1986 James Hardie 1000

Class structure

The race was held for cars complying with Australian Touring Car regulations, which were based on International Group A touring car rules. It included three engine capacity classes.

Class A

For cars of up to 2000cc engine capacity, it saw a variety of cars entered. Most numerous were variations of Toyota Corollas, with individual entries of a turbocharged Fiat Uno, a Ford Escort and a Nissan Gazelle.

Class B

For cars of between 2001 and 3000cc engine capacity, it featured the turbos; Mitsubishi Starion, Nissan Skyline and Volvo 240, but also included Alfa Romeo GTV6, BMW 323i, Mercedes-Benz 190E and Toyota Supra.

Class C

For cars of over 3000cc engine capacity. Apart from a strong presence of BMW 635 CSi, the swansong of the V12 Jaguar XJS, and the first appearance of a turbocharged Ford Sierra, it was the domain of the V8; Holden Commodore SS Group A, Ford Mustang and Rover Vitesse.

Hardies Heroes

In a major change to the format, 1986 was the first time in the history of Hardies Heroes that drivers only had one lap to set a time. From 1978–1985, drivers had two laps in which to set a time.

• Peter Brock had qualified the #05 Holden Dealer Team Commodore 2nd fastest with a 2:18.10 but the car was heavily damaged in a crash in Fridays's qualifying by Allan Moffat and was not repaired in time for Hardies Heroes and was subsequently withdrawn from the session by the team. Race organisers the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) then elevated the Graeme Crosby Commodore into the Top 10 Runoff in its place. Brock had also qualified the HDT's #3 car with a time of 2:17.7 (good enough for 2nd behind Grice), but the race rules prevented car swapping in qualifying and his time only served to qualify him in car #3 for the race and not Hardie's Heroes. It was the first time Brock would not appear in the Saturday morning runoff since its inception in 1978, leaving Dick Johnson as the only driver to have done so.
• Allan Grice became the first Group A driver to lap the 6.172 km (3.835 mi) circuit at over 100 mph with a 2:16.16 lap in Friday qualifying in his Holden VK Commodore SS Group A. Grice had also been the first to lap the track at over 100 mph in a Group C touring car in 1982 driving a VH Commodore. He had also set his qualifying time running on Dunlop Tyres and not the Yokohama's he was required by contract to run when the television cameras were running in the runoff.
• Through their mutual Philip Morris cigarette sponsorship, the Peter Jackson Nissan team had tyre warmers for their cars flown out from the McLaren Formula One team in England to cope with the cold conditions, the first time the technology had been used in Australian touring car racing. Despite this and the fact that he was the only driver to improve on his qualifying time, pole winner Gary Scott believed the tyres on the Nissan Skyline RS DR30 were still not up to full operating temperature. This was put down to the fact that after team finally got the blankets working, Ch.7 had the Top 10 cars line up for 45 minutes on pit straight to film part of their TV package shown around the country later in the afternoon during which time the tyres cooled back down.
• Roberto Ravaglia had been officially second fastest in qualifying behind Grice with a time of 2:18.19, aided by a tow from a couple of Commodore's down Conrod Straight. Without the tow, Ravaglia fell to 9th in the runoff. Ravaglia and his co-driver Dieter Quester weren't originally scheduled to drive the BMW 635 CSi. Originally advertised to be driving were BMW factory Formula One drivers Riccardo Patrese and Gerhard Berger.
• The 1986 version of Hardie's Heroes saw four new drivers contesting the Saturday morning runoff for pole position. Pole winner Scott, John Bowe (5th), Graeme Crosby (7th), and Brad Jones (10th). Scott (1979 and 1982) and Bowe (1985) had previously been in cars that had qualified for the runoff, but it was their respective co-drivers who had set the times.
• Brad Jones, whose Mitsubishi Starion had been the fastest car on Conrod Straight during qualifying at 269 km/h, was forced by officials to run on smaller width wheels during the runoff after checks revealed the car was using wider tyres than was allowed. Jones aborted his lap in Hardies Heroes at the top of the mountain after the smaller wheels caused the car to handle badly.

Official results

Italics indicate driver practiced this car but did not race.

Statistics

• Provisional Pole Position - #2 Allan Grice - 2:16.16
• Pole Position - #15 Gary Scott - 2:17.159
• Fastest Lap - #2 Allan Grice - 2:18.99
• Average Speed - 155 km/h
• Race Time - 6:30:35.68

[[Mike Burgmann]]

The 1986 James Hardie 1000 is unfortunately also remembered for the death of Sydney privateer Mike Burgmann. On lap 5, Burgmann's Holden VK Commodore SS Group A and the privateer Jaguar XJS of his friend Garry Willmington were neck and neck over the notorious second hump on Conrod Straight at approximately 260 km/h when the front of the Commodore got airborne (as cars did coming over the hump at that speed, more so for cars on the right hand side or outside part of the track which is where Burgmann was). The front of the Commodore moved slightly to the left and Burgmann, who was only a part-time racer, tried to correct by turning the wheel to the right. Unfortunately for Burgmann, the front tyres suddenly gripped when they landed and the car then turned into and hit the tyre barrier at the bottom of the well-known curved bridge at the end of Conrod with unabated speed causing the entire front end to be pushed back to the firewall. The car's roll cage did its job and the cabin survived the violent impact mostly intact. However, when officials reached the car they found Burgmann in what would normally be the back seat of the vehicle. While his driving seat had remained intact the force of the impact had broken the seat belt buckle which caused his body to be thrown out of the seat. Mike Burgmann became the first driver to die while competing in the Bathurst 1000 when he was pronounced dead on arrival at Bathurst Hospital.

References

References

1. Robert Wilson and Peter Kogoy. (October 2006). "Drivers defend Bathurst". Premier Media Group.