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The 1990 Tooheys 1000 was the 31st running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 30 September 1990 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The event was open to cars eligible under CAMS Group 3A regulations, commonly known as Group A Touring Cars, with three engine capacity classes.
Contents
- Class structure
- Division 1 3001cc and Over
- Division 2 1601 to 3000cc
- Division 3 Up to 1600cc
- Tooheys Top 10
- Statistics
- References
The race, which was Round 2 of both the 1990 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1990 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, resulted in an upset victory for British driver Win Percy and 1986 Bathurst winner Allan Grice in a Holden Racing Team run Holden Commodore over the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra of Jeff Allam and Paul Radisich and the Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore of Larry Perkins and Tomas Mezera.
It was the first Bathurst 1000 victory for the Holden Racing Team and the team's first race win since Larry Perkins won the Group A support race at the Australian Grand Prix in November 1988.
Class structure
Class structure is as follows:
Division 1: 3001cc and Over
Division 1 featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras, Nissan Skylines and Toyota Supras, the V8 Holden Commodores and a BMW 635CSi.
Division 2: 1601 to 3000cc
Division 2 was composed of BMW M3s, a BMW 323i and a Mercedes-Benz 190E.
Division 3: Up to 1600cc
Division 3 was composed exclusively of various models of Toyota Corolla.
Tooheys Top 10
* After being fastest qualifier by almost half a second, and breaking George Fury's 1984 Hardies Heroes record time of 2:13.85 in the process (by just 0.01 seconds), and with his B&H Sierra the fastest car on Conrod Straight at over 290 km/h (180 mph), Tony Longhurst made a mistake in the shootout and lost over two seconds while team mate Alan Jones suffered gearbox problems on his shootout lap and did not record a time.
* Klaus Niedzwiedz, who was only 6th after official qualifying, improved his time by over a second to win his second Top 10 for Allan Moffat Racing after also winning the "for money only" shootout in 1988.
* The Gibson Motorsport Nissan GT-R of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife, which was expected to take pole, failed to make the Top 10, being only 0.04 behind the 10th placed Holden Racing Team Commodore of eventual race winners Win Percy and Allan Grice at the end of Friday's qualifying. During the final qualifying session, Richards reportedly matched Longhurst's top speed on Conrod.
* 1990 was the 5th and last time Allan Grice was the fastest of the Holden Commodore runners in the top 10. Previously he had led the Holden charge in 1982 (pole), 1985 (4th), 1986 (2nd) and 1987 (7th).
* V8 Holden's were back in the runoff after missing out in 1989, with the Larry Perkins / Tomas Mezera car, and the Percy/Grice HRT car qualifying over 4 seconds faster than the Commodore's had managed 12 months earlier.