In relation to Australian motorsport,Group Crefers to either of two sets of regulations devised by theConfederation of Australian Motor Sport(CAMS) for use in AustralianTouring Car Racingfrom 1965 to 1984. These are not to be confused with the FIA'sGroup Csports car regulations, used from 1982 to 1992 for theWorld Endurance Championship / World Sports-Prototype Championship / World Sportscar Championshipand the24 Hours of Le Mans.
History
editGroup C Improved Production Touring Cars
edit
Group C Improved Production Touring Car regulations were introduced by CAMS in 1965 to replace theAppendix Jrules which had been in force since 1960. TheAustralian Touring Car Championshipwas run to these new rules from 1965 to 1972, initially as a single race championship and from 1969 as a multi round series. Group E regulations defining rules forSeries Production Touring Carracing in Australia had previously been introduced with effect from 1 January 1964.[1]
The leading cars of the Improved Production era included theFord Mustang,Chevrolet Nova,Porsche 911S,Holden Monaro HK GTS327,Holden Monaro HT GTS350,Ford Mustang Boss 302,Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1and theFord XY Falcon GTHO Phase III.
Group C Touring Cars
edit
For 1973 CAMS introduced a new Group C Touring Car category to replace both the existing Group C Improved Production and Group E Series Production. The new Group C cars would contest both theAustralian Touring Car Championshipand theAustralian Manufacturers' Championship,the later having previously been contested by Group E cars and run over numerous long-distance events such as theBathurst 500and theSandown enduro.The new Group C classification had been brought about by the media-driven "supercar scare"of 1972 which led toFord Australia,General Motors HoldenandChrysler Australiaceasing direct involvement with the manufacture of high performance production cars for Group E racing. Holden would continue support of touring car racing until the end of the 1970s. Ford closed theirfactory teamat the end of 1973 and then provided technical and limited financial support ofAllan Moffat Racingbetween 1976 and 1978, but Chrysler ended its involvement at the end of 1972.
The ATCC had expanded to 11 rounds in1976and1977,but the 'Golden Era' often had a thin veneer as uncompetitive small engined cars bolstered entries for many years. The low point saw just nine cars competing for the opening round at Symmons Plains in1980,though this could be attributed to new CAMS engine emission rules which effectively banned the 1979Holden Toranahatchback's andFord Falcons.
The final three seasons of Group C (1982-1984), while seeing more manufacturer involvement from the Japanese withNissanandMazdaand German marqueBMW,were plagued by parity arguments and leading teams and drivers campaigning with officialdom over technical regulations that were increasingly losing touch with the original intent of the class. In mid-1983 CAMS decided that beginning on 1 January 1985 they would replace Group C with new regulations based onFIA's internationalGroup Arules which had been in place in theEuropean Touring Car Championshipsince 1982, and inNew Zealandsince 1984.
In addition to the Australian Touring Car Championship, Group C cars also contested the following national title series:
- Australian Manufacturers' Championship,1973 to 1975
- Australian Championship of Makes,1976 to 1980
- Australian Endurance Championship,1981 (this was a manufacturers title)
- Australian Endurance Championship,1982 to 1984 (this was now a drivers title)
- Australian Endurance Championship of Makes,1982 to 1984
Group C touring cars also contested theAmaroo Park(Sydney) based AMSCAR series from 1981 to 1984. The series, televised nationally byATN-7,was restricted to cars with an engine capacity of no more than 3.5 litres in 1981, excluding the outright cars such as theHolden Commodore,Ford FalconandChevrolet CamaroandJaguar XJ-S.After complaints from the mostly Sydney based privateers who ran the outright cars and thus were missing out on potential prize money (with no such series on offer for the outright cars), the restriction was lifted in 1982 and outright cars contested the series to the end of Group C in 1984.
Class structure
edit
Vehicles were separated into various classes based on engine capacity. The ATCC used a two class system throughout the second Group C era with the field divided into Under 2000cc and Over 2000cc classes from 1973 to 1975 and then into Under 3000cc and Over 3000cc classes from 1976 to 1984. Favourable points structures were used to encourage the smaller cars but it would take until 1986, after the abandonment of Group C, for a small class car to take outright victory in the ATCC.
The Bathurst 1000, as it became in1973,would change several times, reflecting its roots as a race where four or five individual races held simultaneously with no outright winner promoted. The 1973 version began with cut-offs at 1300cc, 2000cc and 3000cc. For the1977race the under 1300cc class was abandoned and a 1600cc class was introduced for the1979race. After a one-off cylinder-based system used in1981,the two smaller classes were removed leaving just under and over 3000c. The capacity based system was abandoned entirely for the final Group C Bathurst race in1984with one class for Group C cars and one for the new Group A cars to be raced from 1985.
Historic Group C Touring Cars
edit
An Historic Group C category now caters for vehicles with a competition history in events run toCAMSGroup C Touring Car regulations in the period from 1 January 1973 to 31 December 1984.[2]Only actual race vehicles, for which a Group C log book was issued, are eligible.[3]
Today Group C touring cars are a spectator favourite at historic motor racing festivals, with leading drivers and cars from the era in high demand. Leading race cars are sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, whereas less than a decade ago you couldn't pay someone enough to take away your old Group C racer, with a burgeoning support industry emerging including car clubs, professional magazines, parts and car care products. The largest race meeting specifically catering to historic touring cars is the Muscle Car Masters held atEastern Creek RacewayinSydney.The largest museum of historic touring cars available to the public for tour is theNational Motor Racing Museum,sited on the outside of Murray's Corner at theMount Panorama CircuitatBathurst.
List of Group C Touring Cars (1973-1984)
editReferences
edit- ^Australian Motor Racing Annual No 1, Page 37
- ^Historic Groups: Group C Touring CarsRetrieved on 20 March 2012
- ^CAMS Online manual of Motor Sport > Historic Touring Cars: Groups Na, Nb, Nc, C, A, URetrieved on 20 March 2012
External links
edit