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The 1984 Sandown 1000 was an endurance motor race staged at the Sandown Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1984.〔Official Programme, Sandown 1000, page 43〕 It was the eleventh and final round of the 1984 FIA World Endurance Championship and was the first FIA World Championship race to be held in Australia. It was to be the first of a three year contract to race at Sandown, though the final two years would be cancelled. The event was the final round of the World Endurance Championship for Drivers 〔1985 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 86〕 but did not count towards the associated World Endurance Championship for Manufacturers,〔1985 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 87〕 the Group C2 Prototype FIA Cup,〔1985 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 88〕 or the FIA Grand Touring Cup.〔Autosport, 31 January 1985, page 37〕 The race was open to Group C1 Sports Prototypes, Group C2 Sports Prototypes, Group B GT Cars and IMSA GTP, GTX, GTO & GTU cars.〔 With their drivers no longer in a position to win the Drivers Championship, the Martini Racing team did not participate in this event with their Lancia LC2s. An invitational class for "Australian Cars" (AC) was also included for cars that raced in the Australian GT Championship, and the Australian Sports Car Championship. These Group D GT, Group B Sports Sedan, and Group A Sports Cars, did not conform to World Endurance Championship regulations.〔 The FIA only allowed five AC cars to compete and the drivers were not eligible to score championship points. Only four of these cars started, with the Bryan Thompson / Brad Jones Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC powered by a twin turbo, 4.2 litre Chevrolet V8 engine did not start due to overheating issues in practice and qualifying. Fittingly in Australia's first ever FIA World Championship event, the race included Australia's only two World Drivers' Champions. Sir Jack Brabham (1959, 1960 & 1966) and Alan Jones (1980) both participated as part of the factory backed Rothmans Porsche team. The race was Sir Jack's first and only World Championship race since the 1970 Mexican Grand Prix, though between 1970 and 1984 he had been a semi-regular competitor in Australian touring car racing. The race proved to be a financial disaster for promoters, the Light Car Club of Australia. The club failed to secure a major sponsor for the race, and were late in arranging a television deal so the race could be broadcast back to Europe. It wasn't until the last minute that the ABC decided to telecast the race. The official attendance was just 13,860, though many observers put the figure at less than 10,000. It was estimated that the LCCA lost anywhere from A$300,000 to 500,000 on the race. ==Qualifying== As expected, the Rothmans Porsche 956B of Stefan Bellof took pole with a time of 1:31.600 (prior to the race, the fastest lap of the 3.9 km circuit had been a 1:35.6 set by John Bowe in a 1.6 litre Ralt RT4/85-Ford Formula Mondial car during qualifying for the final round of the 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship). Sharing the front row was his team mate and rival for the World Endurance Championship Jochen Mass with a 1:32.300 lap. Gordon Spice qualified 12th and was the fastest Group C2 runner with a time of 1:38.000 in his 3.3 litre Tiga CG84-Cosworth DFL. Four times CAMS Gold Star winner, Melbourne resident Alfredo Costanzo, qualified the 1984 Australian Sports Car Championship winning Romano WE84-Cosworth he would share with car owner Bap Romano in 13th place and fastest of the AC class with a 1:38.400 lap, despite persistent understeer in the slow corners, and an overnight engine change from the 3.0 litre Cosworth DFV engine to a more powerful 3.9 litre Cosworth DFL. In the only IMSA car in the field, American driver Jim Cook qualified 15th in his Lola T600-Chevrolet V8 with a 1:39.500, while Altfrid Heger qualified his Group B BMW M1 in 28th with a time of 1:50.500 (the Group B cars actually proved slower than the production based Australian Group C touring cars had been at the circuit only three months earlier). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「1984 Sandown 1000」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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