The 1985 Pepsi 250 was an endurance race for Group A touring cars held at the Oran Park Raceway in Sydney, New South Wales on 18 August 1985. The race was the second round of the 1985 Australian Endurance Championship. It was held over 100 laps of the 2.620 km (1.628 mi) circuit for a total of 262 km (163 mi).[1]

Layout of the Oran Park Raceway (1985–2010)

The field was divided into three classes according to engine displacement.

  • Class A : 3001cc to 6000cc
  • Class B : 2001cc to 3000cc
  • Class C : Up to 2000cc

The JPS Team BMW's golden season continued as Jim Richards drove his BMW 635 CSi to a second straight AEC win after winning the opening round at Amaroo Park. Unlike the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship and at Amaroo though, Richards did not have it all his own way. The 1 August homologation had seen the Ford Mustang back into winning contention and it was only a broken stub axle on lap 88 that resulted in the car losing a wheel which saw pole sitter and runaway leader Dick Johnson give up his stranglehold on the race (sturdier axle stubs had been homologated for the Mustang and the Palmer Tube Mills team had the new items, but did not have time pre-race to fit them to the car). Richards won the race by a lap from Peter Brock in his Mobil Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore with the Volvo 240T of Robbie Francevic finishing third. Francevic's 3rd place also saw him win Class B.

Dick Johnson showed the benefit of the homologation gain, putting his Mustang on pole with a time of 1:15.1, some 1.2 seconds faster than his pole time at the circuit for the final round of the ATCC just over a month earlier.

Results

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Position Class No. Entrant Drivers Car Laps Grid
1 A 62 JPS Team BMW   Jim Richards BMW 635 CSi 100 2
2 A 05 Mobil Holden Dealer Team   Peter Brock Holden VK Commodore 99 5
3 B 21 Mark Petch Motorsport   Robbie Francevic Volvo 240T 99 7
4 A 30 Yellow Pages Racing   Allan Grice
  Tony Kavich
Holden VK Commodore 98 4
5 A 12 Garry Willmington Performance   Garry Willmington Jaguar XJS 98 8
6 B 27 Network Alfa   Colin Bond
  Gregg Hansford
Alfa Romeo GTV6 98 10
7 B 66 Mitsubishi Ralliart   Kevin Bartlett
  Peter Fitzgerald
Mitsubishi Starion Turbo 98 9
8 A 3 H. Kent Baigent   Kent Baigent
  Neal Lowe
BMW 635 CSi 98 6
9 A 39   Graeme Bowkett
  Wayne Wilkinson
Holden VK Commodore 97 13
10 B 23 JPS Team BMW   Tony Longhurst BMW 323i 97 16
?? C 10 Toyota Team Australia   John Smith Toyota Corolla
?? C 13 Bob Holden Motors   Bob Holden
  Mike Quinn
Toyota Corolla AE86 23
?? A 36 Lusty Engineering P/L   Graham Lusty Holden VK Commodore
?? A 14 Auckland - Coin & Bullion Exchange Ltd   Denny Hulme
  Ray Smith
Holden VK Commodore 20
?? A 19 Ken Mathews Prestige Cars   Ken Mathews Holden VK Commodore 17
?? A 33 Mike Burgmann   Mike Burgmann Holden VK Commodore 19
?? A 41 Barry Jones   Barry Jones Holden VK Commodore 33
?? A 37 Brian Callaghan   Brian Callaghan Holden VK Commodore 15
?? A 4 I.M.B. Team Wollongong   Peter McLeod Holden VK Commodore 18
?? A 29 Ken Davison   Ken Davison
  Wally Kramer
Ford Mustang GT 29
?? B 65 Hulcraft Autos   John Craft Ford Capri Mk.III 27
?? B Hulcraft Autos   Les Grose Ford Capri Mk.III 30
?? A 25 Jagparts   Gerald Kay Holden VK Commodore
DNF A 17 Palmer Tube Mills   Dick Johnson Ford Mustang GT 88 1
DNF B 77 Peter Williamson Toyota   Peter Williamson Toyota Celica Supra 15 3
DNF A 8 Terry Finnigan   Terry Finnigan Holden VK Commodore
DNF A 7 Mobil Holden Dealer Team   John Harvey Holden VK Commodore 11
DNF A 2 Masterton Homes   Steve Masterton Holden VK Commodore 12
DNF A 27 Alf Grant   Alf Grant Holden VK Commodore 14

* The event had 33 starters[2]

Notes

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References

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  • Australian Motor Racing Year, 1985/86
  • James Hardie 1000, 1985/86
  • The Australian Racing History of Ford, 1989
  • The Official Racing History of Holden, 1988