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 silhouette racing car class, caters for cars of essentially free construction but utilising some of the bodywork of a closed, series production vehicle. The category emerged following the replacement of Appendix J Touring Cars by the more restricted Group C Improved Production Touring Cars at the end of 1964.James Cockington, Evolution of the Sports Sedan, Musclemania magazine, 2012, pages 40 & 41 Promoters of circuits such as Winton and Oran Park then allowed the redundant Appendix J cars to run with

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 ...

under the name Sports Racing Closed. By 1966 cars were competing with extensive modifications, often including engine swaps. By 1971 restrictions were placed on bodywork modifications ensuring that the original silhouette of the car had to be maintained. The term Sports Sedans had been in common usage for the carsStewart Wilson, Holden Racing History, 1988, page 130 and in 1973 CAMS gave the name official recognition when it introduced Group B Sports Sedans as a new racing classification. The category officially became Group 2D Sports Sedans in 1988, and Group 3D Sports Sedans in 2000. An Australia-wide championship was run each year from 1976 to 1981. It was discontinued for 1982 with the introduction of an

Australian GT Championship 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 a ...

, although Sports Sedans were invited to compete in this new series, which many did as it was the only national series their cars were eligible for, but the older Sports Sedans were generally un-competitive against the new GT cars such as the Porsche 935 or the converted

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 ...

's. While the power of the top Sports Sedans, which generally ran 5.0L or 6.0L Chevrolet

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 u ...

s, was not far shy of the GT cars, the Sports Sedans were restricted to running 10" wheels while the GT cars such as the 935's were allowed up to 18" of rubber. This gave the GT cars far greater stability and enabled them to go much faster through turns. The Sports Sedan category itself was retained for state level racing. The Australian Sports Sedan Championship title was revived in 1991 and was contested annually through to 2003. Each championship was decided over a series of races, with the exception of the 1994 title, which was contested over two races at one meeting at

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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. A National Series for Sports Sedans replaced the Australian Sports Sedan Championship for 2004 and has been included in the CAMS Nationals Racing Championships (now known as the

Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships The Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships is a series of motor racing events held across five states of Australia. It was first held as the CAMS National Racing Championships in 2006 and adopted its present name the following year when it g ...

) since its inception in 2006.Official Programme, CAMS National Racing Championships, Round 5, Mallala, 24–25 June 2006

List of champions

Winners of the Australian Sports Sedan Championship are shown below.

National Sports Sedan Series

A Sports Sedan series has been run each year from 2004, this being recognised by CAMS as a National Series rather than as an official Australian Championship. Each series has been open to cars built to American Transam or New Zealand TraNZam rules as well as cars complying with CAMS Group 3D Sports Sedan regulations. Series winners have been : {, class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" , - , Series , Winner , Vehicle , - , 2004 Tranzam Sports Sedan Series , Darren Hossack ,

Saab 9-3 The Saab 9-3 (pronounced ''nine-three'') is a compact executive car initially developed and manufactured by the Swedish automaker Saab. The first generation 9-3 (1998-2003) is based on the GM2900 platform, changing to the GM Epsilon platfor ...

- Chevrolet , - ,

2005 Tranzam Sports Sedan Series The 2005 Tranzam Sports Sedan Series was a national motor racing series sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport and open to drivers of: * Sports Sedans complying with CAMS Group 3D regulations * Transam cars complying with Nationa ...

Tony Ricciardello Tony Ricciardello, (born 19 March 1979), is a multiple-championship winning Australian race car driver. Son of Sports Sedan racer and team owner Basil Ricciardello, Tony was brought up into the Western Australian racing scene. He eventually rep ...

, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV- Chevrolet , - , 2006 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series , Dean Randle ,

- Chevrolet , - , 2007 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series ,

, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV- Chevrolet , - , 2008 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series , Darren Hossack ,

Audi A4 The Audi A4 is a line of compact executive cars produced since 1994 by the German car manufacturer Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The A4 has been built in five generations and is based on the Volkswagen Group B platform. The first ...

- Chevrolet , - , 2009 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series , Des Wall ,

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctiv ...

- Chevrolet , - , 2010 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series , James Sera ,

- Chevrolet , - , 2011 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series ,

, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV- Chevrolet , - , 2012 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series , Kerry Baily ,

Aston Martin DBR9 The Aston Martin DBR9 is a racing car built by Aston Martin Racing, debuting in 2005 and racing actively in international sportscar racing until the end of GT1 category in 2011. The name DBR9 is derived from the original 24 Hours of Le Mans-winn ...

- Chevrolet , - , 2013 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series , Bruce Banks ,

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro ...

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. ...

turbo

, - ,

2014 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series The 2014 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series was an Australian motor racing competition open to Sports Sedans and Trans Am style cars. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as a National Series and was the eleventh National Seri ...

''Kerrick Sports Sedan Series - 2014 Pointscore'', www.sportssedans.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
/ref> ,

, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV- Chevrolet , - ,

2015 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series The 2015 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series was an Australian motor racing competition open to Sports Sedans and Trans Am style cars. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as a National Series and was the twelfth National Serie ...

, Alfa Romeo GTV- Chevrolet , - ,

, Alfa Romeo GTV- Chevrolet , - , 2016 Kerrick Sports Sedan Series ,

, Alfa Romeo GTV- Chevrolet , - , 2017 National Sports Sedan Series , Birol Cetin ,

, - , 2018 National Sports Sedan Series , Steven Tamasi ,

Holden Calibra The Opel Calibra is a coupé, engineered and produced by the German automaker Opel between 1989 and 1997. In the United Kingdom, where it remained on sale until 1999, it was marketed under the Vauxhall brand as the Vauxhall Calibra. It was also ...

, - , 2019 National Sports Sedan Series ,

, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV- Chevrolet

References

External links

CAMS Manual of Motor SportCurrent National Sports Sedan Series

Sports Sedans A sports sedan (also known as sports saloon in British English) is a subjective term for a sedan car that is designed to have sporting performance or handling characteristics. History The term was originally introduced in the 1930s an ...

1976 establishments in Australia