Turismo Carretera
Turismo Carretera (Road racing, lit., Road Touring) is a popular touring car racing series in Argentina, and the oldest car racing series still active in the world.
Category | Stock cars |
---|---|
Country | |
Inaugural season | 1937 |
Drivers' champion | |
Teams' champion | Lincoln Sport Group |
Makes' champion | Ford |
Official website | ACTC.org.ar |
The first TC competition took place in 1937 with 12 races, each in a different province. Future Formula One star Juan Manuel Fangio (Chevrolet) won the 1940 and 1941 editions of the TC. It was during this time that the series' Chevrolet-Ford rivalry began, with Ford acquiring most of its historical victories.
Until the 1960s the races were held on temporarily closed roads, hence the series' name. These improvised circuits would often present a combination of dirt and asphalt surfaces unlike those of dedicated race tracks.
During the 1960s the category began employing high-end technologies, with local manufacturers investing heavily for prestige. The Ford Motor Company of Argentina and Chevrolet were main contenders, with Dodge to a lesser degree. The European marque Renault, which had merged with Industrias Kaiser Argentina and thus inherited the Rambler range, was also a contender.
In the 1970s, the Sport Prototipo (modified cars in the Gran Turismo vein) category was spun off TC to allow TC to return to its stock-car roots which made it immensely popular with small-town audiences. The spin-off withered away slowly. A second spin-off was TC 2000 Championship in the 1980s which allowed the showcasing of the smaller cars most Argentines were driving, thus including Peugeot, Renault, Fiat and Volkswagen, and later, Japanese brands as well. TC 2000 soon became as popular as TC itself.
In later years, and to preserve its main draw, TC has been clinging to the larger models that have mostly gone out of use in Argentine roads, and incorporated imported engines.
Brands in TC still have huge fan bases, with Ford being the largest. General Motors decided to end manufacturing Chevy Coupé SS (Chevrolet Nova) in Argentina in 1977. Chevrolet reputedly draws the second largest fan base in later years. Dodge and IKA-Torino are the other two participants with wins in TC.
Circuits
The race-tracks used are:
|
Cars
- Ford Falcon (35 titles)
- Chevy Coupé SS (15 titles)
- Dodge Polara GTX coupé (currently powered by a Chrysler Cherokee engine) (8 titles)
- IKA-Renault Torino (currently powered by a Chrysler Cherokee engine) (5 titles)
Please note that both Dodge and Torino were equipped with Chrysler Cherokee engines after 1995. Back when they won the titles they were equipped with their original engines. (a Dodge "Slant Six" engine for Dodge and a Tornado engine for the Torino).
Drivers
Champions
- 1939: Ángel Lo Valvo - Ford TC V8 coupé
- 1940: Juan Manuel Fangio - Chevrolet TC
- 1941: Juan Manuel Fangio - Chevrolet coupé
- 1947: Óscar Alfredo Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1948: Óscar Alfredo Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1949: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1950: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1951: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1952: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1953: Óscar Alfredo Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1954: Óscar Alfredo Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1955: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1956: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1957: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1958: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1959: Rodolfo De Álzaga - Ford V8 coupé
- 1960: Juan Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1961: Oscar Alfredo Gálvez - Ford V8 coupé
- 1962: Dante Emiliozzi - Ford V8 coupé
- 1963: Dante Emiliozzi - Ford V8 coupé
- 1964: Dante Emiliozzi - Ford V8 coupé
- 1965: Dante Emiliozzi - Ford V8 coupé
- 1966: Juan Manuel Bordeu - Chevrolet coupé
- 1967: Eduardo Copello - Torino 380 coupé
- 1968: Carlos Pairetti - Chevrolet-250 Prototipo (Chassis Ford "T")
- 1969: Gastón Perkins - Torino-Nova Prototipo
- 1970: Rubén Luis di Palma - Torino 380 coupé
- 1971: Rubén Luis di Palma - Torino 380 coupé
- 1972: Héctor Gradassi - Ford Falcon
- 1973: Nasif Estéfano - Ford Falcon
- 1974: Héctor Luis Gradassi - Ford Falcon
- 1975: Héctor Luis Gradassi - Ford Falcon
- 1976: Héctor Luis Gradassi - Ford Falcon
- 1977: Juan María Traverso - Ford Falcon
- 1978: Juan María Traverso - Ford Falcon
- 79/80: Francisco Espinosa - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 80/81: Antonio Aventín - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 1982: Jorge Martínez Boero - Ford Falcon
- 1983: Roberto Mouras - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 1984: Roberto Mouras - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 1985: Roberto Mouras - Dodge Polara RT coupé/Chevrolet
- 1986: Oscar Angeletti - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 1987: Oscar Castellano - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 1988: Oscar Castellano - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 1989: Oscar Castellano - Ford Falcon
- 1990: Emilio Satriano - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 1991: Oscar Aventín - Ford Falcon
- 1992: Oscar Aventín - Ford Falcon
- 1993: Walter Hernández - Ford Falcon
- 1994: Eduardo Ramos - Ford Falcon
- 1995: Juan María Traverso - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 1996: Juan María Traverso - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 1997: Juan María Traverso - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 1998: Guillermo Ortelli - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 1999: Juan María Traverso - Ford Falcon
- 2000: Guillermo Ortelli - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2001: Guillermo Ortelli - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2002: Guillermo Ortelli - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2003: Ernesto Bessone - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 2004: Omar Martínez - Ford Falcon
- 2005: Juan Manuel Silva - Ford Falcon
- 2006: Norberto Fontana - Dodge Polara RT coupé
- 2007: Christian Ledesma - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2008: Guillermo Ortelli - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2009: Emanuel Moriatis - Ford Falcon
- 2010: Agustín Canapino - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2011: Guillermo Ortelli - Chevrolet Chevy Coupé
- 2012: Mauro Giallombardo - Ford Falcon
Active
Former
- Ernesto Bessone
- Rubén Luis di Palma
- Patricio Di Palma
- José Luis Di Palma
- Oscar Larrauri
- Juan Manuel Bordeu
- Oscar Castellano
- Eduardo Copello
- Dante Emiliozzi
- Nasif Estéfano
- Juan Manuel Fangio
- Juan Gálvez
- Óscar Alfredo Gálvez
- José Froilán González
- Héctor Gradassi
- Miguel Ángel Guerra
- Onofre Marimón
- Carlos Menditeguy
- Carlos Pairetti
- Gastón Perkins
- Vicente Pernía
- Henry Martin
- Jorge Recalde
- Carlos Reutemann
- Juan María Traverso
- Osvaldo López
- Esteban Tuero
- Silvio Oltra
- Rubén Daray
- Mario Gayraud
- Angel Lo Valvo
- Daniel Cingolani
- Walter Hernández
- Rodolfo de Álzaga
- Eduardo Ramos
- Oscar Aventín
External links
- (in Spanish) Official site
- (in Spanish) Information & History
- (in Spanish) History
- (in Spanish) Statistics, games, wallpapers