1985 Australian Touring Car Championship

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 (the track's first ever ATCC race) and ended on 14 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds.

Season Summary

Triple Bathurst winner Jim Richards won his and BMW's first Australian Touring Car Championship driving a 3.5 litre 6 cyl BMW 635 CSi entered by JPS Team BMW. Defending series champion Dick Johnson finished 2nd in his Ford Mustang (the first time a Mustang had been seen in the ATCC since 1973), with Peter Brock finishing third in his Holden VK Commodore.

The first round of the series at Winton also created history when for the first time since the ATCC was first held in 1960, no Holden of any sort was on the grid. The race also saw the first ever ATCC race win by a BMW with Richards winning by a lap from his new JPS team mate, fellow New Zealander Neville Crichton. Richards' win in the BMW also saw the first ATCC round win by a European car since Jim McKeown won the 7th and final round of the 1970 ATCC at Symmons Plains in a Porsche 911S.

Swedish marque Volvo also joined the winners list when Kiwi Robbie Francevic won Round 3 at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in his Volvo 240T. Still a resident of Auckland, Francevic's win also saw him become the first non-Australian resident to win an ATCC race. The big Kiwi's win in Tasmania in the turbo Volvo was also the first of what would be an eventual 55 ATCC round wins (out of a possible 72) for cars powered by turbocharged engines up until the end of Group A racing in 1992, though it wasn't the first turbo to win an ATCC race as George Fury had won the Lakeside round in 1984 in a Nissan Bluebird Turbo.

Richards (Winton, Wanneroo, Adelaide, Calder, Surfers, Lakeside and Amaroo, which staged its first ATCC race since 1978), Brock (Sandown) and Francevic (Symmons Plains and Oran Park) were the only drivers to win a race in the series. That actually gave New Zealand born drivers 9 wins out of the 10 rounds, a record for non-Australian wins that still stands as of 2016.

Jim Richards and John Smith in his Toyota Team Australia Corolla were the only drivers to finish each round of the series. Smith won the Up to 2000cc class at the first nine rounds of the series before finishing a close second behind team mate Drew Price in the final round at Oran Park.

Other drivers/cars who made an impression in Australia's first foray into Group A included Sydney privateer Garry Willmington in his privately entered Jaguar XJS (built from a second hand road car) with its 5.3 litre V12 engine which proved fast but underdone thanks to Willmington's small budget. The Jaguar was often the fastest car in a straight line when it appeared, but Willmington's lack of budget to develop the car saw it lack the handling needed to be competitive on the smaller Australian tracks. Perth based expat Kiwi Tim Slako in an ex-Andy Rouse BTCC Rover Vitesse powered by a 3.5 litre V8, another Kiwi in Jim Richards' JPS team mate Neville Crichton in his BMW, and yet another Kiwi Kent Baigent who joined the series in Adelaide driving his ex-Schnitzer Motorsport BMW 635. Also impressing with giant killing performances was 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones in Colin Bond's second Network Alfa team Alfa Romeo GTV6. Jones, in an Luigi Racing (ETCC) built GTV6 generally out-performed Bond who drove his Alfa which had been converted from Group E to Group A specification in 1984. Jones, contesting his first ever ATCC finished 8th in the championship despite not contesting the final three rounds (Jones would return full time to F1 in late 1985). Don Smith and Laurie Nelson both drove a Ford Mustang and while both were able to perform decent results in qualifying, reliability and funding drew them well off the pace of Johnson's front running Greens-Tuf car.

Teams and drivers

Lawrie Nelson's Ford Mustang

The following drivers and teams competed in the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship.

Team	Car	Class	No	Driver
Masterton Homes	Holden VK Commodore	3001 to 6000cc	2	Steve Masterton
H. Kent Baigent	BMW 635 CSi	2001 to 3000cc	3	Kent Baigent
Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Holden VK Commodore	3001 to 6000cc	05	Peter Brock John Harvey*
			7	Peter Brock* John Harvey Larry Perkins David Parsons
Toyota Team Australia	Toyota Corolla	Up to 2000cc	10	John Smith
			11	Drew Price
Garry Willmington Performance	Jaguar XJ-S	3001 to 6000cc	12	Garry Willmington
Bob Holden Motors	Toyota Sprinter	Up to 2000cc	13	Bob Holden Mike Quinn
Palmer Tube Mills	Ford Mustang GT	3001 to 6000cc	17	Dick Johnson
Ken Mathews Prestige Cars	Holden VK Commodore	3001 to 6000cc	19	Ken Mathews
Jim Keogh Automotive	Holden VK Commodore	3001 to 6000cc	20	Jim Keogh
Mark Petch Motorsport	Volvo 240T	2001 to 3000cc	21	Robbie Francevic
Glenn Molloy	BMW 635 CSi	3001 to 6000cc	22	Glenn Molloy
JPS Team BMW	BMW 323i	2001 to 3000cc	23	Tony Longhurst
	BMW 635 CSi	3001 to 6000cc	31	Neville Crichton
			62	Jim Richards
Network Alfa	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6	2001 to 3000cc	26	Colin Bond
			27	Alan Jones
The Toy Shop	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6	2001 to 3000cc	27	Gregg Hansford
Motorsport Performance	Ford Mustang GT	3001 to 6000cc	33	Don Smith
Ken Harrison	Ford Escort Mk.II	Up to 2000cc	34	Ken Harrison
Mike Minear Racing	Volvo 360GLT	Up to 2000cc	36	Mike Minear
Jagparts	Triumph Dolomite Sprint	Up to 2000cc	49	Martin Power
Chris Heyer	Audi 5+5	2001 to 3000cc	53	Chris Heyer
JL Hazelton	Ford Capri Mk.III	2001 to 3000cc	57	Laurie Hazelton
Capri Components	Ford Mustang GT	3001 to 6000cc	64	Lawrie Nelson
John Craft	Ford Capri Mk.III	2001 to 3000cc	65	John Craft
Ralliart Australia	Mitsubishi Starion	2001 to 3000cc	66	Kevin Bartlett
Greville Arnel	Mitsubishi Starion	2001 to 3000cc	68	Greville Arnel
Raymond Spencer	Mazda RX-7	2001 to 3000cc	70	Raymond Spencer
Ian Thompson	BMW 323i	2001 to 3000cc	77	Ian Thompson
Peter Williamson Toyota	Toyota Celica Supra	2001 to 3000cc	77	Peter Williamson
Melbourne Brake & Clutch	Mitsubishi Starion	2001 to 3000cc	78	Brian Sampson
Alf Barbagallo	Rover Vitesse	3001 to 6000cc	96	Tim Slako
Russell Worthington	Mazda RX-7	2001 to 3000cc	100	Russell Worthington
Ross Burbidge	Mitsubishi Starion	2001 to 3000cc		Ross Burbidge
Phil Parsons	Ford Capri Mk.III	2001 to 3000cc		Phil Parsons

* Peter Brock and John Harvey both drove #05 and #7 during the season.

Race Calendar

The 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship was contested over a ten round series with one race per round.

Rd.	Race Title	Circuit	Location / State	Date	Winner [1]	Team	Report
1	Winton	Winton Motor Raceway	Benalla, Victoria	9 - 10 Feb	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW
2	Pye Audio Round 2	Sandown International Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	23 - 24 Feb	Peter Brock	Mobil Holden Dealer Team
3	Symmons Plains	Symmons Plains Raceway	Launceston, Tasmania	10 - 11 Mar	Robbie Francevic	Mark Petch Motorsport
4	Wanneroo	Barbagallo Raceway	Perth, Western Australia	30 - 31 Mar	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW	[2]
5	Motorcraft 100	Adelaide International Raceway	Adelaide, South Australia	20 - 21 Apr	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW	[3]
6	Eurovox Trophy	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	27 - 28 Apr	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW
7	Gold Coast Bulletin Century	Surfers Paradise International Raceway	Surfers Paradise, Queensland	18–19 May	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW	[4]
8	Lakeside	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	22 - 23 Jun	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW	[5]
9	Better Brakes 100	Amaroo Park	Sydney, New South Wales	6 - 7 Jul	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW	[6]
10	Castrol Grand Final	Oran Park Raceway	Sydney, New South Wales	12 - 13 Jul	Robbie Francevic	Mark Petch Motorsport	[7]

Classes

Cars competed in three classes determined by engine capacity.

• Up to 2000cc
• 2001 to 3000cc
• 3001 to 6000cc ^[8]

Points system

Championship points were allocated on a three tier system, to Australian license holders only, for outright places gained in each round:

• Scale A was applied to drivers of cars in the Up to 2000cc class
• Scale B was applied to drivers of cars in the 2001 to 3000cc class
• Scale C was applied to drivers of cars in the 3001 to 6000cc class ^[8]

Points from the best nine round results were retained by each driver, any other points not being included in the nett total.

Results

See also

• 1985 Australian Touring Car season

References

1. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Year 1985/86, pages 313-314
2. ↑ 1985 ATCC Round 4 Barbagello
3. ↑ 1985 ATCC Round 5 Adelaide International Raceway
4. ↑ 1985 ATCC Round 7 Surfers Paradise
5. ↑ 1985 ATCC R8 Lakeside
6. ↑ 1985 ATCC Round 9 Amaroo
7. ↑ 1985 ATCC Round 10 Oran Park
8. 1 2 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1985, page 90
9. ↑ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1985, page 86

External links

• Official V8 Supercar site Contains historical ATCC information.
• 1985 Australian Touring Car racing images at www.autopics.com.au