Australian Touring Car Challenge....

[GTRMagic]

Nicked from RaceNews... important/interesing enough in its entirity to display here in full...

Australian Touring Car Challenge
Nov 15 2004
The 2004 Series - Forward to 2005

The 2004 Series

2004 Has been an exciting debut of the Touring Car Challenge as it made its way around Victoria and New South Wales with spectacular on track action combined with excellent TV coverage on both SBS and Fox Sports. Full of passing and excitement the Touring Car Challenge has the special inviting warmth that many series struggle to find throughout their history.

Full of characters, the 2004 series has had an extremely successful inaugural year which has seen category numbers increase, the racing becoming furious and interest from potential drivers climbing. The spectators know the cars, are passionate about on track passing and are
genuinely excited for the future of the category.

The Australian Touring Car Challenge has had some great reviews in 2004 with awards for best website, most improved category within the Premier Racing Series and has been widely talked about in the Motorsport media as some of the best racing seen all year from any category. As soon as the Winton round went to air SBS representatives received more calls about the Australian Touring Car Challenge than any other category within the Premier Racing Series.

Luke Searle and Garry Willmington fought a close battle as the series went down to the last lap of the six round series where Luke Searle became the inaugural series Champion.

So what does 2005 hold for the Australian Touring Car Challenge.

New Name, New Dates and New Sponsors

There is no doubt the Touring Car Challenge has the potential to become the nirvana of Australian Motorsport and to complement a new year, the series now has a new name, The Australian Touring Car Challenge.

As the series grows, incorporating Australia into the name seemed the logical step as we have drivers lining up from all over Australia to compete.

Next year we have new drivers: John Burke (V8 Supercar VS Commodore), Adam Proctor (Nissan Primera), Terry Ashwood (Group A Nissan Skyline), Alan Letcher (Super Tourer ex Playboy BMW), Peter kelly (Super Tourer ex Diet Coke BMW) just to name a few. Also new cars from David Towe (Group A ex JPS BMW 635) and Neil Byers (Future Tourer Mitsubishi Magna).

To add to the exciting new name we are proud to announce the inclusion of Australia's largest independently owned Oil Company; Gulf Western Premium Quality Lubricating Oils Oty Ltd as co-sponsor of the 2005 series.

The series will feature, in its title, Gulf Western Oil and we extend out sincere thanks to Peter Vicary for his vision and continued support for the series throughout 2005.

Negotiations are underway with several other companies to join Gulf Western to make 2005 a great year for the Austrtalian Touring Car Challenge.

The 2005 Dates

Round 1 Feb 19-20 Wakefield Park, NSW
Round 2 Apr 20-May 1 Winton, VIC
Round 3 Jun 18-19 Eastern Creek, NSW
Round 4 Jul 16-17 Wakefield Park, NSW
Round 5 Aug 6-7 Phillip Island, VIC
Round 6 Sep 17-18 Oran Park, NSW
Round 7 Nov 5-6 Sandown, VIC
Round 8 Nov 19-20 Wakefield Park, NSW

The Australian Motor Racing Series

To facilitate a successful year, Garry Willmington, Rod Dale and Richard McLean have launched a new and exciting series known as the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS)

The AMRS was created as a means to allow the Australian Touring Car Challenge and other professional categories the opportunity to promote their Motor Racing futures throughout Australia, not only for 2005 but beyond.

The AMRS will be run over 8 to 10 rounds in 2005 with a firm focus on close and competitive motor racing, affordable access for the family spectator and great value for the competitor.

The series will be organised and they currently have the categories listed below on board, and we are working closely with other National categories to join the series for 2005 and beyond:

Australian Touring Car Challenge
Commodore Cup National Series
TranZam Sports Sedan National Series
Seuperkert Nationals
Formula 3 Gold Star Championships
Australian Production Car Championship

The TV Package

Next year with support from Gulf Western Oil, the Australian Touring Car Challange will be televised for all eight rounds (fifteen-twenty minute segments) on SBS (Speedweek), Fox Sport Inside-Speed and also Motor TV UK with final confirmation expected in the coming weeks.

Gulf Western Oil have built a reputation for excellence and have proven themselves leaders in the Australian lubricants industry and we look forward to assisting them with the marketing of their products through their involvement in the Australian Touring Car Challenge.

[Also a Believer]

seems that this is on the up and up. Congrats to Gulf Western for the support.

[single keel]

a quick gander at the Sandown website lists an event on the 4th-6th of November as the Sandown 1000. Is this an enduro event for these cars? Anyone know any details?


http://www.sandownraceway.com.au/Calendar.htm

[JteL]

Nope that is (supposedly) a 1000km race for ex Procar categories that you aren't allowed to call by their Procar names anymore.

Talk at present is that the ATCC event(s) will be on Sunday which is going to seriously hamper Luke Searle (but he is likely to be running their other BMW in the 1000km race anyway.

That is if the meeting goes ahead - if you look at the planned eight meetings Davo is advertising.

[iconic]

great news, though not QLD round

so the premier series is another series going around australia.. what will it have? f4000 and gtp?

[scalpa]

i cant see f3 & f4000 at the same meeting cos they hate each other too much and the f4000 will spank a f3 in lap times.

[JteL]

At this stage no one except Chris Hocking knows what F4000 are doing - he has given dates and a very one sided interview to MSN - the problem being that the dates he has given, according to one source, are fairy dates.

Only one track appears to be backing Hocking at this stage (a Victorian AASA member) so who knows.

QLD Raceway doesn't appear to be backing anyone lately - everyone who doesn't support AASA seems to be in their bad books.

[JteL]

Originally posted by scalpa
i cant see f3 & f4000 at the same meeting cos they hate each other too much and the f4000 will spank a f3 in lap times.

Whether they 'spank them with lap times' or not is completely irrelevant - F4000 don't have a serious circus any more (otherwise why would F3 have been awarded the Gold Star for at least the next two years?) and certainly can't produce a competitive and consistent field of cars.

As for hating each other too much - think you will find that is the ego or one or two people that causes that rift.

[pit fit]

Interesting take on the situation, however I think many of the comments made are unsubstantiated ... as usual.

The PRS schedule as it stands has been confirmed by CAMS and the tracks for 2005. McLean's excuse for a serious is a joke. No one in CAMS is taking it serious. Likewise, the tracks think it's a joke. The only track the AMRS have is wakefield for obvious reasons. The reason everyone thinks that the PRS dates are not confirmed is because McLean has been spreading the word in an attempt to discredit the PRS in an attempt to gain support for his series. I guess there is some bad blood from when he got the flick last year...

As far as the clash between F3 and F4000... F4000 have never retaliated against F3. The whole 'rift' started when F3 had a go at F4000 on national tv in '98. From what I've heard F4000 have offered F3 to race as part of their series... however F3 management don't know what their doing or is it that their ego's are getting in the way?

As for Hocking being the only that one that knows what F4000 is doing.. I'm close to an F4000 member and i know what F4000 are doing.

JteL - F4000 have more consistent fields than F3. Of the two categories F3 had both the highest and lowest grid numbers whilst F4000 numbers have continually increased since the start of the season... suggest you do some research

[Kerri]

Looks like a good series, but where is Mallala? hrug:
Did we miss out again.

[JteL]

Where should I start?

Mallala 8 May 2004 - Qualifying for F4000 - 11 cars - http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re.../2004.MALL.Q1A

Race 1 - 11 starters, 7 finishers http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re.../2004.MALL.R14


Race 2 - 10 starters 9 finishers - one alreay a lap down after 16 laps http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re.../2004.MALL.R18

June 6 2004 - Winton

Qualifying - 12 cars http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...06/2004.WIN.Q4

Race 1 - 11 starters 9 finishers http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...06/2004.WIN.R5

Race 2 - 12 starters 10 finishers http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...6/2004.WIN.R10


Jun 26 2004 Oran Park

Qualifying 12 cars http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...6/2004.ORAN.Q6

Race 1 12 starters 10 finishers 2 a lap down after 19 laps http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...6/2004.ORAN.R8

Race 2 12 starters 7 finishers - one FOUR laps down http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re.../2004.ORAN.R17

Jul 31 2004 Eastern Creek

Qualifying 13 starters - 2 DNS's http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...8/2004.ARDC.Q6

Race 1 11 starters 10 finishers http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re...8/2004.ARDC.R9

Race 2 12 starters 9 finishers http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/re.../2004.ARDC.R14

Well I guess you could say they increased from the start of the season - from 11 to 12 peaking at 13.

And yes I could do the same with F3

Oran Park - 11 starters 8 finishers race 2
Sandown 15 starters, 13 finishers race 2
Winton - 10 finished race 2 - 1 DNF
Eastern Creek 12 finshed race 2 - No DNF's
Mallala 9 finished race 2 - No DNF's

But they are purely stats - the F4000's put on parades very little racing

Obviously Pit Fit you are prejudiced to F4000 as otherwise you would have mentioned the letters of "intent to race" lodged with the AMRS by F3, PCAA and TranZam Sports along with the ATCC. So that makes four categories on their program and one on yours.

[Chucky]

Thanks Jtel. You saved me a job there!

I'd also like ot add that the F3 championship has gone down to the wire for the last three years. They also consistently break their own lap records year after year, something F4000 has not managed to do since 2000.

[JteL]

Just so pit fit doesn't think I am supporting F3 over anything else:

When comparig the two categories, one thing in particular I look at is 'value for money' in relation to racing on the track.

F4000 is, like I said before, a tempremental procession - the cars, by their nature, are prone to be brittle whereas F3 is a tried and international category that has already realised that to gather a fan base you need to not only have good, close racing, but the cars need to be able to finish - thus their mechanicals are well and truly tested.

I concede that 2004 has not been a good year for numbers for F3 - but then again, despite similar grid numbers to the Holden brigade, at nearly all races, the number of cars that started finished as well. And between the start and finish they managed to do something F4000 has totally forgotten about - how to actually race each other.

Obviously I am not the only one that thinks along these lines - otherwise why would CAMS have removed the Gold Star classification from the F4000's and given it to F3?

[Crash Test]

The calendar for the first half of 2005 at QR is on their website at- http://www.queenslandraceway.com.au/.../calendar.html

Interesting one right at the bottom of the page. AASA meeting one weekend, CAMS Championship the next.

[cavvy]

Originally posted by JteL
- otherwise why would CAMS have removed the Gold Star classification from the F4000's and given it to F3?

supporters of CAMS decisions are few & far between, i.e rarely used to support a point of view.hrug:

[JteL]

I'm not supporting CAMS in any way - just pointing out that even some of the brainless employees within CAMS have obviously seen the writing on the wall for continuing the Gold Star with such a dead-end category as F4000

[iconic]

i thought f4000 was going somewhere. new engine, perhaps new chassis?

[JteL]

Obviously not going far enough though, are they?

And - as I stated before - there is absolutely no word form Chris Hocking on plans for next year - no support categories have been named only a 'Well AMRS and we can play together'.

Not very promising, is it?

[cavvy]

Originally posted by JteL
I'm not supporting CAMS in any way - just pointing out that even some of the brainless employees within CAMS have

My apologies for questioning you Jtel - thanks for restoring the faith....

[GTRMagic]

So what do they do with their brains?

Hopefully use them for medical research... or are they too small and have to kissed "Rex-style" and thrown back?

Yibbidah Yibbidah...

Be a good means to practice microsurgery....

[Noonz1]

QUick question - any idea which V8 Supercar John Burke has got to run in the series? Any other ideas of other cars coming into the series? Always interested to hear any of this history car news!

[JteL]

Not sure but if you contact any of Rod Dale, Garry Willmington or Stephen Rowe - one of them should be able to help or point you in the right direction for info.

There are a number of 'other' cars being talked about but not all have been confirmed as yet for example - if 'talk' is correct there could be three ex Glenn Seton Falcons running in the series in 2005 (but who gets to run the Number 1?)

David Towe may also have additional information.

[wishbone]

Great to see that the old cars now have somewhere to race, the proposed categories sounds like a great package.

I haven't had the opportunity to see a Touring Car Challange race as yet but i am told that they provide some good racing, and its great to see that a little 2 litre knocked off the V8s.

Originally posted by GTRMagic

with awards for best website

Who gave the award, there website is one of the worst i think i have ever seen, needs a lot of work, to start with results from wakefield park would be nice...

[johnh875]

Yep good to see the cars don't have to become "historic" (more historic?) before they can race. I saw some of the racing on SBS the other week, it was pretty good. A lot like the APCC racing format, it really puts on a good show.