The Australian GT Championship is a CAMS

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport , has been the governing body of Australian motorsport since 1953. It is affiliated with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile ....

-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 title was contested over a single race and those after that year over a series of races. The category has not always been well defined and often has become a refugee home for competitors and cars orphaned by category collapse or a sudden change in regulation.

In the first era the championship races were open to closed cars (not necessarily production based) complying with CAMS Appendix K regulations. These cars were heavily modified, so much so that distinctive shapes like open top Jaguar E-Type with a specially created closed cockpit and were barely recogniseable or cars created for the class like the Centaur GT driven by John French

John French (racing driver)

John French is a retired Australian racing driver.French had a long career throughout the 60s and 70s and the early 80s. He won the 1962 Australian GT Championship driving a Centaur-Waggott and in 1969 French paired with Allan Moffat to win the Sandown Three Hour race in a Ford Falcon GTHO...

 or the Corvette Special built by Murray Carter

Murray Carter

Murray Carter is an Australian racing driver. For many years a stalwart of the Australian Touring Car Championship Carter has had one of the longest racing careers of any driver in Australian history, continuing to race into his late 70s.-Racing history:One of a generation of racing drivers that...

. Numbers dropped rapidly away as the years went on and the class was left behind in 1963.

The 1982 to 1985 titles were open to heavily modified production based closed cars complying with CAMS Group D GT regulations, with Group B Sports Sedans also invited to compete in 1982. The category was something of a hybrid, a merger of the former Australian Sports Sedan Championship

Australian Sports Sedan Championship

The Australian Sports Sedan Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars complying with Australian Sports Sedan regulations...

 and vehicles which had been competing previously in the Australian Sports Car Championship

Australian Sports Car Championship

The Australian Sports Car Championship was the CAMS sanctioned national title for Sports Car drivers in the years from 1969 to 1988. Each championship was contested over a series of races with the exception of the 1975 title, which was awarded on the results of a single race held at the Phillip...

 which changed regulations away from being a category for Production based GT cars to a cateogry for cars closer to international sports car racing. The GT Championship become a new home for the two combined categories. Porsches dominated early one with Formula One world champion Alan Jones winning one title in an entry backed by the Australian Porsche distributor. As time went on the usually slower Sports Sedan started to usurp the category as the more expensive Sports Car refugees dropped in numbers.

The 2005 series was started as a continuation of the Australian Nations Cup Championship

Australian Nations Cup Championship

The Australian Nations Cup Championship was a motor racing title sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport from 2000 to 2004.-History:...

 and has year by year moved towards adopting FIA GT3

FIA GT3 European Championship

The FIA GT3 European Championship is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . It is a championship derived from the international FIA GT1 World Championship, but meant to provide competition for more...

 regulations, but also allows other varieties of cars which do not meet GT3 regulations.

Champions

Season	Champion	Vehicle
1960 1960 Australian GT Championship The 1960 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of cars complying with Appendix K Gran Turismo regulations. The title, which was the inaugural Australian GT Championship, was contested over a single 50 mile race held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst,...	Leo Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan is a retired Australian racing driver.Geoghegan is the elder of two sons of New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, who went on to become two of the dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s...	Lotus Elite Lotus Elite Not to be confused with the Lotus Elise.The Lotus Elite name was used for two vehicles from Lotus Cars.-1957:The first Elite or Lotus Type 14 was an ultra-light two-seater coupé, produced from 1958 to 1963....
1961 1961 Australian GT Championship The 1961 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers Appendix K GT cars. The title, which was the second Australian GT Championship, was contested over a single 50 mile race held at the Warwick Farm circuit, in New South Wales, Australia on 30 July...	Frank Matich Frank Matich Frank Matich, born 1935, was an Australian racing car driver. A highly successful motor racing competitor in the 1960s and 70s, Matich built his own range of Matich sports cars and open wheel cars, mainly to support his own career, but some cars found success with other drivers...	Jaguar D-type Jaguar D-type The Jaguar D-Type, like its predecessor the C-Type, was a factory-built race car. Although it shared the basic straight-6 XK engine design with the C-Type, the majority of the car was radically different...
1962 1962 Australian GT Championship The 1962 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Appendix K GT cars. The title, which was the third Australian GT Championship, was contested over a single 75 mile race held at the Lakeside circuit, in Queensland, Australia on 8 July 1962.-Results:Note:...	John French John French (racing driver) John French is a retired Australian racing driver.French had a long career throughout the 60s and 70s and the early 80s. He won the 1962 Australian GT Championship driving a Centaur-Waggott and in 1969 French paired with Allan Moffat to win the Sandown Three Hour race in a Ford Falcon GTHO...	Centaur Waggott Waggott Engineering Waggott Engineering was an Australian automotive engineering company which gained fame for the engines which it produced for motor sport applications from the 1950s through to the 1970s....
1963 1963 Australian GT Championship The 1963 Australian GT Championship was a national motor racing title for drivers of Gran Turismo cars complying with CAMS Appendix K regulations....	Bob Jane Bob Jane Robert "Bob" Jane is an Australian former race car driver and prominent businessman. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Jane is perhaps known best nowadays for his chain of tyre retailers,...	Jaguar E-type Jaguar E-type The Jaguar E-Type or XK-E is a British automobile, manufactured by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring...
1964-1981	Not Contested
1982 1982 Australian GT Championship season The 1982 Australian GT Championship season was the first season of the revived Australian GT Championship, last held in 1963. The 1982 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group D GT cars and Group B Sports Sedans...	Alan Jones Alan Jones (Formula 1) Alan Stanley Jones MBE is an Australian former Formula One driver. He was the first driver to win a Formula One World Championship with the Williams team, becoming the 1980 World Drivers' Champion....	Porsche 935 Porsche 935 The Porsche 935 was introduced in 1976, as the factory racing version of the Porsche 911 turbo prepared for FIA-Group 5 rules. It was an evolution of the Porsche Carrera RSR 2.1 turbo prototype which had scored 2nd overall in the 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans....
1983 1983 Australian GT Championship season The 1983 Australian GT Championship season was the second season of the Australian GT Championship. It was open to grand tourer cars complying with CAMS Group D regulations with Group B Sports Sedans competing by invitation...	Rusty French	Porsche 935 Porsche 935 The Porsche 935 was introduced in 1976, as the factory racing version of the Porsche 911 turbo prepared for FIA-Group 5 rules. It was an evolution of the Porsche Carrera RSR 2.1 turbo prototype which had scored 2nd overall in the 1974 24 Hours of Le Mans....
1984 1984 Australian GT Championship season The 1984 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title and was the seventh Australian GT Championship to be awarded. It was a series open to grand tourer cars complying with CAMS Group D regulations with Group B Sports Sedans competing by invitation...	Allan Grice Allan Grice Allan Maxwell Grice OAM , known to motor-racing fans as Gricey, is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 , and as a privateer driver of a Holden in the Australian Touring Car Championship.Grice also had a successful second...	Chevrolet Monza Chevrolet Monza The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact, four-passenger automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1975–1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width and 140 CID inline-4 engine...
1985 1985 Australian GT Championship season The 1985 Australian GT Championship was the eighth Australian GT Championship and the fourth to be decided over a series of races. It was open to GT Cars complying with CAMS Group D regulations with Group B Sports Sedans competing by invitation. The title was contested over six rounds from 24...	Bryan Thomson	Chevrolet Monza Chevrolet Monza The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact, four-passenger automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1975–1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width and 140 CID inline-4 engine...   Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC - Chevrolet Chevrolet Small-Block engine The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of automobile V8 engines built by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors using the same basic small engine block...
1986-2004	Not Contested
2005	Bryce Washington	Porsche 996 GT3 Cup Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
2006 2006 Australian GT Championship season The 2006 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of closed, production based sports cars. Eligible vehicles were those approved by the FIA for International GT3 competition and similar models as approved by CAMS....	Greg Crick	Dodge Viper GTS ACR
2007 2007 Australian GT Championship season The 2007 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing championship open to closed production based sports cars as approved for FIA GT3 competition and to similar cars as approved by CAMS. The championship began on 3 February 2007 at Eastern Creek Raceway and ended on 9...	Allan Simonsen Allan Simonsen (racing driver) Allan Simonsen is a Danish racing driver.-Career highlights:*Le Mans Series*FIA GT3 European Championship*FIA GT Championship*British GT*Australian GT Championship-24 Hours of Le Mans results:-External links:*...	Ferrari 360 GT Ferrari 360 The Ferrari 360 is a mid-engine midsize two-seater sports car produced from late 1999 until 2005. The 360 replaced the Ferrari F355 and was itself replaced by the fairly similar Ferrari F430... Ferrari 430 GT3
2008 2008 Australian GT Championship season The 2008 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of closed, production based sports cars which were either approved by the FIA for GT3 competition or approved by CAMS as Australian GT cars...	Mark Eddy	Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Lamborghini Gallardo The Lamborghini Gallardo is a sports car built by Lamborghini. The Gallardo is Lamborghini's most-produced model to date, with over 10,000 built in its first seven years of production...
2009 2009 Australian GT Championship season The 2009 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of closed production based sports cars which are either approved by the FIA for GT3 competition or approved by CAMS as Australian GTs....	David Wall	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
2010 2010 Australian GT Championship season The 2010 Australian GT Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing championship open to closed production based sports cars which were either approved by the FIA for GT3 competition or approved by CAMS as Australian GTs...	David Wall	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
2011 2011 Australian GT Championship season The 2011 Australian GT Championship is a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing championship open to closed production based sports cars which are either approved by the FIA for GT3 competition or approved by CAMS as Australian GTs. The championship, which was the 15th Australian GT Championship,...	Mark Eddy	Audi R8 LMS

External links

• CAMS Manual on Line
• Australian GT website