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

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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

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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

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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

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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
Rob Butcher Lola T332 Chevrolet Hahndorf Motor Museum - - - - - 6 - 6 12
9 Paul Hamilton Elfin 600 Paul Hamilton[10] - - - 9 2 - - - 11
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.

References

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  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
  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
  10. ^ a b c Des White, Davison Inherits a Great Win!, Racing Car News, September 1980
  11. ^ Raceday Competition Communicator, Sandown, September 13–14, 1980

Further reading

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  • The official 50-year history of the Australian Grand Prix, 1986, pages 436-444
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