Australian Mini Challenge

Australian Mini Challenge
Category Touring car racing
One make racing
Country Australia
Inaugural season 2008
Folded 2010
Tyre suppliers Dunlop
Last Drivers' champion Chris Alajajian
Official website MINI Challenge - Planet MINI - www.mini.com.au

The Australian Mini Challenge was a touring car racing category in Australia. First held in 2008, the Mini Challenge supported both the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the V8 Supercar Development Series.[1] The category is managed by Toleman Motorsport, who took over management rights following the demise of previous rights holder, Sherrin Motorsport.[2] Late in 2010, BMW announced the withdrawal of its support of the series.[3]

In 2011 the series competitors were thrown a lifeline and invited to compete in the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, in a series called the AMC Mini Cup. The only changes to the rules were the requirement to run on radial tyres and the addition of a dry break fuel system to the cars for long distance events. The 2011 class pointscore was won by the only series regular Beric Lynton. Only three teams competed all season, the other two being the Sherrins Rentals team and Brendan Cook's team. All three cars never attended the same round however, with only one attending some rounds.

The car

The R56 Mini hardtops were built by BMW Motorsport in Germany and flown to Australia. The Mini Challenge cars were based on the road going John Cooper works models, with a 1.6 litre, four cylinder, turbocharged engine producing 155kW (208hp). Weighing 1150kg (2535lb), the cars could accelerate to 100km/h (62mph) in just over six seconds and reach a top speed of 240km/h (149mph).[1]

The Minis in support to the 2008 L&H 500

Series Champions

Year Driver Team
2008 Neil McFadyen Doulman Automotive
2009 Paul Stokell DecoRug Racing
2010 Chris Alajajian Jack Hillerman Racing

Mini Cup

Year Driver Team
2011 Beric Lynton Bruce Lynton Mini Garage

References

  1. 1 2 2008 V8 Supercars Eastern Creek round official event programme
  2. ↑ AUSmotive.com Australian Mini Challenge under new management
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-04-03. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.