The Australian Touring Car Championship was first organised in 1960 by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) as a response to the growing popularity of racing ordinary passenger sedans over sportscars or single seater racing in Australia. The inaugral championship in 1960 was a single race at the Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit in New South Wales.
The motor racing journalist, David McKay to whom was racing a Jaguar 13.4 took the inaugral championship when he won at Gnoo Blas. The inaugral ATCC championship race provided much popularity to Australia about the concept of motor racing. The idea of touring cars as being an affordable racing series in Australia was proving to be of popular interest to the Australian public.
In the inaugral race, it was a British manufacturer in Jaguar to have taken the first win, however although the Jaguar's were proving to be the fastest, the Holden, an Australian manufacturer was proving to be a popular choice among the first ATCC racers. Jaguar drivers' won the opening three seasons of the ATCC, however in 1964, it was a Ford Cortina that took the victory.
Ford had been a quiet competitor in the ATCC's opening years, however following 1964, Ford would begin its string of domination in the sport. It would take until 1970 for Holden, Australia's leading car manufacturer to take its first win in the sport.
In 1969, the ATCC for the first time expanded to a multiple race season. The season had five races within New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. The points' system that was introduced to determine the championship was identical to that which was used to determine the Formula One world championship.
In 1972 this was somewhat modified to which the individual race standings would still follow the Formula One points system, however the top four drivers' in the championship would receive a points boost regardless of their individual race position.
By the mid-1970's, the ATCC was proving to be the most popular motor racing entertainment in Australia. Although it was not as prestigious as the Australian Grand Prix and did not attract the best international Formula One drivers' like the Tasman Series, it was however a more relatable and affordable form of motorsport for the average household to follow.
However the series did not spark particular interest among the International racing community, even Jack Brabham, Australia's most accomplished racing driver was not intrigued by the ATCC throughout his career. It was not until 1975 that one of Australia's international racers, Frank Gardner opted to enter the series.
Gardner whom had briefly raced Formula One as well as the World Sportscar Championship had decided to return to live in Australia full-time and made brief apperances in the ATCC throughout 1975 and 1976. Gardner thereafter never returned to the touring cars to which he preferred to focus his interests on the Australian Endurance Championship.
However in 1976, Australia's first Formula One world champion, Jack Brabham opted to briefly come out of retirement to compete in the series. Brabham whom was racing a Holden Torano took fourth place in his first race at Surfers Paradise for the 1976 Rothmans 300. In 1978, Brabham made a further two appearances at Oran Park and Sandown to which he scored two fifth places for Holden.
Drivers[]
Note: Only drivers who have completed in a round of the Formula One World Championship are listed here.
Sébastien Bourdais
David Brabham
Lucas di Grassi
Nick Heidfeld
Christian Klien
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Jan Magnussen
Tiago Monteiro
Mika Salo
Jacques Villeneuve
Justin Wilson
Alex Yoong
Ford
Honda
