1984 Australian Drivers' Championship

1984 Australian Drivers' Championship
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The 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to drivers of racing cars complying with Formula Mondial regulations.[1]

The winner of the title, which was the 28th Australian Drivers' Championship, was awarded the 1984 CAMS Gold Star. John Bowe won the championship driving a Ralt RT4 Ford. It would be the first of two such titles for the Tasmanian driver. Finishing second in the championship was four time defending champion Alfredo Costanzo in his Porsche Cars Australia team Tiga FA81 Ford, while the 1983 Australian Sports Car Champion Peter Hopwood driving his Ralt RT4 Ford finished in third place in his first full season of open wheel racing.

After finishing 4th and being the first resident Australian driver home in the non-championship 1984 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway in November, Alfie Costanzo effectively retired from open wheel racing when his Porsche Cars Australia team boss Alan Hamilton closed the race team.

Calendar

The championship was contested over a seven-round series with each round held as a single race.[2] Winton Raceway was originally intended to host the final round of the series on 14 October but that meeting was cancelled. Negotiations between track secretary Michael Ronke and CAMS saw the round re-instated to 2 months earlier than planned (12 August) becoming Round 4 instead of Round 7. This re-scheduling ultimately cost Alfredo Costanzo any chance he had of successfully retaining his championship as he had booked business with Porsche in West Germany for the weekend of the re-scheduled race. John Smith would take his place in the Tiga FA/83 for the race.

Round Circuit Event City / State Date Winner Car Team
Rd 1 Adelaide International Raceway Porsche Cars Australia Trophy Adelaide, South Australia 1 July Alfredo Costanzo Tiga FA81 Ford Porsche Cars Australia
Rd 2 Lakeside International Raceway Brisbane, Queensland 22 July John Bowe Ralt RT4/84 Ford Chris Leach Racing
Rd 3 Calder Park Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 29 July Alfredo Costanzo Tiga FA81 Ford Porsche Cars Australia
Rd 4 Winton Raceway Benalla, Victoria 12 August John Bowe Ralt RT4/84 Ford Chris Leach Racing
Rd 5 Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 19 August John Bowe Ralt RT4/84 Ford Chris Leach Racing
Rd 6 Wanneroo Park Raceway Perth, Western Australia 26 August John Bowe Ralt RT4/84 Ford Chris Leach Racing
Rd 7 Sandown International Raceway EON FM Cup[3] Melbourne, Victoria 9 September John Bowe Ralt RT4/84 Ford Chris Leach Racing

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six classified finishers at each round.[1]

Results

Position Driver No. Car[2] Entrant[4][5] Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Rd6 Rd7 Total[2]
1 John Bowe 4 Ralt RT4 Ford Chris Leach Racing 6 9 1 9 9 9 9 52
2 Alfredo Costanzo 1 Tiga FA81 Ford Porsche Cars Australia 9 - 9 - 6 6 3 33
3 Peter Hopwood 22 Ralt RT4 Ford Menage Racing 3 4 6 1 2 3 4 23
4 Bruce Connolly 51 Ralt RT4 Ford Bruce Connolly 4 6 4 - 3 - 2 19
5 Lucio Cesario 30 Tiga FA83 Ford
Ralt RT4 Ford		 Porsche Cars Australia 1 - 2 6 - - 6 15
6 Graham Watson 8 & 9 Ralt RT4 Ford Ralt Australia - 1 3 3 1 4 1 13
7 Peter Macrow 25 Cheetah Mk 8 Ford Repco Engine Parts 2 - - 2 - 2 - 6
8 John Smith* 1 Tiga FA83 Ford Porsche Cars Australia - - - 4 - - - 4
Ian Bland Kaditcha Ford - - - - 4 - - 4
10 Peter Phillips Ralt RT4 Ford - 3 - - - - - 3
11 Peter Bull Elfin 622 Ford - 2 - - - - - 2
12 Bob Creasy 6 Ralt RT4 Ford - - - - - 1 - 1

*John Smith subbed for Costanzo at Round 4 due to Costanzo being in Germany

References

  1. 1 2 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport 1984, page 90
  2. 1 2 3 Barry Catford, Australian Drivers Championship, Australian Motor Racing Year 1984/85, pages 202 to 217
  3. ↑ 1984 CAMS Gold Star - Sandown
  4. ↑ Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, Sunday 1 July 1984, page 29
  5. ↑ Race Data, Final round, Racing Car News, November 1984, page 54

External links

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