1985 Australian Touring Car Championship

Motor racing competition July 2015 February 2020 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship 1984 1986 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. The championship was won for the first of an eventual 4 times by expatriate Kiwi and now Melbourne resident Jim Richards driving a BMW 635 CSi for Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW with Jim being the first New Zealander to ever win the ATCC. 1985 was also the first time that a car from either Europe or the UK had won the ATCC since 4 time series champion Bob Jane had won his second title in a British built Jaguar Mk.II 4.1 in 1963. 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 champion Dick Johnson placed second 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 only running Group A Commodore at the time was the Brock's Holden Dealer Team car that had raced in Nissan-Mobil 500 series in New Zealand in January and February, but had missed the Winton round as it was still on the boat heading back to Melbourne. The race also saw the first ever ATCC race win by a BMW with Richards, driving the full Group A 1984 Bathurst 635 (driven at Bathurst by ex-F1 champ Denny Hulme and Bavarian Prince Leopold von Bayern), winning by a lap from his new JPS teammate, fellow New Zealander Neville Crichton (like Brock's Commodore, Crichton's own ex-Alpina BMW 635, fresh from winning the Nissan-Mobil series, was still on its way to Australia so at Winton he drove the JPS team's spare, the converted ex-1984 Group C 635). 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. Although both Jim Richards and Neville Crichton ran under and were fully maintained by Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW which was based in the suburb of Terrey Hills in Sydney, both cars in fact had separate JPS sponsorship through the respective Australian and New Zealand arms of Amatil. Swedish marque Volvo also joined the winners list when Kiwi Robbie Francevic won Round 3 at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in a Volvo 240T turbo owned by his friend, Auckland millionaire of mechanical seals designer and manufacturer (and sometimes race driver) Mark Petch. 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 Volvo (which Dick Johnson referred to as a "Swedish Valiant" on RaceCam during Ch.7's telecast) 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. It was not the first turbocharged car to win an ATCC race however, as George Fury had won the Lakeside round in 1984 in a Nissan Bluebird Turbo. Although the other drivers and teams knew the speed potential of the turbo Volvo with it winning races in the European Touring Car Championship, as well as Francevic and Belgian jeweller Michel Delcourt winning the inaugural Wellington 500 in New Zealand earlier in the year in the same car, Francevic's win at Symmons Plains over the big Holden and Ford V8's still came as something of a culture shock to Australian race fans. 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 teammate 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 (e.g. on the 900+ metre straights at Sandown and Adelaide), but Willmington's lack of budget to develop the car saw it lack both the reliability and the handling needed to be competitive on the smaller Australian tracks. Also impressing were 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 teammate 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 Lawrie Nelson both drove a privately entered Ford Mustang each, and even though they would on occasions both achieve decent results in qualifying, lack of reliability and funding kept them well off the pace of Johnson's front running Greens-Tuf Zakespeed Ford Mustang GT. Teams and drivers thumb|right|Lawrie Nelson's Ford MustangThe following drivers and teams competed in the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship. TeamCarClassNoDriver Masterton Homes Holden VK Commodore 3001 to 6000cc 2 AUS Steve Masterton H. Kent Baigent BMW 635 CSi 2001 to 3000cc 3 NZL Kent Baigent Mobil Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore 3001 to 6000cc 05 AUS Peter BrockAUS John Harvey* 7 AUS Peter Brock*AUS John HarveyAUS Larry PerkinsAUS David Parsons Toyota Team Australia Toyota Corolla Up to 2000cc 10 AUS John Smith 11 AUS Drew Price Garry Willmington Performance Jaguar XJ-S 3001 to 6000cc 12 AUS Garry Willmington Bob Holden Motors Toyota Sprinter Up to 2000cc 13 AUS Bob HoldenAUS Mike Quinn Palmer Tube Mills Ford Mustang GT 3001 to 6000cc 17 AUS Dick Johnson Toowong Mitsubishi Official Programme, Surfers Paradise International Raceway, Sunday, May 19, 1985 Mitsubishi Starion 2001 to 3000cc 18 AUS Ross Burbidge Ken Mathews Prestige Cars Holden VK Commodore 3001 to 6000cc 19 AUS Ken Mathews Jim Keogh Automotive Holden VK Commodore 3001 to 6000cc 20 AUS Jim Keogh Mark Petch Motorsport Volvo 240T 2001 to 3000cc 21 NZL Robbie Francevic Glenn Molloy BMW 635 CSi 3001 to 6000cc 22 NZL Glenn Molloy BMW Australia Official Programme, Oran Park, July 14, 1985 BMW 323i 2001 to 3000cc 23 AUS Tony Longhurst Network Alfa Alfa Romeo GTV6 2001 to 3000cc 26 AUS Colin Bond 27 AUS Alan Jones The Toy Shop Alfa Romeo GTV6 2001 to 3000cc 27 AUS Gregg Hansford Keema Mazda Springwood Mazda RX-7 2001 to 3000cc 30 AUS Russell Worthington JPS Team BMW BMW 635 CSi 3001 to 6000cc 31 NZL Neville Crichton 62 NZL Jim Richards Motorsport Performance Ford Mustang GT 3001 to 6000cc 33 AUS Don Smith Ken Harrison Ford Escort Mk.II Up to 2000cc 34 AUS Ken Harrison Mike Minear Racing Volvo 360GLT Up to 2000cc 36 AUS Mike Minear Jagparts Triumph Dolomite Sprint Up to 2000cc 49 AUS Martin Power Chris Heyer Audi 5+5 2001 to 3000cc 53 AUS Chris Heyer JL Hazelton Ford Capri Mk.III 2001 to 3000cc 57 AUS Laurie Hazelton Capri Components Ford Mustang GT 3001 to 6000cc 64 AUS Lawrie Nelson John Craft Ford Capri Mk.III 2001 to 3000cc 65 AUS John Craft Ralliart Australia Mitsubishi Starion 2001 to 3000cc 66 AUS Kevin Bartlett Greville Arnel Mitsubishi Starion 2001 to 3000cc 68 AUS Greville Arnel Raymond Spencer Mazda RX-7 2001 to 3000cc 70 AUS Raymond Spencer Ian Thompson BMW 323i 2001 to 3000cc 77 AUS Ian Thompson Peter Williamson Toyota Toyota Celica Supra 2001 to 3000cc 77 AUS Peter Williamson Melbourne Brake & Clutch Mitsubishi Starion 2001 to 3000cc 78 AUS Brian Sampson Phil Parsons Ford Capri Mk.III 2001 to 3000cc 79 AUS Phil Parsons Alf Barbagallo Rover Vitesse 3001 to 6000cc 96 NZL Tim Slako * 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 titleCircuitLocation / stateDateWinnerAustralian Motor Racing Year 1985/86, pages 313–314TeamReport 1 Winton Motor Raceway Victoria Benalla, Victoria 9–10 Feb Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 2 Pye Audio Touring Car Race Sandown International Raceway Victoria Melbourne, Victoria 23–24 Feb Peter Brock Mobil Holden Dealer Team 3 Symmons Plains Raceway Tasmania Launceston, Tasmania 10–11 Mar Robbie Francevic Mark Petch Motorsport 4 Wanneroo Park Western Australia Perth, Western Australia 30–31 Mar Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 1985 ATCC Round 4 Barbagello 5 Motorcraft 100 Adelaide International Raceway South Australia Virginia, South Australia 20–21 Apr Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 1985 ATCC Round 5 Adelaide International Raceway 6 Eurovox Trophy Calder Park Raceway Victoria Melbourne, Victoria 27–28 Apr Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 7 Gold Coast Bulletin Centenary Trophy1985 ATCC http://www.progcovers.com/motor/atcc1985.html The Programme Covers Project 14 February 2019 Surfers Paradise International Raceway Queensland Surfers Paradise, Queensland 18–19 May Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 1985 ATCC Round 7 Surfers Paradise 8 FM104 Trophy Lakeside International Raceway Queensland Brisbane, Queensland 22–23 Jun Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 1985 ATCC R8 Lakeside 9 Better Brakes 100 Amaroo Park New South Wales Sydney, New South Wales 6–7 Jul Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 1985 ATCC Round 9 Amaroo 10 Castrol Grand Final Oran Park Raceway New South Wales Sydney, New South Wales 12–13 Jul Robbie Francevic Mark Petch Motorsport 1985 ATCC Round 10 Oran Park Classes Cars competed in three classes determined by engine capacity. Up to 2000cc 2001 to 3000cc 3001 to 6000ccCAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1985, page 90 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 Outright PositionCAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1985, page 86 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Scale A 30 27 24 21 19 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Scale B 28 26 23 20 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Scale C 25 23 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 – – – Points from the best nine round results were retained by each driver, any other points not being included in the nett total. Results Pos Graham Howard, Stewart Wilson, David Greenhalgh, The official history - Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years, page 261 Driver Car Win. San. Sym. Wan. Ade. Cal. Sur. Lak. Ama. Ora. Pts. 1 Jim Richards BMW 635 CSi 1st 2nd 5th 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 3rd 218 (233) 2 Dick Johnson Ford Mustang GT Ret 3rd 2nd 3rd 3rd 2nd 4th 2nd 2nd 2nd 192 3 Peter Brock Holden VK Commodore 1st 4th 2nd 2nd Ret 3rd 3rd 5th 8th 153 4 Neville Crichton BMW 635 CSi 2nd 5th 3rd 4th 4th 3rd 5th 6th 9th Ret 149 5 Robbie Francevic Volvo 240T 6th 1st 9th Ret 7th 2nd 4th Ret 1st 143 6 Colin Bond Alfa Romeo GTV6 Ret 12th 8th 8th 6th 6th 16th 5th 4th 4th 127 7 John Smith Toyota Corolla 7th 9th 10th 11th 12th 11th 10th 8th 10th 15th 110 (117) 8 Alan Jones Alfa Romeo GTV6 4th 4th 7th 6th 16th 4th 7th DNS 108 9 Kevin Bartlett Mitsubishi Starion 3rd 8th DNS 7th 8th 9th DNS DNS 75 10 Bob Holden Toyota Sprinter 8th 15th 11th 12th 14th 14th 15th 15th Ret 72 11 Jim Keogh Holden VK Commodore 7th 6th 10th 17th Ret 11th 9th 12th 54 12 Kent Baigent BMW 635 CSi 5th 8th 8th Ret 7th 13th 51 13 Drew Price Toyota Sprinter 13th 12th 10th 11th 14th 50 14 Brian Sampson Mitsubishi Starion 5th 11th Ret 10th 20th 11th 48 15 Tim Slako Rover Vitesse 5th 9th 8th 6th 47 16 Tony Longhurst BMW 323i 7th 3rd 12th 4617 Mike Minear Volvo 360GLT 10th Ret 12th 18th 16th 41 18 Laurie Hazelton Ford Capri Mk.III 9th Ret 11th 13th 35 19 Lawrie Nelson Ford Mustang GT 6th 16th 9th 10th Ret 32 20 John Harvey Holden VK Commodore 5th 5th 30 21 Steve Masterton Holden VK Commodore Ret 9th Ret Ret 7th 20 22 Russell Worthington Mazda RX-7 13th 11th 18 23 Ross Burbidge Mitsubishi Starion 14th 12th 16 24 Peter Williamson Toyota Celica Supra 7th Ret 18th Ret 14 25 Larry Perkins Holden VK Commodore 6th Ret 13 = David Parsons Holden VK Commodore 6th 13 27 Garry Willmington Jaguar XJ-S Ret 18th 15th Ret 9th 12 28 Greville Arnel Mitsubishi Starion Ret 10th Ret 11 = Gregg Hansford Alfa Romeo GTV6 10th 11 = Ken Mathews Holden VK Commodore 13th 12th 11 = Martin Power Triumph Dolomite Sprint 14th 19th 11 32 Raymond Spencer Mazda RX-7 13th 8 33 Ken Harrison Ford Escort Mk.II 17th Ret 15th 7 = John Craft Ford Capri Mk.III 14th 7 35 Chris Heyer Audi 5+5 16th 5 36 Phil Parsons Ford Capri Mk.III 17th 4 37 Phil Lamour Triumph Dolomite Sprint 19th 3 38 Ian Thompson BMW 323i Ret 20th 1 = Brian Potts Holden VK Commodore 17th 1 Pos Driver Car Win. San. Sym. Wan. Ade. Cal. Sur. Lak. Ama. Ora. Pts See also 1985 Australian Touring Car season References External links Official V8 Supercar site Contains historical ATCC information. 1985 Australian Touring Car racing images at www.autopics.com.au 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship, touringcarracing.net Category:Australian Touring Car Championship seasons Touring Cars