Alan Jones is the last Australian to win the World Formula Drivers’ Championship when he did so with Williams in 1980, but a season later he was retired and departed the team forever, or maybe not.
Williams was only hitting its straps when Jones retired the first time from Formula 1 in 1981, the team went on to enter an era of dominance entering the 1990s as it formed a strong partnership with French manufacturer Renault.
It was through this relationship Williams became involved in the British Touring Car Championship by running Renault’s factory effort from 1995 until the program ended in 1999.
During Williams’ five-year stint in the BTCC championship success came only once when Alain Menu dominated in 1997.
This is where the seeds were sewn for Jones to reunite with Williams in one of the world’s most iconic races.
Long-time privateer Graham Moore was the mastermind behind the idea of reuniting Jones and Williams, with the goal of bringing the two together at the Bathurst 1000.
In 1997, Bathurst was divided and the 1000 was held twice due to the ARDC siding with Super Touring, while the newly rebranded V8 Supercars hosted its own race a fortnight later.
Moore got in contact with Williams in England and a deal was done, an expensive one.
Bringing the two title winning Renault Lagunas, plus champion driver Menu and teammate Jason Plato was a costly exercise.
Sponsorship for the program came from Merpati Airlines, while Moore had the honour of driving alongside Jones.
The Lagunas were quick, but Moore failed to get a drive in the race after Jones made heavy contact with the wall at The Cutting in lap 38.
A broken diff led to the retirement of the Menu/Plato entry on lap 114 when it was in with a big chance of winning the event.
Moore was able to complete the near-impossible and give the Super Touring 1000 a major interest news story that it needed.
The 1998 Super Touring 1000 failed to attract the interest from Europe that was expected and concluded the brief war between V8 Supercars.
Williams never returned to Bathurst and it proved the final race for Jones with the team.