South Pacific Touring Car Championship

Not to be confused with South Pacific Touring Series.

The South Pacific Touring Car Championship was a motorsport championship staged in Australia and New Zealand for Group A touring cars between October and December in 1986. The championship was won by Australian driver Allan Grice.

South Pacific Touring Car Championship

Category	Touring car racing
Country	Australia New Zealand
Inaugural season	1986
Folded	1987
Last Drivers' champion	Allan Grice
Last Makes' champion	BMW
Last Teams' champion	NA

The series received little support from the top teams, especially the Australians other than for the first two rounds held in Australia, while all bar a couple of the New Zealand teams only contested NZ races. Once the series went to New Zealand, Grice and Charlie O'Brien were in fact the only Australian drivers to support the series while those such as Peter Jackson Nissan, JPS Team BMW and the Mobil Holden Dealer Team completely ignored the NZ races.

The series was reportedly set to continue in 1987, however after the first race in Adelaide, interest flagged as the Australian teams were not interested in going to New Zealand after a long season which included the 1987 World Touring Car Championship rounds at Bathurst, Calder and Wellington and the series was cancelled.

Champions

Year	Driver	Team	Car
1986	Allan Grice	Roadways Racing Team Nissan Racing NZ	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Nissan Skyline DR30 RS
1987	Dick Johnson	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS500

1986 race calendar

The 1986 South Pacific Touring Car Championship was contested over a five-round series with two races in Australia and three races in New Zealand.

Round 1 of the series also doubled as Round 5 of the 1986 Australian Endurance Championship, while Round 2 in Adelaide also doubled as the Group A support race at the 1986 Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Rd.	Race Title	Circuit	City	Date	Winner	Car	Team	Report
1	The Sun South Pacific 300	Calder Park Raceway	Melbourne	19 October	George Fury   Glenn Seton	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	^[1]
2	South Australia Cup	Adelaide Street Circuit	Adelaide	25 October	Allan Grice	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	Roadways Racing	^[2]
3	Manfeild SPTCC	Manfeild Autocourse	Palmerston North	30 November	Graeme Crosby   Wayne Wilkinson	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	Bob Jane T-Marts	^[3]
4	Baypark SPTCC	Baypark Raceway	Mount Maunganui	7 December	Allan Grice   Kent Baigent	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	Team Nissan Racing NZ	^[4]
5	Pukekohe SPTCC	Pukekohe Park Raceway	Pukekohe	14 December	Charlie O'Brien   Glenn McIntyre	BMW 635 CSi	State Coal BMW	^[5]

Championship results

Position	Driver	Team	Car	Points
1	Allan Grice	Roadways Racing Team Nissan Racing NZ	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	81
2	Trevor Crowe	Archibalds	BMW 635 CSi	73
3	Graeme Crosby	Bob Jane T-Marts	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	67
4	Charlie O'Brien	Bob Jane T-Marts State Coal BMW	BMW 635 CSi	66
	Glenn McIntyre	State Coal BMW	BMW 635 CSi	66
6	George Fury	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	57
7	Ed Lamont	Lamont Racing/Can-Am Construction	BMW 325i	55
8	Glenn Seton	Peter Jackson Nissan Racing	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	47
9	Robbie Ker		Ford Mustang GT	45
	Wayne Huxford		Ford Mustang GT	45
11	Wayne Wilkinson	Bob Jane T-Marts	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	43
	Graham Lorimer		BMW 635 CSi	43
	Tony Lawrence		BMW 635 CSi	43
14	Larry Perkins	Enzed Team Perkins	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	40
15	John Harvey	Mobil Holden Dealer Team	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	34
16	Denny Hulme	Bob Jane T-Marts Rocket Cargo/Bill Bryce	Mercedes-Benz 190E BMW 325i	32
	Dave Barrow	Toyota Team New Zealand	Toyota Corolla FX-GT AE82	32
18	Kent Baigent	Team Nissan Racing NZ	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	30

See also

• Touring car racing
• Group A
• Australian Endurance Championship

References

1. 1986 AEC Round 5 Calder Park
2. 1986 AGP Adelaide Group A Support Race
3. 1986 Manfield 400 at History of Touring Car Racing
4. 1986 Baypark 3 Hours at History of Touring Car Racing
5. 1986 Pukekohe 150 at History of Touring Car Racing