1986 Australian Touring Car Championship


The 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 27th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began on 2 March 1986 at Amaroo Park and ended on 13 July at Oran Park Raceway after ten rounds. This was the second ATCC to be run to the FIA's international Group A Touring Car Regulations.

Season Summary

The championship was won by Auckland resident Robbie Francevic driving a Volvo Dealer Team Volvo 240T, the first time the championship had been won by a non-Australian resident and the first ATCC won by a turbocharged car. Francevic, who won Rounds 1, 2 and 4, defeated George Fury driving a Nissan Skyline DR30 RS who won Rounds 3, 5, 7, 8 and 10 of the series. Francevic's wins in the opening two rounds at Amaroo Park and Symmons Plains where when the Volvo team was still run by MPM, Mark Petch Motorsport. Following Francevic's Amaroo win, Petch and Bob Atkins, head of the Australian Volvo Dealer Council, announced the formation of the AVDT, Australian Volvo Dealer Team, and hired former HDT team manager John Sheppard to run the team on a day-to-day basis from Sheppard's Calder work shop. Contrary to what has been written in the past, Petch stayed involved as "Team Principle" until 10 July 1986, when he resigned over a disagreement with how Sheppard was managing the Team. The AVDT purchased MPM original 240T GpA car, and spares, which included a spare 240 GT body shell, which later became the basis for a new Australian built car, with all new parts and technical assistance from VMS. Francevic's 1985 endurance co-driver and dual Australian Drivers' Champion John Bowe joining the team full-time for his first ATCC campaign, in the team's new second car, a RHD car ex RAS in Belgium, which arrived just in time for the 4th round of the ATCC at Adelaide International Raceway, were Bowe qualified on pole, and lead the race before engine issue's forced his retirement. Bowe repeated his first Championship Pole position performance at the 5th round of the Champion at Barbagallo Raceway, only to have to retire again from a substantial lead with more engine issues. Peter Brock won round 6 at Surfers Paradise in his new for 1986 Holden VK Commodore SS Group A while defending champion Jim Richards could only manage one win in his JPS Team BMW 635 CSi, winning Round 9 at Winton. Richards had finished the race in second place behind Nissan team driver Gary Scott, but the Nissan was later disqualified for having oversize brake. Although the paperwork for the Nissan's new brakes had been put through, they had not yet been homologated which led to Scott's DQ.
Series regular Allan Grice missed the 1986 ATCC as he was racing his Les Small prepared Group A Commodore in the 1986 FIA Touring Car Championship. Peter Brock missed some early rounds due to also racing his Commodore in Europe.
With the ATCC consisting of 10 rounds, many of the top level teams including the Holden Dealer Team, Dick Johnson Racing, JPS Team BMW and the Peter Jackson Nissan team all made loud noises during the year about the lack of prize money on offer for their efforts as the top drawing motorsport category in the country, especially as Group A racing had proven far more expensive than the old Group C regulations, with teams and drivers often racing for as little as $1,500 for a round win. Part of the problem for the teams was that due to Australia's size and the vast distance between the major cities where the race tracks were located, the prize money on offer usually did not even cover their transportation costs, let alone the cost of building, maintaining and racing the cars. Pressure was being put on the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport to come up with a series sponsor for future championships or they would risk smaller and smaller grids. CAMS rectified this from 1987 by signing a multi-year sponsorship deal with Shell who would provide some $275,000 in prize money.

Teams and drivers

The following drivers and teams competed in the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship. The series consisted of ten rounds of with one race per round.
TeamCar modelNoDriver
JPS Team BMWBMW 635CSi1 Jim Richards
JPS Team BMWBMW 325i23 Garry Rogers
JPS Team BMWBMW 325i25 Tony Longhurst
Chickadee RacingHolden VK Commodore SS Group A2 Graeme Bailey
Graeme CrosbyHolden VK Commodore SS Group A2
6
20		 Graeme Crosby
Mobil Holden Dealer TeamHolden VK Commodore SS Group A3 John Harvey
Mobil Holden Dealer TeamHolden VK Commodore SS Group A05 Peter Brock
Neal Lowe
Peter McLeodHolden VK Commodore SS Group A4 Peter McLeod
Volvo Dealer TeamVolvo 240T4
44		 John Bowe
Volvo Dealer TeamVolvo 240T10 Robbie Francevic
Charlie O'BrienBMW 635CSi7 Charlie O'Brien
Charlie O'BrienBMW 635CSi22 Gregg Hansford
Terry FinniganHolden VK Commodore SS Group A8 Terry Finnigan
Kevin BartlettMitsubishi Starion9 Kevin Bartlett
Toyota Team AustraliaToyota Corolla GT AE8611 Drew Price
Toyota Team AustraliaToyota Corolla FX-GT AE8216 John Smith
Garry Willmington PerformanceJaguar XJS12 Garry Willmington
Simon EmmerlingBMW 635CSi12 Simon Emmerling
Bob Holden MotorsToyota Sprinter13 Bob Holden
Peter Jackson Nissan RacingNissan Skyline DR30 RS15 Glenn Seton
Gary Scott
Peter Jackson Nissan RacingNissan Skyline DR30 RS30 George Fury
Dick Johnson RacingFord Mustang17 Dick Johnson
Ken Mathews Prestige CarsHolden VK Commodore SS Group A19 Ken Mathews
Jim Keogh AutomotiveBMW 635CSi20 Jim Keogh
Lusty EngineeringHolden VK Commodore SS Group A23 Graham Lusty
Jagparts RacingHolden VK Commodore SS Group A24 Gerald Kay
Alf Grant RacingHolden VK Commodore SS Group A27 Alf Grant
Mike FreemanToyota Celica RA4027 Mike Freeman
Capri ComponentsFord Mustang28 Lawrie Nelson
Yellow PagesHolden VK Commodore SS Group A28 Tony Kavich
Ken DavisonFord Mustang29 Wally Kramer
Mike BurgmannHolden VK Commodore SS Group A33 Mike Burgmann
Garry Rogers MotorsportBMW 635CSi34 Garry Rogers
Lester SmerdonHolden VK Commodore SS Group A35 Geoff Russell
Lester Smerdon
Murray CarterNissan Skyline DR30 RS36 Murray Carter
Bill O'Brien
Grellis MarketingHolden VK Commodore SS Group A38 Ray Ellis
Motorsport PacificFord Sierra XR4Ti40 David Oxton
Motorsport PacificFord Escort RS1600i55 Andrew Bagnall
Brian CallaghanHolden VK Commodore SS Group A47 Brian Callaghan
John DonnellyRover Vitesse50 John Donnelly
BJ MotorsportMitsubishi Starion53 Brad Jones
David RatcliffToyota Corolla58 David Ratcliff
John GiddingsNissan Gazelle60 John Giddings
John WhiteHolden Gemini ZZ65 John White
Graeme HooleyHolden VK Commodore SS Group A71 Graeme Hooley
Tim HowtonMazda RX-774 Tim Howton
Network AlfaAlfa Romeo Alfetta GTV675 Colin Bond
Peter Williamson ToyotaToyota Celica Supra77 Peter Williamson
Melbourne Brake & ClutchMitsubishi Starion78 Brian Sampson
Daryl HendrickHolden Gemini ZZ86 Daryl Hendrick
Brian BolwellBMW 323i87 Brian Bolwell
Auto ArtFord Mustang91 Kevin Clark
Alf BarbagalloRover Vitesse96 Tim Slako

Results and Standings

Race Calendar

The 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship consisted of ten rounds.
Rd.Race TitleCircuitCity / StateDateWinnerTeamReport
1Better Brakes 100Amaroo ParkSydney, New South Wales1 - 2 MarRobbie FrancevicMark Petch Motorsport
2A.N.L. CupSymmons Plains RacewayLaunceston, Tasmania8 - 9 MarRobbie FrancevicMark Petch Motorsport
3Castrol ChallengeSandown International RacewayMelbourne, Victoria12 - 13 AprGeorge FuryPeter Jackson Nissan Racing
4Motorcraft 100Adelaide International RacewayAdelaide, South Australia26 - 27 AprRobbie FrancevicVolvo Dealer Team
5Motorcraft 100Wanneroo ParkPerth, Western Australia5–6 MayGeorge FuryPeter Jackson Nissan Racing
6XXXX 100Surfers Paradise RacewaySurfers Paradise, Queensland17–18 MayPeter BrockMobil Holden Dealer Team
7Coca-Cola CupCalder Park RacewayMelbourne, Victoria31 May - 1 JunGeorge FuryPeter Jackson Nissan Racing
8Motorcraft 100Lakeside International RacewayBrisbane, Queensland14 - 15 JunGeorge FuryPeter Jackson Nissan Racing
9Lusty-Allison Winton RoundupWinton Motor RacewayBenalla, Victoria28 - 29 JunJim RichardsJPS Team BMW
10Castrol Grand FinalOran Park RacewaySydney, New South Wales12 - 13 JulGeorge FuryPeter Jackson Nissan Racing

Drivers Championship

Points were awarded 25-23-20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-4-3-2-1 based on the top 17 outright race positions. The two smaller engine capacity classes received bonus points. Class B, under 3.0 litres received 3 points additional to points scored from race position. Class C, under 2.0 litres received 4 points.
Class A consisted of BMW 635 CSi, Ford Mustang GT, Ford Sierra XR4Ti, Holden VK Commodore SS Group A, Jaguar XJS, Rover Vitesse.
Class B consisted of Alfa Romeo GTV6, BMW 323i, BMW 325i, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi Starion Turbo, Nissan Skyline DR30 RS, Toyota Supra and Volvo 240T.
Class C consisted of Holden Gemini, Nissan Gazelle, Toyota Celica and Toyota Corolla.

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