AMSCAR (Amaroo Saloon Cars) was a touring car series held in Australia between 1979 and 1997, based at Amaroo Park in Sydney .
51-593: One of the features of Amaroo Park's history was their promoted touring car series, created by Amaroo's promoters, the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC). Popular with spectators and easy for Sydney's Channel 7 to telecast, it became the backbone of the Sydney touring car scene, a scene which once consisted mostly of privateers, who have largely disappeared since Amaroo closed. On many occasions these events featured larger grid numbers than did
102-523: A Holden VP Commodore in 1993. Other top line teams to contest the AMSCAR series after the switch to Group A were Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team (later known as Mobil 1 Racing), Dick Johnson Racing, 1988 series winner Colin Bond 's Caltex CXT Racing Team , Tony Longhurst's Benson & Hedges team (evolved from JPS Team BMW), as well as Robbie Francevic 's Volvo team. The increasing national popularity of
153-499: A Morris Cooper S . This would continue, under various names relating to series sponsorship, through to 1981, with a 3-litre maximum engine capacity limit being applied from 1975 to 1980. For 1981 the Australian Racing Drivers Club increased the maximum engine capacity limit of cars competing in their series to 3.5 litres. This allowed the participation of the 3.5-litre BMW 635 CSi of JPS Team BMW , much to
204-456: A makeshift studio miles from the site, with additional coverage from other stations nationwide), Seven News Sydney became the 2015 Logie Awards winner for Most Outstanding News Coverage. In June 2020, Jim Wilson left Seven after 28 years with the network, to become a new host of 2GB's Drive program. His last sports bulletin was 27 June 2020. It was later announced that Matt Shirvington would replace him. On 5 November 2020, David Brown left
255-715: A result the stations switched their previous affiliations. ATN-7 and HSV-7 joined to create the Australian Television Network , which later became the Seven Network . ATN-7 is the home of the national level Seven News bulletins. ATN-7 began broadcasting on 2 December 1956 and became the third television station in Sydney to begin regular transmissions. The station opened in 1956 with principal offices and studios located at Mobbs Lane, Epping . The initial black and white cameras and other equipment
306-809: A sharp decline in grid numbers prompted the ARDC to remove the 3.5-litre capacity limit for the 1982 series, which was promoted as the Better Brakes AMSCAR Series. This allowed the V8 powered Holden Commodores , Ford Falcons and Chevrolet Camaros , as well as the V12 Jaguar XJS , to compete in the series alongside the under 3.5-litre cars such as the BMW 635 CSi, the Ford Capris and the growing list of rotary powered Mazda RX-7s , as well as
357-431: A wider apron, 15m x 15m pit bays, a new press area, VIP suites above the pits, and a new building to house the race officials. The pits also now ran almost the entire length of the pit straight, giving more room for all of the cars to be in the pits at one time. New garages were also built in the paddock area. On the day before the 1987 James Hardie 1000 , a plaque inset on the wall at the spot that his car had come to rest
408-589: Is at a purpose built studio at Eveleigh headquarters. The new space is five-times larger than Martin Place, allows for permanent sets for all programs, with two complete control rooms and more than 40sq m of LED screens, while all newsroom operations will now be located on a second entire floor. Seven News Sydney is directed by Sean Power and presented by Mark Ferguson and Angela Cox from Sunday to Thursday and Michael Usher and Angie Asimus on Friday and Saturday from Seven's headquarters, located at Eveleigh . Sport
459-429: Is presented by Mel McLaughlin from Sunday to Thursday and Matt Carmichael on Friday and Saturday. Weather is presented by Angie Asimus from Sunday to Tuesday and Sally Bowrey on Friday and Saturday. News updates for Sydney are presented throughout the afternoon and the early evenings, with news updates during the night being shown nationally, they can be seen on Seven , 7two and 7mate , as well as 7flix . At
510-548: The Australian Technology Park , the Seven Network's Martin Place studios, once referred to on-air as News Central and based on the first five floors of The Colonial Building in Sydney were the main news presentation studios for, Seven News Sydney , Sunrise , Weekend Sunrise , and The Morning Show . Comprising 3,000 square metres, viewers and tourists can see programs being broadcast from
561-619: The Eveleigh studios. ATN's engineering staff received two Emmy Awards – making ATN the first Australian company to receive such an award – for the technology, invention and further development of RaceCam , live mobile point-of-view TV cameras which were initially developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s for the station's coverage of the Bathurst 1000 . Visiting commentators from the United States organised for ATN staff to supply
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#1732797584446612-506: The JPS Team BMW . The #33 Mazda was qualified in 39th position, almost 10 seconds slower than the pole time set by Nissan driver George Fury . The team remained confident of a good result though, and through consistent laps without any major problems they finished a successful 8th, only 10 laps down on the winning Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore of Peter Brock and Larry Perkins . With Australian touring car racing switching from
663-909: The Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst , New South Wales . At the time of his death, Burgmann was the accountant for the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC), who were the promoters of the Bathurst 1000 , as well as the owners and promoters of Amaroo Park in Sydney. After driving mostly in the Amaroo Park based "AMSCAR Series" in 1983, as well as appearing in the Sydney rounds of the ATCC and Australian Endurance Championship , Burgmann made his first Bathurst start in 1983 driving an ex- Kevin Bartlett Chevrolet Camaro with fellow Bathurst rookie (and future dual Great Race winner) Tony Longhurst . After qualifying
714-532: The factory Nissan Bluebird turbo 's. As the outright cars were proving more popular with spectators, it was seen as an attempt at attracting the headline ATCC teams (such as the Holden Dealer Team , Dick Johnson Racing , Allan Moffat Racing and Roadways Racing ) to the AMSCAR Series. In the early Group C years of the AMSCAR series, several Sydney based drivers who regularly competed in
765-632: The 1983 series was the first win in Australian touring car racing for a turbo powered car, and Nissan 's first turbo charged touring car win anywhere in the world. When Gibson retired from driving at the end of 1983 , he would be replaced from 1984 in the Bluebird by Queenslander Gary Scott, the son of former open-wheel star, the late Glyn Scott, while Christine Gibson continued to drive the Pulsar EXA until she joined her husband in retirement at
816-555: The 1984 series. In Group C, the factory backed Nissan team also contested the series with Sydney-based team driver Fred Gibson (the Bathurst 500 winner in 1967 with Harry Firth in a Ford XR Falcon GT ) and his wife Christine (regarded as the "fastest female in Australia") driving the team's second Bluebird turbo and its powerful, but evil handling, front-wheel drive Nissan Pulsar EXA respectively. Fred Gibson's win in Round 3 of
867-547: The 635 CSi was unbeaten at Amaroo in 1985 winning all 12 AMSCAR races, the ATCC round and the Endurance Championship race), while Gibson Motorsport , first with Nissan and later with Holden , also contested the series in the later years of Group A and into the new 5.0L V8 formula introduced in 1993 , with Jim Richards winning in the team's Nissan Skyline GT-R in 1992 while Mark Skaife won for Gibson driving
918-412: The 6pm ratings leader from February 2005 until 2010. Ross presented his final bulletin for Seven News Sydney on Friday 27 November 2009 with Bath taking over as main weeknight presenter on Monday 30 November 2009. Former Nine News presenter Mark Ferguson took over from Bath as weekend news presenter from Saturday 28 November 2009. The bulletin retained its ratings lead until it was overtaken again by
969-622: The Australian Touring Car Championship, improvements in Channel 7's ATCC telecast, and the 1991 economic recession which saw a number of privateer teams only racing in the two ATCC rounds in Sydney and the Bathurst 1000, all gradually reduced the grids until the AMSCAR Series was discontinued after the 1993 season. It was revived in 1997 and held at the ARDC's two circuits, Amaroo Park and Eastern Creek, but with
1020-603: The Burgmann team had upgraded the Commodore to the racing SS Group A specification. For the Endurance Championship he co-drove the car with Series Production racer Mal Rose . At Bathurst Burgmann qualified the car in 27th place. After a good start in which he'd already picked up almost 10 places, he suffered a broken windscreen on lap 3. On lap 5, Burgmann was attempting to pass the V12 Jaguar XJS of fellow Sydney racer and close friend Garry Willmington while coming over
1071-538: The Sun-7 Chesterfield Series at Amaroo Park in 1979 for a reported A$ 60,000 in prize money, about $ 50,000 more than for the ATCC at the time. The second round of the series saw the one-off appearance of long time Ford driver Allan Moffat in a Ron Hodgson Motors Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback . The series was then not held in 1980 and 1981. Fears that the growing number of Sydney-based privateers moving into outright class cars would result in
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#17327975844461122-406: The Sydney newsroom to return to Melbourne with Angie Asimus promoted to weeknights weather presenter. In December 2020, it was announced Angela Cox would be joining Michael Usher as co-host of the weekend news bulletin from January 2021. In June 2023, Matt Shirvington stepped down from his role of weekend sports presenter, to take up his new role as co-host of Sunrise . Matt Carmichael
1173-661: The annual four round, three race per round series became household names through the national telecast on Channel 7 (at the time, Seven's only touring car telecasts were from Amaroo, Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne , and Bathurst as the ABC was main broadcast host of the ATCC until the end of 1984). This was helped by most of the major ATCC teams at the time usually not competing in the series. Drivers such as Amscar series winners Steve Masterton and Terry Shiel, as well as Terry Finnigan, Garry Willmington, Brian Callaghan, Barry Jones, and
1224-409: The big Chev in 21st, the car suffered numerous problems on race day and the pair only finished 121 of the 163 laps which was not enough to be classified as a finisher. Burgmann spent 1984 again as a regular competitor in the AMSCAR series. The 1984 James Hardie 1000 was much better for Mike Burgmann, switching to race a Mazda RX-7 , and co-driving with veteran Bob Stevens after Longhurst had moved to
1275-573: The camera and transmission systems for CBS ' coverage of NASCAR races. A variant of RaceCam was also developed for yachts in the 1987 America's Cup off the coast of Fremantle . Later in the mid-1980s, the American Broadcasting Company asked ATN staff to develop aerofoil-designed cameras suitable for Formula One cars, and these were subsequently used at the Indianapolis 500 . Prior to their Eveleigh Studios at
1326-544: The categories running their own series at Amaroo outside of the national championship series. Seven's commentators for the AMSCAR series generally included Mike Raymond, Garry Wilkinson, Evan Green , and later Neil Crompton and Peter McKay , with various guest appearances by drivers not competing on a particular day. The following table lists the winners of the annual AMSCAR Series. Tony Longhurst achieved more AMSCAR series wins than any other driver, with success in 1986, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Each series win from 1988 to 1990
1377-461: The centre became the largest producer of Australian produced TV content, including Wheel of Fortune , Sons and Daughters , A Country Practice , Hey Dad..! , All Saints , Terry Willesee Tonight and Home & Away . The Epping studios closed in early 2010 when new studio facilities serviced by Global Television , opened at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh . News and live telecast programs are presently broadcast from
1428-471: The displeasure of most competing teams, especially those racing the 3.0L Ford Capri 's which were well suited to the tight track and had come to dominate the series since 1975. Despite this, young Sydney driver Steve Masterton would win the 1981 Better Brakes 3.5 Litre Series driving his Ford Capri Mk.II from the JPS BMW of Allan Grice . A " Rothmans AMSCAR Series" for touring cars was held in addition to
1479-577: The early 2000s, on-air programs were sent by digital link from the Seven Network's national program play-out centre at Docklands in Melbourne where the Master Control Room was located for all metropolitan and regional feeds to be controlled. Programming line-up, advertisement output, feed switching, time zone monitoring and national transmission output was previously delivered here. All Seven Network owned and operated studios used to have their live signals relayed here: for instance, ATN's output
1530-570: The end of 1984. It was only from the beginning of the " Group A " category in Australia in 1985 that the headline teams started appearing in the series on a more regular basis, with part of the reason being that as Group A was new to Australia in 1985, the AMSCAR Series gave teams valuable testing under race conditions (also because from 1985 Amaroo would hold an annual round of the ATCC). Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW and its drivers Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst dominated from 1985 to 1987 (Richards in
1581-480: The end of 2003, a year before all of the Seven Network's News and Current Affairs moved to Martin Place, the ill-fated dual presenter format of Ross Symonds and Ann Sanders came to an end after the pair failed to make an ratings impact in the Sydney market, losing viewers to competition winner Nine News Sydney (then National Nine News), which had led in the ratings for decades. After Ian Ross took over from both Symonds and Sanders in 2003, Seven News Sydney became
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1632-423: The entire front end to be pushed back to the firewall. The car's roll cage did its job and the cabin survived the violent impact mostly intact. When officials reached the car they found Burgmann in what would normally be the back seat of the vehicle. While his driving seat had remained intact the force of the impact had broken the seat belt buckle which caused his body to be thrown out of the seat. Mike Burgmann became
1683-402: The first driver to die while competing in the Bathurst 1000 when he was pronounced dead on arrival at Bathurst Hospital. Following the 1986 race, and as part of safety upgrades the circuit needed to bring it up to FIA standards for inclusion in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship , a chicane was added to Conrod Straight, eliminating the second hump which had long been seen as dangerous at
1734-715: The first time in 30 years, combined with the old "Mother kangaroo putting her baby joey to bed" animation, which was played during the channel closedown sequence until the network began 24-hour service in 1993. In June 2023, 7NEWS moved their operations from Martin Place to their new purpose built studios in Eveleigh . In July 2023, Sunrise hosted its very first broadcast at its new studios. The first edition went to air live at 5:30am on 24 July 2023, with hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington , newsreader Edwina Bartholomew and sports presenter Mark Beretta , followed by The Morning Show ’s Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies . Joining 7NEWS, 7NEWS Spotlight, The Latest and 7NEWS.com.au, for
1785-518: The first time in more than 40 years, the entire Seven Sydney operation and all broadcast and operational staff (across all departments) are now under one roof. The new space cover two floors of Seven’s head office and are five times larger than the previous Martin Place location, with permanent sets for all programs. It brought to an end 19 years of Sunrise and Seven News, and 16 years of The Morning Show broadcasting at Martin Place. The Epping facilities were expanded to provide five operational studios and
1836-442: The late Mike Burgmann got national TV exposure they would otherwise have struggled to get in the ATCC, or had ATCC headline drivers like Peter Brock (HDT), Dick Johnson , Allan Moffat, Allan Grice (Roadways), and Jim Richards (JPS Team BMW) been regular competitors, although Grice did win the 1982 series, Brock and Johnson contested limited rounds from 1982 to 1984, while Richards was a regular competitor from 1983 and placed 3rd in
1887-587: The local Group C rules to the International Group A regulations in 1985 , and with the RX-7 no longer a competitive option, he bought a Holden VK Commodore to compete in at the 1985 and 1986 Bathurst 1000 's. The 1985 race saw a DNF after only 93 laps with engine failure, a common problem with the near standard Commodores used during 1985. For 1986, and like everyone else who ran the Holdens,
1938-453: The major teams holding exclusivity to V8 Supercar events, the mostly Sydney-based privateers were not numerous enough to make the series viable and the series folded after 1997. During Seven's telecasts of the AMSCAR series at Amaroo, many minor race series for other CAMS categories were also telecast, including: Sports Sedans , Formula Fords , Formula Vee , Sports Cars , Appendix J Touring Cars , and Series Production cars , with many of
1989-629: The rival Nine News bulletin in the ratings in 2011 – Seven's 6pm bulletin won 14 out of 35 ratings weeks. In January 2014, Mark Ferguson was appointed weeknight presenter, replacing Chris Bath due to poor ratings. Bath became weekend presenter and continued to host Sunday Night until her resignation in July 2015, after which Melissa Doyle took over. More changes to Sydney's news presenting team in subsequent months saw former Melbourne weather presenter David Brown replace Sarah Cumming as Sydney's weather presenter and Mel McLaughlin replace Jim Wilson as
2040-496: The rounds of the national level Australian Touring Car Championship . This was mostly as the large number of Sydney privateers who usually filled the grid in the nationally televised (by Ch.7) Bathurst 1000 , rarely raced outside of NSW or Queensland due to limited budgets. The AMSCAR Series had its origins in Amaroo's own Sun-7 Chesterfield Series for touring cars, first held in 1971 and was won by Sydney's Lakis Manticas driving
2091-441: The second hump on Conrod Straight and traveling at over 260 km/h (162 mph). The front of the Commodore got airborne (as cars did coming over the hump at that speed) and the front moved slightly to the right. Burgmann, who was only a part-time racer, tried to correct by turning the wheel to the right. The car then hit the tire barrier at the bottom of the well-known curved bridge at the end of Conrod with unabated speed causing
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2142-507: The speeds the touring cars were traveling (the V12 Jaguar XJS of Tom Walkinshaw was timed at a then fastest ever 290 km/h (180 mph) on the straight during qualifying for the 1984 race ). The Chase was also constructed due to FIA regulations that did not allow race tracks with an international rating (as Bathurst was forced to have from 1987) to have any straight longer than 1.5 km. Prior to 1987, Conrod Straight's length
2193-427: The sports presenter. In August 2016, it was announced that Michael Usher would replace Melissa Doyle as Friday and Saturday presenter. Doyle will move into a new expanded role as senior correspondent and host of Sunday Night . For its efforts in bringing news of the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis to the whole of Australia (ATN's Martin Place news rooms and facilities were evacuated and news operations shifted to
2244-486: The station included variety series Sydney Tonight (1956–1959), Captain Fortune Show (1956–1960) for children, soap opera Autumn Affair (1958–1959) and talent program TV Talent Scout (1957–1958). Mike Burgmann Michael Trevor Burgmann (3 June 1947 – 5 October 1986) was a Sydney accountant and racing car driver who was involved in a fatal accident at the 1986 James Hardie 1000 race held at
2295-477: The street level studio. In March 2021, it was announced that the Seven Network would move out of Martin Place to Eveleigh by the end of 2022 after almost two decades. The decision is understood to be a cost-saving move away from CBD property leasing. This then got delayed to mid-2023. On 25 June 2023, Seven News Sydney signed off its final bulletin at Martin Place studios, wrapping 19 years and 6,873 days of broadcast. From 26 June 2023, its new broadcast home
2346-555: Was 2 km. Before his death, Burgmann was also one of the prime movers behind the upgrading of the old pits at the Mount Panorama Circuit. Prior to the WTCC in 1987, the Bathurst pits were among the worst for any major race circuit in the world, having been in place since the 1960s. Following the 1986 race, the old pits were torn down and a new international standard complex was built in its place. The new pits included
2397-955: Was announced as his replacement. In September 2024, Seven News announced further presentation changes with Sydney anchor Mark Ferguson would be joined by Angela Cox from Sundays to Thursdays bulletins. In October 2024, it was announced Angie Asimus would join Michael Usher at the 7News Sydney on Friday and Saturday evenings. Asimus would also continue her role as Sydney weather presenter alongside Mark Ferguson and Angela Cox, Sundays to Tuesdays. Fill-in presenters include Michael Usher , Chris Reason and Angie Asimus (News), Matt Carmichael and Jelisa Apps (Sport), and Sally Bowrey and Amber Laider (Weather). Afternoon news updates Nightly news updates Reporters Fill-In Presenters News Sport Weather Sunrise / Weekend Sunrise correspondent The Latest: Seven News correspondent Early efforts by
2448-680: Was attained with a Ford Sierra RS500 , these three wins being the most for a single model of car. ATN ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia . The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services , a subsidiary of John Fairfax & Sons , was one of the first four licences (two in Sydney, two in Melbourne ) to be issued for commercial television stations in Australia. The station formed an affiliation with GTV-9 Melbourne in 1957, in order to share content. In 1963, Frank Packer ended up owning both GTV-9 and TCN-9 , so as
2499-513: Was fed to HSV and then transmitted via satellite or fibre optics to the towers around metropolitan Sydney. In 2019 however, this function was transferred to a new play-out centre in Sydney as part of a joint venture with the Nine Network. The analogue signal for ATN-7 was turned off at 9:00 a.m. on 3 December 2013 by using a special five-minute retrospective clip of the local station and the song "My City of Sydney" by Tommy Leonetti , used for
2550-944: Was supplied by the Marconi Company of England. Conversion to PAL colour occurred on 1 March 1975. Digital DVB-T commenced on 1 January 2001. The initial transmission tower in 1956 was located near the ABC tower at Gore Hill , Sydney. This was eventually demolished after ATN was invited to share a new site at Artarmon which was built by a new 3rd, commercial broadcaster TEN-10 . ATN-7 commenced digital television transmissions on 1 January 2001, broadcasting on VHF Channel 6 while maintaining analogue transmission on VHF Channel 7. ATN-7's Sydney transmissions are broadcast from masts operated by Transmitters Australia (TXA) at Artarmon and/or Willoughby . Retransmission translators to UHF channels service Sydney viewers from Kings Cross and North Head at Manly and north of Sydney at Bouddi , Gosford and Forresters Beach . Beginning in
2601-471: Was unveiled by motor racing Chaplain Garry Coleman. The ceremony was attended by Burgmann's widow, Gaye. The inscription on the plaque reads: In memory of Mike Burgmann who was tragically killed at this spot on 5 October 1986 As a result of the accident and the subsequent building of The Chase, the race cars now approach the pedestrian bridge approximately 100 km/h (62 mph) less than
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