The 1981 James Hardie 1000 was the 22nd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 4 October 1981 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The race was open to cars eligible to the locally developed CAMS Group C touring car regulations with three engine configuration based classes, a system used uniquely for this race.

For the first time the race did not go the full race distance as on lap 121, a six car accident blocked the track at McPhillamy Park Corner. The Ford Falcon of Dick Johnson and John French were leading the race at the time of the accident and were declared the winners, becoming the first Queenslanders to win the race. Bob Morris and British endurance racer John Fitzpatrick, also driving a Falcon finished second. A lap down in third was Allan Moffat and British endurance racing great Derek Bell driving a Mazda RX-7, the best ever result to that point for a Japanese built car.

History was made at Bathurst in 1981. For the first (and as of 2020, the only) time in the races history, a reigning Formula One World Drivers' Champion drove in the Bathurst 1000. This honour fell to Australia's own 1980 World Champion Alan Jones who co-drove with Warren Cullen in Cullen's V8 Holden Commodore.

After 8 wins in the race dating back to Bob Jane and Harry Firth's win in a Ford Falcon XL at Phillip Island in 1962, this would prove to be the last Bathurst 1000 win for the Ford Falcon until 1994. It would also be the 5th and last Bathurst win for the 5.8 L 351 Cleveland V8 engine.

Class structure

Class : 8 Cylinder & Over

This class was almost exclusively for V8s; Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons and Chevrolet Camaros. The exception being a V12 Jaguar XJ-S.

Class : 6 Cylinder (Includes Rotary Engines)

The class for six-cylinder and rotary-engined cars was contested mostly by Ford Capris, with a single factory supported BMW 635CSi and those Mazda RX7s entered, powered by Rotary engines.

Class : 4 Cylinder (Includes 5 Cylinder & Turbo)

The class for cars with four-cylinder engines included Alfa Romeo Alfasud, Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Ford Escort, Isuzu Gemini, Mitsubishi Colt, Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Bluebird Turbo, Toyota Celica, Toyota Corolla, Triumph Dolomite and Volkswagen Golf.

Hardies Heroes

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Time
Pole	9	Nine Network Racing Team	Kevin Bartlett	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	2:36.432
2	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson	Ford XD Falcon	2:38.813
3	05	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock	Holden VC Commodore	2:39.043
4	7	Bob Morris Motor Sport	Bob Morris	Ford XD Falcon	2:39.339
5	43	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing	Allan Moffat	Mazda RX-7	2:39.443
6	11	Soundwave Discos	Garry Rogers	Holden VC Commodore	2:41.315
7	3	Cadbury Schweppes Racing	Larry Perkins	Holden VC Commodore	2:42.621
8	25	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey	Holden VC Commodore	2:43.018
9	21	Ron Dickson	Ron Dickson	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	2:44.505
10	27	Roadways Racing	Garth Wigston	Holden VC Commodore	2:46.248

* This was the first Top 10 shootout to be held in wet conditions, though conditions were damp for the first ever shootout in 1978.^[1]
* For the 2nd year running, Kevin Bartlett was fastest qualifier and won Hardies Heroes in his Channel 9 sponsored Chevrolet Camaro. It was also the second year in a row that Dick Johnson would equal Bartlett's time in qualifying, but would be slower in the shootout. Due to the extremely wet conditions, Bartlett's runoff time was almost 16 seconds slower than his time in qualifying.
* This was the first time a car powered by something other than a V8 engine had contested Hardies Heroes. The honor went to the 12A Rotary powered Mazda RX-7 of Allan Moffat who ended up 5th on the grid.
* The gap of 2.381 seconds between Bartlett and Johnson broke the 1979 record of 1.966 seconds between Peter Brock and Bob Morris. As of the 2018 race, Bartlett's shootout record remains unbeaten.

Race

The race was stopped on lap 122 because of a multiple-car incident that blocked the track at McPhillamy Park Corner. The accident began with a collision between the Ford Falcons of Bob Morris and Christine Gibson. Garry Rogers and Tony Edmondson (both driving Holden Commodores) and the Isuzu Gemini of David Seldon collided with already crashed cars with the Chevrolet Camaro of Kevin Bartlett being the final car to be involved.

According to the regulations, the race was declared based on the timesheets as the race leader, at the time John French, completed lap 120. This is done so that crashed vehicles can be included in the results. This was particularly significant in this instance as a significant number of the vehicles involved held high race position. Morris was second, Rogers fourth, Edmondson fifth and Christine Gibson sixth.

Results

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos
1	8 Cylinder & Over	17	Palmer Tube Mills	Dick Johnson John French	Ford XD Falcon	120	1	2
2	8 Cylinder & Over	7	Bob Morris Motor Sport	Bob Morris John Fitzpatrick	Ford XD Falcon	120	4	4
3	6 Cylinder & Rotary	43	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing	Allan Moffat Derek Bell	Mazda RX-7	119	9	5
4	8 Cylinder & Over	11	Soundwave Discos	Garry Rogers Clive Benson-Browne	Holden VC Commodore	118	7	6
5	8 Cylinder & Over	4	Re-Car Racing	Alan Browne Tony Edmondson	Holden VC Commodore	117	11
6	8 Cylinder & Over	20	King George Tavern	Joe Moore Christine Gibson	Ford XD Falcon	115	25
7	6 Cylinder & Rotary	44	JPS Team BMW	Allan Grice David Hobbs	BMW 635 CSi	113	12
8	6 Cylinder & Rotary	32	Masterton Homes	Colin Bond Don Smith	Ford Capri Mk.II	113	32
9	8 Cylinder & Over	8	Garry Willmington Performance	Garry Willmington Mike Griffin	Ford XD Falcon	113	18
10	8 Cylinder & Over	15	Valley Meat Hall	John English John Donnelly	Ford XD Falcon	112	22
11	6 Cylinder & Rotary	33	Masterton Homes	Steve Masterton Bruce Stewart	Ford Capri Mk.II	111	34
12	4 Cylinder	77	Peter Williamson Toyota	Peter Williamson John Smith	Toyota Celica	111	36
13	8 Cylinder & Over	9	Nine Network Racing Team	Kevin Bartlett Bob Forbes	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	111	2	1
14	8 Cylinder & Over	29	Brian Callaghan Racing	Brian Callaghan Peter McKay	Ford XD Falcon	111	24
15	8 Cylinder & Over	26	Scotty Taylor Holden	Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy	Holden VC Commodore	109	29
16	8 Cylinder & Over	21	Ron Dickson	Ron Dickson Bob Stevens	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	108	10	9
17	6 Cylinder & Rotary	39	Capri Components	Lawrie Nelson Peter Jones	Ford Capri Mk.III	108	41
18	6 Cylinder & Rotary	46	Hulcraft Autos	John Gates John Craft	Ford Capri Mk.III	108	40
19	4 Cylinder	50	Gary Leggatt	Gary Leggatt Phil McDonnell	Alfa Romeo GTV6	107	45
20	4 Cylinder	60	Country Dealer Team	Jim Faneco Allan Gough	Isuzu Gemini	103	52
21	8 Cylinder & Over	05	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Peter Brock Jim Richards	Holden VC Commodore	103	3	3
22	8 Cylinder & Over	6	John Sands Racing	Rusty French Leo Leonard	Ford XD Falcon	100	30
23	4 Cylinder	68	Dandenong Mitsubishi	Rod Stevens Craig Bradtke	Mitsubishi Lancer	100	53
24	4 Cylinder	59	Bathurst Light Car Club	Tony Mulvihill Brian Nightingale	Ford Escort Mk.II RS2000	97	56
25	8 Cylinder & Over	31	Ron Dickson	Graham Moore Steve Dymand	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	96	28
26	6 Cylinder & Rotary	40	Peter McLeod	Peter McLeod Peter Dane	Mazda RX-7	96	28
27	4 Cylinder	64	Bob Holden Motors	Phillip Revell Ron Barnacle	Ford Escort Mk.II 1.6	93	59
28	8 Cylinder & Over	24	Army Reserve Racing Team	Bob Muir Ian Geoghegan	Ford XD Falcon	92	13
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	18	Murray Carter Racing	Murray Carter Graeme Lawrence	Ford XD Falcon	109	16
DNF	4 Cylinder	62	Alexandra Surplice	Alexandra Surplice Doug Clark	Toyota Corolla Levin	88	47
NC	8 Cylinder & Over	14	Fred Geissler	Fred Geissler Graham Watson	Holden VC Commodore	85	14
NC	4 Cylinder	66	Scottune	Ian Burrell Rob Shute	Mitsubishi Colt	83	57
NC	4 Cylinder	49	Jagparts	Martin Power Brian Winsall	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	80	55
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	16	Re-Car Racing	Ron Wanless Ralph Radburn	Holden VC Commodore	79	15
NC	4 Cylinder	70	Colin Spencer	Colin Spencer John White	Isuzu Gemini	75	60
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	30	Everlast Battery Service	Bill O'Brien Gary Cooke	Ford XD Falcon	74	17
DNF	6 Cylinder & Rotary	41	West End Mazda	Barry Jones Geoff Leeds	Mazda RX-7	74	26
DNF	4 Cylinder	61	Rex Monaghan	Ray Cutchie Ray Farrar	Ford Escort Mk.II 1.6	73	58
NC	8 Cylinder & Over	10	John Goss Racing	John Goss Barry Seton	Jaguar XJ-S	73	19
NC	4 Cylinder	63	Cherry City Ford	John Faulkner Gary Dumbrell	Ford Escort Mk.II 2.0 GL	72	51
NC	4 Cylinder	57	Sutton Motors P/L	David Seldon Gary Rowe	Isuzu Gemini ZZ	70	46
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	3	Cadbury Schweppes Racing	Peter Janson Larry Perkins	Holden VC Commodore	67	8	7
DNF	4 Cylinder	56	Nissan Motor Co.	Masahiro Hasemi Kazuyoshi Hoshino	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	66	31
DNF	6 Cylinder & Rotary	37	Trend Windows P/L	Terry Daly Peter Hopwood	Ford Capri Mk.II	56	37
DNF	6 Cylinder & Rotary	45	Precinct Performance P/L	Allan Bryant Dean Gall	Mazda RX-7	54	39
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	27	Roadways Racing	Garth Wigston Steve Harrington	Holden VC Commodore	53	6	10
DNF	4 Cylinder	47	Walter Scott	Walter Scott Peter Walton	Toyota Celica	50	48
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	12	Warren Cullen	Warren Cullen Alan Jones	Holden VC Commodore	48	20
DNF	6 Cylinder & Rotary	35	Alexander Rotary Engines	Phil Alexander Ron Gillard	Mazda RX-7	46	38
DNF	4 Cylinder	52	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden Wally Storey	Ford Escort Mk.II 2.0 GL	44	49
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	23	Great Eastland Television	Paul Gulson Rodney Combs	Holden VB Commodore	42	21
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	25	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	John Harvey Vern Schuppan	Holden VC Commodore	37	5	8
DNF	4 Cylinder	65	HDT Special Vehicles	Phil Brock Gary Scott	Isuzu Gemini ZZ	36	44
DNF	4 Cylinder	51	Chickadee Chicken	Graeme Bailey Steve Land	Toyota Celica	34	42
DNF	4 Cylinder	58	Graham Mein	Graham Mein Geoff Russell	Ford Escort Mk.II RS2000	34	50
DNF	4 Cylinder	55	Nissan Motor Co.	George Fury Fred Gibson	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	30	43
DNF	4 Cylinder	54	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan Ross Wittig	Isuzu Gemini	29	54
DNF	8 Cylinder & Over	2	Citizen Watches Australia P/L	Charlie O'Brien Mike Quinn	Holden VC Commodore	16	23
DNF	6 Cylinder & Rotary	34	Penrith Mazda Centre	Terry Shiel Don Holland	Mazda RX-7	13	27
DNF	6 Cylinder & Rotary	42	Mazcars Croyden	John Duggan Michael O'Hehir	Mazda RX-7	1	35
DNQ[2]	8 Cylinder & Over	19	Neil Cunningham	Neil Cunningham Rod Coppins	Holden VC Commodore
DNQ[2]	8 Cylinder & Over	22	John Sands 3MP Racing	Jim Keogh Andrew Newton	Ford XD Falcon
DNQ[2]	6 Cylinder & Rotary	38	Les Grose	Les Grose Alan Cant	Ford Capri Mk.III
DNQ[2]	8 Cylinder & Over	1	Warren Cullen	Warren Cullen Alan Jones	Holden VC Commodore
DNQ[2]	4 Cylinder	53	Chris Heyer	Chris Heyer Peter Lander	Volkswagen Golf
DNQ[2]	4 Cylinder	71	Ken Harrison	Ken Harrison Ian Wells	Ford Escort Mk.II 1.6
DNQ[2]	4 Cylinder	48	Douglas B. Rutter	Ken Price Steve Jonas	Isuzu Gemini
DNQ[3]	4 Cylinder	67	Ray Gulson	Ray Gulson Gordon Mackinlay	Alfa Romeo Alfasud