The 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to Group C Improved Production Touring Cars and

Group E Series Production Touring Cars Group E Series Production Touring Cars was an Australian motor racing category for production based sedans competing with limited modifications. It was current from 1964 to 1972. Although production car racing in Australia had gained momentum with ...

.Australian Title Conditions, 1972 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 86-90 The championship, which was the 13th running of 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 ...

, began at Symmons Plains and ended at Oran Park after eight rounds.Graham Howard & Stewart Wilson, Australian Touring Car Championship, 30 Fabulous Years, 1989 1972 would be the final time the Improved Production cars would contest the ATCC. From 1973, CAMS introduced a new production based Group C touring car formula. Outright cars like the Ford Mustangs,

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 ...

Norm Beechey Norm Beechey is a retired Australian race car driver, who was given the nickname ''"Stormin Norman"'' by his fans. To some, he was the closest thing Holden had to a star racing driver, before Peter Brock. Beechey competed in the Australian Tou ...

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 ...

and

Ian Geoghegan Ian "Pete" Geoghegan, (26 April 1939 – 15 November 2003) was an Australian race car driver, known for a quick wit and natural driving skills. Sometimes referred to as "Pete" Geoghegan, he was one of the iconic characters of the 1960s and 197 ...

's Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III would be replaced with production based Ford Falcons and Holden Toranas. Many Improved Production cars would end up racing as

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s in the following years. Defending champion

Bob Jane Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...

won his fourth and final Australian Touring Car Championship in his

Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 The sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro is an American pony car. Produced by automobile manufacturer Chevrolet, it was first introduced to the public on May 16, 2015. Sales started in 2015 for the 2016 model year. The Camaro now utilizes the GM Al ...

. Unlike 1971 when Jane's Camaro used the 7.0 litre 427

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, CAMS rule changes reducing the engine capacity limit to 6000cc him forced to run the 5.7 litre 350 V8. Second in the championship was the Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.1 of Mike Stillwell whose consistent placings in the under 2.0 litre class saw him finish 11 points behind Jane. Third was

Allan Moffat Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four ...

in his Ford Boss 302 Mustang. Although he was not classified after not scoring a point, the 1972 championship saw

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...

make his ATCC debut driving a

Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 19 ...

for

Harry Firth Henry Leslie Firth (18 April 1918 – 27 April 2014) was an Australian racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager with first the Ford works ...

Holden Dealer Team The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer T ...

Teams and drivers

The following drivers competed in the 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship.

Calendar

The 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship was contested over an eight-round series with one race per round.

Classes

Cars competed in two engine capacity classes: * Up to and including 2000cc * Over 2000cc

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the first six placings in each class at each round. In addition, points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 basis for the first four outright placings, irrespective of class, at each round. The title was awarded to the driver gaining the highest total of points in any seven of the eight rounds.

Championship standings

Notes and references

External links

1972 Australian Touring Car racing images at www.autopics.com.au

{{Australian Touring Car Racing Australian Touring Car Championship seasons

Touring Cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mo ...