The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 38th running of the annual Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 5 October 1997 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the first Bathurst 1000 race held after the controversial split between race organisers, the Australian Racing Drivers Club, and V8 Supercar, which led to Australia's leading touring car category contesting a separate 1000 kilometre race at Bathurst. That race, the 1997 Primus 1000 Classic, was held two weeks after the AMP Bathurst 1000.
The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was open to Super Touring Cars and featured teams from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. It could thus be considered as the first "international" Bathurst endurance race since the 1992 Tooheys 1000, which was the last Bathurst 1000 to be contested by cars complying with Australian regulations based on FIA Group A rules.
The race was won by brothers Geoff Brabham and David Brabham, driving a BMW 320i for BMW Motorsport Australia. The car of teammates Paul Morris and Craig Baird had initially been declared the winner of the race but was later disqualified as Baird had breached the race regulation which limited any one driver to a maximum of three hours continuous driving; they were placed 27th & last.The Great Race 1997, pages 228–231 A late race error saw the BMW Motorsport Australia team leave Baird in the car at the final pit stop instead of putting Morris in the car for the run to the chequered flag. This mistake cost the team a 1–2 finish for BMW. It was the second time in Geoff Brabham's career that he had won a major endurance race with his brother as a co-driver. The middle of the three Brabham brothers Gary, was one of Geoff's co-drivers when he won the IMSA 1991 Coca-Cola 12 Hours of Sebring.
Top Ten Run-off The fastest ten cars from qualifying contested a one lap "Top Ten Run-off" on the Saturday to determine the first ten grid places for the race. Pos No Team Driver Car Time Pole 2 BMW Motorsport Australia Paul Morris BMW 320i 2:16.5958 2 3 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Alain Menu Renault Laguna 2:16.6158 3 6 Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Tim Harvey Peugeot 406 2:17.1536 4 05 Vauxhall Sport Derek Warwick Vauxhall Vectra 2:17.2754 5 26 Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Patrick Watts Peugeot 406 2:17.5628 6 83 BMW Motorsport Australia Geoff Brabham BMW 320i 2:17.5857 7 34 Garry Rogers Valvoline Cummins Steven Richards Nissan Primera 2:17.9726 8 1 ORIX Audi Sport Australia Brad Jones Audi A4 Quattro 2:18.8756 9 7 Vauxhall Sport John Cleland Vauxhall Vectra 2:19.5864 10 23 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Alan Jones Renault Laguna 2:20.5274 * 1997 was the first time in which a car Peter Brock was entered in was driven in the runoff by his co-driver. In this case it was Vauxhall Sport team owner and former Formula One driver Derek Warwick who was in the drivers seat. Brock had in fact rolled the #05 Vauxhall Vectra coming into Caltex Chase during qualifying.* Derek Warwick became the 6th ex-Formula One driver to appear in the runoff following Jack Brabham, Derek Bell, Larry Perkins, Alan Jones and David Brabham.* Paul Morris' pole time of 2:16.5958 was 5.5798 seconds slower than Glenn Seton's 1996 pole time of 2:11.0160 set in a V8 powered Ford EF Falcon showing the difference in speed between the Australian 5.0 litre V8 formula and the 2.0 litre Super Touring cars.* Eight of the ten drivers were making their first appearance in the Bathurst Top 10 shootout. Only Brad Jones and Alan Jones (no relation) had appeared previously. Alain Menu, Tim Harvey, Derek Warwick and Patrick Watts, all British Touring Car Championship regulars, were Bathurst rookies.* Geoff Brabham became the first third member of a family to appear in the Top 10 runoff following his father Jack (1978) and his 1997 co-driver, his younger brother David (1993). As of the 2015 race, this is the last time the name Brabham has appeared in the runoff.* Appearing in his first Top 10 runoff, Steven Richards, the son of then 5 time Great Race winner Jim Richards, joined David and Geoff Brabham and Steven Johnson (the son of 3 time winner Dick Johnson) as second generation drivers whose fathers had also appeared in the runoff.
Official results
Pos No Team Drivers Car Laps Time/Retired Grid 1 83 BMW Motorsport Australia Geoff Brabham David Brabham BMW 320i 161 6:41:25.4072 6 2 1 ORIX Audi Sport Australia Brad Jones Frank Biela Audi A4 Quattro 161 +12.1517 8 3 11 ORIX Audi Sport Australia Cameron McConville Jean-François Hemroulle Audi A4 Quattro 161 +1:11.2559 11 4 4 Volvo Dealer Racing Jim Richards Rickard Rydell Volvo 850 159 +2 laps 13 5 8 Volvo Dealer Racing Jan Nilsson Cameron McLean Volvo 850 158 +3 laps 12 6 05 Vauxhall Sport Peter Brock Derek Warwick Vauxhall Vectra 148 +13 laps 4 7 16 Faber-Castell Racing Paul Nelson Justin Mathews Bob Holden BMW 318i 146 +15 laps 20 8 20 Brian Bradshaw Race Preparation Dennis Chapman Brian Bradshaw BMW 318i 144 +17 laps 25 9 21 MF Motorsport Mike Fitzgerald Jamie Miller Peugeot 405 Mi16 139 +22 laps 26 10 60 FAI Insurance Julian Bailey Warren Luff Honda Accord 138 +23 laps 14 11 45 Gun Motorsport David Auger Lawrie Kyte Alfa Romeo 155 134 +27 laps 24 DNF 64 CPW Motorsport Jason Richards Brett Riley BMW 318i 125 Engine 17 DNF 37 Fastway Couriers Tony Newman Dwayne Bewley Peugeot 405 Mi16 121 Oil Pressure 15 DNF 30 Roadchill Express Troy Searle Geoff Full BMW 320i 115 Engine 18 DNF 3 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Alain Menu Jason Plato Renault Laguna 114 Diff 2 DNF 26 Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Patrick Watts Neil Crompton Peugeot 406 112 Oil Pressure 5 DNF 14 HVE Motorsport Ric Shaw Anthony Robson Hyundai Lantra 110 Throttle Cable 23 DNF 34 Garry Rogers Motorsport Steven Richards Matt Neal Nissan Primera 84 Brakes 7 NC 88 Knight Racing Peter Hills Andrej Pavicevic Ford Mondeo 80 Not Classified 21 DNF 58 HVE Motorsport Paul Pickett Bill Sieders Hyundai Lantra 73 Suspension 27 DNF 6 Esso Ultron Team Peugeot Tim Harvey Paul Radisich Peugeot 406 70 Suspension 3 DNF 10 Phoenix Motorsport Neal Bates Mark Adderton Toyota Camry 64 Gearbox 16 DNF 23 Williams Renault Dealer Racing Alan Jones Graham Moore Renault Laguna 38 Crash 10 DNF 12 Nigel Barclay Nigel Barclay Blair Smith Jim Cornish BMW 318i 37 Engine 19 DNF 7 Vauxhall Sport John Cleland James Kaye Vauxhall Vectra 32 Power Steering 9 DSQ 2 BMW Motorsport Australia Paul Morris Craig Baird BMW 320i 161 Disqualified (Driver stint breach) 1 DSQ 89 Knight Racing Jenni Thompson Aaron McGill Terry Skene Ford Mondeo 56 Disqualified (Driving in wrong direction) 22 DNQThe Great Race 1997, pages 147–148 15 All Auto Parts1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 Entry List, Official Programme, The 35th AMP Bathurst 1000, page 62 Milton Leslight Dennis Cribbin Toyota Carina DNSBest individual times in each qualifying session, The Great Race 1997, pages 234–235 22 BMW Motorsport Australia Geoff Brabham BMW 320i DNS 38 Fastway Couriers Dwayne Bewley Tony Newman Peugeot 405 Mi16
Statistics Provisional Pole Position – #83 Geoff Brabham – 2:17.4276 Pole Position – #2 Paul Morris – 2:16.5958 Fastest Lap – #3 Jason Plato – 2:16.8034 – Lap 5 (Super Touring lap record) Average Speed – 150 km/h Race Time – 6:41:25.4072
References
External links Official race results 1997 Bathurst 1000 at www.supertouringregister.com