Category | Sports car racing |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Inaugural season | 1960 |
Drivers | 49 |
Tyre suppliers | Pirelli |
Drivers' champion | Liam Talbot Chaz Mostert |
Teams' champion | Melbourne Performace Center |
Official website | www |
Current season |
The GT World Challenge Australia, formerly known as the Australian GT Championship, is a Motorsport Australia-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 and those after that year over a series of races. The categories which have contested the championship have not always been well defined and often have become a home for cars orphaned by category collapse or a sudden change in regulation.
In the first era the championship races were open to closed roof cars (not necessarily production based) complying with CAMS Appendix K regulations. Appendix K catered for modified production Grand Touring cars (such as Lotus Elite), sports cars (such as Jaguar D-Type) fitted with roofs, specials (such as the Centaur Waggott) and touring cars modified beyond the limits of the then current Appendix J regulations. Numbers dropped rapidly away as the years went on and both the category and the championship were discontinued at the end of 1963.
From 1976 to 1981 the Australian Sports Car Championship had been contested by Group D Production Sports Cars. The re-introduction of Group A Sports Cars in 1982 saw Group D needing a new home. The Australian GT Championship was re-introduced as a home for both Group D and Group B Sports Sedans of the Australian Sports Sedan Championship (ASSC). The category was something of a hybrid with European racing cars, American IMSA racers and wide variety of Australian Sports Sedans competing together. One major difference between the Sports Sedans and GT cars was that the Sports Sedans were restricted to 10" wheels where as the GT cars were allowed up to 18" of rubber. Although many of the top V8 sports sedans had similar power to the GT cars, the difference in rubber on the road saw the GT cars able to get their power to the ground much more efficiently and also go much faster through the turns.
Porsche 935's dominated early with 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones winning the 1982 Championship in an entry backed by former race driver Alan Hamilton's Porsche Cars Australia (Hamilton was Australia's major Porsche distributor at the time). Porsche won again in 1983, this time with Rusty French driving the 1982 title winning car he had acquired from Hamilton, while both the 1984 and 1985 championships were won by Allan Grice and Bryan Thomson respectively, both driving the ex-Bob Jane DeKon Chevrolet Monza with a 6.0 L V8 engine that produced a reported 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS), with Thomson also driving his exotic Chevrolet V8 powered twin turbo Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC in the 1985 series. The Thomson Mercedes was alleged to produce over 1,000 bhp (746 kW; 1,014 PS) making it arguably the most powerful race car in Australian motor racing. The downside though was that without a large budget, the Thompson Mercedes suffered numerous reliability problems (usually turbo) and neither Thompson nor his team driver (1985–86) Brad Jones, or indeed John Bowe who had also driven the car in the early 1980s while Thompson was in a short lived retirement, were able to show its true potential.
As time went on the usually slower Sports Sedans started to usurp the category as the more expensive Sports Car refugees dropped in numbers. Sports Sedans also became more effective, especially once local racing car factories and professional racing teams like the Adelaide based Elfin Sports Cars and K&A Engineering, and top level touring car teams such as Alan Browne's Re-Car team and former ASSC Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW became involved. As with Appendix K of the 1960s, grids were widely varied with turbocharged Porsche 935s, BMW 318is, 5.0 and 6.0 litre V8 powered Chevrolet Monzas, Holden Commodores, Alfa Romeo Alfettas, Thomson's lone Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, Peter Fitzgerald's non-turbo Porsche Carrera RSR, a couple of V12 Jaguar XJS' and with a variety of sports sedans such as the Holden Monaro and Holden Torana, Ford Falcon and Ford Escort, and various turbocharged Toyotas, Nissans and Mazda RX-7s.
By 1985 the field was mostly Sports Sedans bolstered with recently obsolete (from the end of 1984) Group C Touring Cars and the championship was run concurrently with the Australian Sports Car Championship. Veteran driver Kevin Bartlett introduced a very quick Ground effects De Tomaso Pantera in 1985 which brought some much needed spice to the GT category.
For 1986 Sports Sedans went their own way. Within a couple of years Porsche drivers had their own series with the Porsche Cup.
The Australian GT Championship was revived a second time in 2005 after the disbandment of the Australian Nations Cup Championship. Most of the competing 2004 cars remained eligible for 2005, although the controversial Holden Monaro 427C's which had won the two Bathurst 24 Hour races in 2002 and 2003 were a notable exception. This was because the Monaros under Nations Cup rules had been permitted to use the 7.0 litre, 427 cui LS6 Chevrolet V8 engine that had been used successfully in the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, while the road going CV8 Monaros only came with the 5.7-litre Gen III V8. The Australian Porsche Drivers Challenge (the former Australian Porsche Cup) also was merged into the GT Championship.
The FIA GT3 regulations, like those in use in the FIA GT3 European Championship was the core of the new series. The series vehicles reflected GT3, Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, the controversial Mosler, although series regulations usually specified cars be two-three years old to cut down on costs. Competing drivers are seeded and penalised so as not to flood the series with professional drivers from other categories and increasing there has been an emphasis on longer races, sometimes allowing for more than one driver per car.
The series has grown steadily, helped by the transition of the Bathurst 12 Hour race from a production car race to a GT race. Manufacturers have diversified widely from its mostly Porsche base and in addition to the 12 Hour has also seen the creation of other long distance races, the Phillip Island 101 and the Highlands 101 in New Zealand.
The Australian GT Trophy Series was introduced as a support series in 2016, featuring older-specification GT3, GT4, Challenge and MARC cars. GT4 cars will be integrated into the main championship in 2018.
Wins | Driver | Years |
---|---|---|
3 | Klark Quinn | 2012, 2013, 2016 |
Geoff Emery | 2017, 2018, 2019 | |
2 | David Wall | 2009, 2010 |
Mark Eddy | 2008, 2011 |
Wins | Manufacturer | Years |
---|---|---|
8 | Audi | 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
7 | Porsche | 1982, 1983, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 |
2 | Jaguar | 1961, 1963 |
Chevrolet | 1984, 1985 1 | |
Mercedes-Benz | 1985 1 , 2014 |
Jim Richards is a New Zealand racing driver who won numerous championships in his home country and in Australia. While now retired from professional racing, Richards continues to compete in the Touring Car Masters series.
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 Team, by then under the ownership of Peter Brock, diversified into producing modified road-going Commodores and other Holden cars for selected dealers via HDT Special Vehicles.
Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.930 km (1.199 mi) motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including the Castrol 6 Hour motorcycle race, rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Drivers' Championship, Australian Formula Ford Championship, Australian Sports Sedan Championship, the AMSCAR Series for touring cars, historic racing and others. The last Australian Touring Car Championship round to take place at the circuit was in 1994.
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 team has competed in a variety of touring car series in Australia ranging from relatively modest Nissan production cars to Chevrolet NASCAR race cars to building the GT specification Holden Monaro 427C. The team won the Bathurst 1000 in 2000 and also won both of the Bathurst 24 Hour races which were held in 2002 and 2003. In 2013 the team celebrated its 50th year in racing since Rogers made his debut.
Neil Crompton is an Australian former racing driver and current Supercars presenter and commentator.
John Philip Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a Holden Torana in the Touring Car Masters series.
Allan Maxwell Grice, known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000, and as a privateer driver of a Holden in the Australian Touring Car Championship.
The Australian Nations Cup Championship was a motor racing title sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) from 2000 to 2004.
The National Sports Sedans Series, formerly the Australian Sports Sedan Championship, is a Motorsport Australia-sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars complying with Australian Sports Sedan regulations. This class, essentially a silhouette racing car class, permits three types of cars:
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia is an Australian motor racing series open to Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. First held in 2003, it is administered by Porsche Cars Australia Pty Ltd and is sanctioned by Motorsport Australia (Formerly Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as a national championship through to 2015 and as a National Series from 2016-2021. Starting in 2022 the category returned back as a national championship. During its history, Carrera Cup has been a leading support category for the Supercars Championship. New Zealand driver Craig Baird has been the most successful driver, winning the series five times.
The 1982 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group D GT cars and Group B Sports Sedans. It was the fifth Australian GT Championship, 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 935/80 entered by Porsche Cars Australia.
The 1983 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for cars complying with Group D regulations for GT cars, with Group B Sports Sedans competing by invitation. It was the sixth Australian GT Championship. The championship was won by Rusty French, driving a Porsche 935.
The 1984 Australian GT Championship was an CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title and was the seventh Australian GT Championship to be awarded. It was a series open to grand tourer cars complying with CAMS Group D regulations with Group B Sports Sedans competing by invitation. The series was contested over six rounds from 15 April to 9 September 1984.
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.
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 (16 mi) 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.
Procar Australia was a motorsport category management company which operated in Australia from 1994 to 2004.
AMSCAR was a touring car series held in Australia between 1979 and 1997, based at Amaroo Park in Sydney.
Jonathan Robert Lester is a racing driver from New Zealand, competing in various GT3 and touring car championships throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
The Holden Monaro 427C was an Australian built and designed GT style race car based on the Holden Monaro CV8 road car. The car ran in the Procar Australia-run Australian Nations Cup Championship and at the short-lived Bathurst 24 Hour race at the famous Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst.
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.