1995 Australian Touring Car Championship

The 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for 5.0 Litre Touring Cars[1] complying with Group 3A regulations.[2] The championship, which was the 36th Australian Touring Car Championship,[3] was contested over a ten rounds between February and August 1995.[4] The series was won by John Bowe driving a Dick Johnson Racing Ford EF Falcon.

Television coverage

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Channel 7's 1995 coverage was led by Mike Raymond for the final time before his retirement from full-time broadcasting and he was once again joined by Allan Moffat and Mark Oastler in the broadcast booth with Andy Raymond in pit-lane.

The broadcast was again on same-day delay due to the network's coverage of the AFL across the nation.

Pre-season

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The Ford EF Falcon and Holden VR Commodore were both homologated for competition. The changes were largely cosmetic, allowing teams to reskin their existing EB Falcons and VP Commodores. With no material gain in performance expected, many of the privateer teams elected to retain their cars in EB and VP trim.

In January 1995 Dunlop, who supplied tyres to Dick Johnson Racing, Perkins Engineering and Wayne Gardner Racing as well as all of the privateer teams, had their factory in Kobe destroyed in the Great Hanshin earthquake. While production was shifted to England, teams had to ration their tyre stocks. To help the situation, Bridgestone later relaxed its policy of only supplying contracted teams, providing tyres to James Rosenberg Racing and Romano Racing at the final round.

Defending champion Mark Skaife missed the opening round of the championship after sustaining injuries in a testing accident ahead of the Winfield Triple Challenge at Eastern Creek that destroyed a Gibson Motorsport VR Commodore.

Teams and drivers

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Movements
Arrivals / returnees
Departures

The following drivers and teams competed in the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship:

Team Vehicle/s No Driver
Gibson Motorsport Holden VR Commodore 1   Mark Skaife
2   Jim Richards
Lansvale Racing Team Holden VP Commodore 3   Trevor Ashby
  Steve Reed
Wayne Gardner Racing Holden VR Commodore 4   Wayne Gardner
7   Neil Crompton
Holden Racing Team Holden VR Commodore 05   Peter Brock
015   Tomas Mezera
Pinnacle Motorsport Holden VP Commodore
Holden VR Commodore
6   Allan Grice
21   Tony Scott
Glenn Seton Racing Ford EF Falcon 6   Allan Grice
30   Glenn Seton
Ford EB Falcon
Ford EF Falcon
35   Alan Jones
Larkham Motor Sport Ford EF Falcon 10   Mark Larkham
Perkins Engineering Holden VR Commodore 11   Larry Perkins
Holden VP Commodore 12   Greg Crick
Phil Ward Racing Holden VP Commodore
Holden VR Commodore
13   Phil Ward
Dick Johnson Racing Ford EF Falcon 17   Dick Johnson
18   John Bowe
19   Steven Johnson
Palmer Promotions Holden VR Commodore 20   Ian Palmer
Romano Racing Holden VP Commodore 24   Paul Romano
Longhurst Racing Ford EF Falcon 25   Tony Longhurst
Terry Finnigan Holden VP Commodore 27   Terry Finnigan
Playscape Racing Ford EB Falcon 28   Kevin Waldock
Ian Love Holden VR Commodore 31   Ian Love
Pro-Duct Racing Holden VP Commodore 33   Bob Pearson
Claude Gorgi Ford EB Falcon 34   Claude Giorgi
Schembri Motorsport Holden VP Commodore 36   Neil Schembri
46   Greg Young
Scotty Taylor Racing Holden VP Commodore 37   Bill Attard
  Alan Taylor
James Rosenberg Racing Holden VP Commodore 38   Mark Poole
Challenge Motorsport Holden VP Commodore
Holden VR Commodore
39   Chris Smerdon
Group Motorsport Holden VP Commodore 40   George Ayoub
Garry Willmington Performance Ford EB Falcon 41   Garry Willmington
Daily Planet Racing Ford EB Falcon 47   John Trimbole
Alcair Racing Holden VR Commodore 49   David Attard
Parsons Transport Holden VR Commodore 55   David "Truckie" Parsons
Novocastrian Motorsport Holden VP Commodore 62   Wayne Russell
Pace Racing Holden VP Commodore 74   Kevin Heffernan
Barbagallo Motorsport Holden VR Commodore 77   Alf Barbagallo
Bill O'Brien Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV 88   Bill O'Brien
Allan McCarthy Holden VR Commodore 96   Allan McCarthy

Race calendar

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The championship was contested over a ten-round series. Each round featured a "Peter Jackson Dash", a short sprint race which was restricted to the top ten cars from qualifying, and two main races which were open to all competitors. Unlike previous seasons, the dash did not set the grid order for the main races. The Amaroo Park round was replaced by a round at Mount Panorama which held an ATCC round for the first time since 1972.

Rd. Circuit Location / state Date Round winner Car Team Report
1 Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 3 - 5 Feb Larry Perkins Holden VR Commodore Perkins Engineering Report
2 Symmons Plains Raceway Launceston, Tasmania 24 - 26 Feb John Bowe Ford EF Falcon Dick Johnson Racing Report
3 Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst, New South Wales 10 - 12 Mar John Bowe Ford EF Falcon Dick Johnson Racing Report
4 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Phillip Island, Victoria 7 - 9 Apr Glenn Seton Ford EF Falcon Glenn Seton Racing
5 Lakeside International Raceway Brisbane, Queensland 21 - 23 Apr Glenn Seton Ford EF Falcon Glenn Seton Racing
6 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 19–21 May John Bowe Ford EF Falcon Dick Johnson Racing
7 Eastern Creek Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 26–28 May Mark Skaife Holden VR Commodore Gibson Motorsport
8 Mallala Motor Sport Park Mallala, South Australia 7 - 9 Jul Glenn Seton Ford EF Falcon Glenn Seton Racing
9 Barbagallo Raceway Perth, Western Australia 14 - 16 Jul Glenn Seton Ford EF Falcon Glenn Seton Racing
10 Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 4 - 6 Aug John Bowe Ford EF Falcon Dick Johnson Racing

Points system

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  • Championship points were awarded on a 3-2-1 basis for the first three places in the Peter Jackson Dash at each round.[5]
  • One bonus championship point was awarded for each position gained & held by a driver during the Peter Jackson Dash at each round.[5]
  • Championship points were awarded on a 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis for the first ten places in each of the two main races at each round.[5]

Results

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Rounds were won by John Bowe (4), Glenn Seton (4), Larry Perkins (1) and Mark Skaife (1). Going into the final round Bowe, Seton and Peter Brock were in contention with Bowe prevailing.

Championship standings

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Pos[6] Driver[6] Car[4] San Sym Mou Phi Lak Win Eas Mal Bar Ora Pts[6]
1 John Bowe Ford EF Falcon 30 39 35 20 38 40 22 32 16 42 314
2 Glenn Seton Ford EF Falcon 4 14 24 31 40 32 20 43 46 33 287
3 Peter Brock Holden VR Commodore 20 32 13 28 32 31 36 32 34 27 285
4 Larry Perkins Holden VR Commodore 37 14 28 13 24 8 10 0 30 14 178
5 Tomas Mezera Holden VR Commodore 10 30 20 3 22 21 7 18 20 12 163
6 Mark Skaife Holden VR Commodore 2 32 8 15 6 39 13 18 16 149
7 Dick Johnson Ford EF Falcon 18 4 27 10 13 8 2 26 10 18 136
8 Alan Jones Ford EB Falcon
Ford EF Falcon
0 10 12 24 Ret 20 33 15 7 12 133
9 Wayne Gardner Holden VR Commodore 30 14 Ret 4.5 5 7 16 0 4 3 83.5
10 Neil Crompton Holden VR Commodore 10 20 Ret 3 1 14 18 0 7 2 76
11 Tony Longhurst Ford EF Falcon 8 8 6 9 10 3 2 2 11 6 65
12 Jim Richards Holden VR Commodore 17 6 DNS 0 2 4 8 10 12 Ret 59
13 Allan Grice Holden VP Commodore
Holden VR Commodore
Ford EF Falcon
1 2 DNS 14 17
14 Trevor Ashby Holden VP Commodore 1 6 1 0 8
15 Mark Poole Holden VP Commodore 4 0 Ret 3 7
16 Greg Crick Holden VP Commodore 6 0 6
= Paul Romano Holden VP Commodore 0 0 0 2 Ret 0 Ret 4 0 Ret 6
= David Attard Holden VP Commodore 0 4 0 0 0 0 Ret Ret 1 1 6
19 Chris Smerdon Holden VP Commodore
Holden VR Commodore
2 Ret 1 3
20 Tony Scott Holden VP Commodore 2 0 2
21 John Trimbole Ford EB Falcon 0 1 Ret Ret 0 Ret 0 0 DNS 1
= Phil Ward Holden VP Commodore 1 Ret 0 1
Pos Driver Car San Sym Mou Phi Lak Win Eas Mal Bar Ora Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third 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 practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Note: Race 1 at the Phillip Island round was stopped before full race distance due to multiple accidents brought about by heavy rain, and only half points were awarded.[7]

Privateers Cup

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The Motorsport News / Dunlop Privateers Cup was won by David Attard.[8]

See also

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1995 Australian Touring Car season

References

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  1. ^ Conditions for Australian Racing Titles, 1995 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 7-9 to 7-11
  2. ^ Specifications of Cars, Group 3A – 5.0 Litre Touring Cars, 1995 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 7-76 to 7-83
  3. ^ Records, Titles and Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-7
  4. ^ a b 1995 Championship Results, Australian Motor Racing Year 1995, pages 278 to 281
  5. ^ a b c What's the point, Official Programme, Mallala, 9 July 1995, page 73
  6. ^ a b c Graham Howard, Stewart Wilson, David Greenhaigh, Thanks Dick, The official history - Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years, pages 342 to 350
  7. ^ Chasing the Tasmanian tiger, Official Programme, Tooheys 1000, Mount Panorama, Bathurst, 1 October 1995, pages 26 to 32
  8. ^ Champion effort, Australian Motor Racing Year 1995, pages 146 to 149
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