Bathurst 1000 – Supercar '90s

The era of the V8Supercar kicked off in the 1990s – and Bathurst was the benefactor

The 1990s was another decade of change at Mount Panorama. But there one that matter above all else -- the introduction of the V8Supercar regulations; far and away the most successful category to have tackled The Great Race.

After the Group A era ended in acrimony at Bathurst with back-to-back wins for the hated (by hardcore fans) Nissan Skyline GT-Rs, the new Holden versus Ford V8-only formula was a return to familiar territory in 1993.

But few outside the circle know how close touring racing came to collapsing in those early V8 Supercar days. It was a time during which the formula and fledgling organisation was quietly propped up by touring car stalwarts including Dick Johnson and Fred Gibson.

When a fast-talking businessman called Tony Cochrane turned up in 1996 with a commercial vision for the sport, it would be changed forever...

The Supercar '90s
The international Group A formula carried over into 1990 but again it was the turn of a homegrown Aussie V8 to upset the import apple cart. That year Allan Grice took his second 1000 victory in a VP Commodore Group A.

Grice's partner was Brit Win Percy, who was in Australia running the newly-instituted Holden Racing Team. It was an early highlight in what would be a long and difficult gestation for HRT.

There were five Ford Sierra RS500s ahead of Grice on the starting grid and eight in the top 10. The only other Commodore in the hunt was Larry Perkins’ privateer entry in seventh; Perkins and Czech star Tomas Mezera would finish third.

Only 27 cars finished, the Nissan Motorsport Skyline R32 GT-R of Jim Richards (who’d won the championship) and Mark Skaife was back in 18th, having only done 146 of 161 laps.

Over the next two years, though, the Fred Gibson-managed Skylines would decimate the touring car landscape, taking out the championships and both 1000s.

In 1991, Skaife put his GT-R on pole almost one second quicker than the next car, another Skyline (Mark Gibbs), followed by the Sierras of Glenn Seton, John Bowe and Dick Johnson. Skaife and Richards would win the 1000 by a lap from the Grice/Percy VN Group A Commodore with the Gibbs GT-R third.

Peter Brock, back in a Commodore, was seventh, with Andrew Miedecke.

The 1992 race was the most controversial and bitter of all time after Richards/Skaife were awarded the victory, despite crashing out on lap 145 when a thunderstorm drenched the track causing multiple crashes. Richards had hit a wall and was limping to the pits when he aquaplaned into a ‘carpark’ of crashed cars and the race was stopped.

The Johnson/Bowe Sierra had just taken the lead but rules stipulated that in the event of a red flag the results from the previous lap stood.

Richards response to the jeering 'fans' at the podium ceremony will go down in history. Sadly, F1 world champion Denny Hulme died during the race when he had a heart attack at the wheel.

In a way, that booing crowd got what it wanted in 1993 when the new 5.0-litre V8 class began and seven VP Commodores and three EB Falcons made up the top 10 at Mount Panorama.

Larry Perkins snatched pole position from Skaife, now in a Commodore with Richards.

Perkins won, with former motorcycle ace, Gregg Hansford. Skaife/Richards were second and another two-wheel ace, former 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner was third with Brad Jones in an HRT Commodore, one lap down.

The Geoff Brabham/David Parsons Falcon was the highest-placed Ford, seven laps adrift in seventh. Also on the grid were 2.0-litre Group A cars, soon to be known as Super Touring.

The 35th Great Race was won by Johnson/Bowe in an EB Falcon, but VP Commodores filled the next five positions: the HRT car of Brad Jones and rising star, young Craig Lowndes second; and Perkins/Hansford third.

Johnson’s son Steven debuted in the second Dick Johnson Racing Falcon with Allan Grice and they finished seventh. The 2.0-litre BMW M3 of Paul Morris/Altfrid Heger was tenth.

The multi-class structure was finally killed off in 1995 and only Falcons and Commodores contested the 1000 and the 32-car grid was the smallest at Bathurst to date. HRT’s Craig Lowndes, now a major new star, took pole by 0.4sec from Skaife. But it was the experienced Perkins (now teamed with Russell Ingall – back from a tilt at European racing) who won his fifth Bathurst enduro.

After Perkins had to pit on lap three to replace a blown tyre, it was one of the greatest comebacks ever at Mount Panorama -- from last to the top step.

Formula One world champion Alan Jones and Grice in an EF Falcon were second and Gardner/Neil Crompton in a VR Commodore, run by Gardner’s new team. The race was also notable for being the closest Glenn Seton ever came to winning after his Falcon dropped a valve on lap 151 while he was leading.

Seton put his EF Falcon, on pole for the 1996 race but again, the unluckiest driver ever to star at Bathurst, had a horror day. He and David ‘Skippy’ Parsons finishing 15th, nine laps behind the new kids on the block, Lowndes and Kiwi hard charger, Greg Murphy, in an HRT VR Commodore.

Johnson and Bowe were second in their EF Falcon with Tony Longhurst/Steve Ellery third in another EF.

Controversy again dogged Bathurst in 1997 when two 1000 kilometre races were held. The traditional ‘first Sunday in October’ date was given to the new 2.0-litre Super Touring category by race organiser, the Australian Racing Driver’s Club (ARDC).

The ARDC was at war with AVESCO, the aggressive new management arm of what was now called V8 Supercar. AVESCO was led by Tony Cochrane who was setting out to take control away from promoters and put it in the hands of the race teams.

Super Touring, while drawing scant crowds, was making some headway and as it was an international class, thus the Bathurst grid was bulked up with the top UK teams. The fact that both categories had TV deals with different networks made it even more problematic.

A deal was brokered by the Bathurst city council for the V8s to run two weeks after the Super Tourers and you can guess which race got the bigger crowd. For the record, Geoff and David Brabham won the Super Touring AMP 1000 in a BMW 320i.

Mark Skaife, now with the Holden Racing Team, took pole for the Primus 1000 but Perkins and Ingall won their second 1000 together in a VS Commodore from Jim and son Steven Richards also in a Commodore. Mark Larkham/Miedecke were third in an EL Falcon.

Jason Bright debuted as reserve driver for the new Stone Brothers team, on the Alan Jones/Scott Pruett EL. Bright’s late-race stint times creamed American Pruett’s best.

The race was also notable for the first all-female V8 Supercar pairing of Melinda Price/Kerryn Brewer in a Perkins Engineering Commodore. They finished 12th.

In 1998, pole-meister Skaife was again quickest in the top ten shootout lowering the qualifying mark to a blistering 2.09:89sec in his HRT VT Commodore.

But now paired with Lowndes, Skaife finished two laps behind Jason Bright/Steven Richards in the Stone brothers’ EL Falcon. Kiwis Ross and Jimmy Stone were becoming major V8 Supercar players.

Perkins/Ingall were second in their VT from Jim Richards/Jason Bargwanna in a VS Commodore.

Greg Murphy and Steven Richards won their second Bathurst 1000 when they were paired up in 1999 in a Wynn’s Racing VT from Lowndes/Cameron McConville and Skaife/Paul Morris HRT VT Commodores.

HRT’s third entry -- the Holden Young Lions car for new young drivers Todd Kelly and Mark Noske -- finished sixth and on the lead lap.

The best-placed Ford was the Dick Johnson/Bowe AU Falcon. Only 22 of 33 starters finished but Mark Larkham scored a surprise pole position in his AU Falcon, his only front-row start.

Again the V8 race was held after the traditional October date, with the second and last Super Touring 1000. A paltry 18 cars turned up for 100km and 500km races with Jim Richards (Volvo S40) winning the 100km qualifying race and the Paul Morris (BMW 320i) the 500 kay race. It was the last ARDC-run race at Mount Panorama.

So a tumultuous decade came to an end. It was one in which Australian touring car racing reached its pinnacle formula and the teams won the battle with promoters over control of their sport. Their solidarity and the best show in the country gave them the bargaining power to make change for the better… That would continue in the Noughties.

Images supplied by www.autopics.com.au

1. Dick & Steve Johnson, Falcon AU - Bathurst FIA 1000 1999
2. W. Percy / A. Grice - Bathurst 1990 - 1st Outright - Holden Commodore VL - Photographer Darren House
3. J. Richards / M. Skaife Bathurst 1991 1st Outright Nissan GTR
4. D. Johnson / J. Bowe - Bathurst 1992 - 2nd Outright - Ford Sierra
5. Start Bathurst 1993 - L. Perkins / G. Hansford 1st Outright - Holden
6. Larry Perkins & Russell Ingall - Bathurst 1995 - Holden Commodore VR - Photographer Marshall Cass
7. C. Lowndes / G. Murphy - Bathurst 1996 - Holden Commodore VR
8. The Start of the Supercheap Auto 1000 Bathurst 1997 - Brock and Perkins lead the pack. - Photographer Marshall Cass

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Bathurst 1000 – Supercar '90s

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