1981 Australian Endurance Championship

The 1981 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for car manufacturers, contested with Group C Touring Cars. It was the 11th circuit racing manufacturers' championship title to be awarded by CAMS and the first to carry the Australian Endurance Championship name.[1]

1981 Australian Endurance Championship
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Although the drivers' weren't credited with points, they were given points for the manufacturer of the car they were driving. Largely through the efforts of Peter Williamson and Graeme Bailey driving their Celica's to a Class C (1601 to 2000cc) win at each of the four rounds, Toyota were the winners of the Endurance Championship with a maximum of 36 points scored, from Ford in second with 27, and a three way tie for third between Holden, Mazda and Mitsubishi who totaled 24 points.

Calendar

The championship was contested over a four round series with each round staged as a single race of between 250 km and 500 km.[2]

Round [3] Race name [3] Circuit [3] Date [3] Winning Driver [3] Car [3] Report
1 Adelaide 250 Adelaide International Raceway 26 July Peter Brock Holden VC Commodore [4]
2 Valvoline 250 Oran Park Raceway 23 August Dick Johnson Ford XD Falcon
3 Hang Ten 400 Sandown Raceway 13 September Peter Brock Holden VC Commodore Report
4 International Resort 300 Surfers Paradise International Raceway 1 November Allan Moffat Mazda RX-7 [5]

Classes

Cars competed in four classes based on engine capacity.[6]

  • Class A: 3001 to 6000cc
  • Class B: 2001 to 3000cc
  • Class C:1601 to 2000cc
  • Class D: Up to 1600cc [6]

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the first six places in each class at each round, but only for the position attained by the best placed car of each make. Unlike the Australian Touring Car Championship, bonus points were not awarded to the smaller classes for outright placings.[2]

Championship results
Position [3] Manufacturer [3] Car Class Adelaide Oran Pk Sandown Surfers Total [3]
1 Toyota Toyota Celica [3] C 9 9 9 9 36
2 Ford Ford Capri V6 [3] B - 9 9 9 27
3 Holden Holden VC Commodore [3] A 9 - 9 6 24
  Mazda Mazda RX-3 & Mazda RX-7 [3] B 9 3 6 6 24
  Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Lancer [3] D 9 6 9 - 24
6 BMW BMW 635CSi [7] A 3 - - 4 7
7 Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Alfetta [7] C - - 4 - 4
8 Triumph Triumph Dolomite [7] C - - 3 - 3
9 Volkswagen Volkswagen Golf [7] D - - 2 - 2
10 Chevrolet Chevrolet Camaro [3] A - 1 - - 1

Note: Each manufacturer was ranked according to its best total class pointscore, e.g. Ford was awarded second place in the championship for the 27 points attained by Ford Capris in Class B,[3] regardless of the points scored by Ford Falcons in Class A or Ford Escorts in Classes C & D. Only the best total class pointscore result for each manufacturer is shown in the above table.

Notes and references
  1. Listed in 1981 CAMS Manual as Australian Championship of Makes but shown in Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1981/82 and in 2011 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport as the Australian Endurance Championship
  2. Australian Title Conditions, 1981 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 94-95
  3. Endurance Championships, Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1981/82, pages 238-247
  4. 1981 Adelaide 250
  5. 1981 International Resort 300
  6. Official Programme, Sandown, 11–13 September 1981, pages 13-15
  7. Graham Slater & Greg Stanfield, Brock’s Number Seven, Racing Car News, October 1981, pages 32-34
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