Australian Touring Car Championship
| Category | Touring car racing |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Inaugural season | 1960 |
| Drivers | 26 |
| Teams | 15 |
| Tyre suppliers | Dunlop |
| Drivers' champion |
 Mark Winterbottom
|
| Official website | supercars.com |
 Current season
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The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship awarded the trophy and title of Australian Touring Car Champion.
The first Australian Touring Car Championship was held in 1960 as a single race for Appendix J Touring Cars. This was an acknowledgement of the rising popularity of races held for passenger sedans as opposed to the more purpose built open wheel racing cars, or sports cars. The original race was held at the Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit in Orange in rural New South Wales, west of Sydney. The original race was won by journalist racer, David McKay racing a Jaguar saloon prepared by his own racing team, which to this point had been better known for its preparation of open wheel and sports racing cars.
The early years of the ATCC saw the once a year event visit mostly rural circuits, before finally visiting a major city circuit, Lakeside Raceway on the outskirts of Brisbane in 1964. This race was also the first not won by a Jaguar saloon with Ian Geoghegan driving a Ford Cortina winning the first of his five titles. From 1965 the title would largely be won by an American V8 powered muscle car, most notably the Ford Mustang which would win five consecutive titles in 1965 (Norm Beechey) and 1966–69 (Geoghegan). The first championship victory by the driver of an Australian car was that of Beechey in 1970 driving a Holden HT Monaro GTS350. As of 4 December 2011 Jamie Whincup & Norm Beechey are the only two people to have won the championship in both a Ford and a Holden in history of the ATCC and V8 Supercars Championship Series. The 1971 and 1972 championships were won by 1962 and 1963 champion Bob Jane who drove a 7.0 litre Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 in 1971 before CAMS rule changes forced Jane to use the smaller 5.7 litre 350 Chevrolet in the Camaro in 1972.
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