The 1982 Australian GT Championship was a
CAMS sanctioned
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
n motor racing title open to
Group D GT cars and
Group B Sports Sedans. It was the fifth
Australian GT Championship,
[''Australian Titles'', docs.cams.com.au, as archived at www.webcitation.org on 16 July 2014]
/ref> the first to be awarded since 1963[ and the first to be contested over a series of races rather than a single race. The GT championship replaced the Australian Sports Sedan Championship which had been awarded annually from 1976 to 1981. The 1982 title, which was contested over a nine-round series from 16 May to 10 October, was won by Alan Jones driving a ]Porsche 935
The Porsche 935 was a race car developed and manufactured by German automaker Porsche. Introduced in 1976 as the factory racing version of the 911 (930) Turbo and prepared for FIA- Group 5 rules, it was an evolution of the Carrera RSR 2.1 turbo ...
/80 entered by Porsche Cars Australia.
The championship was dominated by Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Drivers' Champion Alan Jones who went through the season undefeated. His closest on-track rival was multiple Bathurst winner and former Australian Touring Car Champion 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, ...
, driving a Bob Jane owned 6.0L V8 Chevrolet Monza. Brock placed fifth in the championship, having contested four of the nine rounds.[Barry Catford, ''Australian GT /Sports Sedan Championship'', Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1982/83, pages 168–187] Brock and the Monza were often faster in qualifying than the turbocharged Porsche. However, he was rarely able to maintain his tyres for the entire race duration and subsequently always finished second best. Although Alan Jones won every round, his battles with Peter Brock are regarded by those who witnessed it as some of the closest and best racing seen to that point in Australian motor racing history.
Rusty French placed second in the championship driving a Porsche 935/77A, 45 points behind Jones. Jones' Porsche Cars Australia teammate Colin Bond
Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...
placed third driving a turbocharged Porsche 944 (the car Jones was to originally drive in the series before it was decided he would have a better chance in the 935), with the 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Champion Tony Edmondson placed fourth in the championship winning Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV
The Alfa Romeo Alfetta (Type 116) is a front-engine, five-passenger sedan and fastback coupé manufactured and marketed by Alfa Romeo from 1972 to 1987 with a production total over 400,000.
The Alfetta was noted for the rear position of its ...
-Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...
(running a 5.0L Formula 5000 engine) owned by Don Elliot.
Schedule
The championship was contested over a nine-round series.
Points system
Points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top six finishers in each round.[''Conditions for Australian Titles'', 1982 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 87–91] Where rounds were contested over two races, points were allocated on a 20–16–13–11–10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis for the first 14 positions in each race.[ These points were then aggregated to determine the first six-round positions for the purpose of championship points allocation.][
]
Results
Championship name
Sources vary as to the actual name of the championship. The 1982 CAMS Manual uses "Australian Sports Sedan Championship" as does the Official Souvenir Programme for the 4th round of the championship at Adelaide International Raceway. Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1982/93 uses "Australian GT/Sports Sedan Championship, as does Racing Car News, November 1982. The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport
Motorsport Australia, formerly the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), is the nationally recognised governing and sanctioning body for four-wheeled motorsport in Australia. It is affiliated with the Federation Internationale de l' ...
recognises Alan Jones as the winner of the "1982 Australian GT Championship" in its "Australian Titles" document.[
]
References
External links
Jeff Gunning images from the AIR round of the championship at www.motorsportarchive.com
Video – 1982 Australian GT Championship Round 4, www.youtube.com
{{Australian GT Championship years
Australian GT Championship
GT Championship