1979 Australian Drivers' Championship

A 1979 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of Australian Formula 1 racing cars.[1] The championship winner was awarded the 1979 CAMS Gold Star.[2] The title, which was the 23rd Australian Drivers' Championship,[3] was won by Johnnie Walker, driving a Lola T332.[4]

1979 Australian Drivers' Championship
Previous: 1978 Next: 1980

Schedule

The championship was contested over a three round series with one race per round.[4]

Round [4] Name [4] Circuit [4] State Date [4] Round winner [4] Car [5] Report
1 Australian Grand Prix Wanneroo Raceway [6] Western Australia 11 March Johnnie Walker Lola T332 Chevrolet Report
2 Oran Park New South Wales 29 July John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
3 Rothmans 10,000 [7] Sandown Victoria 9 September Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six placegetters in each race.[1]

Results
Johnnie Walker won the championship driving a Lola T332, similar to the example pictured above
Position Driver [4] No. [8][6] [7] Car Entrant [6] [7] Wan [4] Ora [4] San [4] Points [4]
1 Johnnie Walker 25 Lola T332 Chevrolet [8] Magnum Wheels 9 4 6 19
2 John Bowe 11 Elfin MR8 Chevrolet [8] Ansett Team Elfin 6 9 - 15
3 Alfredo Costanzo 84 Lola T430 Chevrolet [8] Porsche Cars Australia - - 9 9
4 Rob Butcher 10 Lola T332 Chevrolet [8] Rob Butcher 4 - 4 8
John Smith 71 Ralt RT1 Ford [8] John Smith 3 3 2 8
6 John Wright 76 Lola T400 Chevrolet [8] John Wright - 6 - 6
7 Graham McRae 2 McRae GM3 [4] Settlement Road Wreckers [9] - - 3 3
8 Chas Talbot 3 Lola T332C [4] Chas Talbot - 2 - 2
Terry Hook 15 Lola T332 Chevrolet [8] Terry Hook 2 - - 2
10 Peter Edwards 21 Lola T332 [4] PJ Edwards - - 1 1
Paul Hamilton 88 Elfin 600 [4] - 1 - 1
Barry Singleton 19 Gardos GL1 Chevrolet [8] Barry Singleton 1 - - 1

Champiomship name

Sources of the time differ as to the actual name of the championship with both Australian Drivers' Championship [4] [9] and Australian Formula 1 Championship [1] [7] being used. "Australian Drivers' Championship" is used by Confederation of Australian Motor Sport in its historic documentation [2] and that term has been used here.

References
  1. CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1979, pages 94-96
  2. Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, 2016 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, as archived at web.archive.org
  3. Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1979/80, page 214
  4. Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1979/80, pages 88-97
  5. Wolfgang Kopfler, 1979 Australian Drivers' Championship, Formula 5000 in New Zealand & Australia: Race by Race, page 214
  6. Souvenir Programme, Wanneroo Raceway, Australian Grand Prix, 11th March 1979
  7. Official Program, Sandown, 9 September 1979
  8. The official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix, 1986, pages 426-434
  9. Ray Bell, Alfie storms back, Racing Car News, October 1979, pages 28-30
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