The 1999 Bob Jane T-Marts 500 was the 37th and last touring car endurance race run by the Australian Racing Driver's Club at the Mount Panorama Circuit, which had included the Bathurst 1000. It was held on 3 October 1999.
Contents
The race was held for International Class II Touring Cars, otherwise known as Supertouring with several other classes invited, but only two cars from other categories entered. Qualifying established the grid for a 100 kilometre prelude race, which in turn established the grid for the 500 kilometre main event.
Race
The race was very heavily weather affected with rain wreathing the circuit for much of the day, earlier blighting the Bob Jane T-Marts V8 300 race held for a combined field of AUSCARs and Future Touring Cars. The race spent many laps behind a safety car because of low visibility caused by fog, including the final 17 laps and was eventually declared after 50 laps, 31 short of the intended full race distance. Paul Morris avenged his disqualification from victory in the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 taking victory over the two-car factory supported Volvo team, Jim Richards driving solo as Cameron McLean was unable to take his scheduled middle stint because of the weather and because of tyre issues, and Craig Baird and Matthew Coleman. Fourth place and leading independent driver was young New Zealander Mark Porter who had so impressed team owner Mike Downard that he kept Porter in the car rather than take his own turn at the wheel. Leading independent team Knight Racing saw the Dean Canto / Leanne Ferrier buried in a sand trap while the lead car of Peter Hills / Ron Searle struggled with water leaks and electrical issues.
Bathurst 500
Italics indicate the driver practiced the car but did not compete in the race.