1991 Tooheys 1000

The race-winning Nissan Skyline GT-R of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife, pictured in 2015.

The 1991 Tooheys 1000 was the 32nd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 6 October 1991 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The 1000 km race was held for cars complying with the provisions of Australian Group 3A Touring Car regulations ^[1] with the field divided into three engine capacity divisions. It was the Round 2 of both the 1991 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1991 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.^[2]

Nissan driver Mark Skaife became the first driver since Peter Brock in 1983 to claim provisional pole position, pole position after the Top 10 runoff (with a then fastest touring car lap time of 2:12.63), the race win, as well as setting the races fastest lap, though his lap record in the race was set in the teams #2 GT-R and not the #1 he drove to victory with Jim Richards (Brock's race record lap of 1983 was also set in the team's second, #25 car, but that was the car he drove to victory with John Harvey and Larry Perkins).

The Richards / Skaife Nissan GT-R cruised to a one lap victory from the Holden Racing Team VN Commodore SS Group A SV of defending champions Win Percy and Allan Grice with the GIO Racing Nissan GT-R of Mark Gibbs and dual Australian Drivers' Champion Rohan Onslow a further lap behind in 3rd place. After having won the Sandown 500 in the lead up to Bathurst, 3rd place was enough to see Gibbs and Onslow win the Australian Endurance Championship and help win Nissan their 4th Australian Manufacturers' Championship.

The race was the first since 1986 that was run with no Safety car periods, with the overall race time of 6h 19m 14.80s breaking the 1984 record of 6h 23m 13.06s. The 1991 time remained as the race record for the 1000 km event^[3] until it was broken at the 2010 event with a 6h 12m 51.4153s race time. As of the end of 2015 the 1991 edition is still one of the fastest races in the history of this event, being the fifth fastest.

Divisional structure

Division 1

For Group 3A cars of 3001cc and Over engine capacity, it featured the turbocharged Nissan Skylines, Ford Sierras, Toyota Supras and a Mitsubishi Starion, the V8 Holden Commodores and a BMW 635 CSi.

Division 2

For Group 3A cars of 1601-3000cc engine capacity, it was composed exclusively of BMW M3s, both the 2.5 L "Evo" version and the original 2.3 L car.

Division 3

For Group 3A cars of Up to 1600cc engine capacity, it was composed exclusively of various models of Toyota Corolla.

Tooheys Top 10

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	TT10	Qual
Pole	1	Nissan Motorsport Australia	Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	2:12.630	2:12.84
2	4	GIO Racing	Mark Gibbs	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	2:13.876	2:15.08
3	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra RS500	2:14.892	2:15.26
4	18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	2:15.679	2:16.06
5	17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra RS500	2:16.033	2:16.56
6	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	2:16.071	2:16.44
7	2	Nissan Motorsport Australia	Drew Price	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	2:16.296	2:13.96
8	11	Mobil 1 Racing	Larry Perkins	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	2:17.018	2:16.20
9	35	Peter Jackson Racing	David Parsons	Ford Sierra RS500	2:17.581	2:17.54
10	16	Holden Racing Team	Win Percy	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	2:17.732	2:16.96

* After breaking Tony Longhurst's 1990 qualifying record of 2:13.84 by a full second, Mark Skaife lowered the mark again with a 2:12.630 in the Top 10. Skaife's Nissan GT-R also recorded a Group A fastest ever 293 km/h (182 mph) on Conrod Straight during the runoff.
* 1991 was the first ever all-Nissan front row at Bathurst. It was also Nissan's third Bathurst pole position after George Fury claimed pole in 1984 in the Bluebird turbo, and Gary Scott had done so in 1986 in the Skyline DR30 RS turbo. With three GT-R's, Nissan also had its best ever representation in the runoff, breaking the record of two set in 1982 and 1986.
* 1991 was the only time between 1988 and 1992 that a Ford Sierra RS500 did not qualify on the pole. Glenn Seton in the fastest Sierra was over 2 seconds slower than Skaife and one second slower than the GT-R of second placed Mark Gibbs. His time was also 0.952 slower than Klaus Niedzwiedz's 1990 pole time in a Sierra.
* Peter Brock made his first appearance driving a Holden in the runoff since the first Group A race in 1985. Brock qualified his Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV in 6th place. Compared to Skaife's speed on Conrod Straight in the twin-turbo GT-R, Brock's naturally aspirated V8 Commodore recorded 278 km/h (173 mph), though this was a substantial improvement as the older model Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV usually topped out at around 270 km/h (168 mph) unless aided by a tow from another car. Despite this the VN Commodores were in fact almost 1.5 seconds slower than the VL model had been in 1990.
* 1991 was the only time between his pole positions in 1988 and 1992 that Dick Johnson did not qualify his #17 Sierra on the front row.
* Drew Price (Nissan), Larry Perkins (Commodore), David Parsons (Sierra), and Win Percy (Commodore) were the only drivers not to improve on their qualifying time. Price lost the most time, losing 2.336 seconds, though he still finished 7th.
* HRT team manager and defending race winner Win Percy, who was competing in his 6th Bathurst 1000, made his first appearance in the Top 10 runoff. In four of his previous five races his cars had in fact competed in the runoff but it was his co-drivers - Tom Walkinshaw in 1985 and Allan Grice in 1987, 1988 and 1990, who did the driving on those occasions (Percy did not drive in 1986 and only qualified 18th in 1989).^[4]

Official results

The third-placed Nissan Skyline GT-R of Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow, pictured in 2015.

Pos	Division [5]	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos
1	1	1	Nissan Motorsport Australia	Jim Richards Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	161		1
2	1	16	Holden Racing Team	Win Percy Allan Grice	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	160		10
3	1	4	GIO Racing	Mark Gibbs Rohan Onslow	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	159		2
4	2	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Denny Hulme Peter Fitzgerald	BMW M3 Evolution	157	19
5	1	28	Playscape Racing	Kevin Waldock Brett Peters	Ford Sierra RS500	155	18
6	1	6	Alf Grant	Alf Grant Tim Grant	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	148	27
7	1	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock Andrew Miedecke	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	147		6
8	1	27	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan Geoff Leeds	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	146	24
9	1	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton Gregg Hansford	Ford Sierra RS500	146		3
10	1	50	Bryan Sala	Bryan Sala Graham Lusty	Ford Sierra RS500	140	35
11	1	14	Warren Jonsson	Warren Jonsson Graham Jonsson	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	137	28
12	3	78	Speedtech Motorsport	Geoff Full Paul Morris	Toyota Sprinter	140	39
13	1	3	Lansvale Smash Repairs	Steve Reed Trevor Ashby	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	137	16
14	1	26	Daryl Hendrick	Daryl Hendrick Chris Lambden John White	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	137	36
15	1	22	Perkins Engineering Formula 1 Investements	Graham Moore Michel Delcourt Peter McKay	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	136	21
16	1	34	Ray Gulson	Ray Gulson Graham Gulson	BMW 635 CSi	134	34
17	3	71	Toyota Team Australia	Ron Searle Don Griffiths	Toyota Corolla FX-GT	133	42
18	1	15	Toyota Team Australia	John Smith Geoff Morgan	Toyota Supra Turbo-A	131	17
19	3	75	Bob Holden Motors	Ted Dunford Brad Wright	Toyota Corolla	126	46
20	3	73	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden Rauno Aaltonen Dennis Rogers	Toyota Corolla	124	47
21	1	12	Ray Lintott	Ray Lintott Tony Scott John English	Ford Sierra RS500	122	20
DNF	1	18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Paul Radisich Terry Shiel John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	152		4
DNF	1	8	Caltex CXT Racing Team	Colin Bond Graeme Crosby	Ford Sierra RS500	152	14
DNF	1	21	Ampol Max 3 Racing	Bob Jones Mike Imrie	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	139	33
DNF	2	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst Alan Jones	BMW M3 Evolution	138		11
DNF	1	2	Nissan Motorsport Australia	Drew Price Garry Waldon Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R	135		7
DNF	2	52	M3 Motorsport	Peter Doulman John Cotter	BMW M3	133	32
DNF	1	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Gary Brabham Steve Millen	Ford Sierra RS500	128	15
DNF	1	17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Dick Johnson John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	123		5
DNF	1	24	Hersonne Engineering	Laurie Donaher Mick Donaher	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	123	38
DNF	1	39	Everlast Battery Service	Bill O'Brien Brian Callaghan Brian Callaghan Jr	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	116	26
DNF	1	43	Brian Bolwell Racing	Brian Bolwell Arthur Abrahams	Ford Sierra RS500	113	22
DNF	1	7	Holden Racing Team	Brad Jones Neil Crompton	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	100	13
DNF	3	77	Bob Holden Motors	Geoff Forshaw Richard Vorst	Toyota Corolla	96	48
DNF	1	44	Brian Bolwell Racing	Glenn McIntyre Dave Barrow	Ford Sierra RS500	93	31
DNF	1	19	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Kayne Scott Greg Taylor	Ford Sierra RS500	90	25
DNF	3	74	Peter Verheyen	Peter Verheyen John Vernon	Toyota Sprinter	86	44
DNF	3	70	Toyota Team Australia	Neal Bates Rick Bates	Toyota Corolla FX-GT	76	41
DNF	1	11	Mobil 1 Racing	Larry Perkins Tomas Mezera	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	65		8
DNF	1	35	Peter Jackson Racing	David Parsons Wayne Park	Ford Sierra RS500	60		9
DNF	1	41	Garry Willmington Performance	Garry Willmington Reda Awadullah	Toyota Supra Turbo	56	30
DNF	1	24	Peter Janson	Peter Janson Peter Gazzard	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	53	28
DNF	1	33	Pro-Duct Motorsport	Bob Pearson Bruce Stewart	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	48	23
DNF	2	54	Kiwi Motorsport	Keith Sharp Ian Spurle Edgar Salwegter	BMW M3	34	40
DNF	3	72	David Sala	David Sala Brad Stratton	Toyota Corolla	28	43
DNF	1	32	Pro-Duct Motorsport	Bob Tindal Darren Stewart	Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV	28	43
DSQ	1	10	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Gianfranco Brancatelli Charlie O'Brien	Ford Sierra RS500	158	12
DNS	3	76	Bob Holden Motors	Mike Conway Calvin Gardiner	Toyota Corolla		45
DNQ	1	36	Ron Masing	Ron Masing Greville Arnel	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo		49
DNP	3	79	Malcolm Rea	Malcolm Rea Brian Selby Garry Jones	Toyota Sprinter

Statistics

• Provisional Pole Position - #1 Mark Skaife - 2:12.84
• Pole Position – #1 Mark Skaife – 2:12.63
• Fastest Lap – #2 Mark Skaife – 2:14.50 - Lap 130 (new lap record)
• Average Speed – 158 km/h
• Race Time - 6:19:14.80 (new race record)

See also

1991 Australian Touring Car season

References

1. ↑ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1991, page 170
2. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Year, 1991/92, pages 238–239
3. ↑
   • Greenhalgh, David; Thomas B. Floyd; Bill Tuckey (2000). Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960–1999. Chevron Publishing Group. p. 479. ISBN 1-875221-12-3. 
4. ↑ 1991 Bathurst 1000 - Top 10 Shootout
5. ↑ Toohey 1000 Official 1991 Programme, Entry List, page 61

External links

• Australian titles Retrieved from CAMS Online Manual of Motor Sport on 28 September 1991
• www.touringcarracing.net
• race results
• 1991 Tooheys 1000 images Retrieved from Autopics on 28 September 1991