MARC Cars Australia is an Australian
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 tw ...
manufacturer and team, who compete in global
sports car
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 ...
and
endurance racing events, mostly in their own GTC prototype cars.
Racing history
Production
Founder Ryan McLeod entered several editions of the
Bathurst 12 Hour under the team's former name, Racer Industries. After an initial foray in
2009 with father
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
and brother Gerard, the family entry, driving a
Holden Astra SRi
The Holden Astra is a small car formerly marketed by Holden. The first couple of generations of Astra were made only for Australia, and was a derivative of the locally produced Nissan Pulsar. With the Button car plan coming into effect, it was ...
returned in
2010 to win its class. In the years following, the team moved away from a family focus, instead providing opportunities to various young drivers including
Chaz Mostert,
Scott Pye
Scott Robert Pye (born 8 January 1990) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, and drives the No. 20 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18.
Racing career Early days
Pye started out in ...
and
Ashley Walsh
Ashley Daniel Walsh (born 11 January 1988) is an Australian racing driver who currently drives for Brad Jones Racing as a co-driver alongside Jack Smith in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Not to be confused with the beast Ash Walshe, world record hold ...
in a
HSV VXR Turbo. The team won further class victories in
2012, in which the team finished seventh overall, and in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
.
GTC
In 2013, an initial GTC prototype was built and tested by Pace Innovations, following their work on new chassis for the
Supercars Championship and
V8SuperTourer
The V8SuperTourers Championship was a motor racing series in New Zealand which started in 2012 and folded in 2015. The cars were then absorbed into the NZ Touring Cars championship.
The car was based on a "Car-of-the-Future" prototype built by ...
series. The initial model, styled as a
Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...
, featured a five-litre
Ford Coyote V8 engine and was tested at
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 ...
by
Glenn Seton
Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 and 1997 while driving for his own team. Although he never won the Bathurst 1000 like his father Barry did in 1965, Glenn s ...
and
Russell Ingall
Russell Ingall (born 24 February 1964 in London, England) is a former full-time Australian V8 Supercar driver. He won his V8 Supercars title in 2005, and finished second in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Ingall has also won the Bathurst 1000, in 1 ...
amongst others. After an initial plan to run the cars in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, Racer Industries developed a package based on the GTC prototype and entered three cars, now each branded as a MARC, in the Invitational class of the
2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour
The 2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race for a variety of GT and touring car classes, including: GT3 cars, GT4 cars and Group 3E Series Production Cars. The event, which was staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bath ...
.
McLeod used the event as a launching pad for developing and promoting a package that could compete in global endurance races on a reduced budget. The team, or its cars, have since competed in the
Silverstone 24 Hours
The Silverstone 24 Hour was a sports car race in endurance racing, held annually at Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom until 2018.
The race was originally organised by Britcar. The 2009 race was shortened to 500 miles due to the reces ...
,
Dubai 24 Hour
The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a Sports car racing, sports car and Touring car racing, touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome. It was inaugurated in 2006.
Entrants and participants
As with all races in the 24 ...
and
Sepang 12 Hours
The Sepang 12 Hours (formerly known as the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race and Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race), was a 12 Hours endurance racing event held annually between 2000 and 2016 at the Sepang International Circuit on December in Mal ...
amongst others. In
2015, the team competed in the full season of the
24H Series, consisting of six 12 or 24 hour races globally. Since then,
VDS Racing Adventures have used MARC cars in the series. In 2015, MARC also unveiled a
Mazda3
The Mazda3 (known as the Mazda Axela in Japan (first three generations), a combination of "accelerate" and "excellent") is a compact car manufactured by Mazda. It was first introduced in 2003 as a 2004 model, replacing the Familia/323/Protegé ...
-styled body panel kit to enter the
2015 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, which still used the Ford Coyote engine.
In 2014, MARC Cars were given their own class in the
National Sports Sedan Series
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 ...
, while they are also eligible for the
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 ...
as of 2016. With the Invitational class at the Bathurst 12 Hour predominantly made up of MARC entries, the team has won four consecutive class victories with the GTC prototypes, which extends to six when taking into account their HSV victories.
In 2017, MARC Cars competed in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
for the first time, with entries in the
California 8 Hours
The California 8 Hours is a sports car endurance race for GT3 and GT4 specification cars held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The first annual race was run in 2017. TCR ...
at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...
and the
24H COTA at the
Circuit of the Americas
Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States G ...
.
II V8
![Kassulke Salmon Brown 2018 B12Hr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Kassulke_Salmon_Brown_2018_B12Hr.jpg)
Ahead of the
2018 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, MARC Cars Australia launched the MARC II V8, their second generation GTC racer unofficially styled on the
Ford Mustang. Their three entries in the Bathurst 12 Hour were allowed to lap in the 2:06s bracket, having previously been restricted to 2:10s. With MARC Cars making up seven of the nine entries in the Invitational class, the manufacturer picked up another class victory, with the sole remaining MARC II V8 finishing ahead of the first generation MARC entries.
GT3 and GT4
In 2016, MARC Cars acquired a
BMW M6 GT3
The BMW M6 is a high-performance version of the 6 Series marketed under the BMW M sub-brand from 1983 to 2018 (with a break from 1990 to 2004).
Introduced in the coupe body style, the M6 was also built in convertible and fastback sedan ('Gran C ...
and entered it in selected rounds of the
2016 Australian GT Championship, including hiring factory
BMW driver
Bruno Spengler to drive with regular driver Morgan Haber at the
Phillip Island
Phillip Island ( Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explore ...
round. The team also entered their M6 GT3, as well as a record six GTC entries, at the
2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour with Chaz Mostert as lead driver. Mostert qualified second on the grid, however the car did not finish the race after suffering a Gearbox failure. From the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour, MARC Cars prepared a
BMW M4 GT4 for American entry RHC-Lawrence/Strom.
Company history
In 2020, GJ Motorsport, run by Geoff Taunton and a former customer team using MARC's prototypes, purchased the company from Ryan McLeod.
References
{{reflist
Australian racecar constructors
Australian auto racing teams
Automotive motorsports and performance companies
2013 establishments in Australia