The last time Supercars raced in the Tassie winter

This weekend will be the 51st Supercars/ATCC round at Symmons Plains, but just second held in the depths of winter in August – rewind back to the only previous occasion in 1999 when Mark Skaife mastered the rain.

The sight of Supercars at Symmons Plains has usually always been reserved for spots towards the start or end of seasons.

After arriving on the calendar as the season finale in November 1969, Tasmania became the traditional ATCC season opener throughout the seventies.

Even when it lost season-opening duties in 1982, Symmons Plains retained its familiar February/March window all the way up until In 1999 when it was moved to August.

After a five-year hiatus Supercars returned to Tasmania with a new spot etched in the calendar in November, mostly as the penultimate round until a return to the more traditional Autumn time slot from 2012 onwards.

But for 2024 Supercars are racing in the winter in the Apple Isle again, which creates an oddity and drivers will be hoping it won’t be as wet as the last time 25 years ago…

Below is the AUTO ACTION report from the time written by Ben Hocking.

On an extremely wet day at Symmons Plains, Holden Racing Team driver Mark Skaife overcame a race two scare to emerge triumphant in the absence of injured teammate Craig Lowndes.

Skaife succumbed to the wiles of resurgent Wynn’s Racing driver Greg Murphy in race one (who took Gibson Motorsport’s first race win since 1995) but almost lost control of his VI Commodore in race two trying to protect his lead from Murphy. Skaife did a masterful job to recover (at a corner where most didn’t and went on to win.

The cover of AUTO ACTION issue #851 documenting Mark Skaife’s victory.

From there he did not look back, winning the last heat, ahead of an est finishing Russell Ingall.

Skaife said the conditions were trying but at least he had relatively dear visibility. Behind him the biggest V8 field ever to start at Symmons (30 cars) struggled to see the ends of their bonnets.

“While it was a definite advantage having no-one in front of me, it was also difficult being the first one to each corner because I was like a pioneer,” Skaife said.

“In the second race I just braked in a puddle of water and ran wide and I thought I was lucky to keep it on the circuit and only lose the one position.”

Murphy’s race one victory was his first since 1997, and he was looking strong to take the day until he was caught out by backmarkers in race two, spinning down to ninth, and eventually finishing a livid 10th.

“Dugal (McDougall) and (Mike) Imrie were going 50 kays an hour slower than me and Skaifey and we had to slow right down to get past them and then he (McDougall) didn’t know what to do to get out of my way so I hit him and spun which ruined my weekend,” Murphy said.

“I understand that it is difficult though because visibility was poor and the track was very wet and I am still angry, but these things happen.”

If Murphy had a bad weekend then Paul Radisich’s weekend could only be described as a nightmare.

After qualifying on pole, his first since joining Dick Johnson Racing, Radisich made a wrong decision on setup for race one which saw him relegated to a battling third for most of the race.

Towards the end though, his rear tyres lost grip and he spun exiting the Victoria Bitter hairpin and was unable to rejoin.

Starting from rear of grid in the race two in treacherous conditions, an unsighted Radisich slammed into the back of Paul Weel, bending the front left chassis rail and damaging the radiator on his EL Falcon, ruling him out of race three.

Bargwanna and Ingall by contrast had magnificent races. Bargwanna, his VI finally on the pace, took a fourth, second and third  respectively to be second on the day.

Ingall, after being quickest in both practice sessions, qualified down in 10th but worked his way through the field to finish seventh and fifth and was challenging Skaife for the win in race three but ran out of laps.

The talk in pitlane though tended to suggest that Sunday may have been Symmons’ V8Supercar swansong (which proved true for five years).

Radisich and Murphy completed the first ever all all-Kiwi front row for the ninth round of the Shell Championship Series in an amazingly close qualifying session, which resulted in a shake-up of the normal starting order.

The session was lead by five different drivers at varying stages. By the time qualifying ended the top 20 cars were separated by less than a second and the top 10 were within 0.4sec!

Race One (22 laps)

All teams went out on the track on wet tyres to suit the miserable conditions.

Shell Helix driver Paul Radisich got away to a good start from pole but ran wide out of Turn One, allowing Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife through at Turn Iwo.

“We made a small set-up change from the morning warm-up but it took the car too far the other way and we were understeering quite badly, and the car was very hard to drive,” Radisich said.

Dick Johnson in the other Shell Helix Falcon also encountered handling problems, spearing off on lap two at Turn Two and beaching the car in the mud, bringing out the safety car.

“We just had two turning and two burning and I went off the road,” Johnson said.

When the track recovery vehicle came to remove Johnson’s car it drove straight across the track without looking for other cars and crossed just ahead of teenage V8Supercar debutant Paul Dumbrell!

Dumbrell, who narrowly avoided colliding with the truck, described it as a “scary moment”.

At the restart Murphy and Skaife immediately broke away to a healthy lead over Radisich, who was working hard to stay ahead of Neil Crompton, Jason Bargwanna and Jason Bright.

John Bowe (CAT Racing Falcon) started to struggle after 10 laps and battled to hold off faster cars. He eventually succumbed, falling through the field to finish 16th.

“I went alright for six or seven laps but then it started to wear out the back tyres and I couldn’t drive it down the straight in the end,” Bowe said.

Eighth-placed Privateer Cameron McLean held off Russell Ingall for most of the race until he was eventually passed on the penultimate lap through Pepsi corner.

Third-placed Radisich, meanwhile, spun at the hairpin on the final lap, and the whole field went by after the Kiwi driver was unable to restart his car.

“I just braked normally and lost grip on the rears and around it went and that was the end of it really,” Radisich said.

Murphy went on to win ahead of Skaife with Crompton third.

“It is fantastic. The car was great in the morning warm-up and was well balanced. It was starting to go away a little towards the end,” Murphy said.

“I was confident I had Skaife covered because the areas where he was good was under brakes I was able to make enough of a gap out of the turns to cover him when he got to a braking situation.”

Bargwanna finished fourth ahead of Bright, Cameron McConville, Ingall, Garth Tander, McLean and Glenn Seton.

Race Two (22 laps)

Mark Skaife leads the pack through the spray. Image: AA Archives

Skaife made a brilliant start and shot away to lead from Murphy in a rain-soaked race.

Bargwanna and Crompton went side by side through the first turn, with the Ford Tickford AU Falcon driver getting the better exit out of Turn Two to take third.

The conditions were bad at the start of the race and all drivers later complained of visibility problems.

Radisich, who started from the rear of the grid, ran into the back of Paul Weel because of the poor vision.

“I just couldn’t see and drove into the back of someone, I couldn’t even see who it was so I kept going but the car just stopped,” Radisich said.

The Shell Helix Falcon received radiator damage, as well as a bent front-left rail, which forced the polesitter from the day’s proceedings without so much as a finish in any of the three races.

The tricky conditions caught out several drivers early on, with race leader Skaife hitting a puddle on the track approaching Turn Six and sliding off line, which allowed Murphy into the lead.

“I was unlucky because I was already in the slide when I hit the puddle,” said Skaife.

“It was like pulling the handbrake on because got very sideways, and I was lucky not to go into the fence.”

On lap nine Bargwanna passed Crompton to take third, and as conditions worsened a number of cars spun off the circuit.

McLean was one of the first to spin as was David ‘Truckie’ Parsons, while Bright also went off.

On lap 10 Murphy came up to lap Dugal McDougall at the end of pit straight but got caught out by the slower car and hit him, dropping down to ninth.

“I am just really disappointed, there is a time when you should realise you shouldn’t be out there or just getting out of the way completely, it is as simple as that,” Murphy said.

“Dugal and Imrie were driving around 50kmh slower. I had to brake and change down to second to avoid them going around the sweeper going on to the front straight and I am usually accelerating by that time, that tells you how slow they were going.

“Dugal then got in my way when I was trying to pass him and he either had no idea where I was or had n idea where to go. We made contact and I was turned around.

“It is very hard to see out there, visibility is down to zero, but we had our headlights on so he should have seen us.”

McDougall, who said he saw the Wynn’s driver and was trying to get out of his way, was very apologetic for ruining Murphy’s race.

“I knew the lead car was coming up, we were approaching the first turn and I was going to move to the right-hand side but he obviously thought he was going to pass me on the right hand side,” McDougall said.

“I was going to let him go down the inside Or Turn Two but he gave me the bump on the exit of Turn One.”

A safety car, meanwhile, was brought out after the accident to put (Truckie’ Parsons out of a dangerous position in the dirt, which bunched the field right up again.

At the restart McConville almost passed Tander for fourth coming out of the hairpin but lander fought hard to hold on to the position.

One of the major problems for several competitors was the build-up of dirt in radiator ducts due to all the mud being dragged onto the circuit, which caused its fair share of engine problems.

Larkham was forced into retirement by the problem, while McConville persevered, although the team decided not to risk racing the Commodore in the final race.

Skaife went on to win from Bargwanna, Crompton, Tander, Ingall, Seton, McConville, Steven Richards, Bowe and Murphy.

Race Three (20 laps)

The third race, the wettest of the day, was reduced by two laps because the program was running behind schedule due to the rain and safety car periods.

Ingall, however, made his intentions clear right from the start, with his take no prisoners attitude evident as he passed Tander through Turn Two to take fourth and begin chasing down Crompton.

Crompton, though, made a mistake on lap five (“100 percent driver error,” he said) and went off at the sweeper, beaching the car in the sand and ruining what was a good performance for the Ford Tickford Racing driver.

The safety car then came out for three laps, which allowed Ingall to close on Bargwanna, and at the restart he began pushing hard to find a way past.

Ingall wasn’t able to find a way past until lap 16, when he went through the inside of the sweeper onto the straight. He then began to chase down race leader Skaife.

Ingall closed right onto Skaife’s bumper and on the penultimate lap ed a move around the outside of the sweeper. The HRI driver, however, kept his nerve and got the better run onto the straight to maintain his position until the end of the race.

“We are really happy because it is the first time for the VT here, and all of the VIs have gone really well,” Skaife said.

Ingall was disappointed not to overcome the final hurdle but was nonetheless pleased with his performance.

“It was really good racing. I had a bit of a go at Mark a couple of laps before the end and had it all locked up,” said Ingall. “He gave me enough room so it was good and close but there was no touching so it was enjoyable.”

Bargwanna finished a fine third ahead of Seton, Bowe, Larry Perkins, Murphy, David ‘Skippy’ Parsons, Johnson and Paul Weel, who rounded out the top 10 finishers.

The last race had a high attrition rate, with only 18 drivers finishing.

Tander, who ran fourth for most of the race, spun at the sweeper and did not complete the race, while the poor conditions also brought an end to McLean’s day when he ran wide into the dirt and speared off straight ahead at the hairpin.

John Faulkner endured a shocking weekend and retired from the final race with an overheating engine after the radiator duct filled up with mud from the track.

Mark Poole was also forced to retire when a rock punctured his radiator.

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