The incident between John Bowe and Glenn Seton on lap 93 of the 1995 Bathurst 1000 has elicited a lot of comment from fans and insiders in the last decade. The incident was controversial, due to the facts that the two top Ford drivers had collided with each other at Australia's most presitigious race.
Bowe and Seton had differing races up to lap 93. Bowe started well, establishing himself as a solid contender for the race win with a disciplined opening stint. Seton deliberately dropped back to ninth at the start, refusing to get involved in the early fray. What helped Seton in the early stages was the car's superior speed and Wayne Gardner holding the field up until lap 6, when Jim Richards took over the lead in the Winfield Commodore. Seton passed the likes of Longhurst, Steven Johnson and Bowe CLEANLY in the opening stint. What was an interesting point to come from the opening stint, was that Seton's car appeared better on the longer run, while Bowe's car experienced tyre wear problems.
GSR were markedly superior in pitstops all day, compared to DJR. The only team that could claim to be superior to GSR in that department through this day was WGR. Consistently, seconds would be gained on #17, thanks to slick pitstops from the GSR crew.
After consistent, but not pacy stints from David Parsons and Dick Johnson, the race took a dramatic turn, with the standout Skaife/Richards Winfield Commodore retiring from a comfortable race lead, after 65 laps, with the race firmly in their grasp. Again, GSR gained seconds at the pitstops, and Bowe narrowly retained his lead over Seton.
Bowe then pulled away from Seton, while the Bridgestones got up to temperature. Once the Bridgestones had achieved peak temperature, Seton hauled Bowe in. For lap after lap, both Bowe and Seton raced nose-to-tail, without a hint of a touch. However, there were problems for Bowe, with excessive tyre wear, causing Bowe to bog down in the corners, that it was said afterwards that Clerk of Course, Tim Schenken was ready to display the bad sportsmanship flag to Bowe for his driving in the corners.
On lap 93, Bowe and Seton lapped David Attard and Wayne Park before the Cutting. As the cars came out of the Cutting, Bowe's car slid a little. Seton, sensing an opportunity to overtake, made an attempt coming to the rise at Reid Park; the two cars touched, and Bowe went nose-first into the wall, causing damage that would later prove to be terminal.
The question is: who was to blame?
Bowe and Seton had raced, for the most part, fairly through the stint. The moving pictures appear to indicate an incident that was caused by Bowe's sliding, and Seton's decision to overtake. The still pictures of the incident are more damning, placing the onus of blame without any further review, upon Seton. However, both pieces of evidence must be considered, not just one.
The photographic and TV evidence doesn't create a real culprit beyond reasonable doubt. The moving TV pictures, which is the best evidence that we have, appears to exonerate Seton from deliberate contact with Bowe; a charge which Bowe maintained for years, but ultimately, gave Seton the benefit of the doubt. The still pictures, as outlined above, appear damning, and it would be easy to blame Seton based on the evidence provided there.
One point to remember, is that the camera and photographic angles were facing upwards, rather than downwards or parallel to the corner in question, creating a difficult angle in which to analyse the evidence.
Ultimately, one must make a decision. My opinion is, based on the evidence, that the incident was a racing incident, with the onus of blame, possibly, if there was any, placed on Seton for his part in the incident. Bowe was still racing, despite his worn tyres, and Seton dived for a gap on a part of the track, where overtaking is exceptionally rare. If Seton hadn't tried to overtake, there would have been no incident. In the end, with the conflicting evidence, it was impossible to find Seton guilty of any driving offence, but add with further evidence, a different verdict may have been reached. Bowe was entirely blameless from a legal standpoint, although from a moral, and sporting standpoint, one must concede that he was stretching the boundaries, without breaching any driving code.
That is my judgment on the Bowe/Seton incident, without fear or favour
