In relation to Australian motorsport, Group C refers to either of two sets of regulations devised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) for use in Australian Touring Car Racing from 1965 to 1984. These are not to be confused with the FIA's Group C sports car regulations, used from 1982 to 1992 for the World Endurance Championship / World Sports-Prototype Championship / World Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Group C Improved Production Touring Car regulations were introduced by CAMS in 1965 to replace the Appendix J rules which had been in force since 1960. The Australian Touring Car Championship was run to these new rules from 1965 to 1972, initially as a single race championship and from 1969 as a multi round series. Group E regulations defining rules for Series Production Touring Car racing in Australia had previously been introduced with effect from 1 January 1964. [1]
The leading cars of the Improved Production era included the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Nova, Porsche 911S, Holden Monaro HK GTS327, Holden Monaro HT GTS350, Ford Mustang Boss 302, Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 and the Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III.
For 1973 CAMS introduced a new Group C Touring Car category to replace both the existing Group C Improved Production and Group E Series Production. The new Group C cars would contest both the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, the later having previously been contested by Group E cars and run over numerous long-distance events such as the Bathurst 500 and the Sandown enduro. The new Group C classification had been brought about by the media-driven "supercar scare" of 1972 which led to Ford Australia, General Motors Holden and Chrysler Australia ceasing direct involvement with the manufacture of high performance production cars for Group E racing. Holden would continue support of touring car racing until the end of the 1970s. Ford closed their factory team at the end of 1973 and then provided technical and limited financial support of Allan Moffat Racing between 1976 and 1978, but Chrysler ended its involvement at the end of 1972.
The ATCC had expanded to 11 rounds in 1976 and 1977, but the 'Golden Era' often had a thin veneer as uncompetitive small engined cars bolstered entries for many years. The low point saw just nine cars competing for the opening round at Symmons Plains in 1980, though this could be attributed to new CAMS engine emission rules which effectively banned the 1979 Holden Torana hatchback's and Ford Falcons.
The final three seasons of Group C (1982-1984), while seeing more manufacturer involvement from the Japanese with Nissan and Mazda and German marque BMW, were plagued by parity arguments and leading teams and drivers campaigning with officialdom over technical regulations that were increasingly losing touch with the original intent of the class. In mid-1983 CAMS decided that beginning on 1 January 1985 they would replace Group C with new regulations based on FIA's international Group A rules which had been in place in the European Touring Car Championship since 1982, and in New Zealand since 1984.
In addition to the Australian Touring Car Championship, Group C cars also contested the following national title series:
Group C touring cars also contested the Amaroo Park (Sydney) based AMSCAR series from 1981 to 1984. The series, televised nationally by ATN-7, was restricted to cars with an engine capacity of no more than 3.5 litres in 1981, excluding the outright cars such as the Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon and Chevrolet Camaro and Jaguar XJ-S. After complaints from the mostly Sydney based privateers who ran the outright cars and thus were missing out on potential prize money (with no such series on offer for the outright cars), the restriction was lifted in 1982 and outright cars contested the series to the end of Group C in 1984.
Vehicles were separated into various classes based on engine capacity. The ATCC used a two class system throughout the second Group C era with the field divided into Under 2000cc and Over 2000cc classes from 1973 to 1975 and then into Under 3000cc and Over 3000cc classes from 1976 to 1984. Favourable points structures were used to encourage the smaller cars but it would take until 1986, after the abandonment of Group C, for a small class car to take outright victory in the ATCC.
The Bathurst 1000, as it became in 1973, would change several times, reflecting its roots as a race where four or five individual races held simultaneously with no outright winner promoted. The 1973 version began with cut-offs at 1300cc, 2000cc and 3000cc. For the 1977 race the under 1300cc class was abandoned and a 1600cc class was introduced for the 1979 race. After a one-off cylinder-based system used in 1981, the two smaller classes were removed leaving just under and over 3000c. The capacity based system was abandoned entirely for the final Group C Bathurst race in 1984 with one class for Group C cars and one for the new Group A cars to be raced from 1985.
An Historic Group C category now caters for vehicles with a competition history in events run to CAMS Group C Touring Car regulations in the period from 1 January 1973 to 31 December 1984. [2] Only actual race vehicles, for which a Group C log book was issued, are eligible. [3]
Today Group C touring cars are a spectator favourite at historic motor racing festivals, with leading drivers and cars from the era in high demand. Leading race cars are sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, whereas less than a decade ago you couldn't pay someone enough to take away your old Group C racer, with a burgeoning support industry emerging including car clubs, professional magazines, parts and car care products. The largest race meeting specifically catering to historic touring cars is the Muscle Car Masters held at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney. The largest museum of historic touring cars available to the public for tour is the National Motor Racing Museum, sited on the outside of Murray's Corner at the Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst.
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 and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.
Allan George MoffatOBE is a Canadian-born Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four wins in the Bathurst 500/1000. Moffat was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 1999.
The 1982 James Hardie 1000 was the 23rd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 3 October 1982 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was Round 3 of both the 1982 Australian Endurance Championship and the 1982 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes, was open to cars eligible to the locally developed CAMS Group C touring car regulations with two engine capacity based classes.
The 1975 Phillip Island 500K was an endurance race for Touring Cars complying with CAMS Group C regulations. The event was held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia on 23 November 1975. Race distance was 106 laps of the 4.73 km circuit for a race distance of 501 km.
The 1986 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Touring Cars as specified in the National Competition Rules of CAMS. The title, which was the sixth Australian Endurance Championship, was contested concurrently with the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, which was the sixteenth in a sequence of manufacturers championships awarded by CAMS, and the seventh to be contested under the Australian Manufacturers' Championship name.
The 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group 3A Touring Cars. It was the 29th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The championship began on 6 March at Calder Park Raceway and ended on 17 July at Oran Park Raceway after nine rounds.
The 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Touring Cars. It began on 2 March 1986 at Amaroo Park and ended on 13 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds. The championship was authorised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) as an Australian National Title. It was the 27th Australian Touring Car Championship and the second to be contested by cars conforming with CAMS regulations based on the FIA's international Group A Touring Car regulations.
The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to Group C Touring Cars. The championship was contested over a six-round series with all rounds run concurrently with those of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship.
The 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition for Group C Touring Cars. The Championship was authorised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian National Title. It was the 25th Australian Touring Car Championship, and the last to be contested by Group C cars as new regulations, based on international Group A, were introduced for 1985.
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 1975 Australian Manufacturers' Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Group C Touring Cars. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian National Title and was the fifth Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
The 1982 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group C Touring Cars. It began on 18 February 1982 at Sandown Raceway and ended on 16 May at Oran Park Raceway after eight rounds. The title, which was the 23rd Australian Touring Car Championship, was won by defending champion Dick Johnson, driving a Ford XD Falcon.
The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The title, which was the 24th Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a series which began on 6 February 1983 at Calder Park Raceway and ended on 19 June at Lakeside International Raceway after eight rounds.
The 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing championship open to Group C Touring Cars. It was the 18th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The championship began at Symmons Plains Raceway on 7 March and ended at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on 20 November after eleven rounds. 1977 was the second and final time that the series incorporated the longer distance races which made up the Australian Championship of Makes. These races included the Sandown 400 and the Phillip Island 500K, although notably not the Bathurst 1000.
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. 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 1980 Australian Touring Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Group C Touring Cars. Authorised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as a National Title, it was the 21st Australian Touring Car Championship.
The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The championship was contested over a six-round series with all rounds run concurrently with those of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.
The 1985 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Touring Cars complying with an Australian version of FIA Group A Touring Car regulations. The championship was the fifth Australian Endurance Championship and the fourth to be awarded as a drivers title.
The 1985 Australian Manufacturers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for car manufacturers. It was the 15th manufacturers title to be awarded by CAMS and the 6th to carry the Australian Manufacturers' Championship name. All championship rounds were open to cars complying with Australian Touring Car regulations, which were based on FIA Group A rules.
The 1981 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for car manufacturers, contested with Group C Touring Cars. It was the 11th circuit racing manufacturers' championship title to be awarded by CAMS and the first to carry the Australian Endurance Championship name. No driver's title was awarded in connection with this championship.
