1992 Australian Touring Car Championship

1992 Australian Touring Car Championship
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The 1992 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 33rd running of the Australian Touring Car Championship.[1] It was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group 3A Touring Cars,[2] commonly known as Group A cars. It began on 23 February 1992 at Amaroo Park and ended on 21 June at Oran Park Raceway after nine rounds.

Mark Skaife, driving for a Nissan Skyline GT-R for Gibson Motorsport, won his first Australian Touring Car Championship. His team mate and defending series champion Jim Richards finished second, with BMW M3 driver Tony Longhurst finishing in third place.

Even though Mark Skaife was the overall winner of the opening round at Amaroo Park, Peter Brock's win in Heat 1 of the round in his Mobil 1 Racing Holden VN Commodore SS Group A was the first win by a Holden in the ATCC since Brock had won Round 6 of the 1986 ATCC at Surfers Paradise.

In an effort to reduce costs and to even out the cars, CAMS imposed a number of changes for 1992. The Holden Commodore's and Ford Sierra RS500's were restricted to a 7,500 rev limit (a situation that still exists as of 2015) and the BMW M3's, the giant killers of 1991, had an extra 50 kg of weight added to the cars.

However the biggest change came to the Nissan GT-R's. Before the start of the season the cars were given an extra 40 kg, bringing them up to a total of 1400 kg. CAMS also directed that the cars were to run Formula One style pop-off valves on the twin turbos to restrict their power, bringing them down from 1991's 640 bhp (477 kW; 649 PS) to around 450 bhp (336 kW; 456 PS). Gibson Motorsport continually protested against the imposed penalties on the car (after winning the ATCC the cars were given an extra 100 kg to bring them 1500), and even took CAMS to court (unsuccessfully) in a bid to be able to run the GT-R as they were in 1991 claiming that they were no longer competitive. However most saw this as a false claim since the team won both the ATCC and the Tooheys 1000. Team boss Fred Gibson later admitted that his team had actually fooled CAMS into believing the cars had lost some 190 bhp (142 kW; 193 PS) by setting the rig used to test the engine power to show exactly what CAMS wanted to see. Gibson told in a magazine interview that while CAMS mandated the use of the pop-off valves, they had no idea how the valves actually worked, thus once the team worked them out (with help from sponsors Shell and its links to the McLaren F1 team who had previously used exactly the same items in 1987 and 1988) it was easy to fool the governing body. Some experts and fans believe that the cars more than likely still ran with around 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS) and that Richards and Skaife were deliberately sandbagging in qualifying and races.

Teams and drivers

Jim Richards Nissan GT-R
Stephen Bell Mitsubishi Starion

The following drivers competed in the 1992 ATCC.

Team Manufacturer Car model No Driver
Winfield Team Nissan Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 1 New Zealand Jim Richards
2 Australia Mark Skaife
Lansvale Racing Team Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 3 Australia Trevor Ashby
Australia Steve Reed
GIO Racing Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 4 Australia Mark Gibbs
Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 21 Australia Mark Gibbs
Australia Rohan Onslow
Mobil 1 Racing Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 05 Australia Peter Brock
7 Australia Neil Crompton
Alf Grant Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 6 Australia Tim Grant
Caltex CXT Racing Ford Sierra RS500 8 Australia Colin Bond
Perkins Engineering Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 11 Australia Larry Perkins
Ampol Max 3 Racing Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 12 Australia Bob Jones
Shell Ultra-Hi Racing Ford Sierra RS500 17 Australia Dick Johnson
18 Australia John Bowe
Benson & Hedges Racing BMW M3 Evolution II 20 Australia Alan Jones
23 Australia Paul Morris
25 Australia Tony Longhurst
Terry Finnigan Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 27 Australia Terry Finnigan
Playscape Racing Ford Sierra RS500 28 Australia Kevin Waldock
Wayne Douglass Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 29 Australia John English
Peter Jackson Racing Ford Sierra RS500 30 Australia Glenn Seton
35 Australia Wayne Park
Australia David Parsons
Phil Johnson Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 31 Australia Phil Johnson
Pro-Duct Racing Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 33 Australia Bob Pearson
Ron Masing Mitsubishi Starion 36 Australia Ron Masing
Challenge Motorsport Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 39 Australia Chris Smerdon
John Leeson Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 40 Australia John Leeson
Daily Planet Racing Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 41 Australia Andrew Harris
Warren Jonsson Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 42 Australia Warren Jonsson
Brian Callaghan Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 43 Australia Brian Callaghan Jr
Stuart McColl Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 44 Australia Stuart McColl
Ian Love Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 45 Australia Ian Love
Bryan Sala Ford Sierra RS500 50 Australia Bryan Sala
Mike Steele Ford Sierra RS500 55 Australia Mike Steele
Scotty Taylor Racing Mitsubishi Starion 60 Australia Stephen Bell
Holden Racing Team Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 61 Australia Tomas Mezera
Reda Awadullah Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 68 Egypt Reda Awadullah
Garry Willmington Performance Toyota Supra Turbo 69 Australia Garry Willmington
Adrian Brooke Toyota Corolla SX 72 Australia Brad Stratton
Frank Binding Toyota Corolla SX 74 Australia Frank Binding
Barbagallo Motorsport Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV 77 Australia Alf Barbagallo
John Holmes Toyota Corolla SX 78 Australia John Holmes
Malcolm Rea Toyota Sprinter 88 Australia Malcolm Rea

Results and Standings

Race Calendar

The 1992 ATCC was contested over a nine rounds series in six different states with two heats per round.[3]

Rd. Race Title Circuit City / State Date Winner Car Team Report
1 New South Wales Amaroo Amaroo Park Sydney, New South Wales 21 - 23 Feb Australia Mark Skaife Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Winfield Team Nissan
2 Victoria (Australia) Sandown Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 6 - 8 Mar Australia John Bowe Ford Sierra RS500 Shell Ultra-Hi Racing
3 Tasmania Launceston Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 13 - 15 Mar Australia Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500 Peter Jackson Racing
4 Victoria (Australia) Winton Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 3 - 5 Apr Australia Mark Skaife Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Winfield Team Nissan
5 Queensland Lakeside Lakeside International Raceway Brisbane, Queensland 1–3 May Australia Tony Longhurst BMW M3 Evolution Benson & Hedges Racing
6 New South Wales Eastern Creek Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 3 - 5 Jun Australia John Bowe Ford Sierra RS500 Shell Ultra-Hi Racing
7 South Australia Mallala Mallala Motorsport Park Mallala, South Australia 29–31 May Australia Mark Skaife Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Winfield Team Nissan
8 Western Australia Wanneroo Barbagallo Raceway Perth, Western Australia 5 - 7 Jun Australia John Bowe Ford Sierra RS500 Shell Ultra-Hi Racing
9 New South Wales Oran Park Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 19 - 21 Jun Australia Mark Skaife Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R Winfield Team Nissan

Drivers Championship

Points were awarded on a 30-27-24-21-19-17-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 basis to the top twenty drivers at each round. Round positions were determined by applying the same points structure to each of the two heats and ranking the drivers by the total. In the event of two or more drivers having the same total, the round placing was determined by the finishing order in the second heat.[4]

Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Pts
1 Mark Skaife 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 5th 2nd 1st 8th 1st 234
2 Jim Richards 2nd 3rd 4th 2nd 2nd 4th 9th 2nd 2nd 214
3 Tony Longhurst 14th 10th 5th 4th 1st 3rd 2nd 3rd 5th 184
4 John Bowe 7th 1st Ret 7th 4th 1st 4th 1st 9th 175
5 Glenn Seton 4th 7th 1st 3rd 8th 5th 6th 5th 8th 173
6 Mark Gibbs 5th 4th 6th 9th 16th 7th 3rd 11th 4th 147
7 Alan Jones 11th 18th 8th 6th 3rd 6th 7th 6th 3rd 143
8 Dick Johnson 8th 5th 3rd 11th 12th 13th 8th 4th 10th 134
9 Paul Morris 9th 12th 11th 8th 6th 9th 10th 9th 6th 120
10 Larry Perkins 8th 5th 7th 11th 5th 7th 7th 108
11 Peter Brock 3rd 6th 10th 13th 9th 8th 11th 100
12 Colin Bond 10th 16th 9th 16th 11th 15th 12th 10th 13th 86
13 Wayne Park 12th 14th 12th 10th 14th 10th 11th 14th 79
14 Trevor Ashby 6th 12th 12th 37
15 Steve Reed 11th 13th 12th 30
16 Tomas Mezera 13th 10th 14th 29
16 Bob Jones 15th 17th 22nd 16th Ret 16th 17th 29
18 Neil Crompton Ret 9th 7th DNS 28
18 Terry Finnigan 13th 17th 15th 15th Ret 28
20 Stuart McColl 18th 14th 15th 19
21 Tim Grant 18th 14th 18th 16
22 John English 19th 17th 16th 14
23 Chris Smerdon 19th 13th 12
24 Alf Barbagallo 12th 10
25 Stephen Bell 13th 9
25 Ian Love 13th 9
27 David Parsons 14th 8
28 Bob Pearson 15th DNS 7
28 Phil Johnson 15th 7
28 Bryan Sala 19th 18th 7
31 Brian Callaghan Jr 16th 6
32 Frank Binding 17th 24th 5
32 Kevin Waldock 17th 5
34 John Holmes 19th DNS DNS 3
34 Rohan Onslow 19th 3
36 Warren Jonsson 20th 2
Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate (DNP)
Excluded (EX)

See also

1992 Australian Touring Car season

References

  1. ↑ About CAMS > Titles – Australian Titles Retrieved from www.camsmanual.com.au on 17 September 2009. Archived 25 September 2009.
  2. ↑ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1992, page 162
  3. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Year, 1992/93
  4. ↑ Official Programme, Mallala, 31 May 1992, pages 10

External links

Further reading

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