The 1981 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for car manufacturers, contested with Group C Touring Cars. It was the 11th circuit racing manufacturers' championship title to be awarded by CAMS and the first to carry the Australian Endurance Championship name.
Contents
Although the drivers' weren't credited with points, they were given points for the manufacturer of the car they were driving. Largely through the efforts of Peter Williamson and Graeme Bailey driving their Celica's to a Class C (1601 to 2000cc) win at each of the four rounds, Toyota were the winners of the Endurance Championship with a maximum of 36 points scored, from Ford in second with 27, and a three way tie for third between Holden, Mazda and Mitsubishi who totaled 24 points.
Calendar
The championship was contested over a four round series with each round staged as a single race of between 250 km and 500 km.
Classes
Cars competed in four classes based on engine capacity.
Points system
Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis for the first six places in each class at each round, but only for the position attained by the best placed car of each make. Unlike the Australian Touring Car Championship, bonus points were not awarded to the smaller classes for outright placings.
Championship results
Note: Each manufacturer was ranked according to its best total class pointscore, e.g. Ford was awarded second place in the championship for the 27 points attained by Ford Capris in Class B, regardless of the points scored by Ford Falcons in Class A or Ford Escorts in Classes C & D. Only the best total class pointscore result for each manufacturer is shown in the above table.