Not only did the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship season opener mark Winton’s debut, but the maiden round for the international Group A formula.
Something it will have in common with the upcoming round at Newcastle is the lack of Holdens. Back in 1985, the Holden Dealer Team elected to miss the opening round after debuting its first VK Commodore in New Zealand at Wellington and Pukekohe.
The New Zealand tour finished a week before Winton, with Brock electing to debut his new Mobil Holden VK Commodore at Sandown instead for Round 2 where he went onto win.
A 15-car grid was introduced for Winton, but there was no shortage of variety with seven manufacturers represented headlined by two BMW 635csis for Jim Richards and Neville Crichton. The JPS BMW of Richards dominated the ATCC as he led a team 1-2 at Winton.
Another interesting entry was that of Australia’s most recent Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones as partner to Colin Bond in the factory Alfa Romeo team. Underpowered compared to the outright opposition, Jones thrilled fans with his antics in the GTV6 before returning to Formula 1 to race for Team Haas.
Kevin Bartlett in a factory Mitsubishi Starion followed the two BMWs home in third ahead of Jones as Toyota Corollas, Mike Minear’s Volvo 360 GLT and the privateer Jaguar XJS of Garry Willmington were also on the grid.
Dick Johnson was also entered and shared the front-row with Richards, but overheating problems plagued the ex-Zakspeed Ford Mustang.
On a sidenote, the event started Channel 7’s long-time broadcast of the ATCC featuring Mike Raymond and Garry Wilkinson on commentary.
As aforementioned the Commodore debuted the next round at Sandown, while New Zealander Robbie Francevic also made his first appearance in sixth driving the Mark Petch-owned Volvo 240T and went onto take victory in two rounds.