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Thanks for those results Jesper. That race is Rd 1 of the 1985 Benson & Hedges series at Manfield.
The main retirement was the Kent Baigent/Neal Lowe, BMW 635CSi - as a result of a barrell roll which destroyed the car and left Baigent in hospital with a broken arm and concussion.
Also, the Anderson/Anderson Pinepac Mustang would have been a retirement as well.
Looking at the results, the first eight cars home were Group A cars. The nineth placed Allport/Freeth Mazda would be the first NZ Production car beating the Hiscock/Gillies Cordia Turbo. The cars in 11th to 13th are all Group A cars. The cars from 14th to 16th and 18th and 19th are NZ Production cars and the 17th and 20th placed Corollas were Group A cars. The Adams/Woolf Corolla must have suffered problems as it finished on the podium at Pukekohe a few weeks later.
The lead of the early laps was contested by Hulme and Baigent - and it was a clash between these two that resulted in Baigent's crash. In later years a story came out that Hulme was unimpressed by Baigent's aggressive driving in Australia and warned him that he'd hurt himself if he tried it against the wrong driver. This crash was a race incident - but that story may have been a partial reason for the crash. There are some hints that Hulme was giving Baigent some of his own "medicine". All of this was related in a biography about Ray Smith - who ran the Auckland Coin & Bullion Exchange and owned and co-drove the Hulme/Smith Commodore. I read the parts of the biography concerning Smith's racing career in a book store in Auckland a few years ago. If I ever see it cheap I'll buy it.
After the crash between Hulme and Baigent, which dropped Hulme back, the Volvo came through to win.
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