Australia's best-known championship is of course the V8 Supercars, the equivalent of the American NASCAR or the late German DTM. But another series has had great success: the National Sport Sedan Series. How does it work? Like the Trans-Am or DRM, the cars entered are of the silhouette type, based on a tubular steel chassis and a body-built look, while retaining the original bodywork.
Another advantage is the possibility of modifying the car at will, far, far from the strict homologation rules of the FIA championships. There are very few restrictions on engines, transmissions and aerodynamics: the imagination of the tuner is given free rein. The result is monsters with Group 5 looks, big overpowered engines, wide tracks and big tires on the starting grid: pure brutal motorsport! The result? While Supercars was professional, the cars in this rather pro-am championship were sometimes faster on circuits like Mount Panorama, Queensland Raceway and Phillip Island!
Ricciardello, the self-made man
In this spectacular championship, Alfa Romeo has always been represented. Already in 1980 and 1981, Tony Edmondson won the title with an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV powered by a Holden and then a Chevrolet engine. The series ended in 1982, replaced by the Australian GT Championship. The GTV continued to race, but the sedans, however adapted, struggled against the Porsche 935 and other true GTs.
The championship was reborn in 1991, and in 1992 a new Alfa Romeo GTV Chevrolet was built under the leadership of Basil Ricciardello.
Arriving in Perth in 1963 from his native Sicily, where his passion for racing was born of watching the Tour of Sicily and the exploits of Piero Taruffi, then a young mechanic, Basil soon took part in circuit racing, first at the wheel of an EH Holden, then an Alfa Romeo GTA...with a Ford V8 engine! After a few years, Basil developed his own racing structure. In 1984, he entered his first "in-house" Chevrolet Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV for driver Brian Smith.
A transformed Alfetta GTV
A second car was built in 1992, and went on to enjoy an incredible 30-year career!
The roof, pillars, door panels and plenum for the intercooler are still original, but the rest has undergone major transformations for added support, with whole sections of the body redone, prominent spoilers, a huge rear diffuser and spoiler. Of course, the car has evolved over the years, with parts upgraded, changed and so on. What's more, with its reptile pupil headlights and intense red bodywork, the GTV can't go unnoticed!
Inside, however, there's no Busso or other Italian block. No, in Australia, we like big V8s. Here, we have a Chevrolet 6-liter V8, with a peak output of 700 hp!
Tony, champion 25 years apart
The same Brian Smith won the National Sports Sedan Series championship in 1994 and the Thundersports championship the following year. But everything changed when his son, Tony Ricciardello, 18 in 1998, took the wheel. The youngster was quick on his feet, and attacked relentlessly. He quickly became the discipline's leading man, racking up success after success, notably against his great rival Hossack in an Audi A4.
Prize list? Hold on to your hats: between 1998 and 2023 (with a break in 2010 for participation in the Supercars V8 and between 2020 and 2022), Tony took part in over 270 races, reached the podium 200 times and almost won 150 races! In the end, it won 12 National Sports Sedan Series titles, the last one in 2023, thirty-one years after the car's debut!
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