1983 Australian Endurance Championship


The 1983 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars. The championship was contested over a six-round series with all rounds run concurrently with those of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship of Makes.
Wollongong based Peter McLeod's consistent run over the series which saw him score points in all but the Castrol 400 at Sandown, won his first touring car championship driving his Slick 50 sponsored Mazda RX-7. Second was the JPS Team BMW 635 CSi of triple Bathurst 1000 winner Jim Richards, with Nissan Motorsport driver George Fury third in his Bluebird Turbo.
Fury, who won the opening two rounds of the series, and the Holden Dealer Team's star driver Peter Brock, who won the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst and the final round in Adelaide, were the only multiple winners in the 1983 AEC, though Brock received no points from his Bathurst win due to having already started the race in his usual No.05 which blew its engine on lap 8. The other winners were 1983 ATCC winner Allan Moffat who drove his Mazda RX-7 to victory in the Castrol 400, Allan Grice who drove his Roadways Holden Commodore to victory at Surfers Paradise while John Harvey and Larry Perkins shared the Bathurst win with Peter Brock.

Class structure

Cars competed in two engine displacement classes:
  • Up to 3000cc
  • Over 3000cc

Points structure

Championship points were awarded to the top twenty finishers at each round according to the outright position attained. If two drivers shared a car the points were split between the two drivers, except at Round 4 where two driver combinations were mandated by regulations, removing the single driver option. Full points to both drivers were awarded. The exception to this was Round 4 at Bathurst as Peter Brock received no points for winning the race while co-winners John Harvey and Larry Perkins were both awarded full points. This was because Brock had started the race in his usual No.05 which had an engine failure on lap 8 before transferring to No.25 on lap 22, the rules being that a driver could not be awarded awarded points after swapping cars. While this gave Brock no points despite the win, it did not affect his usual co-driver Perkins who only got to drive the race winning No.25 Commodore in the race.
Outright Position1234567891011121314151617181920
Up to 3000cc30272421191715141312111098765432
Over 3000cc2523201715131110987654321000

Results

PositionDriverNo.CarEntrantRd1Rd2Rd3Rd4Rd5Rd6Points
1