1972 Australian Touring Car Championship

1972 Australian Touring Car Championship
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The 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to Improved Production Touring Cars and Group E Series Production Touring Cars.[1] The championship, which was the 13th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship, began at Symmons Plains and ended at Oran Park after eight rounds.[2]

1972 would be the final time the Improved Production cars would contest the ATCC. From 1973, CAMS introduced a new production based Group C touring car formula. Outright cars like the Ford Mustangs, Chevrolet Camaros, Norm Beechey's Holden Monaro and Ian Geoghegan's Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III would be replaced with production based Ford Falcon's and Holden Torana's. Many Improved Production cars would end up racing as Sports Sedans in the following years.

Defending champion Bob Jane won his fourth and final Australian Touring Car Championship in his Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1. Unlike 1971 when Jane's Camaro used the 7.0 litre 427 V8 engine, CAMS rule changes reducing the engine capacity limit to 6000cc him forced to run the 5.7 litre 350 V8. Second in the championship was the Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.1 of Mike Stillwell whose consistent placings in the under 2.0 litre class saw him finish 11 points behind Jane. Third was Allan Moffat in his Ford Boss 302 Mustang.

Although he was not classified after not scoring a point, the 1972 championship saw Peter Brock make his ATCC debut driving a Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 for Harry Firth's Holden Dealer Team.

Teams and drivers

The following drivers competed in the 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship. Only drivers who scored championship points are listed.

Driver No [2][3][4][5] Car [2][3][4][5] Entrant [3][4][5]
Australia Ian Geoghegan 1 & 10 Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Geoghegan's Sporty Cars
Australia Fred Gibson 1 Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Road & Track Auto Services
Australia Kingsley Hibbard 2 Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Kingsley Hibbard
Australia Jim McKeown 2 & 3 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV Shell Racing Team
Australia Clive Green 4 & 124 Ford Mustang Shell Racing
Australia John Goss 5 Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III McLeod Ford
Australia Graham Blanchard 5 & 125 Chevrolet Camaro Blanchard Motors
Australia Mike Stillwell 6 & 92 Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I BS Stillwell Ford
Australia John Harvey 7 Holden HQ Monaro GTS350 Bob Jane Racing
Australia Mel McEwin 8 Toyota Corolla Sprinter Mel McEwin
Canada Allan Moffat 9 & 92 Ford Boss 302 Mustang Allan Moffat Racing
Australia Dick Johnson 10 Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 Dick Johnson
Australia Peter Brown 11 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV Alfa Romeo Australia
Australia Don Holland 13 Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 Max Wright Motors Pty Ltd
Australia Bob Holden 13 & 113 Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I Dr. Allan Hogan
Australia Norm Beechey 15 & 40 Holden HT Monaro GTS350 Shell / Norm Beechey Racing
Australia Clem Smith 15 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger Clem Smith
Australia Malcolm Ramsay 17 Holden HQ Kingswood 5AD City State Racing Team
Australia Graham Ryan 17 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger Graham Ryan
Australia John Rushford 24 & 94 Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I Rushford Engineering Co
Australia Doug Chivas 29 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger Liverpool Chrysler
Australia Phil Brock 32 & 33 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger Eastside Chrysler
Australia Tom Naughton 33 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger Eastside Chrysler
Australia Colin Bond 34 Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 Holden Dealer Team
Australia Lyndon Arnel 43 Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I Tony Motson's Performance Tuning
Australia Alan Braszell 71 Morris Cooper S Alray Motors
Australia Keith Henry 71 Ford Escort Twin Cam Mk.I Keith Henry
Australia George Giesberts 72 Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 Leach Motors
Australia Bob Jane 76 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 [6] Bob Jane Racing
Australia Robin Bessant 90 Ford Mustang Shell Racing
Australia Ted Brewster Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 BP Southmark
Australia Bob Connolly Morris Cooper S RA Connolly
Australia John French Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III Bryan Byrt Ford
Australia Henry Price Morris Clubman GT Grand Prix Auto Service
Australia Tim Smith Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 TS Smith
Australia Norm Watts Ford Capri 1600GT Mk.I Motor Improvements
Australia Tony Watts Morris Cooper S Richard Locke Motor Engineering
  Two litre class competitors

Calendar

The 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship was contested over an eight round series with one race per round.[5]

Rd. Race Title Circuit City / State Date [5] Winner Team Report
1 Australia Symmons Plains Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 6 March Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Racing
2 Australia Calder Calder Park Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 19 March Bob Jane Bob Jane Racing
3 Australia Bathurst Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 3 April Ian Geoghegan Geoghegan's Sporty Cars
4 Australia Sandown Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 16 April Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Racing
5 Australia Adelaide Adelaide International Raceway Adelaide, South Australia 11 June Bob Jane Bob Jane Racing
6 Australia Warwick Farm Warwick Farm Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 9 July Bob Jane Bob Jane Racing
7 Australia Surfers Paradise Surfers Paradise International Raceway Surfers Paradise, Queensland 22 July Bob Jane Bob Jane Racing
8 Australia Oran Park Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 6 August Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Racing

Classes

Cars competed in two engine capacity classes:[1]

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the first six placings in each class at each round.[1] In addition, points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 basis for the first four outright placings, irrespective of class, at each round.[1] The title was awarded to the driver gaining the highest total of points in any seven of the eight rounds.[1]

Championship results

Pos Driver [2] Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Pts [2]
1 Bob Jane 2nd(9) 1st(13) Ret 2nd(9) 1st(13) 1st(13) 1st(13) 3rd(6) 76
2 Mike Stillwell 5th(9) 6th(9) 6th(9) 7th(9) 6th(9) 4th(10) 4th(10) 65
3 Allan Moffat 1st(13) Ret 2nd(9) 1st(13) 4th(4) DSQ 10th(1) 1st(13) 53
4 Ian Geoghegan Ret 3rd(6) 1st(13) Ret 2nd(9) DNS Ret 2nd(9) 37
Bob Holden Ret 7th(6) (4) 9th(6) 7th(6) 7th(6) Ret 9th(9) 37
6 Malcolm Ramsey 3rd(6) 2nd(9) Ret 3rd(6) 2nd(9) DNS Ret 30
7 Dick Johnson 3rd(6) 3rd(6) 4th(4) 16
8 Peter Brown (3) (4) 8th(4) 8th(4) 15
9 John Harvey 2nd(9) 9
Alan Braszell 10th(4) (3) (2) 9
11 John Goss 3rd(6) 5th(2) 8
Robin Bessant 4th(4) 4th(4) 8
13 Norm Beechey Ret Ret Ret 3rd(6) DNS DNS 6
Bob Connolly 7th(6) 6
Jim McKeown DNS 7th(6) Ret 6
Henry Price 7th(6) 6
17 Fred Gibson 4th(4) 4
Kingsley Hibbard 4th(4) 4
Clive Green 5th(2) 5th(2) 4
Don Holland 5th(3) 6th(1) 4
Tony Watts 8th(4) 4
Norm Watts 8th(4) 4
23 John French 5th(3) 3
John Rushford 9th(3) 3
Mel McEwin 10th(3) 3
Lyndon Arnel 9th(3) 3
27 Doug Chivas 5th(2) 2
Graham Blanchard 5th(2) 2
Tim Smith 6th(2) 2
Colin Bond 10th 6th(2) 2
George Giesberts 6th(2) 2
Keith Henry (2) 2
33 Ted Brewster 6th(1) 1
Tom Naughton 8th(1) 9th 1
Phil Brock 9th 8th(1) 1
Graham Ryan 8th(1) 1
Clem Smith 9th(1) 1
Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate (DNP)
Excluded (EX)
  Two litre class competitors

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Australian Title Conditions, 1972 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 86-90
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Graham Howard & Stewart Wilson, Australian Touring Car Championship, 30 Fabulous Years, 1989
  3. 1 2 3 John Medley, Bathurst : cradle of Australian motor racing, 1997
  4. 1 2 3 Official programme, Adelaide International Raceway, 11 June 1972
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Max Stahl, Racing Car News Championship Yearbook No. 1, (1972)
  6. ↑ Darren House, Legends Reunited Retrieved on 6 June 2011

External links

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