1976 Australian Drivers' Championship

The 1976 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to racing cars complying with either Australian Formula 1 or Australian Formula 2.[1] It was the 20th Australian Drivers' Championship.[2] The championship winner, John Leffler, was awarded the 1976 CAMS Gold Star.[3]

1976 Australian Drivers' Championship
Previous: 1975 Next: 1977

Calendar
1976 Australian Drivers' Championship winner John Leffler (pictured on the right), in 1978

The championship was contested over a four-round series.[4]

Round [4] Round/race name Circuit [4] State Date [4] Round format [4] Winner [4] Car [4] Report
1 Australian Grand Prix [4] Sandown Park Victoria 12 September One race John Goss Matich A51/53 [5] Repco Holden Report
2   Oran Park New South Wales 19 September One race Max Stewart Lola T400 Chevrolet
3   Calder Raceway Victoria 17 October Two Heats John McCormack McLaren M23 Leyland
4 Mirafiori 5000 [6] Phillip Island Victoria 28 November One race Alf Costanzo Lola T332 Chevrolet

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six place-getters at each round.[1] For Round 3 only, round placings were determined by allocating points to the first fourteen place-getters in each heat on a 20–16–13–11–10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis.[1] Championship points were then awarded on the standard 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top six drivers for that round.[1] Only holders of current and valid full General Competition Licenses issued by CAMS were eligible for the championship.[1]

Results
Position Driver [4] Car [4] Entrant [7] San.[4] Ora.[4] Cal.[4] Phi.[4] Total [4]
1 John Leffler Lola T400 Chevrolet Grace Bros Racing 6 4 6 6 22
2 Max Stewart Lola T400 Chevrolet M Stewart – 9 3 – 12
3 John McCormack McLaren M23 Leyland J McCormack
Budget Rent-a-Car [8]		 – – 9 2 11
4 Bruce Allison Lola T332 Chevrolet B Allison
Hobby & Toyland [9]		 – 3 4 3 10
5 Alf Costanzo Lola T332 Chevrolet [8] Stock 84 Brandy – – – 9 9
John Goss Matich A51/53 [5] Repco Holden John Goss Racing Pty Ltd 9 – – – 9
7 Garrie Cooper Elfin MR8 Chevrolet Ansett Team Elfin [9] – 2 2 4 8
8 Kevin Bartlett Lola T400 Chevrolet Shellsport [9] – 6 – – 6
9 Chris Milton McLaren M22 Chevrolet John Martin's / Shellsport 4 – – – 4
10 Andrew Miedecke Brabham BT36 Ford Grace Bros Racing 3 – – – 3
11 Gil Cameron McLaren M10B Chevrolet VYI's Fashion Sunglasses – – 1 – 1
John Edmonds Elfin MR5B Repco Holden Hi-Way Denims [8] – – – 1 1
Chris Farrell Elfin 622 – 1 – – 1

Note:

  • There were only five classified finishers at the Sandown Park round.[4]
  • Vern Schuppan (Elfin MR8 Chevrolet) placed second at the Sandown Park round but was not eligible to score championship points.[4]

Championship name

The championship has been referred to by various names including the 1976 Australian Formula 1 Championship,[1] the 1976 Gold Star Championship,[6] and the 1976 Australian Drivers' Championship.[4] The latter term is used by CAMS in historical records [2][10] and has been used in this article.

References
  1. Conditions for Australian Titles, 1976 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 80–81
  2. Australian Drivers' Championship – CAMS Gold Star, 2002 CAMS Manual of Australian Motor Sport, page 14-4
  3. Evan Green, Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, page 15
  4. Australian National Formula One Review, Australian Competition Yearbook, 1977 Edition, pages 84 to 93
  5. Matich A51/53, The official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix, 1986, pages 402 to 404
  6. Paul Harrington, Alf's second in a row – Leffler's crown at last, Australian Auto Action, 9 December 1976, page 11
  7. Event 4, Marlboro presents the Australian Grand Prix, Official Programme, Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit, 12 September 1976
  8. Mirafiori 5000, Phillip Island, 28 Nov 1976, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved on 14 April 2014
  9. Australian Gold Star Race, Oran Park, 19 Sep 1976, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved on 14 April 2014
  10. Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, docs.cams.com.au As archived at www.webcitation.org on 14 April 2014
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