1984 Sandown 1000

File:Sandown.JPG

Layout of the Sandown Raceway international circuit (1984-1998)

The 1984 Sandown 1000 was an endurance motor race staged at the Sandown Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1984. It was the eleventh and final round of the 1984 FIA World Endurance Championship and was the first FIA World Championship race to be held in Australia. It was to be the first of a three-year contract to race at Sandown, though the final two years would be cancelled.

The event was the final round of the World Endurance Championship for Drivers but did not count towards the associated World Endurance Championship for Manufacturers, the Group C2 Prototype FIA Cup, or the FIA Grand Touring Cup. The race was open to Group C1 Sports Prototypes, Group C2 Sports Prototypes, Group B GT Cars and IMSA GTP, GTX, GTO & GTU cars. With their drivers no longer in a position to win the Drivers Championship and no manufacturers points on offer, the Martini Racing team did not participate in this event with their Ferrari powered Lancia LC2s.

An invitational class for "Australian Cars" (AC) was also included for cars that raced in the Australian GT Championship, and the Australian Sports Car Championship. These Group D GT, Group B Sports Sedan, and Group A Sports Cars, did not conform to World Endurance Championship regulations. The FIA only allowed five AC cars to compete and the drivers were not eligible to score championship points. Only four of these cars started, with the Bryan Thompson / Brad Jones Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC powered by a twin turbo, 4.2 litre Chevrolet V8 engine did not start due to overheating issues in practice and qualifying.

Fittingly in Australia's first ever FIA World Championship event, the race included Australia's only two World Drivers' Champions. Sir Jack Brabham (1959, 1960 & 1966) and Alan Jones (1980) both participated as part of the factory backed Rothmans Porsche team. The race was Sir Jack's first and only World Championship race since the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix, though between 1970 and 1984 he had been a semi-regular competitor in Australian touring car racing.

The race proved to be a financial disaster for promoters, the Light Car Club of Australia. The club failed to secure a major sponsor for the race, and were late in arranging a television deal so the race could be broadcast back to Europe. It wasn't until the last minute that the ABC decided to telecast the race (of Australia's major television stations, the Seven Network was committed to showing the 1984 Australian Open tennis from Kooyong in Melbourne, Channel 9 was showing a match between Victoria and the touring West Indies cricket team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground while Channel 10 was covering the Australian federal election). The official attendance was just 13,860, though many observers put the figure at less than 10,000. It was estimated that the LCCA lost anywhere from A$300,000 to 500,000 on the race.

File:Porsche 956 (9272944120).jpg

A Porsche 956, similar to the race winning car. (Image from 2013)

Qualifying

As expected, the factory Rothmans Porsche 956 of Stefan Bellof took pole with a time of 1:31.600 (prior to the race, the lap record of the new 3.9 km circuit was 1:36.9 set by John Bowe in a 1.6 litre Ford powered Ralt RT4/85 Formula Mondial car during the final round of the 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship). Sharing the front row was his teammate and rival for the World Endurance Championship Jochen Mass with a lap of 1:32.300.

British driver Gordon Spice qualified 12th and was the fastest Group C2 runner with a time of 1:38.000 in his 3.3 litre Tiga CG84-Cosworth DFL.

Four times CAMS Gold Star winner, Melbourne resident Alfredo Costanzo, qualified the 1984 Australian Sports Car Championship winning Romano WE84-Cosworth he would share with car owner Bap Romano in 13th place and fastest of the AC class with a 1:38.400 lap, despite persistent understeer in the slow corners (due to 70 kg of lead ballast the car was required to carry for the race), Costanzo twice stripping second gear in the car and an overnight engine change from the 3.0 litre Cosworth DFV engine to a more powerful 3.9 litre Cosworth DFL.

In the only IMSA car in the field, American driver Jim Cook qualified 15th in Chuck Kendall's Lola T600-Chevrolet V8 with a 1:39.500, while Altfrid Heger qualified his Group B BMW M1 in 28th with a time of 1:50.500. The Group B BMW M1's (powered by the 3.5 litre BMW M88 Straight-six engine) actually proved slower than the production based Australian Group C touring cars had been at the circuit three months earlier, including being almost 3 seconds slower than the BMW 635 CSi touring car which used the same M88 engine.

Qualifying results

Pos.	Class	No	Entrant	Car	Time
Pole	C1	2	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 956	1:31.600
2	C1	1	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 956	1:32.300
3	C1	3	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche	Porsche 956	1:32.400
4	C1	33	Template:Flagicon Skoal Bandit Porsche Team Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956B	1:32.600
5	C1	11	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956B	1:32.800
6	C1	14	Template:Flagicon GTi Engineering	Porsche 956 GTi	1:35.030
7	C1	7	Template:Flagicon New-Man Joest Racing	Porsche 956	1:32.900
8	C1	10	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956	1:33.600
9	C1	55	Template:Flagicon Skoal Bandit Porsche Team Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956	1:35.200
10	C1	12	Template:Flagicon Schornstein Racing Team Template:Flagicon Joest Racing	Porsche 956	1:36.000
11	C1	34	Template:Flagicon Team Australia Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 962	1:36.000
12	C2	70	Template:Flagicon Spice-Tiga Racing	Tiga GC84 Ford-Cosworth	1:38.000
13	AC	61	Template:Flagicon Bap Romano Racing	Romano WE84 Ford-Cosworth	1:38.400
14	C1	56	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche Template:Flagicon GTi Engineering	Porsche 956	1:38.900
15	IMSA	131	Template:Flagicon Kendall Racing	Lola T600 Chevrolet	1:39.500
16	C1	17	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche-Kremer CK5	1:40.100
17	C2	80	Template:Flagicon Scuderia Jolly Club	Alba AR2 Giannini	1:40.200
18	AC	64	Template:Flagicon Re-Car Racing	Chevrolet Monza	1:40.300
19	C2	74	Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Gebhardt JC843 Ford-Cosworth	1:40.500
20	C2	72	Template:Flagicon ADA Engineering Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Gebhardt JC843 Ford-Cosworth	1:42.100
21	C2	81	Template:Flagicon Scuderia Jolly Club	Alba AR2 Giannini	1:42.200
22	AC	62	Template:Flagicon JPS Team BMW	BMW 320i	1:44.400
23	C2	73	Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Gebhardt JC842 BMW	1:44.600
24	C2	99	Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Tiga GC84 Ford	1:44.800
25	AC	65	Template:Flagicon Jeff Harris	JWS C2 Mazda	1:46.600
26	AC	63	Template:Flagicon Thomson-Fowler Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC Chevrolet	1:47.100
27	C2	90	Template:Flagicon Jens Winther Denmark	URD C81 BMW	1:47.200
28	B	106	Template:Flagicon Helmut Gall	BMW M1	1:50.500
29	B	83	Template:Flagicon Roger Andreason Racing	Lola T610 Ford-Cosworth	1:53.900
30	B	113	Template:Flagicon Strandell Racing	Porsche 930	1:55.700

Race

Without the factory Lancia's, the Group C class turned into a Porsche benefit with the first 10 places on the grid being filled by the 956 model and position 11 being the newer Porsche 962 run by John Fitzpatrick Racing for Australia's "Mr Versatile" of motor racing Colin Bond, and open wheel driver Andrew Miedecke.

Alan Jones had the honour of leading the first lap of the race having got the jump on temporary teammates Bellof and Mass. As in qualifying, the race was a Porsche benefit with the German cars finishing in the top 9 places (the 962 of Bond/Miedecke finished 6th). Rothmans Porsche drivers Bellof and Derek Bell won the race, giving Bellof the 1984 World Endurance Championship in the process. Teammates Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx finished three laps behind in 2nd, with Jonathan Palmer and Jan Lammers a further lap down in 3rd place in their Richard Lloyd Racing 956B. The only car to actually challenge the Rothmans Porsche's during the race, the Skoal Bandit 956B of Thierry Boutsen and David Hobbs, was the only Group C1 car not to finish after suffering a burnt-out an ignition coil on lap 171.

The first non-Porsche finisher was the Group C2, 3.3L Cosworth DFL powered Tiga GC84 of Gordon Spice and Neil Crang in 10th place. The Tiga won C2 after a race long battle with the Italian Alba's and the German Gebhardt JC843-Cosworth. The AC class was won by the JPS Team BMW's 320i of Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst who finished in 14th place overall despite several spins and punctures caused by the road surface in the new infield section breaking up under the strain of the ground effect Group C Porsche's. The BMW was followed in 15th place by the Group B winning BMW M1 of Helmut Gall and Altfrid Heger. The only IMSA car in the race, a Lola T600-Chevrolet run by Chuck Kendall failed to finish having completed 95 laps.

The race distance was to be 257 laps, or 1000 km (620 mi) long. However, under WEC rules, with the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, races had a time limit of 6 hours. The six-hour mark was reached when the Bellof/Bell Porsche had run only 206 laps (803.4 km), thus the race was declared at the time limit some 51 laps (197.78 km or 122.89 mi) short of the 1000 km distance.

Official results

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	C1	2	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche	Template:Flagicon Stefan Bellof Template:Flagicon Derek Bell	Porsche 956	D	206
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
2	C1	1	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche	Template:Flagicon Jochen Mass Template:Flagicon Jacky Ickx	Porsche 956	D	203
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
3	C1	14	Template:Flagicon GTi Engineering	Template:Flagicon Jonathan Palmer Template:Flagicon Jan Lammers	Porsche 956 GTi	D	202
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
4	C1	10	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Template:Flagicon Sarel van der Merwe Template:Flagicon George Fouché	Porsche 956	G	200
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
5	C1	11	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Template:Flagicon Manfred Winkelhock Template:Flagicon Rusty French	Porsche 956B	G	200
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
6	C1	34	Template:Flagicon Team Australia Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Template:Flagicon Colin Bond Template:Flagicon Andrew Miedecke	Porsche 962	D	198
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
7	C1	7	Template:Flagicon New-Man Joest Racing	Template:Flagicon Klaus Ludwig Template:Flagicon Henri Pescarolo	Porsche 956	D	197
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
8	C1	3	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche	Template:Flagicon Vern Schuppan Template:Flagicon Alan Jones	Porsche 956	D	196
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
9	C1	55	Template:Flagicon Skoal Bandit Porsche Team Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Template:Flagicon Rupert Keegan Template:Flagicon Franz Konrad	Porsche 956	G	194
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
10	C2	70	Template:Flagicon Spice-Tiga Racing	Template:Flagicon Gordon Spice Template:Flagicon Neil Crang	Tiga GC84	A	189
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
11	C1	12	Template:Flagicon Schornstein Racing Team Template:Flagicon Joest Racing	Template:Flagicon "John Winter" Template:Flagicon Dieter Schornstein Template:Flagicon Paul Belmondo	Porsche 956	D	184
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
12	C2	74	Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Template:Flagicon Frank Jelinski Template:Flagicon Beate Nodes Template:Flagicon Günter Gebhardt	Gebhardt JC843	A	181
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
13	C1	17	Template:Flagicon Porsche Kremer Racing	Template:Flagicon Kees Kroesemeijer Template:Flagicon Peter Janson Template:Flagicon Jesús Pareja	Porsche-Kremer CK5	D	179
					Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6
14	AC	62	Template:Flagicon JPS Team BMW	Template:Flagicon Jim Richards Template:Flagicon Tony Longhurst	BMW 320i	Y	178
					BMW M10 2.0L I4
15	B	106	Template:Flagicon Helmut Gall	Template:Flagicon Helmut Gall Template:Flagicon Altfrid Heger	BMW M1	D	170
					BMW M88 3.5L I6
16	C2	99	Template:Flagicon JQF Engineering	Template:Flagicon Jeremy Rossiter Template:Flagicon Roy Baker Template:Flagicon Gary Evans	Tiga GC284	?	156
					Ford BDT 1.7L Turbo I4
NC	C2	83	Template:Flagicon Roger Andreason Racing	Template:Flagicon Richard Jones Template:Flagicon Don Burroughs Template:Flagicon John Bartlett	Lola T610	A	120
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
NC	C1	56	Template:Flagicon Rothmans Porsche Template:Flagicon GTi Engineering	Template:Flagicon Johnny Dumfries Template:Flagicon Jack Brabham Template:Flagicon Richard Lloyd	Porsche 956	D	108
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
NC	AC	61	Template:Flagicon Bap Romano Racing	Template:Flagicon Bap Romano Template:Flagicon Alfredo Costanzo	Romano WE84	A	106
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.9L V8
DNF	C1	33	Template:Flagicon Skoal Bandit Porsche Team Template:Flagicon John Fitzpatrick Racing	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen Template:Flagicon David Hobbs	Porsche 956B	G	171
					Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	AC	65	Template:Flagicon Jeff Harris	Template:Flagicon Jeff Harris Template:Flagicon Ray Hanger Template:Flagicon Barry Jones	JWS C2	A	114
					Mazda 13B 1.3L 2-Rotor Turbo
DNF	C2	81	Template:Flagicon Scuderia Jolly Club	Template:Flagicon Guido Daccò Template:Flagicon Lucio Cesario	Alba AR2	A	114
					Giannini Carma FF 2.0L Turbo I4
DNF	C2	73	Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Template:Flagicon Cathy Muller Template:Flagicon Sue Ransom Template:Flagicon Margie Smith-Haas	Gebhardt JC842	A	95
					BMW M88 3.5L I6
DNF	IMSA	131	Template:Flagicon Kendall Racing	Template:Flagicon Chuck Kendall Template:Flagicon Jim Cook Template:Flagicon Peter Fitzgerald	Lola T600	?	95
					Chevrolet 5.8L V8
DNF	C2	80	Template:Flagicon Scuderia Jolly Club	Template:Flagicon Martino Finotto Template:Flagicon Carlo Facetti Template:Flagicon Guido Daccò	Alba AR2	A	91
					Giannini Carma FF 2.0L Turbo I4
DNF	C2	72	Template:Flagicon ADA Engineering Template:Flagicon Gebhardt Motorsport	Template:Flagicon Ian Harrower Template:Flagicon Neville Crichton Template:Flagicon Bruce Davidson	Gebhardt JC843	?	64
					Ford Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
DNF	C2	90	Template:Flagicon Jens Winther Denmark	Template:Flagicon Jens Winther Template:Flagicon Lars Viggo-Jensen	URD C81	A	42
					BMW M88 3.5L I6
DNF	B	113	Template:Flagicon Strandell Racing	Template:Flagicon Nick Faure Template:Flagicon Kenneth Leim Template:Flagicon Peter Clark	Porsche 930	?	0
					Porsche 3.3L Turbo Flat-6
DSQ	AC	64	Template:Flagicon Re-Car Racing	Template:Flagicon Allan Grice Template:Flagicon Dick Johnson Template:Flagicon Ron Harrop	Chevrolet Monza	D	114
					Chevrolet 6.0L V8
DNS	AC	63	Template:Flagicon Thomson-Fowler Motorsport	Template:Flagicon Bryan Thomson Template:Flagicon Brad Jones	Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC	A	-
					Chevrolet 4.2L Twin Turbo V8
DNA	C1	16	Template:Flagicon Terry Hook	Template:Flagicon Terry Hook Template:Flagicon Warwick Brown	Lola T610	?	-
					Chevrolet 6.0L V8

Note: Cars that failed to complete 75% of the winner's distance were Not Classified and are marked as NC in the above table.

Statistics

• Group C Pole Position - Stefan Bellof - #2 Porsche 956 - 1:31.600
• Group C2 Pole Position - Gordon Spice - #70 Tiga CG84 Cosworth - 1:38.000
• AC Pole Position - Alfredo Costanzo - #61 Romano WE84 Cosworth - 1:38.400
• IMSA GTP Pole Position - Jim Cook - #131 Lola T600 Chevrolet - 1:39.500
• Group B Pole Position - Helmut Gall - #106 BMW M1 - 1:50.500
• Fastest Lap - Stefan Bellof - #2 Porsche 956 - 1:34.500
• Average Speed - 166.468 km/h