July 1991
Round 8 Lakeside July 14. This was quite a rare event – a circuit hosting two rounds of the ATC. The development work done to the cars was graphically illustrated by Mark Skaife claiming pole going 1 second faster than the lap record he set back in April. The team experimented with different compound Yokohamas as well as hard and soft suspension settings. The cars were quicker with a hard suspension despite Lakeside's bumpy surface. There was some controversy when Skaife spun off the track blistering the soft tyres fitted. Gibson got the go-ahead from officials to replace the tyres with a new set, making some rivals unhappy [Shell series rules at that time were to qualify and race on one set of marked tyres]
Jim qualified third on the grid after a minor off during his hot lap.
During the race warm up, the GT-R's ran quite a few laps at race pace – and people were wondering about the durability of the soft compound tyres the team had chosen to use.
At the race start the GT-R's used their proven 7,800 rpm clutch dumps to rocket off the line, Jim getting past Brock for second before the first corner. By the 4th lap Skaife and Richard were 2.36 seconds clear of Brock back in 3rd. The Sierra couldn't maintain the pace and began to drop back with a blistering rear tyre. By lap 12, the GT-R's were 7 seconds clear of Longhurst's BMW M3 who had just overtaken Brock. The BMW pushed hard and eventually got the gap to the leading GT-R's down to 3.81 seconds – making the Nissan's drive harder than intended. Skaife pulled into the pits for fresh rubber, rejoining in 6th. One lap later, Longhurst drove around the outside of Jim's GT-R into a corner to take the lead. Richards pulled into the pits for new tyres, rejoining in 5th – Skaife was now 4th on the track. Both Skaife and Richards were able to pass Glen Seton's Sierra to make it into 3rd and 4th. Skaife claimed a new lap record 53.16, but soon began to slow with a misfire attributed to a fouled plug - Richards overtaking Skaife on lap 45. Longhurst and Alan Jones (both BMW M3's) crossed the line ahead of Richards and Skaife.
With a 3rd place, Jim had claimed the title in the slower of the two GT-R's. If Skaife had crossed the line in front – the title fight would have gone onto the next round. The rumours of Jim Richards leaving for Holden were put to rest when he signed with Gibson Motorsport for another two years pending sponsorship.
Thursday 25 July 1991 – The Bob Forbes owned GIO team take delivery of the first privateer GT-R. The car had been build by Gibson Motorsport as a customer car. One major issue that impacted the GIO GT-R was tyres. They were unable to get the Yokohamas that the factory GT-R's used, so were limited to using Japanese Dunlops. In Japan, there was a major tyre "war" going on with stiff competition in the Japanese Group A scene. As a result Dunlop Japan wouldn't supply their best tyres to the GIO team for fear that the GIO team's close ties to Gibson's team would see bitter rival Yokohama get their hands on the trick Dunlops!
The team were able to get about 50 laps of shakedown testing done before the final AMSCAR round at Amaroo, Mark Skaife helping to set the new car up. Gibbs commented that the Nissan people claimed it had no lag, but compared to his previous Group A VN Commodore, he could feel lag.
Longhurst grabbed pole, with Gibbs back in 3rd spot, still getting to grips with the new car.
The first race start was interesting: Gibbs making a demon start "I could not believe it, it just shot off the line. I was past Tony before he had even moved". He had been told to stand on the gas for maximum revs and dump the clutch. "I don't like working the engine like that, but that's what they told me, and that's what I did." By the first corner he was one second clear of the Longhurst M3. Mark Gibbs managed to hold the lead for the first lap, bit on the second was taken by Longhurst in an outbraking manoeuvre. Gibbs blasted past for the lead once more, but was again taken by Tony on lap 4. Over the next six laps the pair raced side by side, swapping the lead twice with Longhurst managing to take the flag by 0.2 of a second from Gibbs.
Race two saw a similar start for Gibbs, another launch from the second row and he was in the lead by the first corner. Gibbs kept the lead on lap two, with Longhurst nearly alongside. On lap 3 the BMW grabbed the lead for a few brief seconds before the Gibbs GT-R muscled past. Longhurst managed to get past on lap 7, and kept the lead up to the flag – winning by 0.36 of a second from Gibbs.
Overseas in Europe, the Nissan GT-R's dominate the Spa 24 hour classic. The Group A entry of Anders Olofsson / David Brabham / Naoki Hattori qualified on pole and lead the race from start to finish. The GT-R had a one minute lead before the end of the first hour. By the early morning - the GT-R was clear by three laps, eventually winning by a crushing 21 laps from the Porsche Carerra 2 in second. In the Group N class for standard production cars, the Nissan GT-R's finished 1-2. All three of the GT-R's crossed the finish line in formation.
August 1991
The final ATC Round, Oran Park August 11. Skaife claimed pole – he was simply faster than any other car in all the practice and qualifying sessions. The car was badly affected with a "pig-routing" exit to one of the off camber corners, the shock absorber rebound getting the blame. Team manager Fred planned to return here to experiment with suspension in the near future. Jim was a little slower in 3rd spot on the grid after similar handling problems to Skaife – at one stage the car scraped a wall after it jumped sideways. 9th on the grid was the GIO GT-R, Gibbs commenting he needed more time in the car. During practice he was able to lower his lap times by 2.5 seconds as he got used to the GT-R.
Skaife demonstrated the GT-R's launching capability once again, leading off the line. Jim however was a little slower off the mark and kept his 3rd position. Gibbs was squeezed back to 11th on the track in the opening corner scrap. At the end of the first lap – Skaife was nearly three seconds clear of the second placed Sierra of Bowe. There was a huge battle between Bowe, Richards and Brock for the second position, Brock managing to get past Richards. The Commodore was doing quite well with some special Bridgestone tyres and a fresh race motor (it was the fastest car down the front straight all weekend).
Further back Gibbs was baulked when he was faced with a RS500 hatch falling from the sky – Johnson had clashed with Percy's Commodore and the complete rear hatch had been torn off and hurled skywards. Jim was able to make it back to 3rd after Bowe's car started to develop a misfire, both Brock and Richards got past the slowing Sierra. Jim overtook Brock for second place, but shortly afterwards the GT-R's engine expired leaving oil everywhere. Jim later explained that the engine had done 2,000 km, and the failure may have been caused by a cam follower or valve breaking.
By lap 15 Skaife was 8.46 seconds clear of Longhurst and Jones who had got past Brock. Gibbs was up to 6th. At the end of the race, Skaife took the flag by 23 seconds back to the Longhurst and Jones M3's, Mark Gibbs bringing the GIO GT-R in for 5th place.
The entry list for Bathurst is released – there is a full field of 57 entries without resorting to padding out the entry list with the Group E production cars. There is a media and test day at Bathurst – some of the leading teams appear including the Gibson team. Jim cleans up the test day with the fastest lap (2:14.95s) and reaching 299kph on Conrod Straight. Win Percy almost matches with 297kph in his Commodore.
September 1991
The 1 September Sandown 500, again saw some of the major teams missing – the Gibson GT-R's and the Dick Johnson team didn't enter.
The GIO team bought their new GT-R out to play at Sandown. With a small field of 15 starters and a high attrition rate the GT-R driven by Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow won the race by 6 laps. It wasn't quite as easy as it sounds – Glen Seton had chased them very hard until his Sierra expired, and the GT-R was having some difficulties with the brakes. The Sandown 500 did demonstrate that the GT-R could last the distance in an endurance race. Roll on Bathurst!
The Gibson team reveal the drivers of the second GT-R – Drew Price and Garry Waldon.
October 1991
The first day of practice opened on Wednesday. The much fancied Shell 17 and 18 Sierras started off well with a split bore, and a detonated engine within the first couple of laps – the start of a disastrous Bathurst for the Johnson team. The Gibson team started bedding in brake pads on the #2 car. They felt it was a bit faster then the #1 car, so the team changed the lead car's specification to match the #2 entry. The ducts that had been removed earlier in the year showed up again on the GT-R's – the Gibson team figuring that Bathurst was very separate from the regular ATC rounds.
The GIO team GT-R was running well in the first practice sessions, they were pulling 2m 18 second laps without pushing hard. Mark Gibbs commenting he was more confident in the car with more time under his belt.
On the Thursday practice sessions Skaife turned in a lap of 2m 12.84 seconds, good enough for provisional pole. Richards was able to get within a second of that lap time on a full load of fuel. The team spent most of the practice sessions working with the brakes – last year had shown that the GT-R's were very hard on their brakes. Different combinations of pads were tried as well as different nozzles on the brake water spray. The second GT-R was a little slower, both drivers spending time in the car getting used to it. Draw Price managed a best lap of 2m 20s. The GIO GT-R was also taking things quiet. The team thought their Dunlops may give them a little trouble – they had a smaller rolling diameter than the Gibson teams' Yokohamas. If anything the smaller Dunlops gave the GIO a fair bit of speed: 4 kph faster up Mountain straight than the Skaife car. Gibbs put in a best lap of 2m 15.45 seconds. The BMW's that had been close to the GT-R's during the ATC managed a best lap of 2m 17 seconds – thanks to a special screamer engine that was built with only one piston ring on each piston and a higher rev limit of 9,700 RPM. Not bad for a naturally aspirated 2.5 litre engine!
On the Thursday practice sessions – the GIO GT-R had some computer problems that caused it to run roughly. The Gibson motorsport team plugged in their laptop and solved the problem. GT-R's now held first, second, and third fasted qualifying times. Gibson claimed the cars were in full race trim. He also announced the team could change the brake pads quicker than dumping in a full load of fuel.
The Friday practice session allowed the GT-R based teams to work on their race setups while the other teams were still working at putting in a quick qualifying time. The GIO team practised changing the brake pads, as well as the disc rotors.
Saturday's top ten shootout saw the fastest 10 cars in the field have a single lap on a clear track to try and get the pole position.
Drew Price cut a 2m 16.30 second lap for his run in the second Gibson GT-R. Mark Gibbs pulled a very clean and quick lap of 2m 13.88s. Mark Skaife drove a awesome lap and recorded a 2m 12.84s. Skaife later said "It was a pretty good lap, I got bit untidy in a couple of spots, but that is about as good as we could do."
The starting positions were settled: Skaife on pole (Richards would actually start the race), Gibbs in second, and Drew Price in 4th behind the Glen Seton Sierra. The top ten was made up of three GT-R's, four RS500 Sierra's, and three VN Commodore's.
The Saturday afternoon was spent with a little more practice changing the brake pads. The Gibson team were able to change the pads in about 35 seconds, the GIO team about 90 seconds. The reason for the difference in times was the Gibson cars were using 4 spot Nismo/Alcon calipers, while the GIO team had 6 spot calipers that took a bit longer to change the pads with.
Raceday – October 6 1991
The GIO team scored a prize before that start of the race – best presented race car. The race start was a different story – the GT-R's were expected to make their normal quick getaway, but Jim muffed the start and allowed the Gibbs car to lead into the first corner. By the end of the first lap Gibbs had a 2.75 second lead over John Bowe's Sierra. Jim Richards was able to out brake Bowe to claim second during lap 2. By the third lap Jim was in the lead.
The second GT-R of Drew Price had briefly scrapped for 5th place with a group of Commodores, but began to drop back with a very soft brake pedal. Price had to pump the brakes before each big corner.
Jim was lapping in the 2m 18s times, and by lap 6 had a seven second gap back to the GIO GT-R. Bowe was able to overtake the Gibbs GT-R shortly afterwards, claiming the fastest time down Conrod of 283 kph. Lap 10 had Jim leading Bowe by 11 seconds with Glen Seton back a further 2 seconds.
By lap 20 the lead was out to 13 seconds over Bowe, with Gibbs sitting in 5th place. Bowe pitted early allowing everyone to shuffle up one spot. On lap 29 the second Gibson team GT-R pitted for a 27 second pitstop – a fresh set of tyres and a load of fuel. The brake pads weren't changed as Drew Price had got used to the soggy brakes. The GIO team pitted on lap 32 for a front brake pad change – which was done in 1 minute. Rohan Onslow took over the driving and resumed in 8th place. The team examined the old pads to monitor the wear, they were only half worn but the team decided to change the pads at every stop anyway.
The second Gibson GT-R began to have troubles around this time. The first problem was a bad vibration and handling from the fresh tyres. Price bought the GT-R into the pits for fresh rubber and a check over. The vibration was gone. A couple of laps later a turbo hose blew off. During the pitstop to rectify that problem, the team changed the brake pads. All these dramas saw the car drop to 32nd place, 15 minutes behind the leading Richards / Skaife GT-R.
Jim pulled the GT-R into the pits on lap 36 for tyres, fuel and Skaife. The stop was completed in 25 seconds, and dropped the car into second. Skaife pulled a blistering 2m 16s lap, more than 4 seconds faster then Dick Johnson who was currently leading. Dick pitted, handing the lead back to Skaife.
At lap 40 Skaife led the Seton Sierra by 37 seconds. The GIO GT-R was back in 9th position, with the Price / Waldon GT-R way back in 30th. The pace of the leading GT-R was such that it was lapping other cars in the top ten by the second hour.
The Price / Waldon GT-R pitted again on lap 45 for a quick diagnostic to work out why the car was off song. An intercooler hose was replaced, and Garry Waldon left the pits to find the car back at full health.
Skaife pulled into the pits with a lead of 2m 5 seconds over John Bowe. The stop took 50 seconds for a full load of fuel, tyres, a brake pad change and Jim Richards to take over driving. The GT-R resumed still in the lead. On lap 69 the GIO GT-R with Rohan Onslow pitted for a pad change, he resumed in 7th place after a 52 second stop. The Gibson team started planning a rear brake pad change – they had initially planned to change only the front pads, but got the pads ready for the next stop. The rear pads took much longer to change than the fronts. Out in front, Richards was in cruise mode. The gap back to Glen Seton was around the two minute mark. Seton was pushing his Sierra very hard, but Jim was able to respond easily matching the 2m 19's that Seton was pulling. Jim potentially could go 2 seconds a lap quicker if needed.
The GIO GT-R had a minor incident – it nudged a Commodore, breaking the left front headlight. Jim bought the leading GT-R into the pits on lap 95. The stop went to plan, the team changing brake pads on all four wheels, with Skaife back out in 55 seconds – still in the lead.
By lap 122, Skaife held a lead of 3m 22 seconds back to the Percy / Grice Commodore. Lap 123 and another pit stop for the GT-R. This time there was no pad change, and Jim Richards was back out with a fresh set of tyres and a full load of fuel, and still in the lead. Skaife put his helmet back on five minutes later and jumped into the second GT-R of Price / Waldon to try and bring it up into the top ten from 13th position. Skaife absolutely wrung the neck of the GT-R, recording the fastest lap of the race (2m 14.50s). He had set fastest lap in the lead car earlier (2m 16.60s) and was under that lap time for 15 of the 17 laps he did before the GT-R broke a rear half shaft and retired.
The GIO GT-R was up to third on the road by now, the leading Fords of Johnson and Seton had either expired or were close to expiring. The car came into the pits for it's final stop, no brake pad change this time, Gibbs staying in the car to the finish. The car rejoined in 3rd position. 14 laps before the end, Jim pitted the lead GT-R for the last time, taking tyres and fuel only. The pit crew cheered as he left the pits, starting the victory celebrations early.
On lap 156 the GIO GT-R developed a misfire – causing it to backfire up mountain straight. They still had a 1 minute lead over the 4th placed car behind them. The misfire got worse – the GIO team were in the pit next to the Gibson team – one pit was starting to celebrate, and the other were willing their ailing car on. Moffat gave his 4th placed car the instruction to attempt to overtake the GIO car. Gibbs was able to lap in the 2m 28s region, just enough to maintain his lead over the Moffat Sierra to the end of the race.
Jim took the flag – making the first outright victory for a Japanese car at Bathurst. Grice crossed the finish line 2 minutes 30 seconds later, in his speech on the podium he said "The Datsun was too good for us!" Mark Gibbs bought the misfiring GIO GT-R in for third place with the Moffat team Sierra in 4th (which was excluded after post race scrutinising)
In the background during the Bathurst race week, there were moves being made about the rules for 1993. Because of the economic situation and the ever increasing costs of running a Group A car, CAMS had moved to develop a new formula for Australia's leading category. The aim of the category was to provide close racing with a substantially lower cost than the current Group A scheme.
It was eventually decided that the new formula would revolve around the Holden Commodore and the Ford Falcon. At the time Australia lacked the technology to develop 2 litre engines like those used in the British Touring Car Championship, and it was decided that turbos were too costly for many teams to run. Both the Sierra RS500 and Skyline GT-R were costing around AU$500,000 for a competitive car. That kind of cost was well beyond most of the privateer teams. The v8 was the cheapest option to develop and race in Australia.
Holden and Ford took the unprecedented step of releasing a joint letter to CAMS during Bathurst – telling them to get their act together and set the rules for 1993, or Holden and Ford would consider other forms of racing (NASCAR / AUSCAR).
Wellington Nissan Mobil December 1 1991.
The Group A scene in NZ traditionally came to life every summer with an influx of the European and Australian teams. Wellington was a street race, with the road being closed on Friday with stands and barriers being installed frantically.
The first session was Friday lunchtime, an un-timed practice session. Skaife was seen to be driving quite hard – sometimes launching the GT-R into the air over bumps in Cable St. Wellington was always a place which made the little BMW M3s shine – they always put on a strong performance, and Longhurst was there with his. Longhurst was unofficially timed at 1m 28.7s, with Skaife at 1m 29.07, 1m 29.34 for Pirro (Schnitzer European M3) and Peter Brock pulling a 1m 30.7s out of his Commodore. The word around the pits after the practice session was that the track was very bumpy especially on Cable St, with Mark Skaife claiming he had to back off the throttle half way down the straight - “All four wheels are coming off the ground. It's unbelievably bad for the car to be in the air so long.” Longhurst used the word “exciting” to describe the bumpy ride. The new chicane was singled out for some negative comment as it allowed no room for error.
The next practice session was Friday night. The organisers modified the chicane by moving some of the tyre barriers further out, making a bit more room to pass though.
The M3 of Pirro ventilated it's block only two laps into the session before it could lay down some quick laps. The modified chicane slowed the track down, with the GT-R recording a best time of 1m 30.33
Qualifying Saturday
The European M3 was back out on the track with a fresh engine and a need to do some quick times. Pirro laid down a 1m 29.01s lap compared to the GT-R's 1m 29.69s. Brock even climbed the time sheets with a 1m 28.35s lap. Tony Longhurst had damaged his M3 when something broke in the suspension sending him into a minor collusion with a wall. As the session progressed, the times got faster. Jim Richards predicted a 1m 26s or 1m 27s lap from the GT-R with Skaife driving on sticky tyres. Skaife cranked out a 1m 27.62s lap followed with a 1m 27.60s. Pirro wrung his M3 and produced a 1m 26.7s lap, showing the speed of the little M3 around the Wellington streets.
The Gibson team reckoned they would have no problem knocking off the M3 in the afternoon practice session, despite the full field being out on the track (the morning session was limited to the Group A cars above 1600cc) The afternoon session was cut short by an incident involving a Corolla, a Commodore and a Porsche bouncing off the walls and each other. The Nissan team only had one lap with their sticky tyres with Jim driving achieving a 1m 28.8s lap which disappointed the team as they were faster on normal race tyres. Longhurst produced his spare M3 and ran a fast 1m 27.99s lap which was good enough for 3rd of the grid.
Sunday Race Day
Overnight the Schnitzer team had slotted in their race engine. Unfortunately it had a bad misfire in the race warm-up, slowing the car by as much as 20s a lap. The team worked hard to fix a faulty sensor for the race start.
The lights went green and the race had dramas with the first 10 seconds. A NZ M3 spun and caused the 20 cars behind to baulk. A Corolla ended up in the wall, ending their race pretty quickly.
At the start of the second lap Skaife had pulled out a handy 3s lead over Pirro, Longhurst, and Brock. A Corolla burst into flame on the front straight, which bought out the pace car for the next 15 minutes. After the debris had been cleared the race resumed at full pace once more. Skaife was able to hold a 3 second lead over Pirro for three laps, the Italian driving the nuts off the M3. Skaife claimed a new lap record of 1m 28.39s, but wasn't able to pull away much.
Skaife reported back to the pits that the GT-R had a handling problem, perhaps a puncture. The GT-R pulled into the pits for new tyres and resumed in 5th place. The GT-R returned to the pits twice more over the following 15 minutes before the team diagnosed a broken front differential – and converted the car to 2 wheel drive for the remainder of the race.
Fred Gibson laid the blame squarely on the bumps in Cable St. “What it boils down to is with out car being so heavy, it's bouncing and crashing down again and it has broken the diff. When we're going so fast down there, in excess of 200km/h and your leaping off the ground like that somethings gonna break.”
Skaife managed to lightly side swiped Pirro's leading BMW when he exited pit lane, there was no major damage, just some paint swapping. Dick Johnson also had problems with the Cable St bumps - “I was only running down there with half throttle so we could keep the wheels on the ground without wheel spinning – but even that obviously didn't work.” he said as his car was being fixed.
Brock made it up to second place when Longhurst pitted with a flat spotted tyre. At the halfway point Pirro had built up a 1 minute buffer back to 2nd place, with nearly another minute back to 3rd. Skaife had managed to get the GT-R up to 7th place despite only having half the normal traction. Longhurst made it through to the lead when Pirro pitted for a driver change and fuel. He lead for one lap until he was caught out with a slower car on the track. Longhurst collided with the slower car sending them both into the wall. TV footage showed Tony's head coming out the widow and his helmet hitting the wall, smashing the chin guard. If he had been wearing his open faced helmet as he normally does, he would have been killed for sure.
Light rain started to fall on the track which made it very slippery. Most of the major teams opted to remain out on slicks until the rain made it difficult to continue, the leading Pirro M3 ducked into the pits for wets along with Brock who was having difficulty seeing out a badly fogged windscreen. By this stage Jim Richards was driving the GT-R and making people remember why he was known as the 'Rain Master'. He held the GT-R wheel spinning most of the way down the straight and clocked in a 1m 30.45s lap.
The race finished at the 4 hour mark with Pirro and Winkelhock taking the flag in the Schnitzer M3, followed by the Brock and Perkins Commodore 2 laps down, and then the GT-R of Skaife and Richards another 2 laps back. Onwards to Pukekohe next week.
Pukekohe Nissan Mobil December 8 1991
Pukekohe had first seen the GT-R the previous year, this time the car was sorted and fast. The track had also seen some major track work with a resurface and the run onto the front straight cleaned up.
Pukekohe is somewhat of a home track for Jim Richards, he developed his race craft in a series of rapid Anglias, Escorts, and later his infamous Sidchrome Boss Mustang before he shifted to Australia to race full time.
Friday Testing
All the major teams had made it up to Pukekohe after the Wellington race. Only some of the smaller 1600cc Corollas failed to show. Tony Longhurst was back, his race car having been repaired (the car he crashed in practice at Wellington rather than the car that was destroyed during the race) he reported that he was OK apart from a sore rib-cage and neck.
Pukekohe is a much faster and open track compared to the Wellington streets, and the Commodre's and Sierra's were able to stretch their legs on the straights. The Nissan was fast, Mark Skaife clocking an unofficial 59.54s lap, about 2 seconds quicker than pole position last year. Jim was about another second slower, with the team calculating that with a light fuel load and sticky tyres they may be able to pull a 58 or 57 second lap. The team had virtually rebuilt the car since the Wellington race due to the extended period it had run in two wheel drive. The winning Schnitzer M3 from Wellington turned in a 61 second lap, with Longhurst 1 second slower (he admitted to feeling a little off colour at this stage)
Saturday Qualifying
Skaife reported the track to be more slippery than the previous day. As a result the times were not as good as anticipated. A couple of “balls out” attempts saw the GT-R pull some fairly quick laps; 58.86s, 59.19s, 59.10s, then the best of 58.69s. In contrast the Pirro M3 was able to pull a screamer lap of 59.91s. Brock managed a 61.17 lap to claim 3rd on the starting grid.
Sunday Race 8 December 1991.
Jim Richards started the race in the GT-R. It was a fairly slow start by GT-R standards and it was about two laps before he was able to open out a 2 second lead over the second placed Brock who was being hounded by the Schnitzer M3 driven by Pirro. Brock soon had to pit with a flat resulting from a damaged tyre valve which allowed the BMW through to second.
By lap 20, Jim Richards held a handy 20 second lead over Pirro, with 23 seconds back to Kevin Waldock's Sierra, closely followed by Alan Jones (M3) and Dick Johnson (Sierra). Johnson was soon out with a broken rear suspension, Dick quipping “A four wheel-steer Sierra wasn't easy to drive.”
Richards continued to extend his lead over Pirro for the next 20 minutes, at the rate of 1s a lap. Then, the GT-R was forced to pit with a puncture, which came back out onto the track in second place. What followed was a ripper of a drive from Jim Richards as he hunted down the M3 ahead of him. On lap 55 he claimed a new lap record of 59.84s, bettering the previous years GT-R lap record by 1.5s. The quick laps continued, Richards threading the GT-R between slower cars, pulling laps consistently quicker than the old lap record. Pirro was lapping in the 61 second region, attempting to nurse the BMW's brakes and tyres. Pirro eventually pitted to change over to Winkelhock, which allowed the GT-R to retain the lead, with 65 seconds over the second placed Brock, and Longhurst back in third.
Mark Skaife took over the leading GT-R and resumed 21 seconds ahead of Winkelhock, with Larry Perkins over a minute behind, with Longhurst 18 seconds further back. The race was into the last hour when a Corolla burst into flame on the front straight, which bought out the pace car.
After the pace car left the track, the restart was predictable, with Skaife motoring off into the distance, leaving Winkelhock under pressure from Longhurst. It didn't help that the Schnitzer M3 was the latest model and Longhurst's was last years. In turn Larry Perkins came under pressure from the two M3s, Winkelhock slipping past when the Commodore slid at the hairpin.
Skaife took the flag just under a minute ahead of the Winkelhock M3, with the Brock / Perkins Commodore back in 3rd, and the Longhurst / Jones M3 in 4th.
Post race Skaife was modest; “Jimmy did most of the work and I just finished it off”.
January 1992
Rothmans announce they will be sponsoring the Nissan GT-R team under the Winfield colours for the next year. It was part of a Winfield 'superteam' concept which saw Winfield colours on the Nissan GT-Rs, the Tatnell Sprintcars, Jim Read's Top fuel drag car, and 500cc Superbikes. $5 million was committed for the entire super team.
The new year also bought in some changes to the Group A formula in Australia. CAMS modified the format of the ATC series; instead of a single 50 minute race, each round was made up of two heats, and three lap qualifying sprint for the fastest qualifiers to determine the grid positions for the first heat – the grid for the three lap dash was drawn out of a hat. The second heat's grid was based on the finishing order of the first. A complex points system combined the days results over the heats – it was biased in that it rewarded consistency rather than outright placing.
The Nissan GT-R had a new minimum weight of 1,400 kg, a boost restriction to 1.3 bar which was calculated to cut the power to 336kw down from 477kw, along with a limit on compression to 9.5:1. The Commodores and Sierras were given an extra 50kg an an electronic rev limit of 7,500 rpm. This was designed to cut costs as the top tier Commodore teams were using 8,500 rpm in an effort to keep up with the Sierras which resulted in many broken engines. In contrast, the BMW M3s copped an extra 60kg. A CAMS performance review panel was formed to make running changes to the regulations during the series.
Winfield Triple Challenge, Eastern Creek January 1992
Friday Practice
This was the first outing of the Group A cars in their 1992 specification, except for the rev limiters which were not ready in time. Glen Seton in his Sierra was the quickest in the damp practice session, clocking in a 1m 39.05s lap, with Larry Perkins in an old VL Commodore slightly behind. Privateer Commodores filled out the rest of the time sheets, with names like Bob Pearson, and Terry Finnigan ahead of the Shells Sierras of Dick Johnson and John Bowe.
Qualifying
Jim Richards commented on the change in the GT-R compared to the 1991 specification; “Before it used to be a case of slowing for the corners and booting the car out, now without the power, we have to corner faster and go in quickly to get the pace onto the straights.”
John Bowe claimed fastest lap with a 1m 36s lap, ahead of Glen Seton's best, 0.78s slower. The two Nissan GT-Rs were just behind. In the second qualifying session saw Dick Johnson and Glen Seton trading fast laps, Dick achieving a 1m 35.83s, and Glen 1m 35.44s. Bowe managed a 1m 35.99 and Larry Perkins wringing out the VL for a 1m 36.53s lap. The GT-Rs were close together in their times and qualified 5th and 6th on the grid, Jim going quicker with a 1m 36.74s with Mark's best being a 1m 1m 37.39s.
Race 1
The first race was a 15 lap event, which was started without a warm up lap prior. There was some confusion on the grid when Glen Seton noticed that Dick Johnson was in full race mode, and hurriedly put his car into first gear just as the flag dropped. Bowe, Perkins and Seton were left squabbling for the same piece of road. Skaife managed to pass Bowe at the first hairpin, while Jim was under pressure from the privateer Pro-Duct Commodore. Dick Johnson in the meantime had pulled out a 1.6 second lead over Perkins and Seton by the end of the first lap. Skaife was just ahead of Bowe. Second lap saw Mark squeeze past Seton, only to have the faster Sierra pass on the straight, Bowe also passed in the same move. Seton was then able to catch up with Larry Perkins and engage in a high speed battle for second. They swapped position several times before Larry got sideways exiting a turn and allowed Glen through. Larry lost oil pressure and dropped out, letting Bowe into 3rd with the two GT-Rs close behind. Glen Seton was able to haul in the leading Dick Johnson Sierra after it began to blister the right rear tyre. Lap 10 saw Seton take the lead, with Dick starting to drop back. Bowe spun his car allowing the two GT-Rs though which then began to stalk the Johnson Sierra ahead. Johnson managed to hold off the two GT-Rs until the last lap, where they both attacked. Jim Richards was able to get second, and Mark third.
Race 2
This race had a warm up lap unlike the first. Some of the teams had made changes between the races – Dick Johnson had changed to a softer spring in the rear to try to help the tyre blistering problem, while the Nissans opted for a slightly softer tyre on the rears.
With the rule changes, the Nissans could no longer blast off the start line like they had in 1991. Jim managed to stay level with Glen Seton until the first turn when the Sierra pulled ahead while Skaife was attached by the two Shell Sierras of Johnson and Bowe.
By lap 2, Seton lead, followed by Johnson who had got past Richards' GT-R, Bowe getting past the GT-R next lap. The top 5 cars remained in the same order for the rest of the race, lapping within 5 seconds. Seton took the win 1.1 seconds ahead of Johnson, 1.2 seconds further back to Bowe and similar gap back to the two Nissans.
Post race saw some developments – few of the teams were happy with the regulations for 1992. Larry Perkins withdrew from the series, claiming the Holdens were penalised in comparison to the Sierras and the GT-Rs. He also claimed that the changes made to the GT-Rs didn't add up: “Everyone is saying that the Nissan only has 450 horsepower but they could keep up with me down the straight at Eastern Creek and I have 540 horsepower!” The GIO GT-R team threatened to withdraw from the series as well. The BMW M3 team wrung their hands and cried foul over their additional 60kg.
October 1992 Bathurst
And so it all began. The weekend before Bathurst arrives along with the first of the keen campers and the teams trickling into town. Everyone waits for the first session on the Wednesday to see who is going to be fastest, and who is going to last.
Wednesday practice showed the Nissans were the quick ones.
Qualifying
The official qualifying started on Thursday, the Skaife / Richards entry was under the 2m 15s mark. Johnson / Bowe, Mezera, and Longhurst were also fast in the morning session. In the afternoon Bowe was quickest, still fractionally slower than the GT-R had been during the morning.
The best times were:
Skaife / Richards (GT-R) 2m 13.82s
Perkins / Harrington (Commodore VL) 2m 14.08s
Johnson / Bowe (Sierra) 2m 14.56s
Niedzwiedz / Hansford (Sierra) 2m 14.98s
Longhurst / Cecotto (M3) 2m 15.26s
Seton / Jones (EB Falcon) 2m 15.53s
Mezera / Jones (VP Commodore) 2m 15.74s
Gibbs / Onslow (GT-R) 2m 15.75s
Brock / Reuter (VP Commodore) 2m 15.98s
Percy / Grice (VP Commodore) 2m 16.13s
Olofsson / Crompton (GT-R) 2m 16.17s – this was the second Gibson car.
Saturday Qualifying
The top ten run off on Saturday represented the last opportunity to improve the top drivers grid position. Dick Johnson grabbed pole with an awesomely quick lap of 2m 12.893s – the quickest a Sierra has every lapped the mountain, and only just fractionally slower than Skaife's pole time last year.
The GT-Rs were having a hard time with the extra weight they were carrying, and the boost restriction. The teams spent time carefully preparing the cars for the race on Sunday.
Sunday Race Day
A bit of rain was falling as the field took to the track for some warm-up laps. It went bottom up for Longhurst when his co-driver smacked into a wall and damaged the M3 – it was repaired in time for the race though with no lasting damage. Brock broke a tail shaft in his new Commodore, Unfortunately the team didn't have a spare VP shaft, but could make one up out of two VN shafts in time for the race.
At the start of the race, the field took off, except for Brock who had snapped his new tail shaft. Johnson managed to hold back Larry Perkins in the fast starting Commodore. Perkins then lost a heap of places when he grabbed 5th gear instead of 3rd. At the end of the first lap, Johnson lead Skaife, Gibbs, Mezera, Niedzwietz, and Perkins.
Skaife took Johnson at the end of lap 2 on the pit straight. Niedzwietz was able to make up a couple of places and took the Gibbs GT-R on lap 5. Gibbs started slowing and slid down the order until he was in 11th place. The problem was the GT-Rs windscreen was covered in oil, which the pit crew tried to get rid of by throwing buckets of soapy water at as it drove past the pits, the officials stopped them from that after a while.
After 10 laps Skaife had a handy lead of 5.2 seconds between the GT-R and the Dick Johnson Sierra. Another 10 seconds behind Johnson was Niedzwietz in another Sierra. By lap 20 the lead was out to 19 seconds, with Percy in the HRT VP Commodore now up into 3rd place.
At 11am the clouds got dark and the rain started. Nearly everyone dived into the pits for full wet weather tyres, except for the Nissan GT-Rs which remained out on the track, quite safe with the four wheel drive. This bought the Olofsson / Crompton GT-R up to second place. The Johnson / Bowe car was now more than 1 minute behind Skaife.
Much of the field were having difficulty with badly fogged windscreens (these days all the windscreens have heater elements in them), one team even smashing out their back window in an effort to clear the mist off the windows.
The lead Nissan pitted on schedule, and resumed with Richards driving, lapping four seconds a lap faster then the Johnson / Bowe car was able to. Not long after the 33rd lap, Denny Hulme passed away as his M3 drifted off the track and ran along the wall on Conrod straight. This bought out the pace car. Up until then Richards had almost managed to lap the Johnson / Bowe Sierra, but it all was lost when the pace car bunched the field.
When the pace car left the track, Richards lead Bowe by 6 seconds, one lap later it was 27 seconds. The leading GT-R managed a lap 15 seconds faster than Bowe. Crompton in the second GT-R was also lapping quickly in the rain. The rest of the field was 1 lap down.
In the early afternoon Gibbs picked up a large dent in the side of the GT-R when a Sierra had emerged from the spray on the track and was unable to avoid hitting Gibbs, the damage was only cosmetic.
At the 53rd lap point, the two Winfield Nissans were still leading, with Longhurst, Bowe and the GIO GT-R following. The pace car came back out on the track after Colin Bond's co-driver had clipped the back of a Commodore on Conrod, sending the Holden into the wall. Richards was just about to put Bowe a lap down when the pace car joined.
Richards used the pace car to pit for a load of fuel and a brake pad change. The rain was actually helping the GT-R conserve it's brakes. Skaife resumed the driving duties. The second car came in shortly afterwards for brake pads as well and a driver change with Olofsson returning to the wheel. Longhurst and Johnson where out there going for 3rd place, Longhurst had problems with his gear knob that had come off and was stabbing his hand with every gear change. Glen Seton gave an interesting account of the conditions: “You're just guessing down the straight, as soon as you get behind someone the heat from the car causes the windscreen to instantly fog. All you can do is to stick your head out the window and watch the white lines on the side of the track – that's how bad it is.”
By lap 71, Skaife still lead Crompton by 20 seconds, with a gap of five seconds back to Johnson. The rain was now blowing in sideways in a strong wind, the pace car came out again only 25 minutes after it had last been out – a Commodore had crashed at Forrest Elbow. There was a little debate weather to red flag the race at this point – the flag marshals couldn't see each other, but a report from a nearby town said the rain was going to back off.
Onslow in the GIO GT-R ran into the side of another car and damaged an oil cooler in the accident, he was able to get round into the pits to have it bypassed. Quite a few of the teams pitted to change from the wet tyres to slicks in the improving conditions. Skaife and Crompton continued leading, both of them on wets which were starting to over heat in the drying conditions. Skaife dived in for a tyre change and resumed still in the lead. Crompton did the same shortly afterwards.
As the laps climbed into the 90's, the track dried out and Bowe was able to make some ground on the Nissans, this was the best opportunity as he couldn't match them in the wet, but the dry was a distinct advantage to the Sierra. On lap 93 he dived past the Olofsson GT-R for second place. Skaife pulled out a few faster laps to maintain a buffer of about 30 seconds between the GT-R and the Sierra of Bowe.
At the 113 lap mark the Olofsson GT-R pitted for brake pads, fuel, and a driver change. The pads were inspected and found to be only half worn so there was no need to do a full pad change in the lead car. Crompton resumed, and shortly afterwards Skaife pitted for a driver change to Richards and fuel – no need for pads. Bowe was briefly in the lead.
Jim Richards had some dramas though – “I had a rag which I was using to keep the screen clean, only it got hooked up in the extinguisher and set it off! I would down the windows and got rid of the stuff.”
Bowe pitted on lap 117, for Johnson, pads, fuel, and a top up of oil. By 4pm Johnson was over a minute behind Richards, with the second GT-R about 50 seconds behind Johnson. A report came though of torrential rain and hail approaching.
On lap 144 Skaife was heard to exclaim “It's raining! Good stuff!” in the pits as he watched TV. Richards was out on slicks and it was hosing down. Over the top of the hill Richards had encountered a wall of water, the GT-R was uncontrollable and slid into the wall. The left front suspension was broken.
The track was in chaos – there was a large incident on top of the hill with three Commodores and a Corolla going into the walls. There was another Commodore in the wall near Forrest Elbow. After another two Commodores slid into the stricken car near Forrest Elbow, the GT-R limped onto the scene and aquaplaned into the mess. At that point the race was red-flagged.
The rules are quite clear – when a race is red-flagged and cannot be restarted, the results are taken from one lap previous. That meant that the lead Winfield GT-R had won. Richards said “I was going about half a mile an hour in low gear, then it accelerated off the track. I had no idea we had won. I expected a punch in the mouth when I got back but instead we won the race!” The second GT-R claimed 3rd place behind the Johnson / Bowe Sierra.
There was a very hostile reception on the podium that afternoon. The crowd was ugly, and Johnson wound them up in his second place acceptance speech. Jim was very upset when he took the podium “I'm just really stunned for words. I can't believe the reception. I thought Australian race fans had a lot more going than this. This is a bloody discrace.This is going to remain with me for a long time, you're a pack of arseholes!” he told the booing crowd. The corks remained in the champagne.
An upset Skaife later said in the post race press conference: “I just felt that what we got out there wasn't warranted. I feel sorry for Dick and John – their car was running at the end but rules are rules. Winners are grinners, and the rest can go to hell.”
And so closed a chapter in Australian motor racing history. The Group A formula had come to an end, the next year would bring a new series of Holden vs. Ford competition.
The End.
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