The 1964 Tasman Series was an international motor racing series contested in New Zealand and Australia over eight races beginning on 4 January and ending on 2 March. It was the first Tasman Series. The series, which was officially known as the Tasman Championship for Drivers, was organised jointly by the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs Inc. and the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport with the winning driver awarded the Tasman Cup.[1] The championship was open to racing cars using unsupercharged engines of up to 2,500 c.c. capacity.[2]

The inaugural series was a battle of the British-based expatriates with a two-car team led by Australian Jack Brabham and a two-car team of Coopers from Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, led by the New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Although Denny Hulme won the opening round of the series, McLaren took a trifecta of wins in New Zealand setting up the title win. When the teams moved to Australia, Brabham won the first three races, ensuring a thrilling finish, however Brabham was unable to better his score and therefore McLaren emerged as champion. The last round of the series at Longford was won by the Englishman, Graham Hill, securing sixth place in the final standings as a result. Brabham led the final race until the last laps before his car suffered a transmission failure.[3]

The most successful of the local-based drivers was John Youl. Although the Cooper T55 he was driving was three-years old, he took the aging car to six top five finishes. Australian Bib Stillwell only completed in three races, twice beating Youl, including a second place in the Australian Grand Prix. Another competitive local was Frank Matich in his Repco Brabham BT7A, taking pole at Warwick Farm. Whilst leading, his suspension broke and he was forced to retire. With a further four retirements, Matich only finished one race, gaining a third place at Longford.[3]

Results and standings

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Races

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Jack Brabham won three of the eight races driving a Repco Brabham BT7A, similar to that pictured above
Round Name Circuit Date Winning driver Winning car Winning team Report
New
Zealand
1 Vic Hudson Memorial Race[4] Levin 4 January   Denny Hulme Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax Motor Racing Developments Report
2 Eleventh New Zealand International Grand Prix[5] Pukekohe 11 January   Bruce McLaren Cooper T70 Coventry Climax Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Report
3 10th International Lady Wigram Trophy Race[6] Wigram 18 January   Bruce McLaren Cooper T70 Coventry Climax Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Report
4 Teretonga International Teretonga 25 January   Bruce McLaren Cooper T70 Coventry Climax Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Report
Australia 5 29th Australian Grand Prix[7] Sandown 9 February   Jack Brabham Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax Ecurie Vitesse Report
6 International 100 Race[8] Warwick Farm 16 February   Jack Brabham Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax Ecurie Vitesse Report
7 Lakeside International 99[9] Lakeside 23 February   Jack Brabham Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax Ecurie Vitesse Report
8 South Pacific Trophy Longford 2 March   Graham Hill Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax Scuderia Veloce Report
Source:[3]

Points system

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Championship points were awarded at each race on the following basis:

Position[1] 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Points[1] 9 6 4 3 2 1

Championship placings were determined by points won by drivers in the New Zealand Grand Prix and any two of the other three races held in New Zealand, plus the Australian Grand Prix and any two of the other three races held in Australia.[2]

Standings

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Pos[10][11] Driver[10][11] Car[11][5][7][8][9][12] Entrant[11][5][7][8][9][12] Lev Puk Wig Ter San War Lak Lon Pts[10]
1   Bruce McLaren Cooper T70 Coventry Climax Bruce McLaren Motor Racing (3) 1 1 1 Ret 2 (3) 2 39 (47)
2   Jack Brabham Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax Motor Racing Developments
Ecurie Vitesse
Ret 2 1 1 1 Ret 33
3   Denny Hulme Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax Motor Racing Developments
Ecurie Vitesse
1 2 3 Ret 5 5 9 23
4   Timmy Mayer Cooper T70 Coventry Climax Bruce McLaren Motor Racing 2 3 8 2 4 3 Ret DNS 23
5   John Youl Cooper T55 Coventry Climax John Youl 4 4 4 DNS 3 Ret 2 5 21
6   Graham Hill Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax Scuderia Veloce 4 1 12
7   Bib Stillwell Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax BS Stillwell 2 6 4 10
8   Jim Palmer Cooper T53 Coventry Climax Jim Palmer (6) 5 5 3 6 10 8 9 (10)
9   Tony Shelly Lotus 18/21 Coventry Climax
Lola Mk4A Coventry Climax
Shelley Motors Ltd
AL Shelley
5 6 (6) 4 8 7 5 7 8 (9)
10   Frank Matich Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax Total Team Ret Ret Ret Ret 3 4
11   Frank Gardner Repco Brabham BT6 Ford Alec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd 10 13 4 9 3
12   Bill Thomasen Cooper T53 Coventry Climax Corsair Racing Team Ret DNS 5 2
13   Roly Levis Lotus 22 Ford RA Levis 7 9 10 6 1
  Lex Davison Cooper T62 Coventry Climax Ecurie Australie Ret 8 6 1
  Glynn Scott Lotus 27 Ford Glyn Scott Motors Ret Ret 6 1
  Rex Flowers Lotus 20B Ford Flowers Transport 8 12 7 Ret 12 8 0
  Andy Buchanan Brabham BT6 Ford Wilson Motors Ltd 10 7 9 0
  Greg Cusack Repco Brabham BT6 Ford Scuderia Veloce 11 7 10 0
  Arnold Glass Lotus 27 Ford Capitol Motors 7 Ret Ret Ret 0
  Jim Boyd Valour Ford JA Malcolm Ret 7 0
  Ken Sager Lotus 20 Ford JH Sager 11 11 8 0
  David Young Cooper T59 Ford David Young 8 Ret 0
  Neil Whittaker Cooper T43 Coventry Climax 9 0
  David Walker Repco Brabham BT2 Ford David Walker 9 Ret Ret Ret 0
  Leo Geoghegan Lotus 27 Ford Total Team Ret 9 0
  Dene Hollier Cooper T52 Ford Dene Hollyer Limited 10 0
  Peter Slocombe Lotus 18 Ford 11 0
  Jack Hobden Cooper T51 Coventry Climax Louis Hobden 11 0
  Mel McEwin Elfin Ford Mel McEwin Ret 12 0
  Chris Amon Lola Mk4A Coventry Climax Reg Parnell Racing Ret Ret Ret Ret 0
  Charlie Smith Elfin Ford CG Smith Ret Ret 0
  Jack Hunnam Elfin Mono Ford Jack Hunnan Motors Ret Ret 0
  Bill Patterson Cooper T53 Coventry Climax Bill Patterson Motors Ret Ret 0
  Tony Osborne Cooper T53 Coventry Climax AJR Osborne Ret Ret 0
  Bruce Abernethy Cooper T41 Coventry Climax Ret 0
  Doug Whiteford Cooper T53 Coventry Climax Bill Patterson Motors Ret 0
  Keith Rilstone Elfin Ford KN Rilstone Ret 0
  David Fletcher Lola Mk5 Ford DK Fletcher Ret 0
  Wally Mitchell MRD Brabham Ford East Burwood Motors Ret 0
  Lionel Ayers Lotus 20 Ford Ret 0
  Barry Porter Lotus 15 Coventry Climax DNS 0
  Ken Smith Lola Mk2 Ford M Smith DNQ 0
Pos Driver Car Entrant Lev Puk Wig Ter San War Lak Lon Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

References

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  1. ^ a b c Tasman Championship for Drivers, Racing Car News, September 1963, page 25
  2. ^ a b Agreement and articles, The Tasman Championship for Drivers – Season 1964, Manual of Motor Sport, Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, 1964 ed., pages 40 to 46
  3. ^ a b c "Tasman Cup 1964 «". Oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. ^ Official Programme, Vic. Hudson Memorial Meeting, Levin, Saturday, January 4th, 1964
  5. ^ a b c Programme, Eleventh New Zealand International Grand Prix, Pukekohe, Jan 11, '64
  6. ^ Programme, 10th International Lady Wigram Trophy Race, Saturday, Jan. 18 1964
  7. ^ a b c Official Programme, 29th Australian Grand Prix, Sandown, Sun., 9 Feb
  8. ^ a b c Official Programme, International 100 Meeting, Tasman Championship, Warwick Farm, Sunday, February 16, 1964
  9. ^ a b c Official Programme, Lakeside International 99, Lakeside, Feb 22–23, 1964
  10. ^ a b c Tasman Series 1964, sergent.com.au Retrieved 31 March 2016
  11. ^ a b c d Tasman Cup 1964, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved 31 March 2016
  12. ^ a b Programme, South Pacific Championships, Longford, 1964