The Thundersport years - 1993 to 1995

[jd yort]

Interested in hearing more about the Thundersport years of Sports Sedans.

This period of time could be said as being from 1993 to 1995 though the initial seed was sewn as early as 1992.
I am no expert in this and only going from what I have read and would like to understand more about what went on.

The birth of Thundersports / Tranzams appeared to be the result of a number of factors:
- The Indycar butchers picnic. The 92 event had GT / Tranzam and Sports Sedans competing together.
- Proposed changes by CAMS to introduce silhouette regulations in 1992
- People building cars that didn't fall into any category (sound familiar...)
- Lack of progress in the development of the Australian Sports Sedan Series. There was a desire among some competitors to increase the exposure of Sports Sedans, achieve National Series sponsor and seal a television coverage deal.
- Desire of NZ based racers to compete in events outside their season in Australia in their recently purchased US spec Transams.

In 1992 during the Gold Coast Indy festival, a series of meetings were held discussing the future of Sports Sedans. Drivers were present along with Bob Jane, Jon Davison and Kiwi's Mark Petch & Rodger Freeth,
CAMS had not sanctioned the Sports Sedans at the event and the inclusion of outlawed GT Cars and NZ Tranzams which did not align with the CAMS categories were points of discussion. CAMS had also threatened to take away licenses of those involved including Alan Jones and Tony Longhurst.
Jane offered an alternative to the CAMS championship with 3 venues and the possibility of 2 more running off the success of his Nascar / Auscar promotion.

For 1993 The Australian Sports Sedan Championship was held over 4 meetings (2 rounds at each). Oran park, Sandown, Lakeside and then back to Oran Park for the finale. In the end Baily won the title on a countback after finishing even with Barry Jameson.

I am 95% sure that any reference to Sports Sedans running at Indy in 1991 are incorrect but advise if this is not the case.

[jd yort]

The Tranzam / Thundersport championship is a little more unclear.

I believe the first meeting outside of the 2 butchers picnic in 92 was mid January at AIR running the oval. This meeting was attended by Sports Sedan regular Brian Smith, Derek Van Zelm, Monterosso Brothers, Jeff Barnes, Kevin Clark, John Briggs and Des Wall.
In addition there was John Pollard in his Porsche 935 and Ed Aitken in his 930 Turbo with the 959 body kit and Graeme Whincup in his Chev Monza.

The 2nd outing for Tranzams was the Calder Superspeedway Meeting in February and held within the confines of the Thunderdome with the circuit being made up of witches hats and tyre bundles.
Des Wall, John Briggs and Cos & Mick Monterosso all competed. Monza's of Graeme Whincup and Jeff Barnes were present along with Kerry Baily in the Supra and Brian Smith in the Alfetta.
The speedway course avoided the banking and required heavy braking at four chicanes. Passing was at a premium and usually expense of a mistake of someone over shooting the tyres and short cutting the course.
Also racing was the Aitken 959 replica, Derek Van Zelm Honda. I do not believe the Pollard 935 was present.

The 3rd outing was the Indy Carnival on the Gold Coast in mid March for the Tranzams. This was the 3rd running of the event. This was the meeting that Kayne Scott was racing the Peanut Slab Sierra. In race 2 the last lap board was shown twice causing some confusion according to the Auto Action write up in Race2.

The 4th meeting was known as the Thundersports Cup and was held at Sandown as a support for the Sandown 500. There was 2 heats with the 2nd heat being televised on SBS. This race required a restart after Spiridis in the 935 was rear ended off the start.

The 5th and final meeting I believe was Thunder at the Creek in mid November. This was the meeting that ran on the short course and featured Nascars / Auscars.

The Questions...
Were there any changes to the Sports Sedans running in these races?
Was there actually a series / title up for grabs during 1993?
Have I missed any races?
It seems that at this point in time Tranzams was the term used as opposed to Thundersports but I have not read what the exact difference was.

(I will cover off 1994 next).

[jd yort]

In 1994 the division between the 2 championships widened. The Australian Sports Sedan championship consisted of 1 meeting in Sandown with 2 races.
The "Australian Thundersports Series" was a 5 round championship with all meetings run in conjunction with the SATCC. In addition there was the Tranzam Indy Carnival and they secured a slot on the the AGP schedule.
The 5 rounds were held at Amaroo, Sandown, Lakeside, Winton and the final at Eastern Creek. 2 additional rounds were proposed but did not eventuate being Mallala (June 26th) and Oran Park (July 24th).
From what I can gather Baily, Monterosso and Attard all had the additional supplementary documentation for their cars which had them logged as Thundersports. They could revert to Sports Sedans by reducing tyre and wing width.
John Pollard who had been instrumental in pushing for the series never actually ran his 935 in the Championship as he was too busy running the administration side of it.

Rd1 Amaroo (27/02/94)
The Australian Thundersport Series commenced in early February with the opening round held at Amaroo. This was as a support category for Rd1 of the SATCC Series.
Both races were won by Brian Smith in the Alfetta with Kerry Baily finishing 2nd in both. It was quite a strong entry list with other competitors including Baily (Supra), Briggs (Prelude), Carling (300ZX), Jameson (Falcon), Monterosso (Escort), Attard & Luff (Commodores), Pate (Lexcen), Wall (Supra). Bryan Thomson had dusted off the Mercedes which was now a 5.8 litre.

Many of the competitors encountered mechanical problems across the weekend. The little Fiat 131 being driven by Snr Mr Boost managed to grab a top5 finish in race2.
It appears that Whincup and Spiridis did not compete. Unsure if they encountered problems in practice or simply did not enter.

Rd2 Sandown (06/03/94)
Round 2 was held at Sandown as part of SATCC meeting. Entries for Rd2 were boosted with the Spiridis 935, Chev Monza of Whincup along with the Commodore of Bob Jolly.
Briggs and Jameson were both absent from this round. Smith won both races from Des Wall in the Supra. Spiridis was involved in a startline accident in Race1 and then collided with Baily & Monterosso in Race2 damaging the Supra substantially causing a red flag. Thomson was again present in the Mercedes. Mr Boost Snr also made the trip south.

Indy Carnival - Tranzam (20/03/94)
Smith in the Alfetta won Race1 while Jeff Barnes in the Monza won the 2nd race. Baily (Supra) grabbed 2nd in both races.
Briggs (Prelude), Carling (300ZX), Wall (Supra) , Mick Monterosso (Escort), Jolly (Holden Commodore), Spiridis (Porsche 935), Attard (Holden Commodore), Trenoweth (Jaguar XJS), Jolly (Commodore), Aitken (Porsche 959), Whincup(Monza), Ricciardo (Alfetta), Maurice Pickering (Chev Monza), Darren Pate (Lexen), Kevin Clark (Ford Mustang) and Cameron McLean (BMW M3) were all present.
Another notable entry was the Greg Siddle built Monza making possibly its Australian debut in the hands of Mike Imrie.
Grant Brennan from NZ was racing the Bruce Jenner Chev Camaro brought in from the US.

Rd3 Lakeside (24/04/1994)
This meeting was on the SATCC support programme.
Carling (300ZX), Briggs (Honda Prelude), Baily (Toyota Supra) and Smith were all running along with Attard, Clark, Trenoweth, McLean. Jeff Barnes.
Darren Pates Lexcen caught fire in Qualifying. Mick Monterosso was not competing.
Briggs won Race1 and Baily won race2.

Rd4 Winton (15/05/1994)
This was as a support for Rd6 of the SATCC. Appears there was a warm up race for this meeting.
Monterosso, Jolly, Spiridis, Baily, Attard, Thompson, Phillip, Whincup, Smith, Imrie (Monza), Ed Aitken (Porsche 959), Doherty (Commodore) were all racing.
Smith did not run in the Alfetta which I am not sure why and Carling was missing. Baily won race1 and Monterosso won Race2.

Rd5 Eastern Creek (05/06/94)
Again this meeting was a SATCC Support. Brian Smith won race1 and Baily winning race2.
Monterosso, Briggs & Carling, Pate & Attard, Maurice Pickering were all present along with Mclean.
There was No Whincup or Spiridis.
3rd place in race 2 for Brian Smith was sufficient for him to take the 1994 Thundersport Championship.

Australian Sports Sedan Championship Sandown (04/09/94)
Consisted of 2 races held on the Sandown 500 program with 32 entered. There was no Monterosso or Briggs.
Tranzam cars were unable to enter so there was no Whincup or Spiridis.
Race1 was won by Jameson after Smith and Baily tangled. Smith won race 2 from Baily and Jameson securing the championship.

Australian Grand Prix Adelaide (12/11/94)
Reasonably sure there was only 1 race which was televised on Channel 9 and known as the Thundersports Caltex Challenge.
Baily won from Smith and Monterosso. There was an extremely strong entry list with Mark Williams (IMSA RX7), Trenoweth, Briggs, Monterosso, Phillip, Barnes, Pate, Imrie (Monza), Attard, Whincup, Thomson (Mercedes),
Pickering, Wall, Ricciardo (Alfa), Baily, Mark Poole (Commodore), Jolly, Tino Leo (Monaro). Danny Osbourne (Colourscan Rx7), Tweedie (Sierra). Tino Leo did not make the start.
Attard put the Commodore into the wall backwards.

[MrBoost]

great write up Jd, Mr Boost snr ran at all the thundersport meetings in 94. I remember pate crashing at lakeside right infront of me. I remember the old man introducing me to Jeff Barnes who as a 10 year old was my hero ss driver (other than my old man lol) i also remember Spiridis (the nutcase) at winton passing cars on the grass with sparks flying off his car as it dragged along the wall......
Graham did his best ever time at amaroo that year (when he finished 5th) posting a 51.5 second lap in the little fiat.
i have that race on video from the channel 7 telecast - http://youtu.be/0Xw7lkTAZu8

[jd yort]

great write up Jd, Mr Boost snr ran at all the thundersport meetings in 94. I remember pate crashing at lakeside right infront of me. I remember the old man introducing me to Jeff Barnes who as a 10 year old was my hero ss driver (other than my old man lol) i also remember Spiridis (the nutcase) at winton passing cars on the grass with sparks flying off his car as it dragged along the wall......
Graham did his best ever time at amaroo that year (when he finished 5th) posting a 51.5 second lap in the little fiat.
i have that race on video from the channel 7 telecast - http://youtu.be/0Xw7lkTAZu8

Thanks Nick. It was quite an interesting time for the category. I remember watching the first Indy race televised just glued to the TV. I really hope others who were part of it all chime in with what was going on during this period. I never got to see Spiridis race that 935, but going over some of the race reports he was involved in few bingles with it. Coincidentally I never saw Pollard race the 935 but it seems it may of only ever raced 5 times if that so not many people really did. I am moving onto 95.

[jd yort]

1995 was to be the last year of the Thundersports.

It is unclear whether the Thundersports Championship for 1995 consisted of 3 or 4 rounds. The yearbook reports it as 3 races with Rd1 at Sandown being a non championship round while Auto Action states that it was.
Regardless the 4 (or 3 rds) were at Sandown, Indy, Eastern Creek & then back to Sandown for the finale.

Mean while the Australian Sports Sedan Championship was held over 2 meetings at Sandown and Oran Park with 2 races held at each event.

In addition 2 these championships, 1995 was the first year of the O'Brien Aluminium Sports Sedan Series. In NSW Ron O'Brien put some big money on the table for a 3 round series which was ultimately won by Des Wall. The series was held in support of the highly attended truck racing series and with 40K of prize money available it was well attended.

Rd1 Sandown (05/02/95)
The Thundersport season kicked off as a support for Rd1 of the SATCC in February.
In abysmal weather Cameron Mclean won both races. In race 1 he went from 8th to 2nd before the first corner.
Brian Smith in the Alfetta finished 2nd in both races. Other competitors included Briggs, Monterosso, Osbourne and Clearihan in the newly acquired Alfetta.

Rd2 Indy Carnival Thundersports (19/03/95)
There were 2 races for the weekend, 5 & a 8 lapper. Steven Johnson made his debut in the Greg Lancaster owned Ford Mustang Tranzam which had previously been raced by his father during the 94/95 TraNZam season in New Zealand.
Monterosso won Race1 and Junior Johnson won race2 in the Mustang.
Competitors included Kayne Scott in a Mustang, Pollard, Wall, Baily, Briggs, Brian Smith, Mark Trenoweth, Jolly, Clearihan, Crompton, Mikac, Kevin Heffernan (Price Attack Commodore), Whincup.

Rd3 Eastern Creek Thundersports (28/05/95)
The third round was Part of the ATCC support program.
Steven Johnson won both races in the Fuddrucker Mustang. Kayne Scott was also racing in the IPC Computers Mustang grabbing a 2nd in Racce1 .
Other competitors included Baily, Monterosso, Wall, McLean, Osborne, Crompton, Philip, Whincup, Pickering, Clark, Wall.

Rd4 Sandown Thundersports (03/09/95)
The final round was part of the Sandown 500 support programme. The Mustangs had been shipped to the US leaving Junior searching for a car to compete in.
The Jameson Falcon was a possibility before the deal fell through. Junior was able to enter in the Falcon he was due to race later in the Sandown 500 after each Thundersport competitor signed a waiver allowing the Falcon to run.
Race 1 was won by Monterosso withn Johnson finishing 5th. Race2 was won by Brian Smith with Johnson finishing 6th. It was Smith's title for the second successive year with Johnson finishing equal second with Monterosso. Mclean decided to sit it out.
Also competing was Baily, Jolly, Stinson, Imrie (Saab), Philip.


Rd1 Australian Sports Sedan Championship Phillip Island (09/04/95)
Cameron McLean who won both races at a rain drenched Phillip Island in the ex Benson & Hedges BMW.
Just a surprising was second place where Peter O'Brien came home in 2nd in the ex Caltex Sierra.
In attendance was Bruce DeBoo, Ivan Mikac, James Philip, Barry Jameson, Darren Saillard, Paul Barrett, Bob Jolly, Lee Nicole, Robin Doherty, Barry Bray, Mike Imrie, James Phillip.
A number of drivers were forced to start from pitlane after being bogged in the paddock area. Mclean won race1 by 33 seconds and race2 by 25 seconds.

Rd2 Australian Sports Sedan Championship Oran Park (06/08/95)
2 fourth placings was enough for Cameron McLean to clench the Australian Sports Sedan Championship and Barry Jameson to finished 2nd for the 3rd successive year in a row. James Philip came 3rd.
Also in attendance was Peter O'Brien, Crompton (qualified 3rd), Jolly, Mikac, Stinson, Graham Smith, Bill Attard (Mazda Rx7), John English (Colourscan Rx7), Stenhouse, Chris Clearihan, Litchenbergger.
Barry Jameson won both races. For Race2 McLean only needed to finish 8th or better.

I will move onto the rule proposal and changes that occurred in 96 signaling the end of the Thundersport years.

[jd yort]

The demise of Thundersports started in early 1995 where firstly the Sports Sedans Category they had announced they were withdrawing their support.
By October it was formally announced that the Thundersports movement was finished.

In Mid June the Sports Sedan Association had started to lobby with CAMS rule changes to lure competitors back to the fold.
This included:
- a move from 10 inch to 12 inch rims (tyre size to remain the same).
- Wings would be able to be the same height as the roof. The width would also be changed allowing up to 1600mm or the maximum width of the car if under that measurement.

In September CAMS approved the following changes:
- Banning of traction control and ABS
- Banning of handling devices
- Vehicle eligibility was now regulated by the NASSA and sanctioned by CAMS.(the recently approved MR2 was fingered as key proponent for this change deemed not in the spirit of the category).
- More eligible engines were listed while restricting output
- Multiplication factors were 1.4 for engines over 2.5 litres with more than 2 valves per cylinder, 1.7 for forced induction engines, and 1.8 for rotary engines.
- Tyre width increased to 14.5 inches.
- Rear door frames removed (can someone explain the differences?)
- Air dams and spoilers changed to align with modern bumper styles
- Carbon fibre and kevlar composites introduced
- Wing changes (reference article did not spell out these)

In addition to the above, the association introduced a class structure of A,B,C. The class a a car fell into was based on Performance, Presentation, Body age and log book age. The system aimed to encourage competitors to progress within the category and attempted to ensure cars racing at high profile events were good ambassadors for the category.
A class cars were limited to National Open events and unable to race at a State level. B class could run at National, State or Club but A class cars had priority. C Class cars could not run at a National level.

By the end of the year CAMS no longer recognised Thundersports with the October Auto Action headlined titled: "Thundersports are gone".
The true Thundersport cars were no longer eligible for points in 2006. If they finished in the top 3 they were to receive weight penalties.

From what I have gathered those most impacted were John Pollard, Perry Spiridis, Mark Williams and Graeme Whincup.
Tranzam and Thundersport cars were still to be invited to Indy and the AGP race (if they successfully lobbied for a slot on the 1996 programme). Meanwhile Junior Johnson went off to race the Mustang in NZ for the 95/96 season.

For 1996 the ASSC ended up being a 4 round Championship at Lakeside, Oran Park, Sandown and concluding at Phillip Island.
Steven Johnson ran the Rocksports built Helix Livered Bruce Jenner Camaro at Gold Coast Indy and then received competitor permission to run Lakeside Rd1 only.
I believe Pollard ran the 935 too at Indy and unsure if it every did race in Australia after this event.

I am unsure how long the A, B, C class structure stayed in place but it is referenced for 1996 and may of been still enforce by 1997. 1997 was the last year of the Indy event and the AGP outing was a once off from what I have researched.
The only large scale outing post 1997 Indy was the Race of 1000years.

[jd yort]

These clippings I found quite interesting from 1993:

[jd yort]

Here is that very first race at AIR in 93.

[jd yort]

Article from Auto Action about the new Pollard Porsche which is now in the UK