1989 .05 – 500

The 1989 .05 500 was an endurance race for Group 3A Touring Cars. The event was held at the Sandown circuit in Victoria, Australia on 10 September 1989 over 161 laps of the 3.10 km circuit, a total distance of 499 km. It was the 24th "Sandown 500". The race was sponsored by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation with the race name referencing the blood alcohol limit for driving on Victorian roads.^[1]

The race was won by Jim Richards and Mark Skaife driving a Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R for Nissan Motor Sport. It was the last race in Australia for six time "Sandown 500" winner and defending race winner Allan Moffat who retired at the end of 1989.

Classes

Cars competed in three classes:^[2]

Class A: 2501cc & over^[2]
Class B: 1601cc-2500cc^[2]
Class C: under 1600cc^[2]

Top Ten Shootout

The Top Ten Shootout, which determined the final grid order of the fastest ten cars from Qualifying, was run on a wet track. As a result, times were between 5 and 12 seconds slower than the drivers qualifying times.

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	TTS	Qual
Pole	17	Shell Ultra-Hi Racing	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra RS500	1:20.61	1:15.22
2	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock	Ford Sierra RS500	1:21.15	1:16.17
3	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra RS500	1:23.59	1:15.27
4	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke	Ford Sierra RS500	1:23.84	1:16.23
5	2	Nissan Motor Sport^[2]	Jim Richards	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	1:24.29	1:16.25
6	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra RS500	1:25.07	1:16.82
7	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Alan Jones	Ford Sierra RS500	1:25.42	1:16.25
8	3	Nissan Motor Sport^[2]	George Fury	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	1:27.38	1:17.06
9	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones	Ford Sierra RS500	1:28.75	1:17.26
10	18	Shell Ultra-Hi Racing	Jeff Allam	Ford Sierra RS500	1:29.57	1:17.23

Official results

Position^[3]	Class	No.	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Laps
1	A	2	Nissan Motor Sport^[2]	Jim Richards Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	161
2	A	16	Holden Racing Team	Win Percy Larry Perkins	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	160
3	A	3	Nissan Motor Sport^[2]	George Fury Graeme Bowkett	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	160
4	A	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton John Goss	Ford Sierra RS500	159
5	A	17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Dick Johnson John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	159
6	A	7	Holden Racing Team	Neil Crompton Steve Harrington	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	155
7	A	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones Mark Larkham Peter Brock	Ford Sierra RS500	155
8	A	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke Charlie O'Brien	Ford Sierra RS500	154
9	A	86	Gemspares	Darryl Hendrick John White	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	148
10	C	32	Toyota Team Australia	John Faulkner Peter McKay	Toyota Corolla	143
11	C	33	Toyota Team Australia	Michael Dowson Neal Bates	Toyota Corolla	142
12	A	22	Lusty Engineering P/L	Graham Lusty Alfredo Costanzo	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	136
13	B	50	W. R. Bryce^[2]	Brett Riley Ludwig Finauer	BMW M3	134
14	C	78	Team Maddison Racing^[2]	Geoff Full Michael Adcock	Toyota Corolla	133
15	C	39^[2]	David Sala	Richard Vorst David Sala	Toyota Corolla	130
16	A	45^[2]	Clive Smith	Clive Smith Paul Trevethan	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	128
17	A	14	Murray Carter^[2]	Murray Carter John Mann	Ford Sierra RS500	122
DNF	A	18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Jeff Allam Tony Noske	Ford Sierra RS500	111
NC	C	51	Bob Holden Motors	Dennis Rogers Mark Ducquet Kevin O'Neill	Toyota Sprinter	105
NC	C	13	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden Tim Hall	Toyota Corolla	98
NC	A	36	P. J. Hudson	Ian Carrig Ian Clark Peter Hudson	BMW 635 CSi	95
DNF	A	23	Beaurepaires	Chris Lambden Greg Crick	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	90
DNF	A	55	Playscape Racing Australia^[2]	Kevin Waldock Bryan Thomson	Ford Sierra RS500	87
DNF	A	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Alan Jones Denny Hulme	Ford Sierra RS500	87
DNF	A	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst Neville Crichton	Ford Sierra RS500	87
DNF	A	28	Joe Sommariva	Joe Sommariva Warren McKellar	BMW 635 CSi	75
DNF	A	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock Paul Radisich	Ford Sierra RS500	61
DNF	A	24	Jagparts Racing	Gerald Kay Alf Grant	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	53
DNF	A	9	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Allan Moffat Gregg Hansford	Ford Sierra RS500	12
DNF	A	19^[2]	Caltex CXT Race Team	Colin Bond Garry Rogers Ken Mathews	Ford Sierra RS500	2

Notes

Pole Position - #17 Dick Johnson - 1:20.61
Fastest Lap - #6 Andrew Miedecke - 1:17.02

References

^ Stefan Bartholomaeus, The Sandown 500 never shown on TV, www.v8sleuth.com.au Retrieved 17 November 2021
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Official Program, .05 - 500, Sandown, September 10, 1989
^ Australian Motor Racing Year, 1989/90, pages 250-252 & 300