1985 Australian Sports Car Championship

Last updated
1985 Australian Sports Car Championship
Previous: 1984 Next: 1986

The 1985 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. It was the 17th Australian Sports Car Championship [1] and the first to be run concurrently with the Australian GT Championship. [2]

Contents

1982 Australian Sports Car Champion Chris Clearihan won his second national title, driving a Kaditcha Chevrolet. Only 2.5 points behind Clearihan was Terry Hook in the ex-Guy Edwards owned Chevrolet powered Lola T610 (this car had previously competed at Le Mans in 1982 and 1983), while finishing 3rd in his Mazda powered JWS C2 (an FIA Group C2 sports car) was Jeff Harris.

The 1985 ASCC saw the début of the Veskanda C1 Chevrolet (using a 5.0L Formula 5000 engine) and driven by dual Australian Drivers' Champion John Bowe. Built in Adelaide by K&A Engineering and owned by ASCC driver Bernie Van Elsen, the Veskanda would go on to be regarded as Australia's fastest ever sports car and one of the countries fastest ever race cars. The Veskanda made its race debut in Round 4 at its home circuit, the Adelaide International Raceway where Bowe failed to finish, though he would win Round 5 at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway, easily defeating the previously dominant Clearihan Kaditcha and Hook Lola. Bowe finished in 7th place in the championship with 25 points.

The 1984 Champion, Queenslander Bap Romano driving his 3.9L Cosworth DFL powered Romano WE84 was expected to bring a strong challenge in defence of his title despite now running in the outright class due to the larger Cosworth V8, but unreliability saw his challenge fade as the series progressed (prior to December 1984 the Romano WE84 had used an ex-Formula One 3.0 L Cosworth DFV V8 engine which put the car in Class B). In the defence of his title, Romano finished in 6th place having only scored 36.5 points.

Schedule

The championship was contested over a six-round series. [3]

RoundCircuitStateDateFormatRound winnerCar
1 Lakeside Queensland 24 MarchOne race Chris Clearihan Kaditcha Chevrolet
2 Oran Park New South Wales 5 MayTwo heats Chris Clearihan Kaditcha Chevrolet
3 Winton Victoria 2 JuneTwo heatsTerry Hook Lola T610 Chevrolet
4 Adelaide South Australia 30 JuneOne raceTerry Hook Lola T610 Chevrolet
5 Calder Park Victoria 11 AugustOne race John Bowe Veskanda C1 Chevrolet
6 Surfers Paradise Queensland 25 AugustOne race Chris Clearihan Kaditcha Chevrolet

Classes

Cars competed in three engine capacity classes. [1]

Points system

For single race rounds, championship points were awarded to the top twenty outright placegetters in the Sports Car category, based on the following three tier structure: [1]

Position1234567891011121314151617181920
Up to 1.6 litres30272421191715141312111098765432
1.6 to 3 litres2826232017151413121110987654321
Over 3 litres2523201715131110987654321---

For rounds contested over two heats, the same points system was applied to each heat, with the aggregate points achieved by each driver divided by two to determine the championship points allocation for the round. [1]

Results

Position [2] Driver [2] No.Car [2] Entrant [4] Class [4] R1R2R3R4R5R6Total [4]
1 Chris Clearihan 22 Kaditcha Chevrolet Chris ClearihanOver 3 litre252511.5232023127.5
2Terry Hook15 Lola T610 Chevrolet Terry HookOver 3 litre231024252320125
3Jeff Harris65JWS C2 Mazda Jeff Harris1.6 to 3 litre1721.514202020112.5
4Ray Hanger5 & 8 Rennmax Ford BDA Ray Hanger1.6 to 3 litre231323-15-74

Note: The above table lists only the first four placings in the championship.

Related Research Articles

Formula Holden Former Single-Seater Racing Championship

Formula Holden was an Australian open wheel racing category introduced in 1989.

John Bowe (racing driver) Australian racing driver

John Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a Holden Torana in the Touring Car Masters series.

The 1986 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for Formula Mondial racing cars. It was the 30th Australian Drivers' Championship. The championship winner was awarded the 1986 CAMS Gold Star.

1984 Sandown 1000

The 1984 Sandown 1000 was an endurance motor race staged at the Sandown Raceway in Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1984. It was the eleventh and final round of the 1984 FIA World Endurance Championship and was the first FIA World Championship race to be held in Australia. It was to be the first of a three-year contract to race at Sandown, though the final two years would be cancelled.

The 1984 Australian Sports Car Championship was an Australian motor racing title open to Sports Cars complying with CAMS Group A regulations. It was the 16th Australian Sports Car Championship.

The 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Group B Sports Sedans. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport and was the sixth Australian Sports Sedan Championship.

Adelaide International Raceway Race track in Adelaide, South Australia

The Adelaide International Raceway is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. The circuit is located 26 km north of Adelaide in South Australia on Port Wakefield Road at Virginia, and is adjacent to Adelaide's premier car racing Dirt track racing venue, Speedway City. AIR is owned by the Bob Jane Corporation and run by the Australian Motorsport Club Ltd.

Kaditcha Former Australian automobile manufacturer

Kaditcha was an automobile manufacturer in Australia. The company, formed by Queensland engineer Barry Lock, made open wheel and sports car racing cars, including cars for Formula 5000, Formula Pacific and Australian Formula 2.

The 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Touring Cars. It was the 26th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the first to be contested using regulations based on the FIA's International Group A regulations after having been run under CAMS home grown Group C rules between 1973 and 1984. The championship began on 10 February 1985 at Winton Motor Raceway and ended on 14 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds.

The 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to Improved Production Touring Cars and Group E Series Production Touring Cars. The championship, which was the 13th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship, began at Symmons Plains and ended at Oran Park after eight rounds.

The 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. It was the fifteenth Australian Sports Car Championship.

Group A Sports Cars

Group A Sports Cars is an Australian motor racing category that CAMS formulated for sports car racing in Australia. Introduced in 1964, it continues today under the name Group 2A Sports Cars.

Alfredo Costanzo is a retired Italian born Australian racing driver. From 1980 to 1983 Costanzo won a record four Australian Drivers' Championship in a row, equalling the record set by Bib Stillwell from 1962 to 1965.

The Romano WE84 is an Australian designed and built, mid-engined closed top racing car built to CAMS Group A Sports Car specifications. The car began its life as the Kaditcha K583 when it first appeared in the 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship and was built by the Queensland based Kaditcha owner and former McLaren engineer Barry Lock after he was approached by Brisbane accountant, property developer, timber mill owner and former speedway racer Bap Romano in 1981 with the idea of building a Le Mans type coupe. When the car first appeared in 1983, it was the first closed top Sports Car seen in Australia and looked like an FIA Group C Sports Car rather than the open cockpit Can-Am style cars of previous years. This led to the false belief that it was built to the Group C regulations

The 1982 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group A Sports Cars. It was the fourteenth Australian Sports Car Championship, and the first to be contested by Group A cars since 1975. The championship was won by Chris Clearihan of Canberra, driving a Kaditcha.

The 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars. It was the 18th Australian Sports Car Championship.

The 1987 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian national motor racing title open to Group A Sports Cars, Group D GT cars, FISA Group C1 cars and FISA Group C2 cars.

1974 Australian Sports Car Championship

The 1974 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group A Sports Cars and Group D Production Sports Cars. The title, which was the sixth Australian Sports Car Championship, was won by Henry Michell driving an Elfin 360 Repco.

Romano Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian V8 Supercar racing between 1995 and 2003.

Veskanda C1

The Veskanda C1 is a one-off, Australian designed and built, mid-engined closed top racing car built in 1985 to CAMS Group A Sports Car specifications. Powered by a Chevrolet V8 engine, the car is generally regarded as the fastest sports car ever built in Australia and as of 2016 remains one of Australia's fastest race cars.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Conditions for Australian Titles, 1985 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 86-89
  2. 1 2 3 4 Barry Catford, Australian Sports/GT Championship, Australian Motor Racing Year, 1985/86, pages 220-233
  3. 1985 Championship Results, Australian Motor Racing Year, 1985/86, pages 315-316
  4. 1 2 3 Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, Sunday, June 30, 1985