1989 Tooheys 1000

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.

1989 Tooheys 1000
Previous: 1988 Next: 1990

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

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

Class 1

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

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

Class 3

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

Tooheys Top Ten
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]

PosNoEntrantDriverCarTT10Qual
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
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
  • 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

1989 Australian Touring Car season

References
  1. 1989 – Johnson Goes the Distance!, www.therealmountpanorama.com, as archived at web.archive.org
  2. 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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