The 1986 Australian Endurance Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Touring Cars as specified in the National Competition Rules of CAMS.[1][2] The title, which was the sixth Australian Endurance Championship, was contested concurrently with the 1986 Australian Manufacturers' Championship,[1] which was the sixteenth in a sequence of manufacturers championships awarded by CAMS, and the seventh to be contested under the Australian Manufacturers' Championship name.[3]
The Australian Endurance Championship was won by Jim Richards driving a BMW 635 CSi and the Australian Manufacturers' Championship was awarded to Nissan. Although Nissan team driver George Fury won 4 of the 6 rounds, missing the opening round at Amaroo Park and failing to finish at Bathurst, along with the consistency of Richards who scored in every round (including winning at Amaroo) saw the Kiwi win his second straight Endurance title in the BMW. However, his wins, along with high placings by teammates Gary Scott and Terry Sheil gave Nissan an easy 27 point win over BMW in the Manufacturers' title with Jim Richards virtually playing a lone hand for the Bavarian marque.[4]
Round 5, The Sun South Pacific 300 at Calder Park in Melbourne, saw the first ever rolling start in Australian touring car racing (though rolling starts had been seen in Series Production during the 1960s and 1970s). The race also doubled as the opening round of the five race South Pacific Touring Car Championship, with the second round being the Group A support race for the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. The remaining 3 rounds of the South Pacific series were held in New Zealand with Allan Grice, driving a Commodore in Australia and a Skyline in New Zealand, emerging as champion.