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Back to July 2012 Motorsports News Archive
| 16-07-2012: Production Car Racing: An Historical Overview | |
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Cars like the Mini Cooper, the Ford GT Cortina 1500, Ford Anglia, Wolsley, Holden Torana and Volkswagon were all out there racing together. No roll cages, no safety harnesses and street tyres. These were the pioneers of modern racing and production cars. With the V8 Falcon soon on the podiums from the XR GT through to the XC Cobra, Ford became a major player in motor racing. Holden had dominated early with the Monaro and this rivalry between the Ford and Holden camps soon created a divide in the nation….those with blue in their blood and those with red. The late 70’s saw the introduction of the mighty Torana SLR5000 which tamed the Mountain like none before. Cars like BMW and Datsun, Charger and Jaguar were all making their own impressions on the people’s motor sport. The 1980’s saw a shift with the production cars; they now had flares, huge wheels and the big banger engines. Turbo cars also came to the fore as did the rotary and the big local cars were worried. With the late eighties and into the early 90’s, it was the turbo powered 2-litre cars that dominated and the V8’s were out of favour. The Ford Sierra dominated race tracks here and in the UK, but the racing public had a thirst for the glory days of V8’s and the shift was on. With the return of the V8’s there was a move away from production based cars which by the end of the 90’s was all but complete, however this did not signal the end of Production Car Racing. Production Car Racing took its own path and thus began the series that we now know as the Australian Manufacturers Championship, where the cars to beat all begin with Evo. The Mitsubishi Evolution IX and X are the bench mark cars of the category today, but that does not mean they always win. The Subaru WRX STi and the BMW 335i have taken wins over the more fancied Evo X and the Mazda MPS has made its name as a giant killer at almost every race meeting in the series. With the Mighty Holden HSV Commodore and Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo front runners, cars like the Renault Clio, Ford Fiesta, Toyota Corolla, Holden HSV Astra, Proton Satria, Honda Integra and the BMW Minis are just some of the cars making up today’s category where there is something for everyone. For more information on the Australian Manufacturers Championship go to www.apcc.com.au or find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/2011.AMC Production Car Racing: Motorsport at its Best! Words by Daryl Martin |
Cast your mind back to the 1960’s, Bathurst was a goat track and you could drive your race car there. It was a time when fearless men raced their daily driver on a track that had no real safety considerations, especially when we look at the race tracks of the 21st century.
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