The 1970 Tasman Series was a motor racing competition staged in New Zealand and Australia for cars complying with the Tasman Formula. It was the seventh Tasman Series, beginning on 3 January and ending on 22 February after seven races. The series was won by Graeme Lawrence of New Zealand, driving the Ferrari 246T [1] that fellow New Zealander Chris Amon raced to win the 1969 Tasman Series.
1970 was a transitional year for the series, being the first year not involving the European Formula One teams which had given the Tasman Series its distinctive style. It was also the first year in which stock production engines of up to five litres cubic capacity were allowed, in short, Formula 5000. Entries arrived from both Europe and the United States, although not of the same quality of the earlier Tasman Formula era. Traditional 2.5 litre Tasman cars, like Lawrence's Ferrari, continued to race along with the 1.6 litre cars that filled much of the lower end of the grids during the Tasman era.
The Bay Park International, held on 28 December 1969, one week before the first round, was a non-championship event. Additional information sourced from: [2]
Round | Name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Winning car | Winning team | Report | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Zealand | ||||||||
Bay Park International [3] [4] | Bay Park | 28 December | Ron Grable | McLaren M10A Chevrolet | Report | |||
1 | Levin International | Levin | 3 January | Graeme Lawrence | Dino 246 Tasmania | Report | ||
2 | New Zealand Grand Prix | Pukekohe | 10 January | Frank Matich | McLaren M10A Chevrolet | Rothmans Team Matich | Report | |
3 | Lady Wigram Trophy | Wigram | 17 January | Frank Matich | McLaren M10A Chevrolet | Rothmans Team Matich | Report | |
4 | Teretonga International | Teretonga | 24 January | Graham McRae | McLaren M10A Chevrolet | Report | ||
Australia | 5 | Rothmans 100 [5] | Surfers Paradise | 8 February | Graham McRae | McLaren M10A Chevrolet | Report | |
6 | International 100 [6] | Warwick Farm | 15 February | Kevin Bartlett | Mildren Mono Waggott | Alec Mildren Racing | Report | |
7 | Golden 100 [7] | Sandown | 22 February | Neil Allen | McLaren M10B Chevrolet | Report |
All scores from points-scoring races were counted
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|
|
Abbreviation | Circuit |
---|---|
LEV | Levin |
PUK | Pukekohe |
SAN | Sandown |
SUR | Surfers Paradise |
TER | Teretonga |
WAR | Warwick Farm |
WIG | Wigram |
Denis Clive Hulme was a New Zealand racing driver who won the 1967 Formula One World Drivers' Championship for the Brabham team. Between his debut at Monaco in 1965 and his final race in the 1974 US Grand Prix, he started 112 Grands Prix, resulting in eight victories and 33 podium finishes. He also finished third in the overall standing in 1968 and 1972.
Christopher Arthur Amon was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand Prix. His reputation for bad luck was such that fellow driver Mario Andretti once joked that "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying". Former Ferrari Technical Director Mauro Forghieri stated that Amon was "by far the best test driver I have ever worked with. He had all the qualities to be a World Champion but bad luck just wouldn't let him be".
Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retailer company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialised manufacturing, for which it gained a high reputation. It is now best known as a retailer of spare parts and motor accessories.
Graham Peter McRae was a racing driver from New Zealand.
Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula. The '5000' denomination comes from the maximum 5.0 litre engine capacity allowed in the cars, although many cars ran with smaller engines. Manufacturers included McLaren, Eagle, March, Lola, Lotus, Elfin, Matich and Chevron.
The Tasman Series was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 over a series of races in New Zealand and Australia. It was named after the Tasman Sea which lies between the two countries. The Tasman Series races were held in January through to late February or early March of each year, during the Formula One off season, taking advantage of winter in the Northern Hemisphere to attract many top drivers to summer in the south. The Tasman Cup was the permanent trophy awarded to the winning driver.
Graeme Lawrence is a race car driver from New Zealand. He started serious motor racing in the National 1.5 litre series winning the series decisively in 1968 ahead of David Oxton and Ken Smith. Lawrence then ran half a European F2 series in an uncompetitive semi works F2 McLaren, he found the racing harder than expected and was shaken, by his experience racing in Germany at the Hockenheim race in the rain, were Jim Clark was killed. McLaren allowed Lawrence to build up another F2 chassis in his works and was 2nd in the SR Gold Star series in the car, and first ST driver home in the Tasman races at Pukekohe and Levin.
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The 1969 Tasman Series was a motor racing competition staged in New Zealand and Australia for cars complying with the Tasman Formula. The series, which commenced on 4 January 1969 and ended on 16 February 1969 after seven rounds, was the sixth annual Tasman Series. It was won by Chris Amon, driving a Dino 246 Tasmania.
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