5] 79 55
DNF 1 43 Everlast Battery Service   Bill O'Brien
  Brian Samspon
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 65 33
DNF 1 19 Caltex CXT Racing Team   Ken Mathews
  Garry Rogers
Ford Sierra RS500 50 20
DNF 1 21 Bob Forbes Racing   Mark Gibbs
  Rohan Onslow
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 44 21
DNF 1 46 Reithmuller Pentecost Racing   Llyndon Reithmuller
  Ian Green
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 43 34
DNF 1 31 Toyota Team Australia   John Smith
  Drew Price
Toyota Supra Turbo A 35 35
DNF 1 9 Allan Moffat Racing   Gregg Hansford
  Pierre Dieudonné
Ford Sierra RS500 30 14
DNF 1 96 Barbagallo Motorsport   Tim Slako
  Damon Smith
  Geoff Leeds
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 28 30
DNF 1 25 Benson & Hedges Racing   Tony Longhurst
  Neville Crichton
Ford Sierra RS500 27 3 3
DNF 1 27 Mark Petch Motorsport   Robbie Francevic
  Gianfranco Brancatelli
Ford Sierra RS500 14 15
DNF 1 40 Terry Finnigan   Terry Finnigan
  Geoff Leeds
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 14 31
DNF 1 14 Murray Carter   Murray Carter
  John Mann
Ford Sierra RS500 10 32
DNF 1 42 Matt Wacker   Matt Wacker
  Frank Porter
  Mike King
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 4 40
DNF 1 6 Miedecke Motorsport   Andrew Miedecke
  Charlie O'Brien
Ford Sierra RS500 0 5 6
DNS 3 39 David Sala   David Sala
  Richard Vorst
Toyota Corolla

Statistics

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  • Provisional Pole Position – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:16.58
  • Pole Position – #05 Peter Brock – 2:15.80
  • Fastest Lap – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:19.12 – Lap 2
  • Average Speed – 154 km/h
  • Race time of winning car – 6:30:53.44

See also

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1989 Australian Touring Car season

References

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  1. ^ 1989 – Johnson Goes the Distance!, www.therealmountpanorama.com, as archived at web.archive.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f The 1989 Toohey 1000 Entry List, Official Programme, Tooheys 1000, Mount Panorama – Bathurst, 1 October 1989, pages 64 & 65
  3. ^ What's different in the rules, Official Programme, Tooheys 1000, Mount Panorama – Bathurst, 1 October 1989, page 46
  4. ^ Tooheys Top Gun 1989, www.youtube.com
  5. ^ The image of car #41 on page 192 of The Great Race 1989/90 shows it to be a Group A SV
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