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1999 FAI 1000
The 1999 FAI 1000 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars. The event was held on 14 November 1999 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and was the thirteenth and final round of the 1999 Shell Championship Series. It was the first year that the traditional spring endurance race at Bathurst was part of the Australian Touring Car Championship.
The race was the third running of the "Australia 1000", first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. 1999 was the 37th consecutive year in which a touring car endurance race was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit and the event was the 42nd race that traces its lineage back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The event's naming rights sponsor was FAI Insurance.
57 cars entered the race, the first full field (55 cars or more) since 1990. Alongside the outright contenders, the "Privateers Cup" was contested by 28 Level 2 and 3 licence holders who competed in the sprint rounds of the 1999 season. 20 Ford Falcons (12 AUs and 8 ELs) and 37 Holden Commodores (15 VTs, 21 VSs and 1 VP) were entered in the event. Owen Parkinson Racing, one of the 57 entries, withdrew their Commodore VS prior to the event.
Paul Dumbrell made history as the youngest race starter (since surpassed by Cameron Waters in 2011) at 17 years, 2 months and 14 days; surpassing Bryan Sala's record (set in 1991) by a single day. Of the 114 drivers, only John Cleland came from outside Australia and New Zealand. Three-time 'Great Race' winner Dick Johnson made both his 26th and final Bathurst start.
For the first time the Bathurst 1000 was a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship and drivers had to now focus not only on winning the biggest race of the year, but also had to take into consideration their championship standings. Pushing too hard for a win and ending in the wall could prove detrimental for the championship, especially with Bathurst being the last race. Craig Lowndes entered the race with a 54-point lead over Russell Ingall, 172 on Garth Tander, 226 on Glenn Seton and 250 on team-mate Mark Skaife, with 300 points on offer for the race winner. With Ingall and Larry Perkins not quite on pace and a rare mistake when Larry missed the call from his crew to pit in under an early safety car, along with a tyre puncture, Lowndes' 2nd place with Cameron McConville was more than enough to secure him his 3rd and final title, the Holden Racing Team staging a 2-3 formation finish.
In 1998 Jason Bright crashed the #4 car in practice, and with great strategy and good driving won the race – but begun the 1999 edition in the same fashion as Bright once again crashed, this time at McPhillamy Park. However early in the race in the packed pitlane caused chaos under an early safety car, with Craig Baird dragging the pit boom for the #4 car down pitlane after a mistake from the team. Further technical problems during the race on ended any chance of them repeating their 1998 success.
A record entry in the V8 Supercars era of 57 cars (one unlikely to be broken) had to be whittled down to the track maximum of 55 for the race, yet in the first half of the race the attrition from driver mistakes was still as prevalent as ever and the safety car received a lot of running. FAI Insurance had a $100,000 prize if the winner could break the 1991 race record, however thanks to a then-record 10 safety cars they got nowhere near it – FAI did give Mark Larkham a consolation $25,000 for getting pole position.
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1999 FAI 1000 AI simulator
(@1999 FAI 1000_simulator)
1999 FAI 1000
The 1999 FAI 1000 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars. The event was held on 14 November 1999 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia and was the thirteenth and final round of the 1999 Shell Championship Series. It was the first year that the traditional spring endurance race at Bathurst was part of the Australian Touring Car Championship.
The race was the third running of the "Australia 1000", first held after the organisational split over the Bathurst 1000 that occurred in 1997. 1999 was the 37th consecutive year in which a touring car endurance race was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit and the event was the 42nd race that traces its lineage back to the 1960 Armstrong 500 held at Phillip Island.
The event's naming rights sponsor was FAI Insurance.
57 cars entered the race, the first full field (55 cars or more) since 1990. Alongside the outright contenders, the "Privateers Cup" was contested by 28 Level 2 and 3 licence holders who competed in the sprint rounds of the 1999 season. 20 Ford Falcons (12 AUs and 8 ELs) and 37 Holden Commodores (15 VTs, 21 VSs and 1 VP) were entered in the event. Owen Parkinson Racing, one of the 57 entries, withdrew their Commodore VS prior to the event.
Paul Dumbrell made history as the youngest race starter (since surpassed by Cameron Waters in 2011) at 17 years, 2 months and 14 days; surpassing Bryan Sala's record (set in 1991) by a single day. Of the 114 drivers, only John Cleland came from outside Australia and New Zealand. Three-time 'Great Race' winner Dick Johnson made both his 26th and final Bathurst start.
For the first time the Bathurst 1000 was a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship and drivers had to now focus not only on winning the biggest race of the year, but also had to take into consideration their championship standings. Pushing too hard for a win and ending in the wall could prove detrimental for the championship, especially with Bathurst being the last race. Craig Lowndes entered the race with a 54-point lead over Russell Ingall, 172 on Garth Tander, 226 on Glenn Seton and 250 on team-mate Mark Skaife, with 300 points on offer for the race winner. With Ingall and Larry Perkins not quite on pace and a rare mistake when Larry missed the call from his crew to pit in under an early safety car, along with a tyre puncture, Lowndes' 2nd place with Cameron McConville was more than enough to secure him his 3rd and final title, the Holden Racing Team staging a 2-3 formation finish.
In 1998 Jason Bright crashed the #4 car in practice, and with great strategy and good driving won the race – but begun the 1999 edition in the same fashion as Bright once again crashed, this time at McPhillamy Park. However early in the race in the packed pitlane caused chaos under an early safety car, with Craig Baird dragging the pit boom for the #4 car down pitlane after a mistake from the team. Further technical problems during the race on ended any chance of them repeating their 1998 success.
A record entry in the V8 Supercars era of 57 cars (one unlikely to be broken) had to be whittled down to the track maximum of 55 for the race, yet in the first half of the race the attrition from driver mistakes was still as prevalent as ever and the safety car received a lot of running. FAI Insurance had a $100,000 prize if the winner could break the 1991 race record, however thanks to a then-record 10 safety cars they got nowhere near it – FAI did give Mark Larkham a consolation $25,000 for getting pole position.