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]

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

Championship 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

External links

• John Walker & Lola T332 -1979 AGP images (refer page 32), www.austin7clubsa.com.au
• Western Australian Motor Race Results 1979, www.terrywalkersplace.com Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine