Video: Bathurst 1000 1992 – Skaife, Richards, and the Pack of Arseholes
It’s looking like another wet weekend on the mountain as we gear up for the great race in 2011, so let’s look back to the epic rain-affected race that took place in 1992. These videos cover the race’s utterly chaotic finale, as well as Jim Richards’ famous victory speech.
The rain came early in the race, hitting hard and sending drivers scrambling back to the pits for tyres. In the midst of this, Denny Hulme, the 1967 Formula One World Champion, radioed in to his team complaining of blurred vision. His BMW M3 then drifted across the track at Conrod Straight, hit the wall, rolled back across the track and came to a stop against the wall on the other side. He was taken to Bathurst Hospital where he was pronounced dead, having suffered a massive heart attack at the wheel.
As the race went on it went from the sad to the mad. The rain returned in a huge way at the 143rd lap, leaving many drivers stranded out at the back of the long circuit sailing around on slicks. The entire field made a dash for the pits, but many wouldn’t make it, aquaplaning off the road to visit the mountain’s many walls.
Among these was Jim Richards driving ‘Godzilla’, the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R in which he and Mark Skaife had been dominating the race all day, not to mention the last two seasons. Having suffered damage earlier in the lap, Richards was nursing the car back down the hill when he aquaplaned his way into a group of cars that had crashed at Forrest’s Elbow.
With cars collecting at the sides of the track around the circuit, the race was red flagged and Dick Johnson, who was running second until Richards’ accident, crossed the line with his Ford Sierra RS500 in one piece.
When it came to sorting out the classifications, however, the race was wound back to the last completed lap, as is standard practice with a red-flagged race. This put Jim Richards and Mark Skaife back in the lead, and gave them the win despite having crashed out in the chaos.
This decision proved controversial with the legion of Ford and Holden fans at the circuit, who booed Skaife and Richards as they took to the podium, chanting “Bullshit!” You just don’t see replies like Richards’ victory speech these days!
The full coverage of the race has been uploaded to YouTube, hit this link for part 1.
