1983 Australian Touring Car Championship

Motor racing competition July 2015 January 2020 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship 1982 1984 thumb|Allan Moffat won the championship driving a Mazda RX-7 similar to that pictured above The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1983 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 91-95 The title, which was the 24th Australian Touring Car Championship,Summary of Titles 1983, 1983 CAMS Manual of Australian Motor Sport, page 41 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.Paul Gover, Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1983/84, pages 184-201 The championship was won by Allan Moffat driving a Mazda RX-7. Television Coverage In 1983, the ATCC coverage was split between Channel 7 and the ABC, made necessary due to some circuit promotors having existing TV broadcasting contracts. Thus the Bob Jane owned and promoted Calder Park had its opening round of the ATCC televised by Seven with commentary from Evan Green, Mike Raymond, Garry Wilkinson and pit reporter, former Holden Dealer Team manager John Sheppard, while the rest of the series was televised by the ABC with commentary from Will Hagon, John Smailes, Drew Morphett and Neil Crompton, while they were joined at the Wanneroo round in Perth by Dennis Cometti and at the Oran Park round in Sydney by Bob Vincent. Season summary The championship was won by Allan Moffat, his fourth and final Australian Touring Car Championship and a first for Mazda, who were helping to fund Moffat's team and it was also the first ATCC win for a Japanese manufacturer. Moffat himself dominated the racing, taking four out of the eight race wins, but a beneficial points structure for smaller capacity cars allowed George Fury (driving a turbocharged version of the Nissan Bluebird) to push Moffat all the way to the title, despite not actually winning a race. The folly in the point system was exposed at the first round at Calder when Moffat won the race from Fury, but Fury actually led the championship by finishing second outright in a smaller capacity car (Moffat scored 25 for winning while Fury scored 27 for finishing second). When Fury took the lead for a brief time at Calder, it was the first time that a turbo powered car had led an ATCC race. Peter Brock in his Marlboro Holden Dealer Team VH Commodore SS finished third in the championship. Brock's early season form and some uncharacteristic reliability problems saw him lagging in ninth place at the midway point in the championship after failing to finish at Calder and Symmons Plains thanks to gearbox failure both times, while finishing third at Sandown and ninth at Wanneroo after spinning out of the lead in a dice with Moffat and Fury (Moffat's win at Wanneroo caused a sensation due to his Formula One style mid-race pit stop for fuel). Brock's championship got back on track with an all-the-way win in Adelaide where he won by the length of the Commodore's bumper bar from Moffat who actually got his Mazda in front 50 metres from the flag but lost out to the power of the V8 Commodore (as of 2025 this is still the smallest winning margin ever in an ATCC race). From there he finished with two seconds and a win to round out the series. Brock's win in the final round at Lakeside was easily one of the drives of the series. In difficult, wet conditions that actually suited the smaller RX-7's rather than the heavier Commodores and Falcons, he lapped the entire field in the 35 laps after taking the lead on lap 2. His race almost ended coming out of the Karrasell on the first lap when the left rear tyre of his Commodore got out into the mud and pitched the car sideways, almost into the path of both Dick Johnson in his Falcon, the big Ford finally working somewhere near right thanks to suspension work from former Williams F1 mechanic Wayne Eckersley who correctly deduced that the cars problem was actually incorrect settings on the front suspension and not at the rear as initially thought, and the ever improving ex-motorcycle Grand Prix winner Gregg Hansford in the second Allan Moffat Racing Mazda RX-7. Brock recovered still in 3rd place and soon past an ailing Johnson whose Falcon had suffered a power steering pump failure on the grid which would cause his early retirement as he could not steer the car properly. Brock then passed early leader Moffat on lap 2 and proceeded to run away from the field. Hansford also overtook Moffat who was wisely driving with an eye on the title, but Brock lapped the #31 Mazda through the back section of the circuit on the last lap. Moffat, Brock and Allan Grice (who won rounds 2 and 3 at Sandown and Symmons Plains in his new Roadways Racing Commodore before fading later in the series) were the only race winners in the 1983 ATCC. Defending champion Dick Johnson battled season long with an ill-handling Ford XE Falcon and could only manage two distant 3rd placings at both Sandown and Wanneroo (where he led for the only time in the series) to finish a disappointing 6th in the championship, 94 points behind Moffat. Johnson's 351 cu in (5.8 L) V8 Falcon had the power, but not the handling to be a serious contender for the crown. It was only discovered before the final round at Lakeside that the problem with the Falcon's handling had been both a lack of rear tyres as well as the front suspension of the car. Whilst Nissan driver George Fury, helped by consistent performances, led the series (uncorrected points) going into the final round at Lakeside, Fury was essentially 5 points behind Moffat in the points system corrected for the top 7 races, therefore Fury needed to finish ahead of Moffat or Moffat finish in 6th place or worse to claim the title. As Moffat had finished well ahead of Fury in all but the one race were the Mazda broke its axle, team manager Howard Marsden decided the team would skip the round as they were not in major contention to win the title (officially to further develop the car before Bathurst). Moffat finished the final race in 3rd position, behind Brock and teammate Gregg Hansford, claiming the 1983 ATCC 6 points ahead of Fury in second place. Controversy also reigned throughout the series with some teams such as the MHDT (Brock) and STP Roadways (Grice) claiming that Moffat was foxing during the championship and not racing as fast as he could in an effort to 'hoodwink' CAMS into believing the RX-7's, which ran the 1.2 Litre 12A rotary engine in the championship, needed the larger and more powerful (by some 30 bhp kW PS 0 on) 1.3 Litre 13B engine to be competitive against the V8's at Bathurst. It was the Surfers Paradise round that really raised the ire of Brock. While Moffat claimed he was flat out at the head of the field fending off Brock for the win, his less experienced (in car racing at least) team mate Gregg Hansford in the backup Peter Stuyvesant Racing Mazda was coming back through the field after a bad start from his 3rd (front row) starting spot ... and was consistently lapping over a second faster than his boss in what was Hansford's first ever ATCC race. Ultimately CAMS approved the larger 13B engine for the RX-7's (as well as a late approval for fuel injection despite hiring independent administrator Graham Hoinville who studied the situation and recommended that neither the 13B nor its fuel injection should be granted), but also granted concessions to the Commodores and Falcons which ended up giving the bigger cars a speed advantage on the Mountain. Controversially CAMS announced the concessions for the post-ATCC 1 August homologation during the race of Round 7 at Oran Park via the ABC's telecast of the race, with ABC commentators Will Hagon and John Smailes making the announcement mid-race. In a TV interview with Smailes immediately following his 2nd placing to Moffat, Peter Brock was informed of the new homologations and expressed his displeasure with CAMS for announcing it on television during the race and not letting those who the decision affected (the teams) know first.1983 ATCC - Oran Park on YouTube (part 6/6) The fallout from CAMS decision led to both the Nissan and Roadways teams boycotting the final race of the series at Lakeside, though the official reason given by Nissan team manager Howard Marsden was that the Bluebirds needed further development for the upcoming 1983 Australian Endurance Championship which included both blue ribbon events, the Sandown 400 and the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. Nissan's boycott of the last round also meant that series leader George Fury virtually forfeited his closest chance of winning an Australian Touring Car Championship and becoming the only driver other than Colin Bond to win both the ATCC and the Australian Rally Championship with Fury previously having won the Rally title in both 1977 and 1980. Despite this it was generally felt that the championship went to the right driver as Moffat and his RX-7 were usually the fastest combination and the expat Canadian was regarded as the man to beat. Moffat only failed to finish once at Sandown (broken axle) and finished every other race on the podium, including four wins, four pole positions and five fastest laps resulting in new lap records at Sandown, Symmons Plains, Wanneroo, Surfers (shared with Brock) and Oran Park, while Fury's best were two seconds (Calder and Wanneroo) and one third at Symmons Plains. Also in each race that both Moffat and Fury finished, the Mazda finished ahead of the Nissan, making it fairly unlikely Fury would win the championship in the last round, unless Moffat suffered a breakdown or was involved in an accident, which if either occurred would've meant the Nissan driver would win the championship in any case, hence a rather pragmatic decision was made by the Nissan team not to compete at the last event. One outcome from this series was that in the future turbocharged cars had their engine capacities multiplied for the purposes of class point score weightings, meaning that in the 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship, the Bluebirds would compete on an equal footing with the other outright class competitors (this actually took effect prior to the start of the 1983 Endurance Championship which started two months after the ATCC concluded). Despite this meaning that the Nissan would score equal points as the RX-7's, Commodores and Falcons, Nissan team boss Howard Marsden raised no objections to the change as the 1.8 litre turbo had proven that it was able to match the speed of the outright class cars. Indeed, later in the year Fury would showcase the speed of the car, qualifying the Bluebird on the front row of the grid at Bathurst, traditionally the sole domain of the more powerful V8 powered cars. Entrants and drivers The following entrants and drivers competed in the 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship. EntrantVehicleNoDriver Masterton Homes Ford XE Falcon 2 AUS Steve Masterton Mike Burgmann Chevrolet Camaro Z28 3 AUS Mike Burgmann Cadbury-Schweppes Racing Holden VH Commodore SS 3 NZL Peter Janson STP Roadways Racing Holden VH Commodore SS 4 AUS Steve Harrington 6 AUS Allan Grice Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Holden VH Commodore SS 05 AUS Peter Brock Peter Brierley Holden VH Commodore 762 AUS Peter Brierley Garry Wilmington Performance Ford XD Falcon 8 AUS Garry Wilmington Andrew Harris Ford XE Falcon 9 AUS Andrew Harris Soundwave Discos Holden VH Commodore SS 11 GBR Clive Benson-BrownAUS Garry Rogers Team Toshiba Holden VH Commodore SS 12 AUS Jim Keogh Bob Holden Motors Ford Escort Mk.II 13 AUS Bob Holden John English Ford XD Falcon 14 AUS John English Ken Hastings Mazda RX-7 15 AUS Ken Hastings John Donnelly Ford XD Falcon 15 AUS John Donnelly Terry Finnigan Holden VH Commodore SS 15 AUS Terry Finnigan Rusty French Holden VH Commodore SS 16 AUS Rusty French Re-Car Racing Holden VH Commodore SS 16 AUS Garry Rogers Palmer Tube Mills Ford XE Falcon 17 AUS Dick Johnson Murray Carter Ford XE Falcon 18 AUS Murray Carter Gary Hinton Holden VH Commodore SS 18 AUS Gary Hinton RJ Collins Mazda RX-7 19 AUS Les Verco Ken Mathews Holden VH Commodore SS 19 AUS Ken Mathews Warren Cullen Auto Salvage Holden VH Commodore SS 22 AUS Warren CullenAUS Ron Harrop Frankie Saracino Ford XD Falcon 25 AUS Frankie Saracino Everlast Ford XD Falcon 26 AUS Bill O'Brien Bayside Spares Holden VH Commodore SS 28 AUS Barry Lawrence Peter Stuyvesant International Racing Mazda RX-7 31 AUS Gregg Hansford 43 CAN Allan Moffat Bernie Parmenter Ford Capri Mk.II 32 AUS Bernie Parmenter Lester Smerdon Isuzu Gemini 33 AUS Lester Smerdon Eurocars (Northside) Pty. Ltd. Mazda RX-7 37 AUS Terry Shiel Bernie Stack Holden VH Commodore SS 38 AUS Bernie Stack Barry Jones Mazda RX-7 41 AUS Barry Jones Ross Burbidge Mazda RX-7 46 AUS Ross Burbidge Roger Manson Holden Isuzu Gemini PF50 48 AUS Roger Manson Martin Power Triumph Dolomite Sprint 49 AUS Martin Power David Parsons Holden VH Commodore SS 50 AUS David Parsons Capri Components Ford Capri Mk.III S 5158 AUS Lawrie Nelson Nissan Nissan Bluebird Turbo 55 AUS George Fury 56 AUS Fred Gibson Hulcraft Autos Ford Capri Mk.III 56 AUS John Craft Beninca Motors Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 59 AUS Peter Beninca Petrolon Slick 50 Racing Mazda RX-7 5960 AUS Peter McLeod Jim Faneco Isuzu Gemini 60 AUS Jim Faneco Les Grose Ford Capri Mk.III 64 AUS Les Grose John White Isuzu Gemini 65 AUS John White Kevin Bartlett Chevrolet Camaro Z28 66 AUS Kevin Bartlett Bob Thomas Mazda RX-3 66 AUS Bob Thomas Mike Imrie Ford XD Falcon 67 AUS Mike Imrie Mike Imrie Ford XD Falcon 67 AUS Graham Treasure Alf Grant Ford XD Falcon 71 AUS Alf Grant John Eaton Holden VH Commodore 72 AUS John Eaton Graham Mein Ford Escort Mk.II 77 AUS Graham Mein The Daily Planet Toyota Celica 88 AUS Craig Bradtke Russell Worthington Mazda 626 100 AUS Russell Worthington Race calendar The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was contested over an eight-round series across six states with one race per round. Rd.Race titleCircuitCity / stateDateWinnerTeamReport 1 Victoria Calder Park Calder Park Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 6 February Allan Moffat Peter Stuyvesant International Racing 1983 ATCC Rd.1 - Calder Park 2 Victoria International Motor Show Trophy Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 20 February Allan Grice STP Roadways Racing 1983 ATCC Rd.2 - Sandown 3 Tasmania Symmons Plains Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 13 March Allan Grice STP Roadways Racing 1983 ATCC Rd.3 - Symmons Plains 4 Western Australia Saab-Scania Cup1983 ATCC http://www.progcovers.com/motor/atcc1983.html The Programme Covers Project 14 February 2019 Wanneroo Park Raceway Perth, Western Australia 24 April Allan Moffat Peter Stuyvesant International Racing 1983 ATCC Rd.4 - Wanneroo Park 5 South Australia Mazda 100 Adelaide International Raceway Adelaide, South Australia 1 May Peter Brock Marlboro Holden Dealer Team 1983 ATCC Rd.5 - Adelaide International 6 Queensland Surfers Paradise Surfers Paradise International Raceway Surfers Paradise, Queensland 15 May Allan Moffat Peter Stuyvesant International Racing 1983 ATCC Rd.6 - Surfers Paradise 7 New South Wales Oran Park Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 29 May Allan Moffat Peter Stuyvesant International Racing 8 Queensland Lakeside Lakeside International Raceway Brisbane, Queensland 19 June Peter Brock Marlboro Holden Dealer Team 1983 ATCC Rd.8 - Lakeside Classes Car competed in two classes, Up to and including 3000cc 3001-6000cc The "Up to and including 3000cc class" consisted of Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Nissan Bluebird turbo, Ford Capri, Ford Escort, Isuzu Gemini, Mazda 626, Mazda RX-3, Toyota Celica and Triumph Dolomite Sprint. The "3001-6000cc class" consisted of Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore and Mazda RX-7. Points system Championship points were awarded on a two tier system to the top twenty outright finishers in each round. Outright Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Points if Up to 3000cc 30 27 24 21 19 17 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Points if 3001-6000cc 25 23 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 Only the best seven round results could be counted by each driver. Results PosGraham Howard & Stewart Wilson, Australian Touring Car Championship, 30 fabulous years, 1989, page 258 DriverCar Cal. San. Sym. Wan. Adl. Sur. Ora. Lak. Pts 1 Allan MoffatMazda RX-7 1st Ret 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 1st 3rd 166 2 George FuryNissan Bluebird 2nd 4th 3rd 2nd 4th 4th 5th 160 3 Peter BrockHolden VH Commodore SS Ret 2nd Ret 9th 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 128 4 Allan GriceHolden VH Commodore SS Ret 1st 1st Ret 3rd Ret 3rd 90 5 Steve HarringtonHolden VH Commodore SS 6th 6th 6th 4th Ret 5th Ret 71 6 Dick JohnsonFord XE Falcon Ret 3rd 5th 3rd 5th Ret Ret Ret 70 7 David ParsonsHolden VH Commodore SS Ret Ret 4th 5th Ret 8th 5th 57 8 Gregg HansfordMazda RX-7 3rd 6th 2nd 56 9 Lawrie NelsonFord Capri 10th 12th 9th 10th 14th 55 10 Murray CarterFord XE Falcon 3rd 5th Ret 35 11 Warren CullenHolden VH Commodore SS 5th 9th 7th Ret 35 12 Bernie ParmenterFord Capri 11th 11th 10th 34 13 Clive Benson-BrownHolden VH Commodore SS 9th 8th 7th Ret 30 14 John WhiteIsuzu Gemini 12th 15th Ret 11th 28 15 Garry RogersHolden VH Commodore SS 4th 8th 27 15 Fred GibsonNissan Bluebird 7th Ret 10th 27 17 Steve MastertonFord XE Falcon Ret 7th 6th 24 17 Alf GrantFord XD Falcon 7th 6th 24 19 Lester SmerdonIsuzu Gemini 13th 8th 23 20 Bob HoldenFord Escort 14th 10th 20 21 Bernie StackHolden VH Commodore SS 11th 7th 18 22 Barry JonesMazda RX-7 4th 17 22 Barry LawrenceGraham Howard, Stewart Wilson, David Greenhalgh, The official history - Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years, page 243 notes that "The Timekeeper's results for Lakeside have been located and say it was Barry Lawrence, not Geoff Russell, who came fourth.Holden VH Commodore SS 4th 17 24 Gary HintonHolden VH Commodore SS 14th 7th 15 24 Ken HastingsMazda RX-7 8th 13th 15 24 Peter BenincaAlfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 13th 16th 15 27 Peter BrierlyHolden VH Commodore SS 9th 13th Ret 14 28 Garry WillmingtonFord XD Falcon 6th DNS Ret 13 28 Ron HarropHolden VH Commodore SS 6th 13 28 Russell WorthingtonMazda 626 9th 13 31 Terry FinniganHolden VH Commodore SS 7th 11 32 Les VercoMazda RX-7 8th 10 32 Jim KeoghHolden VH Commodore SS 8th 10 32 John EnglishFord XD Falcon 8th Ret 10 32 Roger MansonIsuzu Gemini 12th 10 32 Graham MeinFord Escort 12th 10 37 Andrew HarrisFord XE Falcon 9th 9 37 Kevin BartlettChevrolet Camaro 9th 9 39 Rusty FrenchHolden VH Commodore SS 10th 8 40 Ken MathewsHolden VH Commodore SS 11th 7 40 Les GroseFord Capri 15th 7 42 Bill O'BrienFord XD Falcon 12th 6 43 Martin PowerTriumph Dolomite 17th 5 44 Mike ImrieFord XD Falcon 14th 4 44 Jim FanecoIsuzu Gemini 18th 4 46 John DonnellyFord XD Falcon 15th Ret 3 Pos DriverCar Cal. San. Sym. Wan. Mal. Sur. Ora. Lak. Pts References External links Official V8 Supercar site Contains historical ATCC information. Category:Australian Touring Car Championship seasons Touring Cars