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The 1983 Australian Sports Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group A Sports Cars.[1] It was the fifteenth Australian Sports Car Championship.[2]
Peter Hopwood, driving the Steve Webb owned Kaditcha Chevrolet, won the championship from Ray Hanger in a Rennmax Ford. Defending champion Chris Clearihan finished third in his older model Kaditcha Chevrolet.
The 1983 championship saw the debut of the Bap Romano owned and driven Kaditcha K583 Cosworth, the first Australian Group A Sports Car built with a closed top and Ground effects aerodynamics (Clearihan's Kaditcha also appeared with a bolted on closed top in the early rounds of the season but the top was later removed).[3] The K583 would prove to be the fastest car in the field in 1983, and would compete in Class B as the ex-McLaren Cosworth DFV V8 was a 3.0 litre engine. However, unreliability and a disqualification for dangerous driving in Round 4 at Lakeside (Hopwood also received the same penalty at Lakeside) saw Romano only finish sixth in the championship.
After finishing the opening round at Sandown in 2nd place overall and showing that he had the speed to at least match the Kaditcha Chevrolets of Hopwood and Clearihan, the challenge from Tasmanian Johnnie Walker, driving a 1969 model Elfin ME5, ended after the car was sold to a NSW based enthusiast following the opening round. The car was parked and neither it nor Walker took any further part in the series.[4] Another potential challenger was the Mazda 12A rotary powered Tiga SC80 of Adelaide's Richard Warland (the car was driven in later rounds by open wheel driver John Smith). The car proved quick but poor reliability from the Barry Jones built Mazda engine, the cars unnerving habit of shedding rear wheels, plus a big crash by Smith in the final round at Winton put paid to the cars chances.[5]
The championship was contested over five rounds with two heats per round.[4]
| Round[4] | Circuit[4] | State | Date[4] | Format[4] | Heat winners[4] | Car[4] | Round winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sandown Park | Victoria | 20 February | Two heats | Peter Hopwood Peter Hopwood |
Kaditcha Chevrolet Kaditcha Chevrolet |
Peter Hopwood[6] |
| 2 | Adelaide International Raceway | South Australia | 1 May | Two heats | Peter Hopwood Bap Romano |
Kaditcha Chevrolet Kaditcha K583 Cosworth [7] |
Peter Hopwood[7] |
| 3 | Oran Park | New South Wales | 29 May | Two heats | Peter Hopwood John Smith |
Kaditcha Chevrolet Tiga SC80 Mazda |
Peter Hopwood[7] |
| 4 | Lakeside | Queensland | 23 July | Two heats | Chris Clearihan Chris Clearihan |
Kaditcha Chevrolet Kaditcha Chevrolet |
Ray Hanger[8] |
| 5 | Winton | Victoria | 14 August | Two heats | Bap Romano Bap Romano |
Kaditcha K583 Cosworth[7] Kaditcha K583 Cosworth[7] |
Bap Romano[9] |
- Both heats of the Lakeside round were won by Bap Romano from Peter Hopwood, however both drivers were excluded from the round for improper driving.[4]
Cars were classified into three classes based on engine displacement.[1]
- Class A : Up to 1.6 litres
- Class B : 1.6 to 3 litres
- Class C : Over 3 litres
Points were allocated for outright placings gained in each race with Scale A used for drivers of Class A cars, Scale B for drivers of Class B cars and Scale C for drivers of Class C cars.[1]
| Outright Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Scale A | 30 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Scale B | 28 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Scale C | 25 | 23 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - |
A driver's points from both races at each round were aggregated and the result divided by two to arrive at the championship points allocation for the driver at that round.
| Position | Driver[4] | No.[10] | Car[4] | Entrant[10] | Class[4] | Rd1 Sandown[4] |
Rd2 Adelaide[4] |
Rd3 Oran Park[4] |
Rd4 Lakeside[4] |
Rd5 Winton[4] |
Total[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Hopwood | 22 | Kaditcha Chevrolet | Steve Webb | C | 25 | 24 | 24 | - | 23 | 96 |
| 2 | Ray Hanger | 24 | Rennmax Ford BDA | Ray Hanger | A | 20 | - | 21½ | 25½ | 22½ | 89½ |
| 3 | Chris Clearihan | 1 | Kaditcha Chevrolet | Canberra Sports Car Club | C | 11½ | 20 | 21½ | 25 | 6½ | 84½ |
| 4 | Carl Gibson | 11 | Rennmax Repco | Carl Gibson | B | 6½ | 11½ | 10½ | - | 21½ | 50 |
| 5 | Bernie Van Elsen | 14 | Bolwell Nagari | Bernie Van Elsen | C | 17½ | 13 | 13 | - | - | 43½ |
| 6 | Bap Romano | 8 | Kaditcha K583 Cosworth[7] | Kaditcha Factory Racing Team | B | - | 14 | - | - | 28 | 42 |
| 7 | Robert Pitman | 38[11] | U2 Clubman | R. Pitman[11] | A | 14 | - | - | - | 14½ | 28½ |
| 8 | Paul Scott | 6 | Kaditcha Cosworth Vega | Pool Fab | B | - | 11½ | - | 13 | - | 24½ |
| 9 | Gregory Gardiner | Bulant | A | - | - | 7 | 14½ | - | 21½ | ||
| = | Johnnie Walker | 83 | Elfin ME5 | J.Walker[11] | C | 21½ | - | - | - | - | 21½ |
- The above table lists only the top ten pointscorers.
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