1993 James Hardie 12 Hour

The 1993 James Hardie 12 Hour was an endurance race for production cars staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales on 11 April 1993.

The race was primarily for production cars but this year saw the introduction of two supercars, the Lotus Esprit driven by Bathurst Legend, Larry Perkins and the Honda NSX (called the Acura in the USA) driven by world MotoGP Champion turned tin top driver, Wayne Gardner. The Lotus took Pole position and the lap record but failed to finish. Gardner crashed the Honda on Skyline Drive spectacularly during practice and the car was a mess. The team had to fly parts in taken from brand new Honda awaiting delivery to its new owner. It was touch and go, whether the Honda would make it to the start. The rule at the time was that a car could start from pit row, provided it entered the main track behind the field during Lap 1. That meant it had to start and enter the track before the lead car of the race passed the pit exit gate. The NSX was still in pieces overnight and in the pre-dawn darkness the team were rushing to get it together. The rest of the cars completed a parade lap and took up their positions on the grid for the start but the Honda was still in the garage with mechanics rushing around. The front wheels were thrown on and It got a rough wheel alignment with a piece of aluminium rod at the last moment. The field had started and had taken off up and over the mountain, but the NSX was still very obviously not ready, its front airdam sat to the side of the garage. As the headlights appeared at the top of Conrod Straight and the field made its way back down the mountain, the NSX engine sprang to life. The team literally stuck the airdam on with some race tape and the car moved. The crowd on the embankment opposite the pits could see movement, but couldn't see what was happening behind the pit wall. The line of race cars turned Murray's Corner and the leaders roared up Pit Straight. Suddenly the NSX appeared at the end of the pit wall, and clear of the speed restrictions, Gardner gunned it and slid sideways out the pit exit as the race leaders were braking to turn in to Hell Corner. The crowd erupted.

Amazingly The NSX held together for the rest of the day, well almost. Late in the day the Honda's clutch failed. It still had drive but Ross Palmer, the gentleman racer who sponsored and drove was unable to change gears without a clutch and was losing about 15 seconds per lap. Gardner the professional driver took the wheel and even without a clutch sped the NSX up to within just a few seconds per lap of his best. The Honda held on for third.

Although the NSX stole the story of the race, the pace and reliability of the Mazda RX-7s saw them take 1st and 2nd.

Class structure

The field was divided into six classes:

Class A

Class A : Touring Cars Under 1800cc - featured a battle between Toyota Corolla and smaller, lighter Suzuki Swift.

Class B

Class B : Touring Cars 1801- 2500cc - was made up of a variety of cars, Citroën BX, Hyundai Lantra, Mazda 323, Nissan Pintara and Nissan Pulsar

Class C

Class C : Touring Cars 2501-4000cc - a class intended for six cylinder Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore saw an influx of naturally aspirated sports cars, Honda NSX and Porsche 968 which were expected to be outright threats.

Class D

Class D : Touring Cars Over 4000cc - featured V8 powered Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore with the production car version of the Holden touring car expected to be fastest.

Class S

Class S : Sports Cars Under 2200cc - was dominated by Toyota MR2 but also contained Honda CRX and Nissan NX.

Class T

Class T : Turbo and 4WD Cars - mixed class featuring small turbos, Ford Laser, Hyundai Scoupe and Mitsubishi Lancer but also larger Mitsubishi Galant and Subaru Liberty but was largely dominated by larger sports cars, Lotus Esprit, Nissan Skyline GT-R, Toyota Supra and in particular the factory supported team of Mazda RX-7s.

Results

Results of the event are given below.

Statistics

• Pole Position - #18 Larry Perkins - 2:32.89 ^[1]
• Fastest Lap - #18 Larry Perkins - 2:31.77 (147.37 km/h) ^[1]
• Winners' Average Speed - 136.09 km/h ^[1]

References

• Auto Action, 2 April 1993
• Auto Action, 16 April 1993