1980 Australian Drivers' Championship

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1980 Australian Drivers' Championship
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The 1980 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Australian Formula 1 racing cars. [1] The winner of the championship, which was the 24th Australian Drivers' Championship, was awarded the 1980 CAMS Gold Star. [2]

Contents

The championship was won by Alfredo Costanzo driving a Lola T430 Chevrolet.

Calendar

Alfredo Costanzo won the championship driving a Lola T430 similar to the car pictured above Lola T430.jpg
Alfredo Costanzo won the championship driving a Lola T430 similar to the car pictured above
Jon Davison placed second with a Lola T332 similar to the example above Lola T332 F5000.JPG
Jon Davison placed second with a Lola T332 similar to the example above
John Bowe placed third driving an Elfin MR8 similar to the example pictured Elfin mr8c.jpg
John Bowe placed third driving an Elfin MR8 similar to the example pictured

The title was contested over an eight-round series with one race per round. [3] [4]

Round [3] Race name [3] Circuit [3] StateDate [3] Winning driver [3] Car
1 Sandown Park Victoria 24 FebruaryJohn Wright Lola T400 Chevrolet
2 Baskerville Tasmania MarchJon Davison Lola T332 Chevrolet
3 Symmons Plains Tasmania 23 March John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
4 Oran Park New South Wales 4 May John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
5 Lakeside Queensland 20 JulyJon Davison Lola T332 Chevrolet
6 Sandown Park Victoria 14 September Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet
7Rose City Trophy Winton Victoria 26 October Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet
8 Australian Grand Prix Calder Raceway Victoria 16 November Alan Jones Williams FW07B Ford

Class Structure

Australian Formula 1, in its 1980 incarnation, catered for cars complying with any one of the following three Formulae:

For championship points allocation purposes, cars competed in two classes:

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six Australian license holders in each class at each round. Bonus points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 basis to the top four Australian license holders at each round, regardless of class.

Results

PositionDriverCarEntrant [7] SanBasSymOraLakSanWinCalTotal [8] [9]
1 Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet Porsche Distributors-29-813131358
2Jon Davison Lola T332 Chevrolet Lee Seeton913661323-52
3 John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet Ansett Team Elfin4913133-9-51
4Chas Talbot Lola T332 Chevrolet Chas Talbot64---95933
5John Wright Lola T400 Chevrolet John Wright136-9----28
6Ray Hanger March 77B Ford Ray Hanger---4694-23
7Peter WilliamsonGalloway Ford Peter Williamson Pty Ltd----12---12
Rob Butcher Lola T332 Chevrolet Hahndorf Motor Museum-----6-612
9Paul Hamilton Elfin 600Paul Hamilton [10] ---92---11
John Smith Ralt RT1John Smith------11-11
11Clive Millis Elfin 700 -9------9
Andrew Newton Elfin 700 --9-----9
Greg Doidge Matich A53 Greg Doidge [11] 1-44----9
14Dave Cooper Elfin 700 -6------6
Mike Stack Cheetah  ---6----6
Gary Cosser Bowin P6 Ford  ------6-6
Peter Middleton Elfin MR8 Chevrolet P Middleton2----4--6
18Ivan Tighe Chevron B37 Chevrolet Ivan Tighe----5---5
19Bob Power Kaditcha Bob Power [10] ----4---4
20Peter Bull Elfin Peter Bull [10] ----3---3
Garrie Cooper Elfin MR9 Chevrolet Ansett Team Elfin-------33
Ian Adams Lola T330 Chevrolet Ian Adams-----12-3
Peter Edwards Lola T332 Chevrolet PJ Edwards--2----13
Mel McEwin Matich A53 Repco Holden Mel McEwin111-----3
25Colin Trengrove Lola T332 Chevrolet John Silman Power Tools-------22

The following drivers were not eligible for championship points as they were not Australian license holders.

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References

  1. CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1980 page 93
  2. Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127
  4. Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 110-127
  5. Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, pages 22-23
  6. Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, page 108
  7. Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, page 44
  8. Championship Pointscore (Top 10), Racing Car News, December 1980, page 21
  9. Points totals below tenth position were calculated from round results published in Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127
  10. 1 2 3 Des White, Davison Inherits a Great Win!, Racing Car News, September 1980
  11. Raceday Competition Communicator, Sandown, September 13–14, 1980

Further reading