1988 Tooheys 1000


The 1988 Tooheys 1000 was a 1000 km endurance motor race for Group A Touring Cars. It was held on 2 October 1988 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race was the opening round of the 1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship and was the 29th running of the Bathurst 1000.
The 1988 edition was the only race in the history of the Bathurst 1000 to have commenced with a rolling start.

Controversy

On the Friday afternoon immediately at the close of final qualifying, Holden Special Vehicles driver Tom Walkinshaw lodged a formal protest against the leading Australian Ford Sierras, targeting all three Dick Johnson Racing cars, along with the Tony Longhurst and Colin Bond entries. No European-built Fords were protested, Walkinshaw claiming it was only the Australian cars as they were the fastest, despite the presence of the Eggenberger Motorsport built Allan Moffat ANZ Sierra as fourth fastest qualifier. Also left alone in the protest was the Sierra of team mates Andrew Miedecke and Andrew Bagnall, and the Team CMS Sweden Sierra.
The feeling among the protested Australian Sierra teams was that the protest was designed to severely disrupt their race preparations, with only Longhurst's team able to get their Sierra somewhere near its pre-protest speed. All three teams had to pull their cars' engines and suspension apart after Friday's qualifying for the scrutineers before having to put them back together again before Saturday's Tooheys Top Ten. This was particularly disruptive for Dick Johnson's team as they had all three of their cars protested, despite the #18 car only qualifying 12th compared to Johnson's pole and John Bowe in second. The protest prompted DJR team owner Johnson to say at a press conference that Walkinshaw would "Protest against the cut in his bagpipes if he could" and that "All he wants to do is win and he doesn't care how he does it".
The Walkinshaw protest was countered by DJR team manager Neal Lowe who protested the three HSV team Holden Commodores, calling on his knowledge of the Commodore from his time with the old Holden Dealer Team in 1986. The counter-protest by DJR focused on the front air dam, steering rack and the size of the rear spoiler on only the factory backed Commodores.
On race day, Walkinshaw advised the Australian Racing Drivers Club and FISA officials that should one of the protested cars win the race, his protest against that car was to be immediately withdrawn. His reasons given for this was so that the winner would be known on the day rather than months later, as had been the case with the 1987 race.
Ultimately the Walkinshaw protests were found to be invalid and was dismissed. The HSV team cars had been entered by Perkins Engineering and not by TWR, therefore the Scot had no authority to lodge a protest and the stewards of the meeting erred in allowing it to proceed, though all of the Sierras were eventually cleared by FISA. However, the damage was done to the leading Australian Fords and it was only race winners Tony Longhurst Racing who managed to get their car back up to speed after being dismantled by scrutineers on the Friday before the Top Ten run off.
In an ironic twist, the DJR protest against two of the three HSV team cars was successful with the modifications made to the cars steering racks found to be illegal. Ultimately the Australian Racing Drivers Club saw no need to change the results to show the cars as disqualified as the spare HSV Car was only driven in Wednesday's practice session, while the Larry Perkins/Denny Hulme/Walkinshaw #10 car, as well as the #20 Walkinshaw/Allam car both failed to finish. The fact that the Perkins built cars were disqualified and the Sierras were cleared raised some eyebrows as during the 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship Larry Perkins had been vocal that the Sierras were running illegally and was pushing for CAMS to enforce the rules.

Race summary

The 1988 race, under the first time sponsorship of Tooheys Brewery, was won by Tony Longhurst and Tomas Mezera driving a Ford Sierra RS500. It was the first victory in the "Bathurst 1000" for a turbocharged vehicle, and the first victory by a four-cylinder car since Bob Holden and Rauno Aaltonen won in a Morris Cooper S in 1966. It was also the only time in the race's history that there was a rolling start, as dictated by FISA regulations, rather than the traditional standing start. The Ford Sierras dominated the race as expected, but reliability had plagued the Fords. Several that had led the race retired, however sufficient examples finished to fill the three podium positions. Second was the last survivor of the three-car Dick Johnson Racing team, driven by former factory Toyota racer John Smith and DJR lead drivers Dick Johnson and John Bowe whose own hastily re-built cars had both failed early. Alfredo Costanzo qualified in the #18 DJR Sierra but did not get to race, as Johnson and Bowe took over that car. Third was the Caltex-sponsored Sierra of Colin Bond and Formula One World Champion Alan Jones. The Caltex Sierra had to survive the Walkinshaw protest and post race disqualification to be finally classified third in December 1988. Indeed, it was Bond who successfully argued that Walkinshaw had no authority to lodge the original protest. Unfortunately for Bond, as a result of the protest his car had lost what the team considered to be their best turbocharger and they were forced to use their spare engine for the race which was reported to be some down on their main rivals putting their race speed at around the same level as the leading Commodore's which was around 3–4 seconds per lap slower than they had been expecting.
Defending race winners Peter Brock, David Parsons and Peter McLeod all failed to finish the race. Brock and Parsons, driving BMW M3s for Brock's Mobil 1 Racing, were both out with engine trouble just after halfway through the race. It had been hoped by the team that the reliability shown by the BMW's in the European Touring Car Championship against the much faster, but still relatively fragile Ford Sierras would see them leading late in the race. Ironically the reverse was true and it was the factory backed BMW's which proved fragile. McLeod, driving one of the new Holden Commodores with Melbourne solicitor Jim Keogh, was out with engine failure on lap 7. It was the team's second engine failure of the day having lost their race engine in the Sunday morning warmup session forcing the team into a rapid engine change that saw them start the race from pit lane. It was a cruel blow for the McLeod team after both McLeod and Keogh had crashed during practice and qualifying, but work on the car and a Saturday night change of setup had seen McLeod lap over one second faster in the race morning warmup than either driver had managed in qualifying.
Class 2 was won by the BMW M3 of New Zealand's Trevor Crowe and "Captain" Peter Janson who finished a strong fourth outright. Class 3, for cars up to 1600cc, was predictably won by the Toyota Team Australia Corolla GT of John Faulkner and Drew Price who finished ninth outright after an all-day sprint. This marked the first time that a small capacity class car had finished in the top ten at Bathurst since 1978.
The race saw the 18th and last start for 1983 James Hardie 1000 winner John Harvey. He drove a Holden Commodore with fellow Sydney veteran and 1974 race winner Kevin Bartlett to finish in 14th place.

Class structure

Cars competed in three engine capacity classes.

Class 1

For cars of over 2500cc engine capacity, it featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras, Nissan Skylines and Mitsubishi Starions, the V8 Holden Commodores and a BMW 635 CSi.

Class 2

For cars of 1601-2500cc engine capacity, it was composed of BMW M3s and a Mercedes-Benz 190E.

Class 3

For cars of up to 1600cc engine capacity, it was composed exclusively of various models of Toyota Corolla.

Tooheys Dozen

Due to FISA regulations the Top 10 run-off was not for Pole Position in 1988, but only for AUD$40,000 in prizemoney. This was the only time since the run off began as Hardies Heroes in 1978 that the top 10 grid positions had not been decided in the run off. As a result, the Australian Racing Drivers Club invited non-top 10 qualifiers and former race winners Allan Grice and Peter Brock to participate.
After 10 years of being known as "Hardies Heroes", the name of the runoff was changed to the "Tooheys Top 10" to go along with new race sponsor Tooheys Brewery.
PosNoTeamDriverCarTDQual
19Allan Moffat Enterprises Klaus NiedzwiedzFord Sierra RS5002:18.242:18.02
225Benson & Hedges Racing Tony LonghurstFord Sierra RS5002:18.512:17.96
328Shell Ultra Hi Racing John BoweFord Sierra RS5002:18.952:17.52
417Shell Ultra Hi Racing Dick JohnsonFord Sierra RS5002:19.222:16.46
56Miedecke Motorsport Andrew MiedeckeFord Sierra RS5002:19.602:18.78
64Caltex CXT Racing Team Colin BondFord Sierra RS5002:20.332:19.84
78Andrew Bagnall Pierre DieudonnéFord Sierra RS5002:20.712:20.34
821Team CMS Sweden Ulf GranbergFord Sierra RS5002:21.822:22.20
910Holden Special Vehicles Larry PerkinsHolden VL Commodore SS Group A SV2:22.472:21.00
1015Peter Jackson Nissan Racing George FuryNissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R2:22.722:21.92*
112ICL Racing Allan GriceHolden VL Commodore SS Group A SV2:22.872:22.32
1256Mobil 1 Racing Peter BrockBMW M32:25.112:23.76

PosClassNoTeamDriversCarLapsQual
Pos
1125Benson & Hedges Racing Tony Longhurst
Tomas Mezera
Ford Sierra RS5001613
2118Shell Ultra Hi Racing John Smith
Dick Johnson
John Bowe
Alfredo Costanzo
Ford Sierra RS50016012
314Caltex CXT Racing Team Colin Bond
Alan Jones
Ford Sierra RS5001586
4253John Sax Trevor Crowe
Peter Janson
BMW M315636
5144Caltex CXT Racing Team Bruce Stewart
John Giddings
Ford Sierra RS50015528
6137Brian Callaghan Brian Callaghan
Barry Graham
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV15220
7146Sunliner Campmobiles Tony Hunter
Steve Harrington
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A15133
8124Jagparts Gerald Kay
Geoff Munday
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A15038
9371Toyota Team Australia John Faulkner
Drew Price
Toyota Corolla GT14641
10131Ralliart Australia Terry Shiel
Brad Jones
Mike Preston
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo14527
11373Toyota Team Australia Brett Riley
Peter McKay
Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE8214542
12374Bryan Bate Andrew Maher
Bryan Bate
Dave Barrow
Toyota Corolla GT AE8614543
13123Chris Lambden Chris Lambden
Kerry Baily
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV14135
14112Bob Forbes Racing Kevin Bartlett
John Harvey
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV14022
1512ICL Racing Allan Grice
Win Percy
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV13911
16372Toyota Team Australia Mike Freeman
Mike Oliver
Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE8213344
17378Bob Holden Motors Bob Holden
Jim Faneco
Damon Beck
Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE8212845
18149Alcair Air Conditioning Bob Tindal
Wayne Park
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A12732
NC122Lusty Engineering Graham Lusty
John Lusty
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV14134
DSQ110Holden Special Vehicles Larry Perkins
Denny Hulme
Tom Walkinshaw
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV1378
NC139Lansvale Smash Repairs Steve Reed
Trevor Ashby
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV13526
DNF19Allan Moffat Enterprises Allan Moffat
Klaus Niedzwiedz
Gregg Hansford
Ford Sierra RS5001294
NC141Mulvihill Motorsport Tony Mulvihill
Geoff Leeds
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV11831
DNF375Belgrave 2-Way Radio Services David Ratcliff
Mike Mortimer
Toyota Corolla GT AE8611848
NC255Bryce Racing Paul Radisich
Ludwig Finauer
BMW M311319
DNF145Mark Petch Motorsport/
Wolf Racing Australasia
Robbie Francevic
Armin Hahne
Ford Sierra RS50010314
DNF16Miedecke Motorsport Andrew Miedecke
Steve Soper
Ford Sierra RS5001025
DNF150Leeson Civil Engineering Garry Willmington
John Leeson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV10130
DNF254John Sax John Sax
John Sorenson
Kayne Scott
BMW M310040
DNF256Mobil 1 Racing Peter Brock
Neil Crompton
Jim Richards
BMW M38916
NC376Bob Holden Motors Dennis Rogers
Garry Jones
Toyota Corolla GT AE868947
DNF116Ralliart Australia Gary Scott
Akihiko Nakaya
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo8815
NC377Marc Ducquet Marc Ducquet
Brian Selby
Toyota Corolla GT AE868546
DNF119Mathews/Finnigan Racing Terry Finnigan
Ken Mathews
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV8423
DNF126Formula 1 Investments Graham Moore
Tony Noske
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV7921
DNF257Mobil 1 Racing David Parsons
Jim Richards
Neil Crompton
BMW M36824
DNF136Everlast Battery Service Bill O'Brien
Ray Lintott
Brian Sampson
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV6625
DNF133Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers
John Andretti
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV3718
DNF251Phil Ward Racing Phil Ward
David Clement
Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-162739
DNF128Shell Ultra Hi Racing John Bowe
Robb Gravett
Neville Crichton
Ford Sierra RS500262
DNF117Shell Ultra Hi Racing Dick Johnson
John Bowe
Ford Sierra RS500221
DNF114Netcomm Australia Murray Carter
Steve Masterton
Ford Sierra RS5002237
DNF130Peter Jackson Nissan Racing George Fury
Mark Skaife
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R179
DNF18Andrew Bagnall Andrew Bagnall
Pierre Dieudonné
Ford Sierra RS50097
DNF13Yellow Pages Peter McLeod
Jim Keogh
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV729
DNF121Team CMS Sweden Ulf Granberg
Christer Simonssen
Ian Tulloch
Ford Sierra RS500610
DNF120Holden Special Vehicles Tom Walkinshaw
Jeff Allam
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV513
DNF115Peter Jackson Nissan Racing Glenn Seton
Anders Olofsson
Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R017
DNQ111Ray Gulson Ray Gulson
Graham Gulson
BMW 635 CSi
DNQ147Craig Kinmoth Alf Grant
Craig Kinmoth
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A
DNQ138Grellis Marketing Ray Ellis
Bruce Williams
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A
DNQ148Tony Kavich Tony Kavich
Ken Davison
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A
DNQ129The Xerox Shop Alan Taylor
Kevin Kennedy
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo
DNQ142Steve Williams Steve Williams
Chris Clearihan
Holden VK Commodore SS Group A
DNS140Holden Special Vehicles Tom Walkinshaw
Larry Perkins
Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV

Italics indicate driver practiced in the car but did not race.

Statistics