1957 Australian Drivers' Championship

The 1957 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Formula Libre cars. The championship was contested over a nine race series with the winner awarded the 1957 CAMS Gold Star.^[1] It was the first Australian Drivers' Championship and the first motor racing title to be decided over a series of races at Australian circuits.

The series was won by Victorian racer Lex Davison^[2] driving a Ferrari 500/625.^[3] Davison dominated the championship, winning six of the nine races, including the series-opening 1957 Australian Grand Prix, to finish 19 points ahead of Tom Hawkes (Cooper T23 Bristol). The other drivers to win races were Murray Trenberth (Vincent 1000), Arnold Glass (HWM Jaguar) and Stan Jones (Maserati 250F).

Calendar

Lex Davison won the championship driving a Ferrari similar to the Tipo 500 shown above

The championship was contested over a nine race series.^[1]

Race^[1]	Circuit^[1]	Date^[4]	Winning drivers	Car^[3]	Report
Australian Grand Prix	Caversham	4 March	Lex Davison & Bill Patterson^[5]	Ferrari 500/625	Report
Victorian Trophy	Albert Park	24 March	Lex Davison^[6]	Ferrari 500/625
South Australian Trophy	Port Wakefield	22 April^[7]	Murray Trenberth^[7]	Vincent 1000^[8]
Bathurst 100	Mount Panorama	22 April	Arnold Glass^[3]	HWM Jaguar
Queensland Road Racing Championship	Lowood	16 June	Lex Davison^[9]	Ferrari 500/625
Lowood Trophy	Lowood	11 August	Stan Jones^[10]	Maserati 250F
New South Wales Road Race Championship	Mount Panorama	6 October	Lex Davison^[11]	Ferrari 500/625
Port Wakefield Trophy	Port Wakefield	12 October	Lex Davison^[12]	Ferrari 500/625
Australian Motor Sports Magazine Trophy Race	Phillip Island	27 October	Lex Davison^[13]	Ferrari 500/625

Shortly after the running of the Victorian Trophy, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport announced that it had introduced an annual "Gold Star" award for the champion Australian racing driver, with the Australian Grand Prix and the Victorian Trophy being retrospectively included in the list of nominated races counting towards the inaugural championship.^[14]

Points system

Championship points were awarded on an 8-5-3-2-1 basis for the first five places at each race.^[1]

Points table

Position	Driver^[3]	Car^[3]	Entrant^[3]	Cav	AP	PW^[15]	MP	Low	Low	MP	PW	PI	Total^[3]
1	Lex Davison	Ferrari 500/625	Ecurie Australie	6	8	-	-	8	-	8	8	8	46
2	Tom Hawkes	Cooper T23-Repco Holden	TV Hawkes	-	2	-	-	5	5	5	5	5	27
3	Stan Jones	Maserati 250F	Stan Jones	5	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	13
4	Arnold Glass	HWM-Jaguar	Capitol Motor Cycles	-	-	-	8	2	-	-	-	-	10
5	Derek Jolly	Decca Special Mk 11-Climax	DE Jolly	-	-	5	-	-	1	-	1	2	9
5	Len Lukey	Cooper T23-Bristol	Len Lukey	2	1	-	-	-	-	3	3	-	9
7	Jack Brabham	Cooper T41-Climax	Jack Brabham	3	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
7	Murray Trenberth^[7]	Vincent 1000-Vincent^[8]	M Trenberth^[8]	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
9	Jack Robinson	JRS-Jaguar	J Robinson	-	-	-	5	-	-	-	-	-	5
10	Bill Patterson	Ferrari 500/625 Cooper T39-Climax	Ecurie Australie W Patterson	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	4
10	Alec Mildren	Cooper T20-Bristol Cooper T41-Climax	AG Mildren	1	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	4
12	Bill Pitt	Jaguar D-Type	Mrs G Anderson	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	3
	Eddie Perkins	Porsche Special	EB Perkins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	3
	Doug Whiteford	Maserati 300S	D Whiteford	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
	Bill Pile	MG Special^[8]	WM Pile^[8]	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
	Ralph Snodgrass	Talbot-Lago T26C	R Snodgrass	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	3
17	Keith Rilstone	Zephyr Special-Ford	KW Rilstone	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	2
	Ron Phillips	Austin-Healey 100S^[8]	RK Phillips^[8]	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Ray Wamsley	Alfa Romeo Tipo B-GMC	R Wamsley	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2
	Frank Gardner	Jaguar C-Type	F Gardner	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	2
	Jim Johnson	MG TC	J Johnson	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	2
22	Jack French	Cooper Mk.IV-Norton	JW French	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Tom Stevens	MG Special^[8]	TE Stevens^[16]	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Gordon Stewart	Stewart-MG	Ecurie Cinque	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1

At the Australian Grand Prix race at Caversham Lex Davison shared the winning car with Bill Patterson and championship points were allotted in proportion to the laps driven by each.^[1]

Championship name

The championship was referred to by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport at the time simply as "The CAMS Gold Star".^[1] However the actual Gold Star medallion was inscribed with the words "Champion Australian Driver"^[1] and historical records published by CAMS use the term "Australian Drivers' Championship".^[17]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h The CAMS Gold Star, 1958 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 48 & 50
^ "Gold Star Winners - 1957 - 2009". formula3.com.au. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g 1957 Gold Star, members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw/ Retrieved 22 June 2013
^ Racing Car News, August 1972 : Guide to the "Gold Star" Supplement, page ii
^ Australian Motor Sport, April 1957, pages 137 & 138
^ Victorian Trophy, Australian Motor Sport, May 1957, pages 174 to 176
^ ^a ^b ^c Trenberth romps to SA car trophy win, The Advertiser, Tuesday, 23 April 1957, page 11
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h SA Trophy, Australian Motor Sport, June 1957, page 226
^ Davison Queensland Champion, Sports Car World, September 1957, pages 26 to 29
^ Lowood Trophy Race Meeting, Australian Motor Sport, October 1957, pages 410 & 413
^ Australian Motor Sport, November 1957, pages 454 & 456
^ The Wakefield Trophy, Australian Motor Sport, December 1957, page 507
^ Formula Libre Race – Gold Star Race, Australian Motor Sport, December 1957
^ Graham Howard, Lex Davison - Larger than Life, page 117
^ Race results for the South Australian Trophy were omitted from the 1957 Gold Star page at "members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw" but points have been calculated from the published race results in "SA Trophy, Australian Motor Sport, June 1957, page 226"
^ Official Souvenir Programme, Port Wakefield, Monday, 22 April 1957
^ Records Titles and Awards, 2002 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-4