1985 James Hardie 1000
The 1985 James Hardie 1000 was the 26th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1985 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. It was the first time the race was held exclusively for cars complying with the Australian version of International Group A touring car regulations. The event was Round Four of both the 1985 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1985 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
of John Goss repainted as a replica of the 1985 James Hardie 1000 race winner, pictured in 2007
The race was dominated by the Tom Walkinshaw Racing run Jaguar XJ-S' which finished first and third in the race. John Goss and German driver Armin Hahne claimed the victory with team boss Tom Walkinshaw and his co-driver Win Percy finishing three laps down in third. On the same lap as the winning Jaguar was the Schnitzer Motorsport prepared BMW 635CSi of Italian driver Roberto Ravaglia and Venezuela's former Motorcycle World champion Johnny Cecotto who, despite their extensive overseas experience, were Bathurst rookies and as such easily co-won the Rookie of the Year award. The Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore of Peter Brock and New Zealand open-wheel racer David Oxton were in second place with three laps to go when they broke a timing chain and retired.
1985 was the first Great Race since 1969 that four-time winner Allan Moffat was not an entrant. Left without a drive in 1985 after the withdrawal of Mazda from Australian touring car racing, Moffat was guest expert commentator with race broadcaster Channel 7.
Class structure
The race was held for cars complying with the Australian version of International Group A touring car regulations with three engine capacity classes.Class A
Class A was for cars with an engine capacity of under 2000cc, or two litres. Cars that had competed during the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship and appeared in the entry list for the race included: Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Ford Escort RS2000, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Sprinter, Triumph Dolomite Sprint and Volvo 360 GLT. Only five cars finally entered, four Toyotas, two of them factory supported, and an Alfa Romeo which did not start.Class B
Class B was for cars between two and three litres of engine capacity. Turbo charged cars acquired a multiplier of 1.3, meaning a 2000cc car with a turbo became a car with 2600cc for the purposes of the class structure. This saw the factory supported turbo charged Mitsubishi Starions and Volvo 240s compete against non-turbo Audi 5+5, Toyota Celica Supra and the factory backed Alfa Romeo GTV6. While the venerable Ford Capri and a factory supported BMW 323i had made appearances in the championship, none fronted for the race. It was the first time since the 1973 race that there was no Ford Capri on the grid.Class C
Over three litre cars were in Class C which featured Holden VK Commodore V8s, the big V12 Jaguar XJ-S', the V8 Ford Mustang GT's and Rover Vitesses and the Straight-six BMW 635 CSi. Both the Rovers and BMW's used 3.5 litre engines, though unlike the BMW, the Rover was a V8.Hardies Heroes
- Tom Walkinshaw's pole time of 2:18.822 in his Group A Jaguar XJ-S was 0.138 seconds faster than he had qualified John Goss' Group C Jaguar XJS in Hardie's Heroes the previous year. It was also the first time a driver had gone from being the slowest in the runoff one year to being the fastest a year later. Showing the difference in performance between Group A and Group C at that stage, Walkinshaw's time was 4.972 seconds slower than George Fury's pole winning time of 1984.
- Walkinshaw's Jaguar was recorded at on Conrod Straight during the runoff. The fastest non-Jaguar was the turbocharged Volvo 240T driven by Bathurst Rookie Robbie Francevic which recorded. The once dominant V8 Holden and Fords were slower still, topping out at around.
- Volvo became the 8th marque to be represented in the Top 10 runoff since its inception in 1978 when Auckland based Robbie Francevic qualified his Mark Petch Motorsport Volvo 240T in 5th place. The Volvo was also the only turbo powered car in the runoff.
- With Walkinshaw on pole and teammate Jeff Allam in second, 1985 was the first and so far only year that cars powered by V12 engines have filled the front row of the grid at Bathurst. It was also the first time since Peter Brock and Colin Bond had qualified 1-2 for the Holden Dealer Team in 1974 that one team had occupied the front row.
- The No. 18 DJR Ford Mustang driven by Larry Perkins was officially withdrawn from the race following Hardies Heroes. Every car on the grid that qualified behind the car was then was moved up one grid position. The car had been entered as an insurance policy should something happen to keep the #17 Mustang out of the race, and to give drivers Dick Johnson and Perkins the maximum amount of practice time before the race.
- For the first time there were 11 cars and not 10 in the runoff. The ARDC had originally bumped the Larry Perkins Mustang believing that it would not start the race despite persistent rumours that it would, and included in its place the BMW 635 CSi of Roberto Ravaglia. However, DJR protested as their car had provisionally qualified 8th. As the ARDC had no grounds to exclude it as regulations stated the top 8 qualifiers were an automatic inclusion, the runoff went ahead with both Perkins and Ravaglia taking part.
- 1985 was the only time Peter Brock was out-qualified by one of his HDT teammates in Hardie's Heroes, qualifying 0.132 behind David Parsons, who was listed only as co-driver to 1983 race winner John Harvey in the No. 7 car. Prior to this the closest a teammate had got to him in HH was when Harvey was only 1.19 seconds slower in 1980. 1985 would also be the only time that the HDT had the slowest two cars in the runoff.
- The fastest driver in official qualifying, 1974 winner John Goss, made his first and only appearance in Hardie's Heroes. Goss' Jaguar had also qualified for the shootout in 1984 but Tom Walkinshaw was at the wheel.
Official results
| Pos | Class | No | Team | Drivers | Car | Laps | Qual Pos | Shootout Pos |
| 1 | C | 10 | JRA Ltd |  John Goss Armin Hahne | Jaguar XJ-S | 163 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | C | 21 | Goold Motorsport |  Johnny Cecotto Roberto Ravaglia | BMW 635 CSi | 163 | 11 | 9 |
| 3 | C | 8 | JRA Ltd |  Tom Walkinshaw Win Percy | Jaguar XJ-S | 160 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | C | 1 | JPS Team BMW |  Jim Richards Tony Longhurst | BMW 635 CSi | 160 | 4 | 7 |
| 5 | C | 3 | H. Kent Baigent | Kent Baigent Neal Lowe | BMW 635 CSi | 159 | 12 | |
| 6 | C | 20 | Jim Keogh | Jim Keogh Garry Rogers | BMW 635 CSi | 159 | 16 | |
| 7 | C | 17 | Palmer Tube Mills | Dick Johnson Larry Perkins | Ford Mustang GT | 159 | 6 | 3 |
| 8 | B | 47 | Network Alfa | Colin Bond Gregg Hansford | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 158 | 21 | |
| 9 | B | 42 | Mitsubishi Ralliart | Kevin Bartlett Peter McKay | Mitsubishi Starion | 157 | 13 | |
| 10 | C | 41 | Barry Jones | Barry Jones Tony Mulvihill | Holden VK Commodore | 156 | 25 | |
| 11 | C | 25 | Yellow Pages | Tony Kavich Ralph Radburn | Holden VK Commodore | 156 | 34 | |
| 12 | C | 40 | Terry Finnigan | Terry Finnigan Barry Lawrence | Holden VK Commodore | 155 | 24 | |
| 13 | C | 11 | Alf Barbagallo | Tim Slako Geoff Leeds | Rover Vitesse | 152 | 18 | |
| 14 | C | 12 | Garry Willmington | Garry Willmington Peter Janson | Jaguar XJ-S | 150 | 29 | |
| 15 | C | 19 | Ken Mathews Prestige Cars | Ken Mathews Bob Muir | Holden VK Commodore | 147 | 38 | |
| 16 | B | 45 | Ray Gulson | Ray Gulson Frank Porter | Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 147 | 40 | |
| 17 | A | 60 | Toyota Team Australia | John Smith Drew Price | Toyota Corolla GT | 147 | 42 | |
| 18 | C | 30 | Lester Smerdon | Lester Smerdon Geoff Russell | Holden VK Commodore | 145 | 38 | |
| 19 | B | 51 | Greville Arnel | Andrew Harris Greville Arnel | Mitsubishi Starion | 141 | 48 | |
| 20 | C | 39 | Sleepyhead Beds | Graeme Bowkett Wayne Wilkinson | Holden VK Commodore | 135 | 20 | |
| 21 | B | 53 | Chris Heyer's Kingswood Import Centre | Chris Heyer Graham McGregor | Audi 5+5 | 134 | 49 | |
| 22 | C | 36 | Lusty Engineering | Graham Lusty Ken Lusty | Holden VK Commodore | 133 | 45 | |
| 23 | C | 34 | The Xerox Shop | Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy | Holden VK Commodore | 132 | 41 | |
| DNF | C | 05 | Mobil Holden Dealer Team | Peter Brock David Oxton | Holden VK Commodore | 160 | 9 | 11 |
| DNF | C | 14 | Auckland Coin & Bullion Exchange | Denny Hulme Ray Smith | Holden VK Commodore | 146 | 15 | |
| DNF | C | 13 | Grellis Marketing | Bernie McClure Ray Ellis | Holden VK Commodore | 136 | 36 | |
| DNF | C | 4 | I.M.B. Team Wollongong | Peter McLeod Graeme Bailey | Holden VK Commodore | 126 | 22 | |
| DNF | A | 57 | Bob Holden Motors Manly Vale | Bob Holden Glenn Clark | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 123 | 46 | |
| DNF | B | 55 | Mark Petch Motorsport | Robbie Francevic John Bowe | Volvo 240T | 122 | 8 | 5 |
| NC | B | 54 | Melbourne Clutch & Brake Service | Brian Sampson Garry Waldon | Mitsubishi Starion | 117 | 35 | |
| NC | C | 37 | Brian Callaghan | Barry Graham Brian Callaghan | Holden VK Commodore | 114 | 26 | |
| DNF | C | 6 | Super K-Mart Roadways Racing Services | Allan Grice Warren Cullen | Holden VK Commodore | 114 | 5 | 4 |
| DNF | C | 24 | Jagparts Racing | Gerald Kay Martin Power | Holden VK Commodore | 112 | 33 | |
| DNF | A | 61 | Toyota Team Australia | John Faulkner Ray Cutchie | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 110 | 43 | |
| DNF | C | 22 | Erle McRae Motorsport | Charlie O'Brien John English | BMW 635 CSi | 106 | 23 | |
| NC | A | 58 | David Ratcliff | David Ratcliff Don Smith | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 98 | 47 | |
| NC | C | 2 | Masterton Homes | Steve Masterton Bruce Stewart | Holden VK Commodore | 96 | 53 | |
| DNF | C | 7 | Mobil Holden Dealer Team | John Harvey David Parsons | Holden VK Commodore | 96 | 10 | 10 |
| DNF | C | 33 | Mike Burgmann | Mike Burgmann Bob Stevens | Holden VK Commodore | 93 | 30 | |
| DNF | C | 31 | JPS Team BMW | George Fury Neville Crichton | BMW 635 CSi | 68 | 17 | |
| DNF | B | 49 | John Bundy | John Bundy Norm Carr | Mazda RX-7 | 67 | 51 | |
| DNF | C | 16 | Flexible Hose Supplies | Barry Robinson Jon Jeffery | Rover Vitesse | 59 | 52 | |
| DNF | C | 23 | Simon Emmerling | Simon Emmerling Trevor Hine | BMW 635 CSi | 42 | 31 | |
| DNF | C | 38 | Barry Wraith | Barry Wraith Wayne Park | Holden VK Commodore | 34 | 39 | |
| DNF | B | 44 | Peter Williamson Toyota | Peter Williamson Tomas Mezera | Toyota Celica Supra | 32 | 27 | |
| DNF | C | 29 | Ken Davison | Ken Davison Wally Kramer | Ford Mustang GT | 19 | 44 | |
| DNF | C | 28 | Capri Components | Lawrie Nelson Bill O'Brien | Ford Mustang GT | 18 | 37 | |
| DNF | C | 32 | Anderson & O'Leary | Bruce Anderson Wayne Anderson | Ford Mustang GT | 17 | 28 | |
| DNF | C | 9 | JRA Ltd | Jeff Allam Ron Dickson | Jaguar XJ-S | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| DNF | B | 43 | Mitsubishi Ralliart | Brad Jones Peter Fitzgerald | Mitsubishi Starion | 0 | 14 | |
| DNF | C | 27 | Alf Grant | Alf Grant John French | Holden VK Commodore | 0 | 19 | |
| DNS | C | 18 | Palmer Tube Mills | Larry Perkins Dick Johnson | Ford Mustang GT | 7 | 8 | |
| DNS | B | 52 | Formula 1 Investments | Graham Moore Michel Delcourt | Mitsubishi Starion | 50 | ||
| DNS | C | 26 | Super K-Mart Roadways Racing Services | Warren Cullen Allan Grice | Holden VK Commodore | |||
| DNS | A | 59 | Phil McDonnell | Greg Crick Phil McDonnell | Alfa Romeo Alfetta |
Statistics
- Provisional Pole Position - #10 John Goss - 2:19.77
- Pole Position – #8 Tom Walkinshaw – 2:18.822
- Fastest Lap – #10 John Goss – 2:21.86
- Average Speed – 150 km/h
- Race Time - 6:41:30.19