1986 Australian Endurance Championship


The 1986 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Touring Cars as specified in the National Competition Rules of CAMS. The title, which was the sixth Australian Endurance Championship, was contested concurrently with the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship, which was the sixteenth in a sequence of manufacturers championships awarded by CAMS, and the seventh to be contested under the Australian Manufacturers' Championship name.
The Australian Endurance Championship was won by Jim Richards driving a BMW 635 CSi and the Australian Manufacturers' Championship was awarded to Nissan. Although Nissan team driver George Fury won 4 of the 6 rounds, missing the opening round at Amaroo Park, failing to finish at Bathurst and only being awarded half points for winning at Calder Park, along with the consistency of Richards who scored in every round saw the Kiwi win his second straight Endurance title in the BMW. However, his wins, along with high placings by team mates Gary Scott and Terry Sheil gave Nissan an easy 27 point win over BMW in the Manufacturers' title with Jim Richards virtually playing a lone hand for the Bavarian marque.
Round 5, The Sun South Pacific 300 at Calder Park in Melbourne, saw the first ever rolling start in Australian touring car racing. The race also doubled as the opening round of the five race South Pacific Touring Car Championship, with the second round being the Group A support race for the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. The remaining 3 rounds of the South Pacific series were held in New Zealand with Allan Grice, driving a Commodore in Australia and a Skyline in New Zealand, emerging as champion.

Calendar

The championship was contested over a six round series.
RoundRace nameCircuitDateWinnerCarTeamReport
1Better Brakes 300Amaroo Park3 August Jim RichardsBMW 635 CSiJPS Team BMW
2BP Plus 300Surfers Paradise24 August George Fury
Glenn Seton		Nissan Skyline DR30 RSPeter Jackson Nissan Racing
3Castrol 500Sandown Raceway14 September George Fury
Glenn Seton		Nissan Skyline DR30 RSPeter Jackson Nissan RacingReport
4James Hardie 1000Mount Panorama5 October Allan Grice
Graeme Bailey		Holden VK Commodore SS Group AChickadee ChickenReport
5The Sun South Pacific 300Calder Park19 November George Fury
Glenn Seton		Nissan Skyline DR30 RSPeter Jackson Nissan Racing
6Pepsi 250Oran Park8 December George FuryNissan Skyline DR30 RSPeter Jackson Nissan Racing

Class structure

Cars competed in three classes defined according to engine capacity:
Australian Endurance Championship points were awarded to the drivers of the top twenty placed cars in each round, with the actual allocation dependent on the outright position obtained and the class in which the car was competing.
Outright Position1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17th18th19th20th
If car in Class A30272421191715141312111098765432
If car in Class B2826232018161413121110987654321
If car in Class C2523201715131110987654321000

Two drivers per car were compulsory at both the Sandown and Bathurst rounds.
For races in which two drivers per car were not compulsory but two drivers each drove more than one third distance, points for the position gained were shared equally between the two drivers.
For races in which two drivers per car were not compulsory but two drivers did not both drive more than one third distance each, full points were awarded to the driver who drove the greater distance.
For races in which two drivers were compulsory, full points were awarded to both drivers provided that each had driven more than one third distance.
In all cases points were only awarded to a driver who had driven no more than one car during the event.
Only the highest scoring car of each make earned points and then only the points applicable to the position filled.

Results

Australian Endurance Championship

Australian Manufacturers' Championship