1999 Bob Jane T-Marts Super Touring 500

This article is about the Super Touring car race. For the V8Supercar race, see 1999 FAI 1000.

Layout of the Mount Panorama Circuit

The 1999 Bob Jane T-Marts Super Touring 500 was a motor race staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia on 3 October 1999.[1] It was the 37th and last in a sequence of annual touring car endurance races to be organised by the Australian Racing Driver's Club at the Mount Panorama Circuit, previous events having included Bathurst 500 races and, from 1973, the Bathurst 1000.

The race was open to Super Touring cars,[1] with FIA Production cars, GT Production cars and Schedule S cars[2] also invited to compete. Qualifying established the grid for a 100 kilometre preliminary race, the Bob Jane T-Marts Super Touring 100, which in turn determined grid positions for the 500 kilometre main event.

The Super Touring 500 was won by Paul Morris driving a BMW 320i.

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 heavy rain and poor visibility caused by fog across the top of the Mountain, 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 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 at The Chase while the lead car of Peter Hills / Ron Searle struggled with water leaks and electrical issues.

Official results

Bob Jane T-Marts Super Touring 100

Pos[3]	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos
1	3	Volvo Dealer Racing	Jim Richards	Volvo S40	16	1
2	1	Paul Morris Motorsport	Paul Morris	BMW 320i	16	2
3	4	Volvo Dealer Racing	Craig Baird	Volvo S40	16	3
4	88	Knight Racing	Peter Hills	Ford Mondeo	16	5
5	44	Knight Racing	Dean Canto	Ford Mondeo	16	4
6	9	Aaron McGill Motorsport	Aaron McGill	Ford Mondeo	15	8
7	10	TC Motorsport	Tony Newman	Peugeot 406	15	6
8	20	TC Motorsport	Anthony Robson	Peugeot 406	15	7
9	95	Phoenix Motorsport	Jamie Miller	Toyota Camry	15	10
10	14	MPD Racing	Mark Porter	BMW 320i	15	12
11	38	Rod Salmon	Rod Salmon	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V	15	13
12	12	Rodney Jones Racing	Mike Newton	Vauxhall Cavalier	15	15
13	15	Archerfield Speed Karts	Mike Kilpatrick	Porsche 930	15	16
14	22	Brian Bradshaw Race Preparation	Debbie Chapman	BMW 320i	15	17
DNF	7	Anthony Robson	Allan Letcher	BMW 318i	10	14
DNF	24	Bruce Miles	Bruce Miles	BMW 318i	3	11
DNF	97	Triple P Racing	Claude Elias	Hyundai Lantra	2	18
DNF	8	Project Racing	Jim Cornish	Nissan Primera	0	9

Bob Jane T-Marts Super Touring 500

Pos[3]	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	B100 Pos	Qual Pos
1	1	Paul Morris Motorsport	Paul Morris	BMW 320i	50	2	2
2	3	Volvo Dealer Racing	Jim Richards Cameron McLean	Volvo S40	50	1	1
3	4	Volvo Dealer Racing	Craig Baird Matthew Coleman	Volvo S40	50	3	3
4	14	MPD Racing	Mark Porter Mike Downard	BMW 320i	49	10	12
5	38	Rod Salmon	Rod Salmon Damien White	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V	49	11	13
6	12	Rodney Jones Racing	Mike Newton Andy Lloyd	Vauxhall Cavalier	49	12	15
7	8	Project Racing	Jim Cornish Roger Townshend	Nissan Primera	49	DNF	9
8	88	Knight Racing	Peter Hills Ron Searle	Ford Mondeo	49	4	5
9	95	Phoenix Motorsport	Mike Kilpatrick Jamie Miller	Toyota Camry	48	9	10
10	22	Brian Bradshaw Race Preparation	Dennis Chapman Debbie Chapman	BMW 320i	48	14	17
11	24	Bruce Miles	Bruce Miles Murray Cleland	BMW 318i	47	DNF	11
12	7	Grid Motorsport	Allan Letcher Jenni Thompson	BMW 318i	46	DNF	14
13	9	Aaron McGill Motorsport	Aaron McGill Gary Quartly	Ford Mondeo	39	6	8
14	77	Motorsport Developments	Malcolm Rea Dennis Cribbin	Toyota Carina	38	DNS	DNS
DNF	97	Triple P Racing	Claude Elias Paul Leabeater	Hyundai Lantra	34	DNF	18
DNF	10	TC Motorsport	Tony Newman Mark Zonneveld	Peugeot 406	25	7	6
DNF	44	Knight Racing	Dean Canto Leanne Ferrier	Ford Mondeo	24	5	4
DNF	30	Roadchill Express	Troy Searle Luke Searle	BMW 320i	9	DNS	DNS
DNF	99	Motorsport Developments	Clayton Haynes Carlos Rolfo	Toyota Carina	6	DNS	19
DNS	20	TC Motorsport	Anthony Robson Mark Zonneveld Rick Armstrong	Peugeot 406		8	7
DNS	15	Archerfield Speed Karts	Mike Kilpatrick	Porsche 930		13	16

Note:

• Italics indicate the driver practiced the car but did not compete in the race.
• The Rod Salmon / Damien White Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V was entered as a GT Production car.[2]

Statistics

• Pole Position – #3 Jim Richards (Determined from results of 100 km race)[4]
• Fastest Lap – #3 Jim Richards – 2:38.1390[5]
• Race time of winning car – 2:55:31.5969[3]
• Average Race Speed – 106 km/h[5]

References

1. Official Programme, Mt Panorama, Sunday 3 October 1999
2. Entry, Bathurst 500, Auto Action, 7 October 1999
3. Results, racing.natsoft.com.au
4. Morris Reigns on Mountain, Auto Action, 14 October 1999, pages 17–19
5. Race results, www.teamdan.com Archived 14 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 14 April 2018