1986 Australian Sports Car Championship

The 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars.^[1] It was the 18th Australian Sports Car Championship.^[2]

The championship was won by former open wheel star and twice Australian Drivers' Champion John Bowe driving the 5.8 litre Chevrolet powered Veskanda C1 built by K&A Engineering in Adelaide. Bowe dominated the five round series winning all seven races, scoring fastest lap in each race (including outright lap records at Surfers Paradise and Calder) and pole position at each round. Terry Hook finished in 2nd place in his Lola T610 Chevrolet with reigning champion Chris Clearihan 3rd in his JWS-Kaditcha Chevrolet.

1984 Australian Sports Car Champion Bap Romano crashed his Cosworth DFL powered Romano WE84 heavily in the opening round at Sydney's tight Amaroo Park circuit. The WE84's throttle stuck wide open on the run up Bitupave Hill just past the pits and Romano was unable to slow the car, eventually destroying the front of the car in the tyre barriers. Romano himself broke both legs in the crash but was fully conscious when pulled out of the car. The crash ended the Romano WE84's racing life which had begun in 1983 as a Kaditcha K583.

Calendar

The championship was contested over a five-round series.^[3]

Round^[3]	Circuit^[3]	State	Date^[3]	Format^[3]	Race winner(s)^[3]	Round winner^[3]	Car^[3]
1	Oran Park	New South Wales	23 March	Two heats	John Bowe John Bowe	John Bowe	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet
2	Adelaide International Raceway	South Australia	6 July	One race	John Bowe	John Bowe	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet
3	Surfers Paradise International Raceway^[4]	Queensland	24 August	Two heats	John Bowe John Bowe	John Bowe	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet
4	Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit^[5]	Victoria	14 September	One race	John Bowe	John Bowe	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet
5	Calder Park Raceway	Victoria	19 October	One race	John Bowe	John Bowe	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet

Classes

Cars competed in three classes according to engine capacity:^[1] In 1986 CAMS relaxed the previous 5000cc engine limit for the Over 3 litre cars and allowed engines of up to 6000cc.

Up to 1.6 litres^[1]
1.6 to 3 litres^[1]
Over 3 litres^[1]

Points system

Championship points were awarded to the top twenty outright race positions, based on the following three tier structure:^[1]

Outright position^[1]	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Up to 1.6 litres^[1]	30	27	24	21	19	17	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2
1.6 to 3 litres^[1]	28	26	23	20	17	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Over 3 litres^[1]	25	23	20	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	-	-	-

For rounds contested over multiple heats, the aggregate points achieved by each driver were divided by the number of heats to arrive at the driver's championship points allocations for the round.^[1]

Results

Top 10 results only.^[6]

Position^[7]	Driver^[7]	No.	Car	Entrant	Class	Rd1 ^[7]	Rd2 ^[7]	Rd3 ^[7]	Rd4 ^[7]	Rd5 ^[7]	Total^[7]
1	John Bowe	25	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet	Bernard van Elsen^[8]	Over 3 litre	25	25	25	25	25	125
2	Terry Hook	15	Lola T610 Chevrolet	Terry Hook^[8]	Over 3 litre	-	23	21.5	23	23	90.5
3	Chris Clearihan	1	JWS-Kaditcha K582 Chevrolet	Chris Clearihan^[8]	Over 3 litre	20	20	21.5	-	20	82.5
4	Andrew Roberts	42	Roberts SR3 Ford	Andrew Roberts^[8]	Up to 1.6 litres	19	-	18	13	13	63
5	Ray Hanger	5	Rennmax BN6 Ford	Ray Hanger^[8]	Up to 1.6 litres & 1.6 to 3 litres^[9]	20	13	-	-	17	50
6	Rowan Harman	7	Kaditcha SR781 Mazda	Rowan Harman^[8]	1.6 to 3 litres	6.5	15	13	-	14	48.5
7	Geoff Munday	9	JWS C2 Chevrolet	Geoff Munday^[8]	Over 3 litre	-	15	16	15	-	46
8	Bob Jolly	3	Holden VK Commodore Chevrolet	Bob Jolly	Over 3 litre	-	-	-	20	17	37
9	Bernie Van Elsen	14	Bolwell Nagari Ford	Bernard van Elsen^[8]	Over 3 litre	-	17	-	4	10	31
=10	Mike Ceveri	18	Holden Torana Chevrolet	Lusty Engineering^[5]	Over 3 litre						23
=10	Bap Romano	8	Romano WE84 Cosworth	Bap Romano Racing	Over 3 litre						23

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Conditions for Australian Titles, 1986 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 88 to 91
^ Australian Titles, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h 1986 Championship Results, Australian Motor Racing Year 1986/87, page 315
^ Official Program, Surfers Paradise International Raceway, Sunday, August 24th 1986
^ ^a ^b Official Programme, Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit, September 14, 1986
^ "Australian Sports Car Championship 1986 | Motorsport". Driverdb.com. 2012-04-11. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship (points table for top nine drivers), Australian Motor Racing Year 1986/87, page 207
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Entry list, Australian Sports Car Championship, Round 2, Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, Sunday, July 6, 1986, page 16
^ Barry Catford, 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship, Australian Motor Racing Year 1986/87, page 207

External links

Australian Motor Racing Year, 1986/87
CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1986
Race Year, 1986
www.camsmanual.com.au

[CAMS_1986-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Conditions for Australian Titles, 1986 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 88 to 91

[2] Australian Titles, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org

[AMRYP315-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h 1986 Championship Results, Australian Motor Racing Year 1986/87, page 315

[4] Official Program, Surfers Paradise International Raceway, Sunday, August 24th 1986

[Sandown_Programme-5] Official Programme, Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit, September 14, 1986

[6] "Australian Sports Car Championship 1986 | Motorsport". Driverdb.com. 2012-04-11. Retrieved 2012-08-15.

[AMRY_Table-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship (points table for top nine drivers), Australian Motor Racing Year 1986/87, page 207

[AIR-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Entry list, Australian Sports Car Championship, Round 2, Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, Sunday, July 6, 1986, page 16

[9] Barry Catford, 1986 Australian Sports Car Championship, Australian Motor Racing Year 1986/87, page 207

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