The 1985 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to racing cars complying with Formula Mondial. [1] It was the 29th Australian Drivers' Championship and the fourth to be contested by Formula Pacific-based Australian Formula 1 cars or by the similar Formula Mondial cars. The championship winner was awarded the 1985 CAMS Gold Star. [1]
Tasmanian driver John Bowe successfully defended his 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship crown in his Ralt RT4 Ford. [2] Bowe dominated, winning the first four rounds of the series to take a twelve-point victory over Peter Hopwood (Ralt RT4 Ford). Peter Macrow (Cheetah Mk.8 Ford) was a very distant third in the series, only moving into the position when he won the final round at Sandown Park.
The championship was contested over a five-round series with one race per round. [3]
| Round [3] | Round name | Circuit [4] | Date [4] | Winner [4] | Car [4] [5] |
| 1 | Wanneroo Park | 31 March | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/85 Ford | |
| 2 | Amaroo Park | 26 May | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/85 Ford | |
| 3 | Lakeside | 21 July | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/85 Ford | |
| 4 | Oran Park | 18 August | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/85 Ford | |
| 5 | Victoria Trophy [6] | Sandown Park | 15 September | Peter Macrow | Cheetah Mk8 Ford |
Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six placegetters at each round. [1]
| Position | Driver [3] | No. [3] | Car [3] [5] | Entrant [6] | Wan [3] | Ama [3] | Lak [3] | Ora [3] | San [3] | Total [3] |
| 1 | John Bowe | 1 | Ralt RT4/85 Ford | Chris Leach Enterprises | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | - | 36 |
| 2 | Peter Hopwood | 22 | Ralt RT4/85 Ford | Manage Racing Team | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | - | 24 |
| 3 | Peter Macrow | 25 | Cheetah Mk8 Ford | Peter Macrow | - | - | - | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| 4 | Brian Sampson | 78 [6] | Cheetah Mk8 Ford & Ralt RT4 Ford | Brian Sampson | - | - | - | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 5 | Terry Ryan | 36 [6] | Ralt RT4 Ford | Terry Ryan Automotive | - | 3 | - | 4 | - | 7 |
| = | Bob Creasy | 6 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | 3 | - | - | - | 4 | 7 | |
| 7 | Keith McClelland | 16 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Manage Racing Team | - | 2 | 4 | - | - | 6 |
| = | Ross Zampatti | 2 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | Ross Zampatti | 4 | - | 2 | - | - | 6 |
| 9 | Bruce Connolloy | Ralt RT4 Ford | - | 4 | - | - | - | 4 | ||
| 10 | Chris Hocking | 74 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Chris Hocking | - | - | 3 | - | - | 3 |
| = | Peter Boylan | 21 & 7 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | Peter Boylan | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 3 |
| = | Geoff Nicol | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | - | - | - | - | 3 | 3 | ||
| = | Brett Fisher | 13 | Liston BF1 Ford | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | 3 | |
| 14 | Max Freeland | 15 [6] | Ralt RT4 Ford | Jeff Sherriff | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Graham Watson | 8 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Watson Motor Racing | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 |
Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s under the Ralt name. Tauranac won the 1954 NSW Hillclimb Championship in the Ralt 500.
John Philip Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a BMW M4 in the GT4 Australia series.
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