1987 Castrol 500

The 1987 Castrol 500 was a race for Touring Cars complying with Appendix C of the National Competition Rules of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport [1] (commonly known as Group A Touring Cars). The event was staged on 13 September 1987 over 129 laps of the 3.9 km Sandown circuit in Victoria, Australia, a total distance of 503 km.

The race, the 22nd Sandown 500, was won by George Fury and Terry Shiel, driving a Nissan Skyline DR30 RS.

Summary
George Fury and Terry Shiel won the race driving a Nissan Skyline DR30 RS.

Qualifying

The race saw the Australian debut of the evolution Ford Sierra RS500. Although none of the four Sierras finished the race (two in fact did not start), the new 470 bhp (350 kW; 477 PS) model proved it would be the car to beat at 1987 James Hardie 1000. Andrew Miedecke in his Oxo Supercubes Sierra (an Andy Rouse kit car) attained provisional pole position in qualifying with a time of 1:49.45 before his weekend ended when co-driver Don Smith rolled the car at the end of pit straight, just prior to the end of qualifying. Dick Johnson went even better in the Dulux Dozen runoff for pole with a time of 1:47.59, almost two seconds quicker than Miedecke's time earlier in the day. This time would remain the fastest ever Group A touring car time recorded on the 3.9 km long international circuit.

Peter Brock attracted pre-race criticism for his decision to have Channel 7 television commentator Neil Crompton as the lead driver of the Mobil 1 team's Holden Commodore with accusations of it being nothing more than a PR exercise after the bad press the team had received in 1987 in the wake of Brock's split with Holden. However, despite his relative lack of experience in touring cars, Crompton put in a credible performance and ended up in 11th place after the Dulux Dozen. With new Bridgestone tyres and an adjustable rear end developed by the team that allowed negative camber of the rear tyres transforming the handling of the Commodore, plus some extra engine development up to and following the Spa 24 Hours bringing power up to a respectable 420 bhp (313 kW; 426 PS), Brock himself qualified fifth, only a couple of tenths behind Allan Grice's Les Small prepared Roadways VL Commodore and some 1.5 seconds faster than Larry Perkins in the older model VK. Both Grice and Perkins were running engines with approximately 40 bhp (30 kW; 41 PS) more than the HDT cars.

Race

The 1987 Castrol 500 was won by the Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Skyline DR30 RS of George Fury and Terry Shiel. The win continued the Nissan team's winning streak at Sandown in 1986 and 1987 with the Skyline, having won the ATCC rounds at the circuit in both years as well as Fury and Glenn Seton having won the 1986 Castrol 500. They won by a lap from the V8 Holden VK Commodore of Larry Perkins and Denny Hulme with the New Zealand Nissan Skyline of Kent Baigent and Graeme Bowkett a further lap back in third place. Kiwis Kaigent and Bowkett continued to impress with their speed in the privateer Skyline, never falling out of the top five during the race except during pit stops. The NZ Skyline was engineered by Jim and Ross Stone who would later go on to work with both Andrew Miedecke and Dick Johnson Sierra's over the next few seasons before forming their own team Stone Brothers Racing. The car also featured a lot of technical input from the Peter Jackson team.

The Ford Sierra of pole sitter Dick Johnson suffered an engine failure in the race morning warmup which forced him and Gregg Hansford to move to the team's car. After starting from 14th on the grid, Johnson showed the speed of the new Sierra by storming to the front after just 7 laps, leaving the BMW's, Commodores and turbo Nissans in his wake on Sandown's long front and back straights. Johnson would go on to set a Group A lap record of 1:50.28 before the #18 car was retired with engine failure on lap 86.

The JPS Team BMW M3 of Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst held second place late in the race and Richards was contesting the lead with Fury on the now damp track due to light rain until the 2.3 L engine lost oil pressure on lap 118. Just five laps earlier, the Holden VL Commodore of Peter Brock had been holding a strong third place comfortably in front of Perkins until his front brakes suddenly gave out at the end of pit straight. Brock slid sideways into the sandtrap and was lucky not to roll the Commodore after the driver's side wheels dug into the sand.[2]

The Up to 2000cc class was won by the Peter Jackson Nissan Gazelle of young gun Mark Skaife and part-time sports sedan racer Grant Jarrett from the Toyota Team Australia Corolla of Mike Quinn and John Faulkner and the Toyota Sprinter of Sydney veterans Bob Holden and Garry Willmington.

Television coverage

Australian broadcasters Channel Seven covered both the Saturday shootout and the entire race. A copy can be found online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7T0WZGc7hA

Classes

Cars competed in three engine capacity classes:[1]

  • Class A: 3001 cc - 6000 cc [1]
  • Class B: 2001 cc - 3000 cc [1]
  • Class C: Up to 2000 cc [1]

Results

Dulux Dozen
Pos No Team Driver Car Time
Pole 17 Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team Dick Johnson Ford Sierra RS500 1:47.59
2 1 JPS Team BMW Jim Richards BMW M3 1:48.43
3 30 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing George Fury Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 1:49.43
4 2 Roadways Racing Allan Grice Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 1:49.63
5 05 HDT Racing P/L Peter Brock Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 1:49.81
6 25 Team Nissan Racing NZ Graeme Bowkett Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 1:50.01
7 3 JPS Team BMW Ludwig Finauer BMW M3 1:51.14
8 15 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Glenn Seton Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 1:51.18
9 11 Enzed Team Perkins Larry Perkins Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 1:51.31
10 14 NetComm (Aust) Murray Carter [3] Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 1:53.92
11 6 HDT Racing P/L Neil Crompton Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 1:54.37
12 8 Supa Salvage Warren Cullen Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 1:57.24

Race
Position [3][4] Class [1] No.[1] Entrant [1] Drivers [1][4][5] Car [1][4][5] Laps [4]
1 B 30 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing George Fury
Terry Shiel		 Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 129
2 A 11 ENZED Team Perkins Larry Perkins
Denny Hulme		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 128
3 B 25 Team Nissan Racing NZ Kent Baigent
Graeme Bowkett		 Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 127
4 A 6 Mobil HDT Neil Crompton
Jon Crooke		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 126
5 B 3 JPS Team BMW Ludwig Finauer
Robbie Francevic		 BMW E30 M3 125
6 B 14 Netcomm (Aust) Racing Murray Carter
Denis Horley [3]		 Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 125
7 B 40 K Wills [3] Kieran Wills
Phillip Henley		 Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 124
8 B 43 G Lorrimer Graham Lorimer
John Sax		 BMW E30 M3 123
9 A 19 Everlast Battery Service Bill O'Brien
Brian Sampson		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 123
10 C 60 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Mark Skaife
Grant Jarrett		 Nissan Gazelle 121
11 A 38 W Clift Wayne Clift
Bernie Stack		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 121
12 A 36 Grellis Marketing Ray Ellis
John Lusty		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 120
13 C 31 [6] Toyota Team Australia Mike Quinn
John Faulkner		 Toyota Corolla 119
14 A 29 Mulvihill Motorsports Pty Ltd [5] Tony Mulvihill
Ken Matthews		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 119
15 B 78 B Bolwell Brian Bolwell
Rod Smith		 BMW 323i 117
16 B 24 Lockwood Bryce Homes Bill Bryce
Leo Geoghegan		 BMW 325i 116
17 A 20 Salisbury North Service Station Des Wall
John Virgo		 BMW 635 CSi 116
18 A 21 Lusty Engineering Pty Ltd Graham Lusty
Ken Lusty		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 115
19 C 13 Bob Holden Motors Manly Vale Bob Holden
Garry Willmington		 Toyota Sprinter 115
20 A 22 DFC New Zealand Limited C Castle
John Billington		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 114
21 A 23 Yellow Pages Racing [5] Tony Kavich
Kerry Baily		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 113
22 C 88 D Sala David Sala
Dale Smart [5]		 Isuzu Gemini 111
23 C 86 Gemspares Daryl Hendrick
John White		 Isuzu Gemini 106
DNF B 1 JPS Team BMW Jim Richards
Tony Longhurst		 BMW E30 M3 118
DNF A 7 CANAM Enterprises Graeme Cameron
Wayne Wilkinson		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 116
DNF A 05 Mobil HDT Peter Brock
David Parsons		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 113
DNF A 8 Warren Cullen [5] Warren Cullen
Gary Cooke		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 99
DNF B 44 Viacard Services Trevor Crowe
Jim Keogh		 BMW E30 M3 93
DNF C 32 [7] Toyota Team Australia Drew Price
John Smith		 Toyota Corolla 91
DNF B 18 Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team Dick Johnson
Neville Crichton
Gregg Hansford		 Ford Sierra RS500 86
NC B 15 Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Glenn Seton
John Bowe		 Nissan Skyline DR30 RS 86
DNF C 58 Ratcliff Transport Spares David Ratcliffe
Mark Gibbs		 Toyota Corolla Levin 84
DNF B 34 Oxo Supercube Motorsport John Giddings
Bruce Stewart		 Ford Sierra RS500 82
NC A 28 Capri Components Lawrie Nelson
Bob Jolly		 Ford Mustang 78
DNF A 4 CANAM Enterprises Graeme Crosby
Graham McRae		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 74
DNF A 42 Jagparts Racing Gerald Kay
Alf Grant		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 73
NC B 10 Reithmuller-Ward Int. Motorsport Phil Ward
Llynden Reithmuller
Chris Clearihan		 Mercedes-Benz 190E 190 E 2.3-16 [1] 55
DNF A 45 L Smerdon Lester Smerdon
Bruce Willams		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 43
DNF A 12 [5] RG Lanyon Peter McLeod
Peter Fitzgerald		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 17
DNF A 2 Bob Jane T-Marts Allan Grice
Win Percy		 Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 10
DNF A 27 Sunliner Tony Hunter
Warren McKellar		 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A 1
DNS B 17 Shell Ultra-Hi Tech Racing Team Dick Johnson
Gregg Hansford		 Ford Sierra RS500
DNS B 35 Oxo Supercube Motorsport Andrew Miedecke
Don Smith		 Ford Sierra RS500

Statistics
  • Pole Position – #17 Dick Johnson - Ford Sierra RS500 – 1:47.59
  • Fastest Lap – #18 Dick Johnson - Ford Sierra RS500 – 1:50.28 (new lap record) [2]
  • Race time of winning car - 4:10:28.06 [3]
gollark: Apioform you , you apioform.
gollark: Alternative idea: devise some awful hack to save all the memory to disk.
gollark: Pickle file?!!??!
gollark: Chat is dead and we have killed it.
gollark: Hope is for people with hope, really.

See also

References
  1. Official Program, Castrol 500, Sandown 13 September 1987, pages 36 & 37
  2. Naismith, Barry (December 1987). Bathurst 1987/88 (First ed.). Glen Waverley, Victoria: Garry Sparke & Associates. pp. 60–71 The Castrol 500: The Match Race. ISBN 0 908 081 359.
  3. Elisabeth Tuckey, Fury Disproves the Knockers, Racing Cars News, November 1987, pages 54–58
  4. The Old Firm - Castrol 500 - Sandown, Australian Auto Action, September 25, 1987, pages 10-15
  5. Castrol 500, touringcarracing.net Retrieved 15 March 2016
  6. Quinn, Faulkner, Price & Smith were all entered in both car 31 & car 32 (as per Official Program). Car 31 placed 13th (as per touringcarracing.net). Quinn & Faulkner drove the 13th placed car (as per Auto Action).
  7. Quinn, Faulkner, Price & Smith were all entered in both car 31 & car 32 (as per Official Program). Car 32 did not finish (as per touringcarracing.net.) Price & Smith did not finish (as per Auto Action).
Preceded by
1986 Castrol 500		 Castrol 500
1987		 Succeeded by
1988 Enzed 500
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