1986 Australian Grand Prix

This is the complete race as broadcast on LIVE TV.

The most dramatic and exciting race of the 1980s, the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide provided
fans with an epic showdown between three drivers, all capable of winning the World Championship.
Heading into this final race of the season, points leader Nigel Mansell was followed closely by his
Williams teammate Nelson Piquet, while in third place was the always consistent Alain Prost. Only 7 points
separated 1st and 3rd place. This indeed would be an exciting race! Alain Prost had enjoyed a very
successful year in his McLaren, winning an impressive 3 races. While that success would normally not
position a driver for the championship in the final race of the season, Prost had 10 podium appearances,
keeping him within striking distance of the two Williams cars.

So here at Adelaide, Nigel Mansell would capture pole, followed by Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Alain
Prost. When the lights went out, Senna had his usual explosive start, and dove into the second corner to
take the lead, but the power of the Williams-Honda struck back before lap 1 was over as Nelson Piquet
passed Senna on the straight. The top five positions swapped in dramatic fashion for the next 20 laps.
Then on lap 23, Nelson Piquet spun out, and a few laps later, Alain Prost suffered a tire puncture. Prost’s
championship hopes seemed to evaporate, and he rejoined the race in fourth place.

Nelson Piquet charged back after his spin, and on lap 44 made a dramatic pass past Nigel Mansell to take
second place. Keke Rosberg held on to a short lead, and now Alain Prost was charging back. Prost closed
in on the 2nd and 3rd place Williams cars, and with 25 laps to go, it was Rosberg, Mansell, Piquet, and
Prost. On lap 63, Keke Rosberg suffered a tire failure, handing the lead to Nigel Mansell. But then it was
Mansell’s turn for bad luck as a mere two laps later, his left rear tire exploded. Nelson Piquet had to pit,
handing the lead to Prost. After exiting the pits, Piquet drove furiously to close the gap to Prost from 15
seconds to 4 seconds, but in the end, the Frenchman Alain Prost would have his 2nd World Championship.

This is an extended DVD (dual-layer) and includes 30 min of the practice session, and 90 min of the
qualifying session. The extra coverage was due to the fact this was final race of the season, and it was a
three-way battle for the championship. Practice and qualifying were co-hosted by Jackie Stewart.

Quality of the practice and qualifying segments is EXCELLENT, while the race itself we rate as VG+. The
video is very clear, but there is a slight framing issue which gets less noticeable as the race unfolds.

This is the original broadcast with excellent commentary by Murray Walker and James Hunt.

This is a dual-layer DVD which allows us to get the entire race,

along with practice and qualifying, onto one disc.