Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 is a 1,000-kilometre touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is run as a championship event for Supercars. Regarded as the pinnacle of motorsport in Australia, the Bathurst 1000 is colloquially known as The Great Race among motorsport fans and media; the race concept originated with the 1960 Armstrong 500 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, before being relocated to Bathurst in 1963 and continuing there in every year since. The race was traditionally run on the Labour Day long weekend in early October. Since 2001, the race is run on the weekend after the long weekend the second weekend in October. Race winners are presented with the Peter Brock Trophy; this trophy was introduced at the 2006 race to commemorate the death of Peter Brock. Brock is the most successful driver in the history of the race, winning the event nine times, was known as one of the most popular and fan-friendly drivers during his long career.
He was given the moniker "King of the Mountain" for these reasons. The Mount Panorama Circuit was opened in 1938, first used for the 1938 Australian Grand Prix; the track follows public roads and is known for its 174-metre difference between its highest and lowest points. The first turn, Hell Corner, is a ninety-degree left-hander. Mountain Straight, a gentle climb where the cars reach speeds of 255 km/h, leads into Griffin's Bend, an off-camber right-hander which leads into The Cutting, a sharp left-hander with a steep incline. Reid Park follows, a complex corner where a number of drivers have spun after not short shifting at the apex; the course continues down to McPhillamy Park. Drivers are unable to see the descending road and enter Skyline and the first of The Esses at 220 km/h before The Dipper, one of the most famous corners in Australian motorsport. Cars negotiate Forrest's Elbow before powering down Conrod Straight, the fastest section of the track where cars can reach 300 km/h; the Chase is a long sweeping chicane where cars are on the rev limiter turning at 300 km/h before a large braking zone to exit at 130 km/h.
Murray's is the 23rd and final turn, the slowest part of the circuit, before cars return to the start-finish straight. The start-finish straight features an offset start, with the finish line towards the back of the starting grid closer to Murray's Corner. Spectator areas have spread along the track over the decades but there are a number of private properties bordering the track so spectators are unable to access all trackside vantage points. Spectator vantage points have become less intimate to the track over recent years, with increased run-off size and debris fencing being installed around the track due to increasing international FIA standards. During its history, the race has been conducted for production saloon cars, Group E Series Production Touring Cars, Group C Touring Cars, Group A Touring Cars, Group 3A Touring Cars, Super Touring and Supercars; until 1995, more than one class competed in each event. In its early years, the Bathurst 500/1000 was a stand-alone event becoming a round of a national series such as the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, but never part of the most significant touring car series in Australia, the Australian Touring Car Championship.
Since 1999, the race has been run for the Supercars category, is run for championship points. In 1999 and 2000, it was the final round of the championship and decided the championship winner on each occasion. Many marques, including Morris, Nissan, BMW and Volvo, have competed in and won the event in Bathurst. However, the race is best known for the presence of the traditional rivals of Australian motorsport and Holden, who have won all but six of the races at Bathurst. Due to the size of the Ford and Holden rivalry, for 1995 to 1996, for the 1997 and 1998 Australia 1000 races and from 1999 to 2012, Group 3A and V8 Supercars rules mandated that only Fords and Holdens were allowed to compete in the race, using their Falcon and Commodore models respectively. In 2013, V8 Supercars' rules changed and other marques began to enter the race, including the return of past winners Nissan. Holden has the most overall victories with 30, with Ford next best on 20 and Nissan the only other multiple winner with two.
The race was known as the Armstrong 500. It was first held on 20 November 1960 on the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island, over a 500-mile distance; the race was claimed by the organisers, the Light Car Club of Australia, to be'the world's premier production saloon car race'. The intention was to determine which cars had the best combination of performance and reliability in five classes based on engine capacity, it was a showcase for the Armstrong company to promote its shock absorbers and related products. Entry was limited to unmodified production saloons built or assembled in Australia. All cars had to complete the first 100 miles without stopping for oil or a driver change. Any mechanical problems in that time had to be attended to by the driver with no assistance, using only the tools that came with the car. There was no official outright winner, only class winners. Frank Coad and John Roxburgh in a Vauxhall Cresta, were the first to complete the 500 mile race distance, it was the only Vauxhall in a field of 45 cars that included N.
S. U.s, Peugeots, Austins and Standard Vanguards. The race was held twice more at Phillip Island. In 1961 Bob Jane and Harry Firth, sharing an Australian assembled Mercedes-Benz 220 SE
Jack Brabham
Sir John Arthur Brabham, was an Australian racing driver, Formula One World Champion in 1959, 1960, 1966. He was a founder of the Brabham racing race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic and ran a small engineering workshop before he started racing midget cars in 1948, his successes with midgets in Australian and New Zealand road racing events led to his going to Britain to further his racing career. There he became part of the Cooper Car Company's racing team, he contributed to the design of the mid-engined cars that Cooper introduced to Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, won the Formula One world championship in 1959 and 1960. In 1962 he established his own Brabham marque with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, which in the 1960s became the largest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world. In the 1966 Formula One season Brabham became the first – and still, the only – man to win the Formula One world championship driving one of his own cars.
He was the last surviving World Champion of the 1950s. Brabham retired to Australia after the 1970 Formula One season, where he bought a farm and maintained business interests, which included the Engine Developments racing engine manufacturer and several garages. John Arthur'Jack' Brabham was born on 2 April 1926 in Hurstville, New South Wales a commuter town outside Sydney. Brabham was involved with mechanics from an early age. At the age of 12, he learned to drive the family car and the trucks of his father's grocery business. Brabham attended technical college, studying metalwork and technical drawing. Brabham's early career continued the engineering theme. At the age of 15 he left school to work, combining a job at a local garage with an evening course in mechanical engineering. Brabham soon branched out into his own business selling motorbikes, which he bought and repaired for sale, using his parents' back veranda as his workshop. One month after his 18th birthday on 19 May 1944 Brabham enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force.
Although he was keen on becoming a pilot, there was a surplus of trained aircrew and the Air Force instead put his mechanical skills to use as a flight mechanic, of which there was a wartime shortage. He was based at RAAF Station Williamtown, where he maintained Bristol Beaufighters at No. 5 Operational Training Unit. On his 20th birthday, 2 April 1946, Brabham was discharged from the RAAF with the rank of leading aircraftman, he started a small service and machining business in a workshop built by his uncle on a plot of land behind his grandfather's house. Brabham started racing after an American friend, Johnny Schonberg, persuaded him to watch a midget car race. Midget racing was a category for small open-wheel cars racing on dirt ovals, it was popular in Australia, attracting crowds of up to 40,000. Brabham records that he was not taken with the idea of driving, being convinced that the drivers "were all lunatics" but he agreed to build a car with Schonberg. At first Schonberg drove the homemade device, powered by a modified JAP motorcycle engine built by Brabham in his workshop.
In 1948, Schonberg's wife persuaded him to stop racing and on his suggestion Brabham took over. He immediately found that he had a knack for the sport, winning on his third night's racing. From there he was a regular competitor and winner in Midgets at tracks such Sydney's Cumberland Speedway, the Sydney Showground, the Sydney Sports Ground, as well as interstate tracks such as Adelaide's Kilburn and Rowley Park speedways and the Ekka in Brisbane. Brabham has since said. You had to have quick reflexes: in effect you lived—or died—on them." Due to the time required to prepare the car, the sport became his living. Brabham won the 1948 Australian Speedcar Championship, the 1949 Australian and South Australian Speedcar championships, the 1950–1951 Australian championship with the car. After running the midget at some hillclimbing events in 1951, Brabham became interested in road racing, he bought and modified a series of racing cars from the Cooper Car Company, a British constructor, from 1953 concentrated on this form of racing, in which drivers compete on closed tarmac circuits.
He was supported by his father and by the Redex fuel additive company, although his commercially aware approach—including the title RedeX Special painted on the side of his Cooper-Bristol—did not go down well with the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, which banned the advertisement. Brabham competed in Australia and New Zealand until early 1955, taking "a long succession of victories", including the 1953 Queensland Road Racing championship. During this time, he picked up the nickname "Black Jack", variously attributed to his dark hair and stubble, to his "ruthless" approach on the track, to his "propensity for maintaining a shadowy silence". After the 1954 New Zealand Grand Prix, Brabham was persuaded by Dean Delamont, competitions manager of the Royal Automobile Club in the United Kingdom, to try a season of racing in Europe the international centre of road racing. Upon arriving in Europe on his own in early 1955, Brabham based himself in the UK, where he bought another Cooper to race in national events.
His crowd-pleasing driving style betrayed his dirt track origins: as he put it, he took corners "by using full lock and lots of throttle". Visits to the Cooper factory for parts led to a friendship with Charlie and John Cooper, who told the story that after many requests for a drive with the factory team, Brabham was given the keys to the transporter taking the cars to a race. Brabham soo
South Australia
South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres, it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, fifth largest by population, it has a total of 1.7 million people, its population is the second most centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are small. South Australia shares borders with all of the other mainland states, with the Northern Territory; the state comprises less than 8 percent of the Australian population and ranks fifth in population among the six states and two territories. The majority of its people reside in greater Metropolitan Adelaide. Most of the remainder are settled in fertile areas along River Murray; the state's colonial origins are unique in Australia as a settled, planned British province, rather than as a convict settlement.
Colonial government commenced on 28 December 1836, when the members of the council were sworn in near the Old Gum Tree. As with the rest of the continent, the region had been long occupied by Aboriginal peoples, who were organised into numerous tribes and languages; the South Australian Company established a temporary settlement at Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, on 26 July 1836, five months before Adelaide was founded. The guiding principle behind settlement was that of systematic colonisation, a theory espoused by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, employed by the New Zealand Company; the goal was to establish the province as a centre of civilisation for free immigrants, promising civil liberties and religious tolerance. Although its history is marked by economic hardship, South Australia has remained politically innovative and culturally vibrant. Today, it is known for numerous cultural festivals; the state's economy is dominated by the agricultural and mining industries. Evidence of human activity in South Australia dates back as far as 20,000 years, with flint mining activity and rock art in the Koonalda Cave on the Nullarbor Plain.
In addition wooden spears and tools were made in an area now covered in peat bog in the South East. Kangaroo Island was inhabited; the first recorded European sighting of the South Australian coast was in 1627 when the Dutch ship the Gulden Zeepaert, captained by François Thijssen and mapped a section of the coastline as far east as the Nuyts Archipelago. Thijssen named the whole of the country eastward of the Leeuwin "Nuyts Land", after a distinguished passenger on board; the coastline of South Australia was first mapped by Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin in 1802, excepting the inlet named the Port Adelaide River, first discovered in 1831 by Captain Collet Barker and accurately charted in 1836–37 by Colonel William Light, leader of the South Australian Colonization Commissioners"First Expedition' and first Surveyor-General of South Australia. The land which now forms the state of South Australia was claimed for Britain in 1788 as part of the colony of New South Wales. Although the new colony included two-thirds of the continent, early settlements were all on the eastern coast and only a few intrepid explorers ventured this far west.
It took more than forty years before any serious proposal to establish settlements in the south-western portion of New South Wales were put forward. On 15 August 1834, the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act 1834, which empowered His Majesty to erect and establish a province or provinces in southern Australia; the act stated that the land between 132° and 141° east longitude and from 26° south latitude to the southern ocean would be allotted to the colony, it would be convict-free. In contrast to the rest of Australia, terra nullius did not apply to the new province; the Letters Patent, which used the enabling provisions of the South Australia Act 1834 to fix the boundaries of the Province of South Australia, provided that "nothing in those our Letters Patent shall affect or be construed to affect the rights of any Aboriginal Natives of the said Province to the actual occupation and enjoyment in their own Persons or in the Persons of their Descendants of any Lands therein now occupied or enjoyed by such Natives."
Although the patent guaranteed land rights under force of law for the indigenous inhabitants it was ignored by the South Australian Company authorities and squatters. Survey was required before settlement of the province, the Colonization Commissioners for South Australia appointed William Light as the leader of its'First Expedition', tasked with examining 1500 miles of the South Australian coastline and selecting the best site for the capital, with planning and surveying the site of the city into one-acre Town Sections and its surrounds into 134-acre Country Sections. Eager to commence the establishment of their whale and seal fisheries, the South Australian Company sought, obtained, the Commissioners' permission to send Company ships to South Australia, in advance of the surveys and ahead of the Commissioners' colonists; the Company's settlement of seven vessels and 636 people was temporarily made at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, until
GM High Feature engine
The GM High Feature engine is a family of modern General Motors DOHC V6s. The series was introduced in 2004 with the Cadillac CTS, it is heads and Sequential Electronic Fuel Injection. Most versions feature continuously variable cam phasing on both intake and exhaust valves and electronic throttle control. Other features include piston oil-jet capability and fillet rolled crankshaft, sinter forged connecting rods, a variable-length intake manifold, twin knock control sensors and coil-on-plug ignition, it was developed by the same international team responsible for the Ecotec, including the Opel engineers responsible for the 54° V6, with involvement with design and development engineering from Ricardo plc. Holden sells the HFV6 under the name Alloytec; the High Feature moniker on the Holden produced engine is reserved for the twin cam phasing high output version. The block was designed to be expandable from 2.8 L to 4.0 L. High Feature V6 engines were produced in Fishermans Bend, Port Melbourne and remain in production at the following four manufacturing locations: St. Catharines, Canada.
The assembly lines for the St. Catharines and Flint facilities were manufactured by Hirata Corporation at their powertrain facility in Kumamoto, Japan. Most of the designs of this motor happened in Flint, they were first produced for the Cadillac range. The HFV6 was first designed and produced in a joint program by Cadillac and Holden. A majority of designs into the new alloy construction, transmission pairing and first use in production were all undertaken in Detroit. Holden had the job of developing smaller engines as well as their own Holden 3.6 HFV6 for local models. Cadillac and Holden both tested variations of these engines in Australia. A 2.8 L LP1 variant was introduced in the 2005 Cadillac CTS. It was used on the Chinese 2008 CTS, it has a 89.0 mm bore, a 74.8 mm stroke, a 10.0:1 compression ratio. The LP1 was built in Ontario. Applications: This engine is known as a A28NET, Z28NET, Z28NEL or B284; the LP9 is a 2.8 L turbocharged version used for Saab 9-5 and other GM vehicles. It has the same bore and stroke as the aspirated LP1, however the compression ratio is reduced to 9.5:1.
The engine is manufactured at Holden's Fishermans Bend engine factory in Port Melbourne, while GM Powertrain Sweden is responsible for turbocharging the engine. Global versions of this engine use the same horsepower rating for both metric and imperial markets – mechanical horsepower – while the Europe-only versions are rated in metric horsepower. Applications: The LAU is GM's new code for the LP9 Turbo engine, its usage starting with the 2010 Cadillac SRX. In 2011, production of the Cadillac SRX with the LAU engine ceased, but the engine will still be used in the Saab 9-4X from 2011 onwards. In 2012, production of the 9-4X ceased. Applications: The LF1 is a 3.0-liter version equipped with spark ignition direct injection. Applications: The LFW is a flexible fuel version of the LF1, capable of running on E85, gasoline, or any mixture of the two. Output is identical to the LF1. Applications: Holden has built its own 3.2 L version of the High Feature engine in Australia. Branded with the Alloytec name like the 3.6 litre version, this version produces 227 hp at 6600 rpm and 297 N⋅m at 3200 rpm.
Its fuel economy is 4–6 km/liter in city, 7–9 km/liter on highway.. Holden produced the 3.2 L engines that were used by Alfa Romeo as the basis of its JTS V6 engine. Applications: 2006-2010 Daewoo Winstorm / Chevrolet Captiva / Holden Captiva 2006-2010 Opel Antara / Daewoo Winstorm MaXX / Holden Captiva MaXX Suzuki Grand Vitara The 3.6 L LY7 engine was introduced in the 2004 Cadillac CTS sedan. It has a bore of 94.0 mm and a stroke of 85.6 mm. Lower powered versions only have variable cam phasing on the inlet cam. Selected models include variable exhaust; the engine weighs 370 lb as installed. This engine is produced in several locations: St. Catharines, Flint Engine South, Ramos Arizpe, Sagara by Suzuki. Suzuki's engine designation is N36A. A dual fuel 235 hp version able to run on petrol and autogas has been produced by Holden in Australia. Applications: The 3.6 litre LLT is a direct injected version based on the earlier LY7 engine. It was first unveiled in May 2006, the DI version was claimed to have 15 percent greater power, 8 percent greater torque, 3 percent better fuel economy than its port-injected counterpart.
The LLT engine has a compression ratio of 11.3:1, has been certified by the SAE to produce 302 horsepower at 6300 rpm and 272 lb⋅ft of torque at 5200 rpm on regular unleaded gasoline. This engine debuted on the 2008 Cadillac STS and CTS. GM used a LLT in all 2009 Lambda-derived crossover SUVs to allow class-leading fuel economy in light of the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. In the Lambdas, LLT engine produces 270 lb ⋅ ft of torque. Applications: The LFX is an enhanced version of the LLT engine. Introduced in the MY2012 Chevrolet Camaro LS, it is 20.5 pounds lighter than the LLT, due to a redesigned cylinder head and integrated exhaust manifold, composite int
Supercars Championship
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations. Supercars events take place in all Australian states and the Northern Territory, with the Australian Capital Territory holding the Canberra 400. An international round is held in New Zealand, while events have been held in China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. A Melbourne 400 championship event is held in support of the Australian Grand Prix. Race formats vary between each event with sprint races between 100 and 200 kilometres in length, street races between 125 and 250 kilometres in length, two-driver endurance races held at Sandown and the Gold Coast; the series is broadcast in 137 countries and has an average event attendance of over 100,000, with over 250,000 people attending major events such as the Adelaide 500. The vehicles used in the series are loosely based on four-door saloon cars. Cars are custom made using a control chassis, with only certain body panels being common between the road cars and race cars.
To ensure parity between each make of car, many control components are utilised. All cars must use a 5.0-litre aspirated V8 engine. Only for Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores, the New Generation V8 Supercar regulations, introduced in 2013, opened up the series to more manufacturers. Nissan were the first new manufacturer to commit to the series with four Nissan Altima L33s followed by Erebus Motorsport with Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs and Garry Rogers Motorsport with Volvo S60s; the concept of a formula centred around V8-engined Fords and Holdens for the Australian Touring Car Championship had been established as early as mid-1991. With the new regulations set to come into effect in 1993, Ford and Holden were both keen to know the details of the new formula by the end of 1991, putting pressure on the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport to provide clarity on the matter. However, CAMS was waiting to see what the FIA did with its proposed international formula for 2.5 and 2.0-litre touring cars.
The new rules for the ATCC were announced in November 1991 and indicated that the V8 cars would be faster than the smaller engined cars. During 1992, CAMS looked at closing the performance gap between the classes, only to have protests from Ford and Holden, who did not want to see their cars beaten by the smaller cars. In June 1992, the class structure was confirmed: Class A: Australian-produced 5.0-litre V8-engined Fords and Holdens. Class B: 2.0-litre cars complying with FIA Class II Touring Car regulations. Class C: aspirated two-wheel drive cars complying with 1992 CAMS Group 3A Touring Car regulations; this class would only be eligible in 1993. Both the Ford EB Falcon and Holden VP Commodore ran American-based engines which were restricted to 7,500 rpm and a compression ratio of 10:1; the Holden teams had the option of using the Group A-developed 5.0-litre Holden V8 engine, although this was restricted to the second tier'privateer' teams from 1994 onwards, forcing the major Holden runners to use the more expensive Chevrolet engine.
The V8s were first eligible to compete in the endurance races of 1992. The distinctive aerodynamics package, consisting of large front and rear spoilers, was designed with this in mind, to give the new cars a better chance of beating the Nissan Skyline GT-Rs in those races; the new rules meant that cars such as the turbocharged Nissan Skyline GT-R and Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth were not eligible to compete in 1993, while cars such as the BMW M3 were. However, the M3 received few of the liberal concessions given to the new V8s and had an extra 100 kilograms added to its minimum weight so, with the Class C cars eligible for 1993 only, the German manufacturer's attention switched to the 2.0-litre class for 1994. Cars from all three classes would contest the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship as well as non-championship Australian touring car events such as the Bathurst 1000. However, for the purposes of race classification and points allocation, cars competed in two classes: Over 2,000cc.
Under 2,000cc. The 2.0-litre class cars competed in a separate race to the V8s. This was changed for the second round of 1993 after there were only nine entrants in the 2.0-litre class for the first round at Amaroo Park. With the new regulations intended to be a parity formula, there were protests by the Holden teams that the Fords had an aerodynamic advantage after they won the opening three rounds, beating the Commodore comprehensively. After round five at Winton, Holden was granted a new front and rear wing package; the BMWs were allowed a new splitter and a full DTM-specification rear wing. Disparity between the Fords and Holdens continued to be a talking point during the next few years, with various concessions given to each manufacturer to try and equalise the two cars. From 1995, the 2.0-litre cars, now contesting their own series as Super Touring cars, became ineligible for the Australian Touring Car Championship. They did not contest the endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst, leaving these open to the 5.0-litre Ford and Holden models.
The Australian Vee Eight Super Car Company – a joint venture between the Touring Car Entrants Group of Australia, sports promoters IMG and the Australian Motor Sports Commission – was formed in November 1996 to run the series. This set the foundation for the large expansion of the series during the following years; the category adopted the name'V8 Supercars' at this time, though the cars themselves were much unchanged. A new television deal with Network Ten and Fox Sports was organised, although this had follow-on effects for the Bathurst 1000 in the
Ralt
Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s under the Ralt name. Tauranac won the 1954 NSW Hillclimb Championship in the Ralt 500; as a constructor, Tauranac acquired a reputation for building safe, strong cars that were manufactured to high standards—he tended to invest his firm's profits in high-quality machine tools and Ralts acquired an enviable reputation as the best-built "customer" cars of their era. Built with the assistance of Tauranac's younger brother, Austin, in Australia; the Mk was powered by a 1,932cc pushrod Norton ES2. Tauranac made his own flywheel, connecting rods, cylinders; the Mk2 was a sports car built by and for Austin, with a Ford 10 engine, Standard 10 gearbox, Morris 8 rear axle. The Mk3 was purchased from the Hooper brothers. Tauranac designed a new chassis for it, the car was driven by Austin.
The Mk4 began as a special, using a de Dion rear suspension. The car took two years to develop in Tauranac’s spare time. After just two events, somebody insisted on buying it, so plans were made for a production run of five; the Mk5 was planned by Austin as a Peugeot-engined car, but abandoned so he could assist Tauranac with the production Mk 4s. Tauranac founded Ralt in 1974 and the first product was the RT1, a simple and versatile car used in Formula Two, Formula Three and Formula Atlantic racing between 1975 and 1978. In 1979, the RT2 was developed with three cars being built for the Toleman team. Three more cars were built for private owners, including one for the revival of the Can-Am series. For 1980 Toleman built its own car, the TG280, based somewhat on the RT2 design. Two of the original Toleman RT2s were raced in Can-Am, while the third ended up in South Africa, where copies called Lants were made. Related cars have appeared in hillclimb and sprint events in the UK as SPAs; the RT2 provided the basis for three cars in other categories: the RT3 in Formula Three, the RT4 in Formula Atlantic, the RT5 in Formula Super Vee.
The RT4 was the car of choice in Australian Formula 1 and Formula Mondial during the early to mid-1980s. Roberto Moreno drove an RT4 to win the Australian Grand Prix in 1981, 1983, the final AGP in 1984 before it became a round of the Formula One World Championship in 1985, while Alain Prost drove one to victory in the 1982 Australian Grand Prix. Other F1 drivers to drive a Ralt RT4 in Australia during this period included Jacques Laffite and Andrea de Cesaris, as well as World Champions Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet, Keke Rosberg and Niki Lauda; the RT4 powered by a 1.6 litre, 4 cyl Ford BDA engine which produced around 220 bhp saw John Bowe win the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1984 and 1985, while Australian Ralt importer Graham Watson used one to win the 1986 championship. In 1980, Honda asked John Judd's Engine Developments to develop an engine for Formula Two, which would be used by the works Ralt team. Tauranac had been associated with Honda through Brabham's introduction of the Japanese marque to F2 in the 1960s, while Jack Brabham had co-founded Engine Developments with Judd.
Between 1980 and 1984, Ralt's works F2 cars carried the RH6 designation: the RH6/80 and RH6/81 were developments of the RT2 theme, while the RH6/82, RH6/83 and RH6/84 were further developed around a new honeycomb tub. The cars proved successful, winning 20 championship races and the 1981, 1983 and 1984 championships with Geoff Lees, Jonathan Palmer and Mike Thackwell respectively. In 1985, Formula Two was replaced by the new Formula 3000 category. Ralt's first F3000 car was the RB20 a further development of the RH6/84 but fitted with a Cosworth DFV engine; the car won four races of the inaugural International F3000 Championship with Thackwell and John Nielsen. For 1986, the RT20 was developed - a cheaper, more economical car with a traditional aluminium tub, easier to maintain. Honda returned as the engine supplier for the works team; the works team won one race with Thackwell, while Pierluigi Martini and Luis Pérez-Sala won four races between them in customer cars entered by the Italian Pavesi Racing team.
The RT21 was a further development for 1987, again incorporating honeycomb elements in the monocoque. 1988 was to be Ralt's last year as an independent chassis supplier and team in F3000. The RT22 was its first carbon-fibre F3000 car, but with Lola and newcomers Reynard beginning to dominate the category, it achieved little success. In the autumn of 1988, Tauranac sold Ralt to the March Group; the Ralt name reappeared in F3000 in 1991, when the RT23 was manufactured under the March Group's auspices. Jean-Marc Gounon won at Pau in an RT23 entered by Mike Earle's 3001 International team, but otherwise the car was unsuccessful. An updated version, the RT24, was built by Nick Wirth's Simtek company for 1992, but soon after, Ralt withdrew from F3000 for good. Second-hand Ralt F3000 cars were used extensively in Australia's Formula Holden category from its introduction in 1989, fitted with the formula's 3.8-litre Holden V6 engine. Rohan Onslow won the 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship in
