1980 Australian Drivers' Championship

The 1980 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Australian Formula 1 racing cars.^[1] The winner of the championship, which was the 24th Australian Drivers' Championship, was awarded the 1980 CAMS Gold Star.^[2]

The championship was won by Alfredo Costanzo driving a Lola T430 Chevrolet.

Calendar

Alfredo Costanzo won the championship driving a Lola T430 similar to the car pictured above

Jon Davison placed second with a Lola T332 similar to the example above

John Bowe placed third driving an Elfin MR8 similar to the example pictured

The title was contested over an eight-round series with one race per round.^[3]^[4]

Round^[3]	Race name^[3]	Circuit^[3]	State	Date^[3]	Winning driver^[3]	Car
1		Sandown Park	Victoria	24 February	John Wright	Lola T400 Chevrolet
2		Baskerville	Tasmania	March	Jon Davison	Lola T332 Chevrolet
3		Symmons Plains	Tasmania	23 March	John Bowe	Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
4		Oran Park	New South Wales	4 May	John Bowe	Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
5		Lakeside	Queensland	20 July	Jon Davison	Lola T332 Chevrolet
6		Sandown Park	Victoria	14 September	Alfredo Costanzo	Lola T430 Chevrolet
7	Rose City Trophy	Winton	Victoria	26 October	Alfredo Costanzo	Lola T430 Chevrolet
8	Australian Grand Prix	Calder Raceway	Victoria	16 November	Alan Jones	Williams FW07B Ford

Class Structure

Australian Formula 1, in its 1980 incarnation, catered for cars complying with any one of the following three Formulae:

For championship points allocation purposes, cars competed in two classes:

Over 1600cc: Open to "Formula 5000" cars and "International Formula One" cars
Under 1600cc: Open to "Formula Pacific" cars^[6]

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six Australian license holders in each class at each round. Bonus points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 basis to the top four Australian license holders at each round, regardless of class.

Results

Position	Driver	Car	Entrant^[7]	San	Bas	Sym	Ora	Lak	San	Win	Cal	Total^[8]^[9]
1	Alfredo Costanzo	Lola T430 Chevrolet	Porsche Distributors	-	2	9	-	8	13	13	13	58
2	Jon Davison	Lola T332 Chevrolet	Lee Seeton	9	13	6	6	13	2	3	-	52
3	John Bowe	Elfin MR8 Chevrolet	Ansett Team Elfin	4	9	13	13	3	-	9	-	51
4	Chas Talbot	Lola T332 Chevrolet	Chas Talbot	6	4	-	-	-	9	5	9	33
5	John Wright	Lola T400 Chevrolet	John Wright	13	6	-	9	-	-	-	-	28
6	Ray Hanger	March 77B Ford	Ray Hanger	-	-	-	4	6	9	4	-	23
7	Peter Williamson	Galloway Ford	Peter Williamson Pty Ltd	-	-	-	-	12	-	-	-	12
7	Rob Butcher	Lola T332 Chevrolet	Hahndorf Motor Museum	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	6	12
9	Paul Hamilton	Elfin 600	Paul Hamilton^[10]	-	-	-	9	2	-	-	-	11
9	John Smith	Ralt RT1	John Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	-	11
11	Clive Millis	Elfin 700		-	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	9
	Andrew Newton	Elfin 700		-	-	9	-	-	-	-	-	9
	Greg Doidge	Matich A53	Greg Doidge^[11]	1	-	4	4	-	-	-	-	9
14	Dave Cooper	Elfin 700		-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	6
	Mike Stack	Cheetah		-	-	-	6	-	-	-	-	6
	Gary Cosser	Bowin P6 Ford		-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	6
	Peter Middleton	Elfin MR8 Chevrolet	P Middleton	2	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	6
18	Ivan Tighe	Chevron B37 Chevrolet	Ivan Tighe	-	-	-	-	5	-	-	-	5
19	Bob Power	Kaditcha	Bob Power^[10]	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	4
20	Peter Bull	Elfin	Peter Bull^[10]	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	3
	Garrie Cooper	Elfin MR9 Chevrolet	Ansett Team Elfin	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	3
	Ian Adams	Lola T330 Chevrolet	Ian Adams	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	3
	Peter Edwards	Lola T332 Chevrolet	PJ Edwards	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	1	3
	Mel McEwin	Matich A53 Repco Holden	Mel McEwin	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	3
25	Colin Trengrove	Lola T332 Chevrolet	John Silman Power Tools	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2

The following drivers were not eligible for championship points as they were not Australian license holders.

Guy Edwards (Fittipaldi F5A), who finished second at Round 1
Alan Jones (Williams FW07B Ford), who won the Australian Grand Prix
Bruno Giacomelli (Alfa Romeo 179), who finished second in the Australian Grand Prix
Didier Pironi (Elfin MR8 Chevrolet), who finished third in the Australian Grand Prix

References

^ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1980 page 93
^ Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127
^ Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 110-127
^ Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, pages 22-23
^ Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, page 108
^ Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, page 44
^ Championship Pointscore (Top 10), Racing Car News, December 1980, page 21
^ Points totals below tenth position were calculated from round results published in Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127
^ ^a ^b ^c Des White, Davison Inherits a Great Win!, Racing Car News, September 1980
^ Raceday Competition Communicator, Sandown, September 13–14, 1980

External links

1980 Australian "Formula 5000" images, www.autopics.com.au

[1] CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1980 page 93

[2] Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org

[AMRY_108-127-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127

[4] Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 110-127

[5] Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, pages 22-23

[6] Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, page 108

[7] Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, page 44

[8] Championship Pointscore (Top 10), Racing Car News, December 1980, page 21

[9] Points totals below tenth position were calculated from round results published in Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127

[White-10] Des White, Davison Inherits a Great Win!, Racing Car News, September 1980

[Sandown_R6-11] Raceday Competition Communicator, Sandown, September 13–14, 1980

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