The Australian GT Championship is a
CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 title was contested over a single race and those after that year over a series of races. The categories which have contested the championship have not always been well defined and often have become a home for cars orphaned by category collapse or a sudden change in regulation.
History
Appendix K
![Centaur-Graham-Ruckert](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Centaur-Graham-Ruckert.jpg)
In the first era the championship races were open to closed roof cars (not necessarily production based) complying with CAMS Appendix K regulations. Appendix K catered for modified production
Grand Touring cars (such as
Lotus Elite
The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...
),
sports cars
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
(such as
Jaguar D-Type
The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...
) fitted with roofs, specials (such as the Centaur
Waggott Waggott Engineering was an Australian automotive engineering company which gained fame for the engines which it produced for motor sport applications from the 1950s through to the 1970s.
The company had its origins in a machine shop opened in 1948 b ...
) and touring cars modified beyond the limits of the then current
Appendix J The International Sporting Code (ISC) is a set of rules which are valid for all auto racing events that are governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). North American domestic racing, such as NASCAR and IndyCar are outside th ...
regulations. Numbers dropped rapidly away as the years went on and both the category and the championship were discontinued at the end of 1963.
GT and Sports Sedan
From 1976 to 1981 the
Australian Sports Car Championship
The Australian Sports Car Championship was the national title for sports car racing drivers sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport from 1969 to 1988. Each championship was contested over a series of races with the exception of ...
had been contested by
Group D Production Sports Cars {{short description, CAMS motor racing category
Group D Production Sports Cars was a CAMS motor racing category current in Australia from 1972 to 1981.
The Group D category catered for series-production type automobiles, other than those eligible ...
. The re-introduction of
Group A Sports Cars Group A Sports Cars is an Australian motor racing category that Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS formulated for sports car racing in Australia. Introduced in 1964, it continues today under the name Group 2A Sports Cars.
On introduction ...
in 1982 saw Group D needing a new home. The Australian GT Championship was re-introduced as a home for both Group D and Group B Sports Sedans of the
Australian Sports Sedan Championship
The National Series for Sports Sedans, formerly the Australian Sports Sedan Championship, is a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars complying with Australian Sports Sedan regulations. This class, essentially a silhou ...
(ASSC). The category was something of a hybrid with European racing cars, American IMSA racers and wide variety of Australian Sports Sedans competing together. One major difference between the Sports Sedans and GT cars was that the Sports Sedans were restricted to 10" wheels where as the GT cars were allowed up to 18" of rubber. Although many of the top V8 sports sedans had similar power to the GT cars, the difference in rubber on the road saw the GT cars able to get their power to the ground much more efficiently and also go much faster through the turns.
Porsche 935
The Porsche 935 was a race car developed and manufactured by German automaker Porsche. Introduced in 1976 as the factory racing version of the Porsche 930, 911 (930) Turbo and prepared for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-Group 5 ( ...
's dominated early with
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Champion
Alan Jones winning the
1982 Championship in an entry backed by former race driver
Alan Hamilton
Allan Guy Hamilton (born August 20, 1946) is a Canadian former ice hockey defenceman, most notably with the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association. He also played in the National Hockey League for the Oilers, as well as the New York Rang ...
's Porsche Cars Australia (Hamilton was Australia's major Porsche distributor at the time). Porsche won again in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
, this time with
Rusty French
Rusty may refer to something covered with rust or with a rust (color). Rusty is also a nickname for people who have red hair, have a rust-hued skin tone, or have the given name Russell.
Rusty may also refer to:
People
*Rusty Anderson (born 1959 ...
driving the 1982 title winning car he had acquired from Hamilton, while both the
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
and
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
championships were won 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 of ...
and
Bryan Thomson
Bryan may refer to:
Places United States
* Bryan, Arkansas
* Bryan, Kentucky
* Bryan, Ohio
* Bryan, Texas
* Bryan, Wyoming, a ghost town in Sweetwater County in the U.S. state of Wyoming
* Bryan Township (disambiguation)
Facilities and structur ...
respectively, both driving the ex-
Bob Jane
Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...
DeKon
Chevrolet Monza
The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact automobile produced by Chevrolet for the 1975 through 1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width, and standard inline-four engine. The car was designed to accommoda ...
with a 6.0 L
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
that produced a reported , with Thomson also driving his exotic
Chevrolet V8
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
powered twin turbo
Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC
The Mercedes-Benz R107 and C107 are sports cars which were produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1971 until 1989, being the second longest single series ever produced by the automaker after the G-Class. They were sold under the SL (R107) and SLC (C107 ...
in the 1985 series. The Thomson Mercedes was alleged to produce over making it arguably the most powerful race car in Australian motor racing. The downside though was that without a large budget, the Thompson Mercedes suffered numerous reliability problems (usually turbo) and neither Thompson nor his team driver (1985–86)
Brad Jones, or indeed
John Bowe who had also driven the car in the early 1980s while Thompson was in a short lived retirement, were able to show its true potential.
As time went on the usually slower Sports Sedans started to usurp the category as the more expensive Sports Car refugees dropped in numbers. Sports Sedans also became more effective, especially once local racing car factories and professional racing teams like the
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
based
Elfin Sports Cars
Elfin Sports Cars Pty Ltd (formerly known as Elfin Sports Cars) is an Australian car manufacturer company that was founded by Garrie Cooper. It has been an Australian manufacturer of sports cars and motor racing cars since 1959.
Elfin Sports Ca ...
and K&A Engineering, and top level
touring car
Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof).
"Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s.
Th ...
teams such as
Alan Browne's Re-Car team and former ASSC
Frank Gardner's
JPS Team BMW
JPS Team BMW is a former Australian motor racing team that ran from 1981–1987. The team's main focus was touring car racing but also ran in sports sedans and GT cars as well. The team, under the management of former British Touring Car Cham ...
became involved. As with Appendix K of the 1960s, grids were widely varied with turbocharged Porsche 935s,
BMW 318is, 5.0 and 6.0 litre
V8 powered Chevrolet Monzas,
Holden Commodore
The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endin ...
s,
Alfa Romeo Alfetta
The Alfa Romeo Alfetta (Type 116) is a front-engine, five-passenger sedan and fastback coupé manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1972 to 1987 with a production total over 400,000.
The Alfetta was noted for the rear position of its ...
s, Thomson's lone Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, Peter Fitzgerald's
non-turbo Porsche Carrera RSR, a couple of
V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to:
Aircraft
* Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter
* Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft
* Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project
* Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...
Jaguar XJS
The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. There were three distinct iterations, w ...
' and with a variety of sports sedans such as the
Holden Monaro
The Holden Monaro ( ) is a rear-wheel drive coupé manufactured by General Motors Holden in Australia from 1968 to 1975 and later reintroduced from 2001 to 2005. It was also manufactured as a 4-door sedan from 1973 to 1977.
Three generations of ...
and
Holden Torana
The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 19 ...
,
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 ...
and
Ford Escort, and various turbocharged
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
s,
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
s and
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.
...
s.
By 1985 the field was mostly Sports Sedans bolstered with recently obsolete (from the end of 1984)
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 ...
and the championship was run concurrently with the
Australian Sports Car Championship
The Australian Sports Car Championship was the national title for sports car racing drivers sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport from 1969 to 1988. Each championship was contested over a series of races with the exception of ...
. Veteran driver
Kevin Bartlett introduced a very quick
Ground effects De Tomaso Pantera
The De Tomaso Pantera is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso from 1971 to 1992. Italian for "Panther", the Pantera was the automaker's most popular model, with over 7,000 manufactured over its twenty-year ...
in 1985 which brought some much needed spice to the GT category.
For 1986 Sports Sedans went their own way. Within a couple of years Porsche drivers had their own series with the Porsche Cup.
GT3 and GT4
![Klark Quinn 2013 AusGT Champion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Klark_Quinn_2013_AusGT_Champion.JPG)
The Australian GT Championship was revived a second time in 2005 after the disbandment of the
Australian Nations Cup Championship
The Australian Nations Cup Championship was a motor racing title sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) from 2000 to 2004.
History
In the absence of the Australian GT Championship (which had not been run since 1985), Nat ...
. Most of the competing 2004 cars remained eligible for 2005, although the controversial
Holden Monaro 427C
The Holden Monaro 427C was an Australian built and designed GT style race car based on the Holden Monaro CV8 road car. The car ran in the Procar Australia-run Australian Nations Cup Championship and at the short-lived Bathurst 24 Hour race at ...
's which had won the two
Bathurst 24 Hour
The Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales in 2002 and 2003. Only two races were held before the collapse of the management organisation PROCAR. Both ...
races in
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
and
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
were a notable exception. This was because the Monaros under Nations Cup rules had been permitted to use the 7.0 litre, 427 cui
LS6 Chevrolet V8 engine that had been used successfully in the
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, while the road going CV8 Monaros only came with the 5.7-litre
Gen III V8. The Australian Porsche Drivers Challenge (the former Australian Porsche Cup) also was merged into the GT Championship.
The FIA GT3 regulations, like those in use in the
FIA GT3 European Championship
The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...
was the core of the new series. The series vehicles reflected GT3, Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, the controversial Mosler, although series regulations usually specified cars be two-three years old to cut down on costs. Competing drivers are seeded and penalised so as not to flood the series with professional drivers from other categories and increasing there has been an emphasis on longer races, sometimes allowing for more than one driver per car.
The series has grown steadily, helped by the transition of the
Bathurst 12 Hour
The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in ...
race from a production car race to a GT race. Manufacturers have diversified widely from its mostly Porsche base and in addition to the 12 Hour has also seen the creation of other long distance races, the
Phillip Island 101 and the
Highlands 101 in New Zealand.
The Australian GT Trophy Series was introduced as a support series in 2016, featuring older-specification GT3, GT4, Challenge and
MARC Marc or MARC may refer to:
People
* Marc (given name), people with the first name
* Marc (surname), people with the family name
Acronyms
* MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging,
* MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...
cars. GT4 cars will be integrated into the main championship in 2018.
Circuits
; Current
*
Adelaide Street Circuit
The Adelaide Street Circuit (also known as the Adelaide Parklands Circuit) is a temporary street circuit in the East Parklands adjacent to the Adelaide central business district in South Australia, Australia.
The "Grand Prix" version of t ...
(2007–2013, 2015–2017, 2022)
*
Mount Panorama Circuit
Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama (Wahluu) and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour ...
(1960, 2006–2007, 2009–2011, 2013, 2019–present)
*
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 ...
(2005–2019, 2021–present)
*
Queensland Raceway
Queensland Raceway nicknamed "the paperclip" is a motor racing circuit located at Willowbank in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. The circuit did host Supercars Championship until 2019, drifting as well as club level racing and ride days.
Qu ...
(2005–2007, 2013, 2016–2017, 2022)
*
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 ...
(1983–1984, 2007–2008, 2010–2011, 2014–2020, 2022)
*
The Bend Motorsport Park
The Bend Motorsport Park is a bitumen motor racing circuit at Tailem Bend, South Australia, Australia, about south-east of the state capital, Adelaide.
The complex has a bitumen circuit, drag racing strip, and drift racing circuit.
The rac ...
(2018–2019, 2021–present)
; Former
*
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 So ...
(1982–1985)
*
Albert Park Circuit
The Albert Park Circuit is a motorsport street circuit around Albert Park Lake, three kilometres south of central Melbourne. It is used annually as a circuit for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix, the supporting Supercars Championship Melbo ...
(2008–2010, 2016–2019)
*
Baskerville Raceway (1982)
*
Calder Park Raceway
Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clo ...
(1963, 1982–1985)
*
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park
The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club.
History
The motorsport park is an ...
(2016–2018)
*
Highlands Motorsport Park (2013–2016)
*
Homebush Street Circuit
The Homebush Street Circuit, also known as the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit, was a temporary street circuit around the former Olympic precinct at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, Australia. The track hosted the Sydney 500 and was used ...
(2009, 2012)
*
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 a ...
(1962, 1982–1985)
*
Mallala Motor Sport Park
Mallala Motor Sport Park is a bitumen motor racing circuit near the town of Mallala in South Australia, 55 km north of the state capital, Adelaide.
Mallala Race Circuit (1961–1971)
The Mallala Race Circuit, as it was originally know ...
(2006)
*
Oran Park Raceway
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan south west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010. The track was designed and started by George Murray and Jac ...
(1982, 1985, 2006–2007)
*
Reid Park Street Circuit
Reid Park Street Circuit, also known as the Townsville Street Circuit, is a semi-permanent street circuit located in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Opened in 2009, the circuit hosts the Townsville 400 Supercars Championship event every year. ...
(2011, 2014–2017)
*
Surfers Paradise International Raceway
Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The long circuit was designed and built by Keith Williams, a motor racing enthusiast who also designed and built the Adelaide Internationa ...
(1982–1985)
*
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an original length in 2010. It is th ...
(2012, 2019)
*
Sydney Motorsport Park
Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek (40-kilometres west of the Sydney CBD), New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western Sy ...
(2005–2015, 2018, 2020)
*
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 ...
(1982, 2007)
*
Wakefield Park
Wakefield Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit located near Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after Charles Wakefield, the founder of Castrol. The founders of Wakefield Park, John Carter and amateur racer and former ...
(2005–2006, 2017)
*
Wanneroo Raceway
Wanneroo Raceway, currently known as CARCO.com.au Raceway for naming rights reasons, is a motorsport circuit located in Neerabup, approximately north of Perth in Western Australia. It was built by the WA Sporting Car Club.
The circuit was ...
(1982, 2016–2017, 2019)
*
Warwick Farm Raceway
Warwick Farm Raceway was a motor racing facility which was in operation from 1960 to 1973. Warwick Farm Raceway hosted numerous major events during its life such as the Australian Grand Prix and rounds of both the Australian Touring Car Champio ...
(1961)
*
Winton Motor Raceway
Winton Motor Raceway is a motor racing track in Winton, near Benalla, Victoria, Australia.
History
The Benalla Auto Club began planning for a permanent racing track around 1958, as a replacement for their existing track at Barjarg. In 1960 it ...
(1982–1985, 2011–2012, 2016–2017)
Champions
Multiple winners
By driver
By manufacturer
;Notes
* – In 1985, the champion Bryan Thomson drove both a Chevrolet Monza and a Chevrolet powered Mercedes-Benz.
See also
*
Australian GT Trophy Series The Australian GT Trophy Series is an annual Australian motor racing competition for FIA GT3 cars and similar approved automobiles. It is managed by Trofeo Motorsport Pty Ltd and sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) as ...
References
* A History of Australian Motor Sport, 1980
* Australian Motor Racing Yearbooks, 1982/83 to 1985/86
* www.camsmanual.com.au
* www.gtchampionship.com.au
External links
CAMS Manual on LineAustralian GT website
{{V8 Supercar support categories
GT
GT
Group GT3
1960 establishments in Australia
1963 disestablishments in Australia
1982 establishments in Australia
1985 disestablishments in Australia
2005 establishments in Australia
Sports leagues established in 1957
Sports leagues established in 1982
Sports leagues established in 2005