The 1982 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to Group C Touring Cars.^[1] It began on 18 February 1982 at Sandown Raceway and ended on 16 May at Oran Park Raceway after eight rounds.^[2] The title, which was the 23rd Australian Touring Car Championship, was won by defending champion Dick Johnson, driving a Ford XD Falcon.

Peter Brock had actually scored more points than Johnson throughout the championship driving Marlboro Holden Dealer Team entered Holden Commodore VC and VH SS models. However, the use of not yet homologated engine heads on the cars saw him disqualified from all but two rounds of the championship. The matter between CAMS and the HDT ended in court with Brock agreeing to the loss of points and the championship to avoid a three-month suspension for himself and the team which would have actually excluded them from competing in the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst.

Allan Moffat's win in Round 5 at Lakeside with a Mazda RX-7 was the first ever ATCC race win by a Mazda and the first ever ATCC race win by a Japanese car. It was also the first ATCC race to be won by a car not powered by a V8 engine since Peter Brock's victory in Round 4 of the 1974 championship at Amaroo Park driving a 6 cylinder, Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1.

Under 3000cc class competitor Bob Holden finished second in the championship driving a Ford Escort Mk.II. Though he would finish no higher than 8th outright in any race, points scored for class placings saw him finish second on 36 points, 21 behind Johnson and 5 points in front of both Moffat and Kevin Bartlett (Chevrolet Camaro Z28).

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the championship:

Team	Car	Class	No	Driver
Masterton Homes Pty Ltd	Ford Capri Mk.II	3000cc	2	Steve Masterton
		3000cc	31	Colin Bond
Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	3	Peter Janson
Wayne Negus	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	3	Wayne Negus
Re-Car Racing	Holden VC Commodore[3] Holden VH Commodore[3]	6000cc	4	Alan Browne Allan Grice
		6000cc	6 16	Ron Wanless
Marlboro Holden Dealer Team	Holden VH Commodore	6000cc	05	Peter Brock
John Sands Racing[4]	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	6	Rusty French
Launceston Hotel	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	7 11	Clive Benson-Brown Garry Rogers
Garry Willmington Performance	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	8	Garry Willmington
Nine Network Racing Team	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	6000cc	9	Kevin Bartlett
John Duggan	Mazda RX-7	3000cc[5]	10	John Duggan
Gary Rowe	Isuzu Gemini ZZ/R[6]	3000cc	11	Gary Rowe
Cullen Automotive Industries	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	12 22	Warren Cullen
Bob Holden Motors Manly Vale	Ford Escort Mk.II	3000cc	13	Bob Holden
		3000cc	14	Brian Nightingale
John Donnelly	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	14	John Donnelly
John English	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	15	John English
Palmer Tube Mills[5]	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	17	Dick Johnson
Murray Carter	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	18	Murray Carter
JPS Team BMW	BMW 635 CSi	6000cc	21	Jim Richards
Robert Muir	Ford XD Falcon	6000cc	24	Robert Muir
Roadways Racing	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	27	Steve Harrington
Bayside Spares	Holden VH Commodore[3]	6000cc	28	Barry Lawrence
Tony Kavich	Mazda RX-7	6000cc[5]	30	Tony Kavich
Alexander Rotary Engines	Mazda RX-7	6000cc[5]	35	Phil Alexander
Penrith Mazda Centre	Mazda RX-7	6000cc[5]	37	Terry Shiel
Strongbow Racing Team	Mazda RX-7	3000cc[5] 6000cc[7]	40	Peter McLeod
Barry Jones	Mazda RX-7	6000cc[7]	41	Barry Jones
Peter Stuyvesant International	Mazda RX-7	6000cc[5]	43	Allan Moffat
Beninca Motors	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV	3000cc	46	Joe Beninca
David Parsons	Holden VC Commodore	6000cc	50	David Parsons
Les Grose	Ford Capri Mk.III	3000cc	54	Les Grose
Maurice Spalding	Toyota Celica	3000cc	55	Maurice Spalding
Nissan Motor Australia[8]	Nissan Bluebird Turbo[8]	3000cc	55	George Fury
		3000cc	56	Fred Gibson
Wally Scott	Toyota Celica	3000cc	57	Wally Scott
Capri Components	Ford Capri Mk.III S	3000cc	58	Lawrie Nelson
Chickadee Chicken	Toyota Celica	3000cc	61	Graeme Bailey
Graeme Hooley	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	71	Graeme Hooley
Ross Burbidge	Mazda RX-3	3000cc	77	Ross Burbidge
Gary Whittaker[9]	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34[10]	6000cc	78	Gary Whittaker
Lester Smerdon	Isuzu Gemini[11]	3000cc	83	Lester Smerdon
Fred Geissler	Holden VC Commodore[3]	6000cc	88	Fred Geissler
Daily Planet	Toyota Celica	3000cc	88	Craig Bradtke

Race calendar

The championship was contested over an eight-round series.^[12] The Sandown round was contested over two parts and all other rounds were contested as single races.^[2]

Note: Brock was excluded from Calder and lost all points from Oran Park to Surfers Paradise, however, kept the Symmons Plains win.^[12]

Classes

Cars competed in two engine capacity classes:

• Up to and including 3000cc
• 3001 to 6000cc

Note: Mazda RX-7s fitted with bridge port engines competed in the Up to and including 3000cc class and those fitted with peripheral port engines were re-classified into the 3001 to 6000cc class.

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six placegetters in each class at each round.^[1] Bonus points were awarded on a 4–3–2–1 basis to the first four placegetters, irrespective of class, at each round.^[1] Results from seven of the eight rounds could be retained by each driver.^[1]

Championship results

Note: Round results indicate outright round placings, not class placings.