BTCC in Australia

[FlyingFox]

Was I dreaming or did the BTCC go to Mt. Panorama (Bathurst) in the 80's

For some reason I seem to remember John Cleland blasting around there in his Vauxhall Cavalier? Am I right?

 

[Northstar]

They ran alongside the ATCC cars in the 90's, couldn't find much on the 80's so no clue.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

In 1987, the Bathurst 1000 was opened up to international entries when it was included in the short-lived World Touring Car Championship (since revived). Then, in the late 1990s, there was a dispute between the Australian Race Drivers Club and V8 Supercars, and in 1997 and 1998, and there were two Bathurst 1000 races in those years, one for Super Touring cars (which the BTCC were running), and one for V8 Supercars.

 

[nitrorocks]

Didn't the super touring cars have something like 980 HP? I was just born then, so I have no idea. I was reading an article in Autosport and they said in 1998, Nigel Mansell's BTCC car had something like 987 HP. That's a bit crazy I think.

 

[paddyree]

Didn't the super touring cars have something like 980 HP? I was just born then, so I have no idea. I was reading an article in Autosport and they said in 1998, Nigel Mansell's BTCC car had something like 987 HP. That's a bit crazy I think.

No, they were somewhere between 250 & 300 hp. Maybe it was Mansells f1 or Indy car that you saw at 987 hp

 

[Ardius]

Didn't the super touring cars have something like 980 HP? I was just born then, so I have no idea. I was reading an article in Autosport and they said in 1998, Nigel Mansell's BTCC car had something like 987 HP. That's a bit crazy I think.

No. The highest BTCC cars ever achieved was around 550bhp with the Ford Sierra RS500s in the late 80s (and that wasn't the Super Touring regulations).

Otherwise the average power of BTCC cars has always been around 300bhp (with weight being around 1100kg).

 

[nitrorocks]

Alright! Thanks for the help.

 

[Liquid]

Yeah, strictly speaking the BTCC didn't go to Australia to do a round, but like pm said, the teams and drivers went down and participated in the supertouring version of the Bathurst 1000.

The most power those cars had at that time would have been no more than 300hp. By the time the entire class folded in 2000 they were pumping out a reported 320hp.

 

[FlyingFox]

Well at least the drivers went there LOL

So I really have not spent the last decade going mad thinking I was wrong.

Cheers to all that posted.