John Murray Faulkner (born 24 August 1952 in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a retired racing driver. Faulkner spent the majority of his career in sedan based classes. Initially he competing in small touring cars including Ford Escorts and Capris before joining

Toyota Team Australia Toyota Team Australia was the name of two allied Australian motor racing teams. One competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1985 and 1990. The other was a rally team in the Australian Rally Championship that competed from 198 ...

and driving their factory supported

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

touring cars. After engine capacity classes were discontinued in 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 ...

, Faulkner moved into Superspeedway racing, establishing

John Faulkner Racing John Faulkner Racing (JFR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in AUSCAR, NASCAR and V8 Supercars racing in the 1990’s and early 2000’s History John Faulkner Racing was formed by former Toyota Team Australia driver John Faul ...

to compete in the AUSCAR and Australian

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

series, contested mainly at the

Calder Park Thunderdome 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 ...

. As NASCAR declined in Australia, Faulkner returned to the Australian Touring Car Championship partway through

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and was a surprise starter in the 1996 Bathurst 1000, competing with an ex-Holden Racing Team

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 ...

, before later constructing his own Holdens. Faulkner's team gradually wound down and left the main series after the 2002 V8 Supercar season. The team continued running Commodores in the second tier

Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifical ...

until the end of the 2004 season, including briefly running the Holden Young Lions identity. Faulkner has competed in 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 ...

on 18 occasions between 19801980 Bathurst results
/ref> and 2005 with a best finish of fifth in 1997.

Career results

Complete Bathurst 500/1000 results

References

External links

Interview with Faulkner
at Speedcafe {{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, John 1952 births Australian racing drivers New Zealand racing drivers Australian Touring Car Championship drivers Living people Supercars Championship drivers Sportspeople from Palmerston North Australian Endurance Championship drivers