Commodores first, second, third and fourth ... and win number six to the King of the Mountain Peter Brock.

Holden dominated the 1982 James Hardie 1000 in a way nobody dreamed possible several months earlier. Late approval by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport to a more powerful SS model Commodore handed the race on a platter to ‘The General’.

The Mazda of Allan Moffat, winner of the Castrol 400 at Sandown several weeks earlier, had showed all the indications of a strong showing at Bathurst. But, after just one day of practice at Mount Panorama, Moffat realised he was seconds slower than his Holden rivals. In fact, qualifying was a revelation. Allan Grice, driving a Commodore for Re-Car, grabbed a slice of history by becoming the first man to crack the 100-mph lap at Bathurst. The pole-winning 2m 17.5s time earned Grice $10,000, plus a $5000 bonus for bettering the ton-up average lap.

Not so fortunate was Alfa stalwart Gary Leggatt, who lost control at the notorious McPhillamy Park sweeper and slammed into the concrete retaining wall at around 150 km/h. The unconscious driver was rushed to hospital with multiple fractures; he survived, but announced his retirement several months later.

Visiting ace, Briton John Fitzpatrick, escaped injury when the Alan Jones owned Falcon he was sharing with Bob Morris broke a wheel and crunched the wall late on race eve. The car was badly bent and was a scratching from the Hardie.

One of several sensations during Hardie's Heroes was the performance of the quiet Japanese Masahiro Hasemi in one of the two factory-entered Nissan Bluebird turbos. On his second one-lap flyer, the impassive Oriental looked to have Grice's best time well and truly covered until the turbo exploded. Until then, it had appeared that a 1.8-litre four-cylinder seemed destined for pole position.

Starting order then was Grice, Brock, Hasemi, Bartlett, Rogers, Morris, Johnson, Moffat, Harvey and Fury.

For yet another year the weather was favourable on race day. Grice and Brock turned on a battle royal for 11 action-charged laps before a miscue by the fastest qualifier allowed Brock to nose ahead and that’s where he stayed for the ensuing 152 laps to the chequered flag.

The first major incident came as soon as lap two, when the Commodore of Geoff Russell blew an engine in The Cutting. The similar cars of Terry Finnigan and Garth Wigston hit the oil from the expired Commodore and crashed heavily into the wall.

Brock enjoyed the benefits of a fast co-driver in former Formula One man Larry Perkins, who kept up a relentless pace during the middle stages. Grice's partner was the efficient, but more sedate Re-Car boss Alan Browne. Brock's teammate John Harvey, sharing with Queenslander Gary Scott, put in a magnificent finishing burst to close to within 30 metres of the Grice/Browne car at the end of 163 laps.

Fourth on the road, but later scrubbed from the results after scrutineering, was the Falcon of Dick Johnson. The popular Queenslander had a fraught race, his car guzzling oil at an alarming rate while co-driver John French battled to tame its bad manners.

Kevin Bartlett, polesitter in the previous two years, was a spectator after just 28 laps. His Camaro blew a rear tyre then dumped itself on its roof in spectacular fashion.

Former world champion, Alan Jones, had another miserable Bathurst. Eighty eight laps into the classic the gearbox failed on his machine —- the Barry Jones-owned Mazda RX-7. The Formula One ace had qualified the rotary in 15th spot. John Goss, with American veteran Bob Tullius sharing his Jaguar XJS, put in an eventful showing with mechanical problems inhibiting the progress of the big cat. Goss/Tullius were credited with 119 laps. New Zealander Denny Hulme, the 1967 world champ, soldiered on steadily in the second of the works 635CSi BMWs until local co-driver Stephen Brook planted the black Bavarian coupe into the wall at The Cutting on lap 96.

The George Fury/Fred Gibson Bluebird was out early with a blown head gasket before its scheduled stop. The Japanese-crewed Bluebird looked great for much of the race but lost several laps when a driveshaft posed problems. It ultimately powered back into the top 10 to eighth-place prizemoney.

Best of the Fords (after Johnson's exclusion) was the Steve Masterton/Bruce Stewart car which finished seventh. Sixth, after a lengthy pit stop to replace overworked braking components, was the RX-7 of Moffat and highly rated Japanese Yoshimi Katayama.

The number one works BMW 635CSi of Jim Richards and international David Hobbs was officially fifth — six laps down. One lap in advance of the BMW was the unlikely pairing of man-about-town Peter Janson and youthful Tasmanian David Parsons, the latter clinching the “Rookie of the Year” award.

Brock/Perkins was the only combo to cover the full race distance. Second-placed Grice/Browne and third-placed Harvey/Scott were more than a lap in arrears. Twenty two cars were classified as finishers.