1987 Australian Touring Car Championship

The 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition which was open to Touring Cars complying with regulations as defined by CAMS and based on FIA Group A rules. The championship, which was the 28th Australian Touring Car Championship, began on 1 March 1987 at Calder Park Raceway and ended on 5 July at Oran Park Raceway after nine rounds. The Calder round saw the world debut of the racing versions of the BMW M3, the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and the Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo.

After years of racing for very little in prize money which brought numerous complaints from the leading competitors (in 1984, Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) had travelled an estimated 20,000 km to races around the country from their Brisbane base, often for as little as A$1,200 in prize money, far less money that was on offer at the time for the lower ranked Group E Series Production "Super Series" which offered a total prize pool of $200,000 thanks to series sponsor Bob Jane T-Marts), CAMS signed a A$275,000 sponsorship package with Shell which brought the championship an overall sponsor for the first time and saw the series promoted as the Shell Ultra Australian Touring Car Championship.^[1]

Shell would also become the major sponsor of DJR which saw the team expand to running two cars for the first time. The team ran a pair of the new Cosworth Sierra's for team boss Dick Johnson and his 1986 James Hardie 1000 co-driver Gregg Hansford. Dick Johnson's win in Round 5 at the Adelaide International Raceway was the world's first race victory for the Sierra RS Cosworth and was also Dick's first ATCC win since Round 4 of the 1984 ATCC at Surfers Paradise.

The 1987 ATCC was the first time since 1975 that Peter Brock failed to win a round of the championship, his best finish being a 3rd at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in Round 2 where his V8 Holden Commodore was simply out-gunned on a noted power circuit by the factory Nissan Skyline turbo of race winner George Fury and the 4 cyl, 2.3L BMW M3 of Jim Richards.

The 1987 championship was also the first time since 1972 that a Holden car failed to win a round of the ATCC, the best result being a 2nd by Larry Perkins in the opening round at Calder.

The 1987 ATCC was also the first time in championship history that rolling starts were used. Rolling starts were used at Calder for Round 1 and at Adelaide for Round 5.

Jim Richards victory in the final round of the series at Oran Park would be the last time a car powered by a naturally aspirated engine would win an ATCC race until Tony Longhurst won Round 6 of the 1991 Australian Touring Car Championship driving a BMW M3 Evolution. Between 1988 and Round 6 in 1991, turbo powered cars would win 30 straight ATCC races, 21 of them by the Sierra Cosworth's evolution replacement which appeared after the 1987 ATCC, the Ford Sierra RS500.

1987 was a year of lasts in Australian touring car racing. It was the last time Peter Brock would drive a Holden until 1991 as he would switch first to BMW in 1988 and then Fords in 1989 and 1990. Consequently, it was the last time the Holden Dealer Team name, which started under Harry Firth in 1969, would be used, though the team officially ran as "HDT Racing Pty Ltd" as it was no longer the factory backed team following Holden's well publicised split with Brock in February only one week before the opening round at Calder. It would also be Colin Bond's last year of racing Alfa Romeo's before switching back to Ford to run a Sierra RS500 from 1988 (largely due to Alfa stopping its development program of the Alfa 75 touring car and because Bond felt that he needed an outright car to do justice to his sponsor Caltex). It was also the last time the JPS Team BMW (who won their second title) would be seen with team boss Frank Gardner unexpectedly closing the team down at the end of the year.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship.

Team	Car	No	Driver
Roadways Racing	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	2	Allan Grice
		8	Graeme Crosby
JPS Team BMW	BMW M3	3	Jim Richards
		4	Tony Longhurst
		12	Ludwig Finauer
HDT Racing Pty Ltd	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	05	Peter Brock
		6	Gary Scott David Parsons Peter Brock* Jon Crooke
John Andrew Motorsport	Ford Sierra XR4Ti	10	Neville Crichton Denny Hulme
Enzed Team Perkins	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	11	Larry Perkins
Bob Holden Motors	Toyota Sprinter AE86	13	Bob Holden Garry Willmington
		41	Mike Hall John Sax
Netcomm	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	14	Murray Carter
Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	15	Glenn Seton
		30	George Fury
		60	John Bowe
	Nissan Gazelle	60	Mark Skaife
Ralliart Australia	Mitsubishi Starion	16	Brad Jones
Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	17	Dick Johnson
		18	Gregg Hansford
Terry Finnigan	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	20	Terry Finnigan
Lusty Engineering	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	21	Graham Lusty
Alf Grant Racing	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	23	Alf Grant
Team Nissan Racing NZ	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	24	Kent Baigent
		25	Graeme Bowkett
Kalari Transport	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	26	Tony Noske Gary Rush
Ray Gulson	BMW 635 CSi	27	Ray Gulson
Capri Components	Ford Mustang GT	28	Lawrie Nelson
Wayne Clift	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	28	Wayne Clift
Simon Emmerling	BMW 635 CSi	29	Simon Emmerling
Toyota Team Australia	Toyota Corolla	31	John Smith
		32	Drew Price
		33	John Faulkner
Ian Love	Ford Mustang GT	34	Ian Love
Oxo Motorsport	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	34	Don Smith John Giddings
		35	Andrew Miedecke
John Farrell	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	34	John Farrell
Grellis Marketing	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	38	Ray Ellis
Lansvale Racing Team	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	39	Trevor Ashby
Steve Williams	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	40	Steve Williams
Jagparts	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	42	Gerald Kay
Sutherland Mitsubishi	Mitsubishi Starion	42	Kevin Bartlett
Lester Smerdon	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	45	Lester Smerdon
Mobile Concrete Pumping	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	47	Brian Callaghan
Wayne Park	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	48	Wayne Park
John Donnelly	Rover Vitesse	50	John Donnelly
Mike Freeman	Toyota Celica RA40	57	Mike Freeman
David Ratcliff	Toyota Corolla	58	David Ratcliff
Jon Mitchell	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	69	Jon Mitchell
Graeme Hooley	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	71	Graeme Hooley
Caltex CXT Racing	Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo	75	Colin Bond
Liverpool Toyota	Toyota Celica Supra	77	Peter Williamson
Peter McLeod	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	84	Peter McLeod
Daryl Hendrick	Isuzu Gemini ZZ[2]	86	Daryl Hendrick
Brian Bolwell	BMW 323i	87	Brian Bolwell
David Sala	Isuzu Gemini PF60	88	David Sala
Alf Barbagallo	Rover Vitesse	96	Tim Slako

Peter Brock drove both the #05 and #6 HDT VK Commodore during the season

Race Calendar

The 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship was contested over a nine round series with one race per round.

Rd.	Race Title	Circuit	Location / State	Date	Winner	Car	Team	Report
1	Calder	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	28 Feb - 1 Mar	Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline RS DR30	Nissan Motorsport Australia	[3][4][5]
2	Launceston	Symmons Plains Raceway	Launceston, Tasmania	7 - 8 Mar	George Fury	Nissan Skyline RS DR30	Nissan Motorsport Australia	[6]
3	Lakeside	Lakeside International Raceway	Brisbane, Queensland	12 - 13 Mar	Jim Richards	BMW M3	JPS Team BMW	[7]
4	Perth	Wanneroo Raceway	Perth, Western Australia	25 - 26 Apr	Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline RS DR30	Nissan Motorsport Australia	[8]
5	AIR	Adelaide International Raceway	Adelaide, South Australia	4–5 May	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	[9]
6	Surfers Paradise	Surfers Paradise Raceway	Surfers Paradise, Queensland	30–31 May	Jim Richards	BMW M3	JPS Team BMW	[10][11][12]
7	Sandown	Sandown International Raceway	Melbourne, Victoria	6 - 7 Jun	Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline RS DR30	Nissan Motorsport Australia
8	Amaroo	Amaroo Park	Sydney, New South Wales	20 - 21 Jun	Jim Richards	BMW M3	JPS Team BMW	[13]
9	Oran Park	Oran Park Raceway	Sydney, New South Wales	4 - 5 Jul	Jim Richards	BMW M3	JPS Team BMW	[14]

Classes

Cars competed in two classes based on engine capacity.

• Over 2500cc
• Under 2500cc ^[2]

The Over 2500cc class was contested by Ford Mustang, Ford Sierra, Holden Commodore, Nissan Skyline, Rover Vitesse and Toyota Supra.

The under 2500cc class consisted of Alfa Romeo 75, BMW 323i, BMW M3, Isuzu Gemini, Nissan Gazelle, Toyota Celica and Toyota Corolla.

Points system

Championship points were awarded at each round on a 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the top ten positions outright and on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the top six positions in each of the two classes.^[2] Only the best eight round results could be retained by each driver.^[2]

Championship results

See also

• 1987 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, which was contested concurrently with the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship
• 1987 Australian Touring Car season

References

1. ↑ Graham Howard & Stewart Wilson, Australian Touring Car Championship, 30 fabulous years, 1989, page 290
2. 1 2 3 4 Graham Howard & Stewart Wilson, Australian Touring Car Championship, 30 fabulous years, 1989, page 298
3. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 1 - Pt.1
4. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 1 - Pt.2
5. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 1 - Pt.3
6. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 2
7. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 3
8. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 4
9. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 5
10. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 6 - Pt.1
11. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 6 - Pt.2
12. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 6 - Pt.3
13. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 8
14. ↑ 1987 ATCC Round 9

External links

• Official V8 Supercar site Contains historical ATCC information.
• 1987 Australian Touring Car racing images at www.autopics.com.au