Procar Australia was a

motorsport 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 ...

category management company which operated in

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 ...

from 1994 to 2004. Procar was founded in 1994 by Ross Palmer,Peter McKay, ''Crunch time for the series that add spice'', www.smh.com.au
Retrieved on 15 April 2015 a

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

based businessman and long time motor racing sponsor of childhood friend and multiple Australian Touring Car Champion and

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 ...

winner Dick Johnson. It acted as the administrator for various championships and seriesPROCAR Australia ceases operations
Retrieved from www.motorsport.com on 14 December 2009 for production based cars including: * Australian Super Production Series 1994 * Australian GT Production Car Series 1995 *

Australian GT Production Car Championship The Australian GT Production Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title, organised by Procar Australia Pty Ltd, for drivers of Group 3E Series Production Cars. PROCAR had first promoted a national series for production bas ...

1996 to 2002 *

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 ...

2000 to 2004 * Australian GT Performance Car Championship 2003 to 2004 *

Australian Production Car Championship The Australian Production Car Championship is an Australian motor racing title for production cars, sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS). The championship was first contested in 1987 and from 2008 to 2015 the title was ...

2003 to 2004 * V8 BRutes Series 2001 to 2004 The company also organised several endurances races including: * Bathurst 3 Hour Showroom Showdown 1997 to 2001 *

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 ...

2002 to 2003 Procar Australia ceased operations in 2004 with Palmer citing financial issues as the reason for the company's withdrawal from the sport.

History

Procar was the name of the organisational body running the

prior to Palmer's involvement and had steered the category from the escalating costs of a series concentrating on Japanese sports cars like

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name "supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations of the Supra were pr ...

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 into running sedans in the early 1990s, until finally transitioning to just front-wheel drive sedans in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

after a very poorly supported

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. The front wheel drive format saw competitor numbers rebound as

Mazda 626 __NOTOC__ Year 626 ( DCXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 626 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

s and a large number of

Nissan Pulsar The is a line of automobiles produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1978 until 2000, when it was replaced by the Nissan Bluebird Sylphy in the Japanese market. Between 2000 and 2005, the name "Pulsar" has been used in Australia and New ...

teams fought along with a factory supported team of

Volvo 850 The Volvo 850 is a compact executive car that was produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1991 until 1996. Designed by Jan Wilsgaard, the car was introduced in a saloon body style; an estate style was introduced in 1993. The Volvo ...

s. The success 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 ...

which centred on cars built to the same rules, but much higher specification vehicles like the

and

Porsche 968 The Porsche 968 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG from 1991 until 1995. It was the final evolution of a series of water-cooled front-engine rear wheel drive models begun almost 20 years earlier with the ...

saw a wish to create a series for these cars which became the 1994 Australian Super Production Car Series. Palmer was behind the new series and he took over the existing Procar organisation. With the creation of

TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the T ...

Australia to run a new series for

Super Touring 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 ...

cars in 1994, Procar, along with the Australian Porsche Cup and

Commodore Cup The Commodore Cup was an Australian motor racing series. A one-make series originally devised by Victorian racers Maurie Platt and David Gittus, it was named for the car all competitors were required to use in competition, the Holden Commodore. ...

was able to provide an instant group of support categories. Brad Jones, driving a

Lotus Esprit The Lotus Esprit is a British sports car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel factory in England between 1976 and 2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Background In 1970 Tony ...

, won the Super Production Car Series. The 1995 season saw the Australian Super Production Car Series renamed to Australian GT Production Car Series. This also saw the addition of sedan-based sub-classes to embrace the middle-specification Bathurst 12 Hour cars, resulting in a three class structure. Jim Richards in a

Porsche 993 The Porsche 993 is the internal designation for the Porsche 911 model manufactured and sold between January 1994 and early 1998 (model years 1995–1998 in the United States), replacing the 964. Its discontinuation marked the end of air-co ...

won Class A with

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 ...

driver Chris Sexton winning class B and Peugeot 405 driver Milton Leslight winning Class C. 1996 saw the

and the Australian GT Production Car Series merged into a single five class Australian GT Production Car Championship. The top class was split with the European and Japanese sports car which now included exotica like

Ferrari F355 The Ferrari F355 (Type F129) is a sports car manufactured by Italian car manufacturer Ferrari produced from May 1994 until 1999. The car is a heavily revised Ferrari 348 with notable exterior and performance changes. The F355 was succeeded by th ...

split from the rally style cars such as the

Subaru Impreza WRX The is a compact car that has been manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru since 1992. It was introduced as a replacement for the Leone, with the predecessor's EA series engines replaced by the new EJ series. It is now in its sixth gene ...

. The overlap of the bottom class of GT Production and the top class of Production cars were merged, although the Citroens and Peugeots of the old Class C did not return to race against the Pulsars and 626s.

Cameron McConville Cameron 'Conkers' McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville ...

won a very hard-fought championship in the top class in his Porsche against Richards and Peter Fitzgerald with the component classes being won by John Bourke (Subaru Impreza), Sexton (Ford Falcon), Chris Kousparis (Mazda 626) and Pavicevic (Suzuki Swift). This class structure continued for four years. Over time there was an increasing emphasis on the top class as more exotic cars, like

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the two ...

Maserati Ghibli Maserati Ghibli is the name of three different cars produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati: the AM115, a V8 grand tourer from 1967 to 1973; the AM336, a V6 twin-turbocharged coupé from 1992 to 1998; and the M157, an executive s ...

Lotus Elise The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassi ...

and

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 distinctive ...

arrived along with professional drivers like Richards, John Bowe,

Neil Crompton Neil Crompton (born 30 July 1960) is a well-known Supercars presenter and commentator. Racing career Highlights According to the official V8 Supercars website, Crompton has competed in 357 various motor racing events, finishing in the first ...

and

Paul Stokell Paul Stokell (born 8 March 1968 in Tasmania) is an Australian racing driver. Highly decorated in every category he has competed, Stokell has been a race and multiple championship winning driver in open wheel, sportscar racing and tarmac rallyin ...

. A sixth class was introduced for small sports cars like

Toyota MR2 The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seat, MR layout, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (2000–20 ...

and

Mazda MX-5 The Mazda MX-5 is a lightweight two-passenger roadster sports car manufactured and marketed by Mazda with a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The convertible is marketed as the or in Japan, and as the Mazda Miata () in the United Sta ...

. An accident at the 1999 Poolrite GTP Bathurst Showroom Showdown race saw Wayne Park in a Ferrari F355 clip a back-marking Ford Falcon and was destroyed in a heavy crash. This became the impetus to separate the top class into its own series, the

for the 2000 season. This would attract interest from supercar manufacturers and importers with a factory supported

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

team fronted by

joining the group of established Porsche teams and the creation of Prancing Horse Racing, a Ferrari-based team which at its peak was running By this point the Australian Super Touring Championship was in decline and the Procar family of categories were now all-but the lead act. With the big GT Sportscars separated into their own class the GT Production Car series continued with the Mitsubishi Lancers, Subaru Imprezas, Mazda RX-7s and HSV GTS cars now the top class. Additionally 2000 saw the establishment of the V8 BRutes Series for utility mini-trucks based on the V8 versions of the

Holden Ute The Holden Ute was a coupe utility built by Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors, since 2000. Before then, Holden had marketed their Commodore-based utility models under the Holden Utility (VG) and Holden Commodore utility (VP, ...

and Ford Falcon Ute. The V8 BRute Utes were instantly popular and created a whole new genre of race fans, particularly with its aggressive panel-rubbing drivers. By 2001 the Procar categories were now racing on the

V8 Supercar 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 ...

support programs as Super Touring continued to collapse. The Nations Cup series continued to grow to the point in 2002 where the defunct Bathurst 12 Hour was revived as a 24-hour race, evoking similar European events the

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

and Nurburgring 24 Hours races. While popular the

races were hugely expensive to run. While some European and Asian teams travelled to the race, there was not enough interest to sustain the costs and just the two races were held, both dominated by

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 ...

s adapted with seven-litre Chevrolet engines specifically for this race by V8 Supercar team

Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...

. 2003 saw the GT Production car championship split again as the higher performance muscle cars and Japanese turbo cars split off forming the Australian GT Performance Car Championship. The remaining teams revived the

title and the series became much like its pre-Procar early 1990s roots with large sedans racing against smaller sports cars. With Procar now running its own meetings costs had jumped but interest had declined and Palmer folded the Procar operation in 2004.

Legacy

The four categories each went their own way. GT Performance dropped the GT prefix becoming the

Australian Performance Car Championship The Australian Performance Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of production based, high-performance coupes and sedans racing with limited modifications. It was staged as the ''Australian GT Performance Car Champ ...

. Production Cars, now run by the Production Car Association of Australia continues to this day as the

and is one of the leading categories of 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 ...

. The Performance Car series suffered declining numbers and ran its last series in 2007. Their competitors merged in the Production Car Championship in 2008.

V8 Utes The V8 Ute Racing Series, known originally as the V8 BRute Utes was an Australian motor racing series for utilities, derived from the Australian Production Car Championship. It was conceived in 2000 by PROCAR chief and owner Ross Palmer, V8 Ute Pa ...

dropped the Brutes moniker continued to develop its niche strongly and is now a mainstay of the V8 Supercar support program. Nations Cup all but collapsed. A new series was created for them, without the controversial Holden Monaros, based on international GT3 regulations and reviving one of CAMS oldest titles, the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, 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 ...

. After a couple of seasons where their grid was bolstered by the Australian Porsche Drivers Challenge (known today as the

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia is a sports car racing series open to drivers of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The series was first held in 2008 to fill the void between club racing and the Australian Carrera Cup Championship and Australian ...

) the GT Championship is now growing. GT's (run to

FIA GT3 Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various au ...

rules) took over the grid of the revived

race in 2011, reviving memories of the Bathurst 24 Hour.

References

{{reflist

External links

www.gtprod.com.au at web.archive.org

www.procar.com.au at web.archive.org
Motorsport in Australia