One of the fastest growing motorsport categories in Australia, is the Queensland based Australian Trans-Am Association. The ATA was created about five years ago as a tribute class to the original SCCA Trans-Am series, during the 1966 – 72 period. Historic touring car racing (Group N) in Australia is in excellent health, with a great set of standardised regulations, and huge car numbers in all States. However, Group N only caters to car makes and models that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship through to the end of 1972, so there are a lot of vehicles that simply aren’t eligible, including many American models. The ATA plugs this gap, as it is open to any US car, with two doors, rear wheel drive, and a V8, built between 1963 and 1974. Therefore, it scoops up cars such as second generation Camaro’s, 1970 Mustang’s, Dodge Challenger’s, AMC Javelin’s, and Pontiac Firebird’s that aren’t eligible to compete in Group N.
ATA has a good set of regulations in place to keep costs down, and entertainment levels high. A Hoosier cross-ply tyre is used on all cars, to keep them slipping and sliding through the turns, just as the SCCA Trans-Am cars did in period, and are wrapped around maximum 15” x 8.5” wheels. All cars must run on 98 Octane fuel, with maximum 200cc cylinder head intake ports, and maximum 11:1 compression, a combination that makes for some spectacular flame spitting antics on the track.
As it was finding its feet, many of the cars racing in ATA were either current or converted Group N historic touring cars, but as the class has grown steadily over the past few seasons, so more and more ATA dedicated cars have been built. One workshop, Fataz High Performance in Brisbane, owned by Ian ‘Woody’ Woodward, has been flat-out building cars for various customers wanting to get involved with the class. Two of the Fataz cars more familiar with followers of ATA, will be the bright orange ’70 Camaro raced by John English, and the ’70 Firebird raced by Woody himself. But currently, Fataz is bursting at the seams building cars for the class.
“Personally, I’ve been involved with motorsport since I started my apprenticeship in 1979, with Ron Richards at Brisbane Engine Centre, who was then looking after and building the engines for Dick Johnson, etc”, explains Woody. “I worked for Bryant Engineering for many years in the engine department, involved with cylinder head research, engine dyno and flow bench.
I started racing Sports Sedans in the mid ‘80s, with a mid-engined V8 Capri. In the second year competing in the series, I won the Queensland Sports Sedan Championship. I raced in the Qld HQ Series and won the Qld State Championship. I ran HQ’s in the Australian National Series and was 3rd outright. I also worked for numerous Touring Car teams and Sports Sedan outfits. I built Gemini mid-engined Sports Sedan for the 2 Litre naturally aspirated category in 2000 and the car went on to win outright events, along with the 2Ltr Sports Sedan series two years consecutively; in 2001 with me driving, and in 2002 with my wife Kaye driving.
“I gave motorsport away for seven years and just concentrated on our engine shop. Then I got the bug once we heard about this new Trans Am series. Now we want to grow the series to a more professional level and be able to field a grid of cars in both Australia and New Zealand on a bi-annual basis”.
One of the ATA projects in Woody’s workshop is a 1968 Mustang coupe, which I thought would make for a great build thread, to follow here on The Roaring Season. Fataz specialise in both car building, preparation, and engine building (Fataz Competition Engines), so a majority of the work takes place ‘in house’. Plans are to run a 351 Ford Windsor to Australian Trans Am specification, with 3-stage dry sump, backed by a G-Force 101 4-speed transmission, and 8” Ford diff. Suspension will MCA shocks, with Fataz suspension mods. The rollcage will be constructed from CDS (cold drawn seamless) tube. All steel panels will be retained, except the hood, which will be fibreglass. It’ll roll on Torque Thrust II wheels, and final paint colour will be metallic gold. Should look a million bucks when its done!
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