The 1985 Pepsi 250 was an endurance race for Group A touring cars held at the Oran Park Raceway in Sydney, New South Wales on 18 August 1985. The race was the second round of the 1985 Australian Endurance Championship. It was held over 100 laps of the 2.620 km (1.628 mi) circuit for a total of 262 km (163 mi).[1]
The field was divided into three classes according to engine displacement.
- Class A : 3001cc to 6000cc
- Class B : 2001cc to 3000cc
- Class C : Up to 2000cc
The JPS Team BMW's golden season continued as Jim Richards drove his BMW 635 CSi to a second straight AEC win after winning the opening round at Amaroo Park. Unlike the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship and at Amaroo though, Richards did not have it all his own way. The 1 August homologation had seen the Ford Mustang back into winning contention and it was only a broken stub axle on lap 88 that resulted in the car losing a wheel which saw pole sitter and runaway leader Dick Johnson give up his stranglehold on the race (sturdier axle stubs had been homologated for the Mustang and the Palmer Tube Mills team had the new items, but did not have time pre-race to fit them to the car). Richards won the race by a lap from Peter Brock in his Mobil Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore with the Volvo 240T of Robbie Francevic finishing third. Francevic's 3rd place also saw him win Class B.
Dick Johnson showed the benefit of the homologation gain, putting his Mustang on pole with a time of 1:15.1, some 1.2 seconds faster than his pole time at the circuit for the final round of the ATCC just over a month earlier.
Results
Position | Class | No. | Entrant | Drivers | Car | Laps | Grid |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A | 62 | JPS Team BMW | Jim Richards | BMW 635 CSi | 100 | 2 |
2 | A | 05 | Mobil Holden Dealer Team | Peter Brock | Holden VK Commodore | 99 | 5 |
3 | B | 21 | Mark Petch Motorsport | Robbie Francevic | Volvo 240T | 99 | 7 |
4 | A | 30 | Yellow Pages Racing | Allan Grice Tony Kavich |
Holden VK Commodore | 98 | 4 |
5 | A | 12 | Garry Willmington Performance | Garry Willmington | Jaguar XJS | 98 | 8 |
6 | B | 27 | Network Alfa | Colin Bond Gregg Hansford |
Alfa Romeo GTV6 | 98 | 10 |
7 | B | 66 | Mitsubishi Ralliart | Kevin Bartlett Peter Fitzgerald |
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo | 98 | 9 |
8 | A | 3 | H. Kent Baigent | Kent Baigent Neal Lowe |
BMW 635 CSi | 98 | 6 |
9 | A | 39 | Graeme Bowkett Wayne Wilkinson |
Holden VK Commodore | 97 | 13 | |
10 | B | 23 | JPS Team BMW | Tony Longhurst | BMW 323i | 97 | 16 |
?? | C | 10 | Toyota Team Australia | John Smith | Toyota Corolla | ||
?? | C | 13 | Bob Holden Motors | Bob Holden Mike Quinn |
Toyota Corolla AE86 | 23 | |
?? | A | 36 | Lusty Engineering P/L | Graham Lusty | Holden VK Commodore | ||
?? | A | 14 | Auckland - Coin & Bullion Exchange Ltd | Denny Hulme Ray Smith |
Holden VK Commodore | 20 | |
?? | A | 19 | Ken Mathews Prestige Cars | Ken Mathews | Holden VK Commodore | 17 | |
?? | A | 33 | Mike Burgmann | Mike Burgmann | Holden VK Commodore | 19 | |
?? | A | 41 | Barry Jones | Barry Jones | Holden VK Commodore | 33 | |
?? | A | 37 | Brian Callaghan | Brian Callaghan | Holden VK Commodore | 15 | |
?? | A | 4 | I.M.B. Team Wollongong | Peter McLeod | Holden VK Commodore | 18 | |
?? | A | 29 | Ken Davison | Ken Davison Wally Kramer |
Ford Mustang GT | 29 | |
?? | B | 65 | Hulcraft Autos | John Craft | Ford Capri Mk.III | 27 | |
?? | B | Hulcraft Autos | Les Grose | Ford Capri Mk.III | 30 | ||
?? | A | 25 | Jagparts | Gerald Kay | Holden VK Commodore | ||
DNF | A | 17 | Palmer Tube Mills | Dick Johnson | Ford Mustang GT | 88 | 1 |
DNF | B | 77 | Peter Williamson Toyota | Peter Williamson | Toyota Celica Supra | 15 | 3 |
DNF | A | 8 | Terry Finnigan | Terry Finnigan | Holden VK Commodore | ||
DNF | A | 7 | Mobil Holden Dealer Team | John Harvey | Holden VK Commodore | 11 | |
DNF | A | 2 | Masterton Homes | Steve Masterton | Holden VK Commodore | 12 | |
DNF | A | 27 | Alf Grant | Alf Grant | Holden VK Commodore | 14 |
* The event had 33 starters[2]
Notes
- Pole Position: #17 Dick Johnson, Ford Mustang - 1:15.1
- Fastest Lap: N/A
- Race Time: 2:12:07.2
References
- Australian Motor Racing Year, 1985/86
- James Hardie 1000, 1985/86
- The Australian Racing History of Ford, 1989
- The Official Racing History of Holden, 1988