The 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship was a
CAMS sanctioned
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n motor racing championship open to
Group C Touring Cars
In relation to Australian motorsport, Group C refers to either of two sets of regulations devised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) for use in Australian Touring Car Racing from 1965 to 1984. These are not to be confused with t ...
. It was the 18th running of the
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
. The championship began at
Symmons Plains Raceway
Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of the ...
on 7 March and ended at the
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956.
History Road circuit
Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...
on 20 November after eleven rounds.
[Australian Competition Yearbook, 1978 edition] 1977 was the second and final time that the series incorporated the longer distance races which made up the
Australian Championship of Makes. These races included the
Sandown 400 and the
Phillip Island 500K
The Phillip Island 500 was an annual motor racing event, last held for Supercars at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island, Victoria. The race had three distinct eras; from 1971 to 1977 as an endurance production and later Austra ...
, although notably not the
Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
.
Reigning champion
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four ...
(
Ford Falcon
Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide.
* Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970.
* Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991.
* Fo ...
) dominated the 1977 season. In addition to his victory in the non-championship
Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at
Bathurst, Moffat won his third
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
, leading home new Moffat Ford Dealers teammate
Colin Bond
Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...
for a series 1-2 result. Moffat won the first five rounds of the championship, won a total of seven out of the eleven rounds and won the title by 32 points. Bond recorded a win at
Adelaide International Raceway
The Adelaide International Raceway (also known as Adelaide International or AIR) is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. The circuit is located north of Adelaide in S ...
but was put under pressure near the end of the season from
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...
after consecutive wins by the
Holden Torana driver at
Lakeside International Raceway
Lakeside Park, formerly known as Lakeside International Raceway is a motor racing circuit located in Kurwongbah, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. It is north of Brisbane, and lies adjacent to Lake Kurwongbah.
The circuit was known ...
and
Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights be ...
in the
Hang Ten 400. In the end Bond finished nine points clear of Brock. The only other round win was claimed by
Allan Grice
Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver o ...
(Holden Torana) at the final round at the
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956.
History Road circuit
Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...
.
In previous years the class pointscore system saw a consistent performer threaten the top of the points table. In 1977 though the best performer from the smaller cars was
Ford Capri
The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the Euro ...
racer Lawrie Nelson who finished fourth in the points, 19 behind Brock. Holden Torana racer
Bob Morris took points away from the small car class drivers by racing his
Triumph Dolomite
The Triumph Dolomite small saloon car was produced by the Triumph Motor Company division of the British Leyland Corporation in Canley, Coventry between October 1972 and August 1980.
Background
The Dolomite was the final addition to Triumph's ...
early in the series, as well as racing Lakis Manticas'
Ford Capri
The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the Euro ...
on occasion, effectively spoiling the chances of other drivers in the under three-litre class.
Drivers
Drivers that competed in the 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship included the following:
Calendar
The 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship was contested over eleven rounds.
Classes
For points-scoring purposes, cars competing in the Australian Touring Car Championship were classified into one of two classes defined by engine capacity.
[Conditions for Australian Titles, 1977 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 86-91]
* Up to and including 3000cc
[
* 3001 to 6000 cc][
]
Points system
Australian Touring Car Championship points were awarded to drivers as follows:
Only the best six scores from the first seven rounds and the best two scores from the last four rounds counted towards the championship totals.[
Points were awarded only where a car completed 75% of race distance and was running at the completion of the final lap.
]
Results
Results of the 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship were as follows:
Note: South African driver Basil van Rooyen
Basil van Rooyen (born 19 April 1939 in Johannesburg) is a former racing driver, race car developer, inventor and engineer. His career comprised racing a motorcycle, Anglia, Lotus Cortina, Mustang, Alfa Romeo, Capri Perana Chevy Can-am, Fiat/Fer ...
placed fourth at Round 8 (the Hang Ten 400 at Sandown) but was not eligible to score points.[
]
Australian Championship of Makes
The 1977 Australian Championship of Makes was awarded on the results of the final four rounds of the 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship. It was the seventh circuit racing championship for manufacturers to be awarded by CAMS and the second to carry the Australian Championship of Makes name.
Classes
For pointscoring purposes, cars competed in four classes defined by engine capacity[
* Class A: Up to 1300cc][
* Class B: 1301 to 2000cc][
* Class C: 2001 to 3000cc][
* Class D: 3001 to 6000cc][
]
Points
Points were awarded for the six best placed cars in class in each of the four rounds on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis with only the highest scoring car of each make attracting points.[
]
Results
References
External links
Autopics.com.au
Oldracephotos.com
{{Australian Touring Car Racing
Australian Touring Car Championship seasons
Touring Cars
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
While the cars do not mo ...
Australian Championship of Makes