History

A chronicle of Australian Touring Car Championship / V8 Supercars / Supercars championship history from 1960 to the present day…

1960

Originally known as the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), the first race is held in 1960 at Gnoo-Blas in Orange, New South Wales, as a category for modified, production-based sedans. It was won by David McKay in a Jaguar Mk1 3.4. From 1960 to 1968, a single race determined the outcome of the Championship.

1963

The Armstrong 500 moves from Phillip Island, its home of three years, to Bathurst, pioneering the event we know today as the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.


1964

Melbourne hosts the first Sandown endurance race. The six hour international touring car race is won by the Alfa Romeo Super Ti of Ralph Sach and Italian Roberto Bussinello.


1966

The first nine outright positions at the Bathurst Armstrong 500 go to Mini Coopers.


1969

For the first time the ATCC is contested over a series of races. Held over five rounds, Ian Geoghegan wins his fifth title in his legendary Ford Mustang GTA.


1970

An Australian-built car wins the ATCC for the first time – the Holden Monaro GTS 350, driven by Norm Beechey.


1972

Australia’s motor sport racing legend Peter Brock wins his first Bathurst – the first of an unbeaten nine for the ‘King of the Mountain’.


1973

Group C Touring Car regulations are introduced. Creating a single class for touring car racing, the regulations trigger an increase in tribal style conflicts between Holden and Ford, and in particular, the two marques’ leading drivers, Peter Brock and Allan Moffat, who between them would claim seven of the era’s 12 championships (and nine Bathurst victories).

After ten years as a 500-mile race, the Bathurst event expands to 1000km.


1978

In the very first ‘Hardies Heroes’ Top 10 Shootout, it’s Peter Brock who takes pole position in the Bathurst 1000.


1984

The end of the Group C regulations for Australian touring car racing.


1985

International Group A regulations are introduced. Based on FIA rules (then in use in the European Touring Car Championship), they put overseas cars on an equal footing with Australian makes, ending one of the sport’s most significant eras which had produced some of the most recognised cars and drivers in Australian touring car history.

The Bathurst 1000 has a record field of 25 top overseas touring car drivers, including the 3-car Jaguar TWR team headed-up by Tom Walkinshaw. The likes of Volvo, Jaguar, Ford, BMW, Nissan and Mitsubishi make it hard for the locally produced Holden to compete.


1987

The Bathurst 1000 takes on world championship status in 1987, doubling as a round of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship, and produces the most star-studded international field ever seen at Mount Panorama. Peter Brock wins his last Bathurst 1000 crown after the top two Texaco Sierras are excluded for technical irregularities.


1993

Turbocharged cars such as the Ford Sierra and Nissan GTR have been dominant for several years. The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) announces a ban of Group A turbo and 4WD cars, creating a three-class Australian-made 5-litre V8 formula and paving the way for the Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores to replace the international category.


1995

With no Class B or C category, rules change to specify that only two makes of cars are allowed, the Holden Commodore and the Ford Falcon.


1997

Sports marketers IMG win the Series’ rights after a bitter battle against CAMS and the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club. Together with Touring Car Entrants Group of Australia (TEGA), they create the Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO) and the series begins a rapid expansion.

Entering a new era, the category is re-named ‘V8 Supercars’ although the ATCC title remains until 1999.


2001

The V8 Supercar Championship holds its first overseas event at Pukekohe in New Zealand.


2003

The series becomes known as the ‘V8 Supercar Championship Series’.

‘Project Blueprint’ regulations are introduced to achieve fairer racing and parity between the two makes.


2005

AVESCO is renamed V8 Supercars Australia.

The series races in Shanghai, China. It was the Series’ first attempt at expanding beyond the shores of Australia and New Zealand, though the five-year agreement was terminated after that first event.


2006

Peter Brock is killed in a tarmac rally accident in Perth. As a mark of respect to the nine-time Bathurst winner, the Peter Brock Trophy is introduced for the winners of the Bathurst 1000.

The Championship heads overseas to the Middle East for the first of four Bahrain Desert 400 events between 2006 and 2010.


2010

The FIA grants the Series international status, allowing it to race at up to six international venues and 12 Australasian tracks each year until 2015.

The ‘Car of the Future’ blueprint is released specifying new control parts, future direction of the sport and the pathway for more manufacturers to join the Series.


2011

The ‘Car of the Future’ is officially unveiled. Two prototypes showcase the new platform ahead of its full 2013 racing debut.

A five-year deal to compete at the new Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas is announced.


2012

Nissan announces it is to join the Championship with the Altima in 2013, becoming the first new manufacturer to enter under the ‘Car of the Future’ regulations, ending the Holden and Ford’s 20-year duopoly. This is followed by the announcement that Stone Brothers Racing and Erebus Motorsport are to form an alliance to run three AMG-prepared E63 Mercedes-Benz entries.


2013

The 2013 season sees the introduction of the New Generation V8 Supercar, built to the Car of the Future specification.

The V8 Supercars compete at Circuit of the Americas in Austin. The event is then dropped from the 2014 calendar and the contract with COTA terminated after the one foray to the United States.

Volvo announces it will partner with Garry Rogers Motorsport and its own Polestar tuning firm to enter the V8 Supercars Championship in 2014 racing the Volvo S60.

Jamie Whincup secures a record-equalling fifth V8 Supercars championship title joining the late Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife as the only five-time title winners in Australian touring car history.


2014

Volvo marks its return with 20-year old New Zealander, Scott McLaughlin, finishing second in the second race of the season opening Clipsal 500.

American motor racing team, Team Penske, announces its entry in the 2015 V8 Supercars Championship in partnership with Dick Johnson Racing, with two-time Champion Marcos Ambrose returning to to drive the famous no. 17 Ford Falcon, after nine seasons in NASCAR.

V8 Supercars reveals the Gen2 blueprint, its vision for the category’s technical future that will open up the sport to new engine and body configurations rules alongside V8 engines from 2017.

Jamie Whincup makes history winning a record-breaking sixth V8 Supercars Championship.


2015

Mark Winterbottom seals a long-awaited first V8 Supercars Championship, giving Prodrive Racing Australia (formerly Ford Performance Racing), its first title in its 13 years as a factory Ford team, and Ford its first title for five years.


2016

The V8 Supercars Championship drops the ‘V8’ tag as the Series shifts towards the new Gen2 technical regulations.

Virgin Australia takeover the naming rights sponsorship and the Series is rebranded Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

Jamie Whincup becomes only the second driver to achieve 100 Supercars race wins with victory at Sydney Motorsport Park, joining Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate, Craig Lowndes in the 100 Wins Club.

Volvo announces its withdrawal from the Supercars Championship to refocus on other technologies and championships overseas.


2017

Holden and Walkinshaw Racing’s 26-year partnership comes to an end as the manufacturer switches its factory backing to Triple Eight’s rebranded Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

Jamie Whincup claims an unprecedented seventh Supercars title in a dramatic season finale at the inaugural Newcastle 500. Scott McLaughlin falls just short of the Championship but sets a record 16 pole positions and a new Bathurst 1000 lap record of 2:03.83212s in the Top 10 Shootout on his way to helping DJR Team Penske win the Teams’ Championship.

The Holden Commodore VF retires as the most successful model in V8 Supercars/Supercars history. In five seasons it won 108 out of 165 races.


2018

The first Supercar built to the new Gen2 rules package, the Holden ZB Commodore joins the grid. Triple Eight Race Engineering and GM Holden who undertook the development and build program will run a V6 twin-turbo engine in ‘wildcard’ entries at a handful of rounds ahead of its adoption by all teams in 2019.

South Australia plays host to a second Supercars round for the first time since 1977, as Australia’s newest motorsport circuit, The Bend Motorsport Park, joins the 2018 calendar.

Having raced as a support category at Albert Park since 1996, Supercars will race for full Championship points at the Australian Grand Prix circuit for the first time in the category’s history.

The Supercars Championship will have a night race for the first time since 1997, with a 300km outing under the lights at Sydney Motorsport Park.