Category | Touring car racing |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Inaugural season | 1971 |
Folded | 1981 |
Last Drivers' champion | Steve Masterton |
The Sun-7 Chesterfield Series was an Australian touring car racing series staged at Amaroo Park in Sydney, New South Wales from 1971 to 1981. The actual series name varied from year to year, according to the commercial sponsorship secured by the series promoters, the Australian Racing Drivers Club.
Initially run for Group E Series Production Touring Cars the series switched to the new Australian Group C Touring Car regulations in 1973. The series was a precursor to the later AMSCAR touring car series which was run at Amaroo Park from 1982.
In 1971 Lakis Manticas won the inaugural "Sun-7" title driving a Morris Cooper S, with points being allocated evenly among the three engine capacity classes.
The tight Amaroo Park circuit suited the Holden Torana GTR XU-1s. Leading Sydney-based Torana drivers, such as the Holden Dealer Team's Colin Bond, Bob Morris, Don Holland and Allan Grice were prominent in the series. John Goss in the McLeod Ford entered Ford Falcon GT and Ford stalwart Fred Gibson were regular front-runners, while Chrysler drivers Leo Geoghegan and Doug Chivas also appeared. Colin Bond won the series three times in a row, from 1972 to 1974.
For 1975 the Sun-7 Rothmans Series was restricted to cars with an engine capacity of under 3 litres, meaning that larger engined cars such as the Holden Torana SL/R 5000 and Ford Falcon GT could no longer compete. In the 3 litre era some of the main contenders included Bo Seton's Ford Capri, Don Holland and Allan Grice in Mazda RX-3's and Bob Morris in a Triumph Dolomite.
For the 1981 series the engine capacity limit of the competing cars was increased from 3.0 litres to 3.5 litres [1] and the following year the 3.5 litre capacity limit was removed for what was now entitled the AMSCAR. [2]
Year | Series name | Driver | Car | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | Sun-7 Series [3] | Lakis Manticas [4] | Morris Cooper S | British Leyland Works Team |
1972 | Sun-7 Series [5] | Colin Bond [6] | Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 | Holden Dealer Team |
1973 | Sun 7 Better Brakes Gold Medal Series [7] | Colin Bond [8] | Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 | Holden Dealer Team |
1974 | Sun-7 Chesterfield Series [9] | Colin Bond [10] | Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 | Holden Dealer Team |
1975 | Sun-7 Rothmans Series [11] | Barry Seton [12] | Ford Capri GT 3000 Mk.I [12] | |
1976 | Rothmans Sun-7 Series [13] | Allan Grice [13] | Mazda RX-3 [13] | Mazda House Racing [13] |
1977 | Sun-7 Rothmans Touring Car Series [14] | Barry Seton [15] | Ford Capri V6 [15] | |
1978 | Rothmans Sun-7 Series [16] | Peter Williamson [16] | Toyota Celica [16] | |
1979 | Better Brakes Under 3 Litre Series [17] | Barry Seton [17] | Ford Capri [17] | |
1980 | Better Brakes Touring Car Series [18] | Barry Seton [18] | Ford Capri [18] | |
1981 | Better Brakes 3.5 Litre Series [1] | Steve Masterton [1] | Ford Capri V6 [1] | |
Wins | Driver | Years |
---|---|---|
4 | Barry Seton | 1975, 1977, 1979, 1980 |
3 | Colin Bond | 1972, 1973, 1974 |
Wins | Manufacturer |
---|---|
5 | Ford |
3 | Holden |
The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "to fly". The original HB series Torana was released in 1967 and was a four-cylinder compact vehicle closely based on the British Vauxhall Viva HB series of 1966 - 1970.
Barry Seton, , is an Australian racing driver. He won the Bathurst 500 in 1965 with co-driver Midge Bosworth driving a Ford Cortina GT500. He has competed in the Bathurst 500 22 times, competing every year from 1963 to 1984, and completing the race in fifteen of those. In addition to his outright win in 1965, he won his class at Bathurst in 1976, 1977 and 1980.
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 sedans 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.
Colin John Bond 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 success, winning the 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 mile race at Bathurst, New South Wales in a Holden Monaro.
Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day 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.
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 1975 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 was the 16th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was an endurance race for touring cars complying with CAMS Group C regulations. The event was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales on 5 October 1975 over a distance of 1006.036 km. The race was Round 3 of the 1975 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
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.
Robert Morris is an Australian former racing driver. Morris was one of the leading touring car drivers during the 1970s and continued racing until 1984. Morris won Australia's premier Touring car race, the Bathurst 1000 in 1976. He also won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1979. Morris was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2004.
Henry Leslie Firth 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 team and then the famed Holden Dealer Team (HDT) well into the 1970s. Firth’s nickname was "the fox", implying his use of cunning ploys as a team manager.
The 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was an endurance motor race open to Group E Series Production Touring Cars. The race was held on 1 October 1972 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. Cars competed in four classes defined by Capacity Price Units, where the engine capacity, expressed in litres, was multiplied by the purchase price in Australian dollars to arrive at a CP value for each vehicle. It was the 13th running of the Bathurst 500 race and the last to be held over the original distance of 500 miles. It was also the last to allow drivers to compete for the full distance without a relief driver. The race was the third round of the 1972 Australian Manufacturers' Championship.
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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 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for Group C Touring Cars. It was the 17th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. The championship began at Symmons Plains Raceway on 29 February and ended at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on 28 November in the longest season in the history of the series. 1976 saw a substantial change to the ATCC calendar which was expanded to eleven rounds, incorporating the end-of-season long distance Australian Championship of Makes races for the first time. These races included Sandown's Hang Ten 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 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 1986 Australian Touring Car season was the 27th season of touring car racing in Australia commencing from 1960 when the first Australian Touring Car Championship and the first Armstrong 500 were contested. It was the second season in which Australian Touring Car regulations were based on those for the FIA Group A Touring Car category.
John Leffler is a former Australian racing driver. Leffler is best known for driving open-wheelers and winning the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1976.
JPS Team BMW is a former Australian motor racing team that ran from 1981–1987. The team's main focus was touring car racing but also ran in sports sedans and GT cars as well. The team, under the management of former British Touring Car Champion and Formula One racer Frank Gardner, was based in Sydney and completed almost all of their testing at the old Amaroo Park circuit with Gardner himself doing most of the test miles in the various BMW's the team raced.
AMSCAR was a touring car championship held in Australia between 1982 and 1997, based at Amaroo Park in Sydney.
The 1976 Rothmans Sun-7 Series was a motor racing competition open to Touring Cars of under 3 litre capacity. It was contested at the Amaroo Park circuit in New South Wales, Australia and was the sixth annual Touring Car series to be staged at that circuit. It was won by Allan Grice driving a Mazda RX-3.