The 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship was a series of motor races for Touring cars conforming to the Australia Group C touring car regulations. It was the 17th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains Raceway on 29 February and ended at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on 28 November in the longest season in the history of the series. 1976 saw a substantial change to the ATCC calendar. The series expanded to eleven rounds, incorporating the longer distance races (the races of Australian Championship of Makes) from late in the season for the first time, including the Sandown 500 and the Phillip Island 500K, although notably not the Bathurst 1000.
After spending portions of the 1975 season on the sidelines, Allan Moffat won his second Australian Touring Car Championship. Moffat won Calder, Oran Park and Adelaide International, building up an impressive mid-season points lead that his rivals could not catch. By mid-year Moffat had re-launched his team as the Moffat Ford Dealers team with a brand new Ford Falcon XB GT built just before the second half of the season after Moffat lost his race winning car when his transporter burned down on its way to Adelaide in June. Moffat borrowed John Goss' Falcon to keep in the series until the new car was built.
Barry Seton racing a Ford Capri in the under three litre engine class was Moffat's title threat for most of the year, winning class four times, with a best finish of sixth outright at Sandown. Seton lost second place in the championship to Holden Dealer Team driver Colin Bond when the Holden Torana LH L34 driver won the final race of the season at Phillip Island. Bond had previously won at Sandown and Lakeside but had mechanical failures that Moffat, even in his borrowed machinery did not.
Read more about 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship: Teams and Drivers, Calendar, Australian Championship of Makes
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