1983 Castrol 400

The 1983 Castrol 400 was an endurance race for Group C Touring Cars held at the Sandown Park circuit in Victoria, Australia on 11 September 1983.[1] The race was staged over 129 laps of the 3.1 km circuit, totalling 399.9 km.[1] It was Round 3 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship and Round 3 of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.[2]

The race, which was the 18th annual Sandown long distance race,[3] was won by Allan Moffat driving a Mazda RX-7.[1] The ease in which Moffat won his 5th Sandown endurance race put him as the hot favourite for the upcoming James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. Moffat had stalked early race leaders Peter Brock and Allan Grice before they both fell by the wayside leaving the Mazda to take its second straight win in the Sandown enduro. Second place went to the JPS Team BMW 635 CSi of Jim Richards. The performance of the BMW suddenly saw the car as a darkhorse for Bathurst. Finishing third in their Holden Commodore were Warren Cullen and Ron Harrop.

Pre-race favourite and pole winner Peter Brock suffered a rare failure when he lost the brakes on his Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Commodore early on and actually hit the fence, forcing him out of the race. Brock later took over the second MHDT Commodore from John Harvey and eventually finished third on the road, however he was later disqualified as he had not cross-entered to drive the #25 car.

After a poor ATCC in which he lost his crown to Moffat, Dick Johnson served notice that the Ford XE Falcon would be a force at Bathurst after development work had cured the big Ford's suspension problems. Johnson put the now green coloured car on the front row matching Brock's pole time, although after winning the start his race ended with gearbox failure only a few hundred metres later.

Classes

As a round of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship, cars competed in two classes:[4]

  • Up to 3000 cc [4]
  • Over 3000 cc [4]

Results

Top 10 Qualifiers
Pos No Team Driver Car Time
Pole 05 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock Holden VH Commodore SS 1:10.7
2 17 Palmer Tube Mills Dick Johnson Ford XE Falcon 1:10.7
3 6 STP Roadways Racing Allan Grice Holden VH Commodore SS 1:10.7
4 3 Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd David Parsons Holden VH Commodore SS 1:11.3
5 15 Nissan Motorsport Australia George Fury Nissan Bluebird Turbo 1:11.4
6 43 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 1:11.5
7 31 JPS Team BMW Jim Richards BMW 635 CSi 1:11.7
8 2 Masterton Homes Steve Masterton Ford XE Falcon 1:12.3
9 50 Petrolon Slick 50 Peter McLeod Mazda RX-7 1:12.5
10 11 Soundwave Discos Garry Rogers Holden VH Commodore SS 1:12.6

Race
Position [1] Drivers [1] No. Car [1] Entrant Class Laps [1]
1 Allan Moffat 43 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Over 3000cc 129
2 Jim Richards 31 BMW 635 CSi JPS Team BMW Over 3000cc 129
3 Warren Cullen
Ron Harrop		 22 Holden VH Commodore SS Cullen Automotive Industries Over 3000cc 127
4 Murray Carter 18 Mazda RX-7 Valentine Greetings Over 3000cc 126
5 Terry Shiel 37 Mazda RX-7 Eurocars (Northside) Over 3000cc 123
6 Gregg Hansford
Gary Waldon		 42 Mazda RX-7 Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Over 3000cc 122
7 Johnnie Walker
Gene Cook		 32 Mazda RX-7 Johnnie Walker Over 3000cc 120
8 Scotty Taylor
Kevin Kennedy		 24 Holden VH Commodore SS Scotty Taylor Holden Over 3000cc 119
9 Lawrie Nelson 59 Ford Capri V6 Capri Components Up to 3000cc [1] 119
10 Barry Jones
Peter Dane		 41 Mazda RX-7 BF Goodrich Australia Ltd Over 3000cc 119
11 Terry Ryan
Graham Storah		 42 Mazda RX-7 Over 3000cc 113
12 John White 61 Isuzu Gemini John White Up to 3000cc 108
13 Joe Beninca
Peter Beninca		 46 Alfa Romeo GTV Up to 3000cc 90
NC [5] Andrew Harris [5]
Gary Cooke [5]		 9 Ford XE Falcon [5] Andrew Harris Over 3000cc
NC [5] John Craft [5]
Don Smith [5]		 56 Ford Capri V6 [5] Up to 3000cc
DNF [6] Allan Grice [6]
Colin Bond [6]		 6 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] STP Roadways Racing Over 3000cc
DNF [6] Andrew Manson [6]
[6] Geoff Manson		 48 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] Roger Manson Holden Over 3000cc
DNF [1] Christine Gibson [1] 60 Nissan Pulsar EXA [1] Nissan Motorsport Australia Up to 3000cc [1]
DNF [6] David Parsons [6]
Peter Janson [6]		 3 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd Over 3000cc
DNF [5] Dick Johnson [5]
Kevin Bartlett [5]		 17 Ford XE Falcon [5] Palmer Tube Mills Over 3000cc 1 [1]
DNF [7] Fred Gibson [7]
John French [7]		 16 Nissan Bluebird Turbo [7] Nissan Motorsport Australia Over 3000cc
DNF [6] Garry Rogers [6]
Clive Benson-Brown [6]		 11 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] Soundwave Discos Over 3000cc
DNF George Fury [7]
Gary Scott [7]		 15 Nissan Bluebird Turbo [7] Nissan Motorsport Australia Over 3000cc
DNF [5] Jim Fanenco [5]
Tony Hubbard [5]		 40 Ford XE Falcon [5] Over 3000cc
DNF [6] Jim Keogh [6]
Leo Leonard [6]		 12 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] Team Toshiba Over 3000cc
DNF [5] Mike Imrie [5]
Graeme Treasure [5]		 57 Ford XE Falcon [5] CDT Performance Vehicles Over 3000cc
DNF [6] Peter Brock [6] 05 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc
DNF Peter McLeod [1] 50 Mazda RX-7 [1] Petrolon Slick 50 Over 3000cc
DNF Ron Dickson [8]
Bob Stevens		 21 Mazda RX-7 Over 3000cc
DNF [6] Rusty French [6]
Alan Browne [6]		 4 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] John Sands Racing Over 3000cc
DNF [6] Steve Harrington [6] 14 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] STP Roadways Racing Over 3000cc
DNF [5] Steve Masterton [5] 2 Ford XE Falcon [5] Masterton Homes Over 3000cc
DSQ [6] John Harvey [6]
Peter Brock [6]		 25 Holden VH Commodore SS [6] Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Over 3000cc 127 [1]
DNS [7] Craig Bradtke [7]
Bob Holden [7]		 62 Toyota Celica [7] Up to 3000cc

Note:

  • The total number of starters has not yet been ascertained
  • There were 16 finishers in the race [7]
  • Peter Brock took over the car of John Harvey after his own car suffered brake problems.[1] The Brock/Harvey car placed third,[1] but was subsequently disqualified due to the unauthorized driver change.[6]

Statistics
  • Pole Position - #05 Peter Brock - (Holden VH Commodore) - 1:10.7 [1]
  • Race time - 3 hrs 20 mins 0.4 secs [1]
  • Fastest lap - #43 Allan Moffat - (Mazda RX-7) - 1:10.9 [1] (new lap record)

Notes & references
  1. Wayne Webster, Endurance Championship Round Three - Sandown Park, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, pages 294 & 295
  2. Wayne Webster, Australian Endurance Championship, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, page 288
  3. Records, Titles and Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-8
  4. Australian Title Conditions - The Australian Endurance Championship, 1983 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 95
  5. Stewart Wilson & Max Stahl, Ford - The racing history, 1989, page 311
  6. Stewart Wilson, Holden - The official racing history, 1988, page 358
  7. Bill Tuckey, The enduros begin: and so do the politics, James Hardie 1000 1983/84, pages 62 to 73
  8. Tuckey, page 69 makes reference to the "Dickson / Stevens Mazda" making a pit stop on lap 4 without giving further details
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See also
Preceded by
1982 Castrol 400		 Sandown 400
1983		 Succeeded by
1984 Castrol 500
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