The 1983 Castrol 400 was an endurance race for

Group C Touring Cars In relation to Australian motorsport, Group C refers to either of two sets of regulations devised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) for use in Australian Touring Car Racing from 1965 to 1984. These are not to be confused with ...

held at the

Sandown Park Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse racin ...

circuit in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 11 September 1983.Wayne Webster, ''Endurance Championship Round Three - Sandown Park'', Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, pages 294 & 295 The race was staged over 129 laps of the 3.1 km circuit, totalling 399.9 km. It was Round 3 of the

1983 Australian Endurance Championship The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars.CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1983, page 95 The championship was contested over a six-round series with all rounds run concurr ...

and Round 3 of the

1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to Group C Touring Cars.CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1983, page 95 The championship was contested over a six-round series with all rounds ru ...

.Wayne Webster, ''Australian Endurance Championship'', Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, page 288 The race, which was the 18th annual Sandown long-distance race,''Records, Titles and Awards'', 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-8 was won by

Allan Moffat Allan George Moffat, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-born Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins ...

driving a

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front mid engine, Rear-wheel drive, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car, manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 through 2002 across three generations, all of which incorporated the use of a compact, light ...

. The ease in which Moffat won his fifth Sandown endurance race put him as the hot favourite for the upcoming James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. Moffat had stalked early race leaders

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...

and

Allan Grice Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver of ...

before they both fell by the wayside leaving the Mazda to take its second straight win in the Sandown enduro. Second place went to the

JPS Team BMW JPS Team BMW was a former Australians, Australian motor racing team that ran from 1981–1987. The team's main focus was touring car racing but also ran in Australian Sports Sedan Championship, sports sedans and Australian GT Championship, GT ...

635 CSi of Jim Richards. The performance of the BMW suddenly saw the car as a darkhorse for Bathurst. Finishing third in their

Holden Commodore The Holden Commodore is a series of automobiles that were sold by now-defunct Australian manufacturer Holden from 1978 until 2020. They were manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of ...

were Warren Cullen and Ron Harrop. Pre-race favourite and pole winner Peter Brock suffered a rare failure when he lost the brakes on his

Marlboro Holden Dealer Team The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986 Australian Touring Car season, 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring car racing, Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and National Sp ...

Commodore early on and actually hit the fence, forcing him out of the race. Brock later took over the second MHDT Commodore from

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics *John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician *John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture a ...

and eventually finished third on the road, however he was later disqualified as he had not cross-entered to drive the #25 car. After a poor

1983 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1983 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 91-95 ...

in which he lost his crown to Moffat, Dick Johnson served notice that the

Ford XE Falcon The Ford Falcon (XE) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1982 until 1984. It was the second iteration of the fourth generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XE)—the luxury-oriented version. Histor ...

would be a force at Bathurst after development work had cured the big Ford's suspension problems. Johnson put the now green coloured car on the front row matching Brock's pole time, although after winning the start his race ended with gearbox failure only a few hundred metres later.

Classes

Cars competed in two classes: * Over 3000 cc * Under 3000 cc

Results

Top 10 Qualifiers

Race

Note: * Starters : 40 * Classified finishers: 16 * Running but not classified: 3 *

took over the car of

after his own car suffered brake problems. The Brock/Harvey car placed third, but was subsequently disqualified due to the unauthorized driver change.

Statistics

* Pole position - #05 Peter Brock - (

Holden VH Commodore The Holden Commodore (VH) is a mid-size car that was produced by Holden from 1981 to 1984. It was the third iteration of the first generation of the Holden Commodore. This new Commodore was an evolution of the previous Holden VC series model ...

) - 1:10.7 * Race time - 3 hrs 20 mins 0.4 secs * Fastest lap - #43 Allan Moffat - (

) - 1:10.9 (new lap record)

Notes & references

External links

Touring Cars 1983, autopics.com