The Australian Super Touring Championship (formerly known as the Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship) was a CAMS-sanctioned national
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
title for
Super Touring Cars
Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created ...
.
History
Super Touring was introduced into
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 ...
in 1993 when CAMS replaced the existing Group 3A Touring Car category (which had been based on
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backst ...
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...
rules) with a new two-class Group 3A. This encompassed both 2.0 Litre FIA Class II Touring Cars and 5.0 Litre Touring Cars, which would later become known as
Super Touring Cars
Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created ...
and
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
respectively.
In their first year, the Class II cars were eligible to compete in both 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 ...
and in their own
Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship The Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship was a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title contested in 1986, 1987 and 1993.1994 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, with both Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles awarded. 1995 saw the Super Touring name adopted for the category, the Australian Super Touring Championship name applied to the series and a Teams’ title added to the existing Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ awards.
The series was seen as an opportunity for manufacturer involvement in Australian racing since the 5.0-litre category was the exclusive domain of
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
and
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
under the regulations, in the hope, that manufacturers like BMW,
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 ...
and
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 ...
who had been involved in recent years of the preceding category, Group A might continue to race in Australia. Nissan showed no interest and wouldn't race full-time again in Australia until entering
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
in 2013. On the other hand, Toyota jumped immediately into the 1993 series with a two-car factory team run by
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 ...
, however after losing the title to a privateer BMW team, Toyota pulled out. BMW stepped into the series in 1994, with
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
,
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai ...
and
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
following in 1995 with both Ford and Holden giving back door support to privately operated teams on and off for the next three seasons. Hyundai did not stay beyond its first season. BMW and Audi alternated championship success from 1995 to 1998. BMW pulled out after the 1997 series. Both Audi and Volvo ended their involvement after the 1999 season, leaving the category as a privateer series which then rapidly dwindled.
After a small scale 2000 series where grids had been bolstered by the
Future Touring
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
category the series ceased to be self-supporting. In 2005 Super Touring cars were included in the class structure of the new
Australian Touring Car Challenge
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
series but were little more than one class among many and race wins, even in a handicap-based structure, became rare. By 2007 as little as one or two cars appeared at each race meeting, the category has all but disappeared.
Technical development
The 2-litre Touring Car Formula, as it was initially called, was created by the
BTCC
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...
engineers. Their concept was simple, to create a formula that would give new manufacturers the opportunity to enter the series and be able to compete against the more experienced manufacturers without the associated high costs of the existing
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...
rules.
The changes would also give the rule-makers the opportunity to turn the complex multi-class British Touring Car Championship into a single class championship, allowing drivers to win from the front rather than from within individual classes.
To achieve their goals, the rules targeted the type of car most manufacturers produced, a mid-range 4-door family saloon with a 2-litre normally aspirated multi-valve engine having a minimum production run of 2500 in one year. To enable the cars to be easily recognised on the track, the rules dictated that the car's body shape had to remain the same as the production model, but most other areas of the car could be modified specifically for racing.
Under the bonnet, only the original engine block and head must remain from the production car but engine revs are limited to 8500 RPM to aid reliability and reduce costs. Racing transmissions and suspensions could be incorporated, but the suspension had to remain true to the original design of the road-going model. Closer racing was also engineered into the rules by having different weight limits for front- and rear-wheel drive, and by limiting overall wheel and tyre sizes, and by restricting each car to only six tyres per event.
Championship winners
Drivers’ Championship
Manufacturers’ Championship
Teams’ Championship
;Notes
* – Contested as the 1993 Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship
* – Contested as the 1994 Australian Manufacturers' Championship