1968 Tasman Series Explained

The 1968 Tasman Championship for Drivers was a motor racing series contested over eight races during January, February and March 1968, with four races held in New Zealand and four in Australia.[1] The championship was open to Racing Cars fitted with unsupercharged engines with a capacity equal or inferior to 2500cc.[1] It was the fifth annual Tasman Championship.

The championship won by Jim Clark, driving a Lotus 49T.[2]

It was the third and final Tasman Championship win for Clark who was killed in a Formula 2 crash on the ultra fast Hockenheim circuit in West Germany just over a month after the series concluded. Clark won the last of his twelve career Tasman Series wins when he won the 1968 Australian Grand Prix at the Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, only 0.1 seconds in front of the Dino 246 Tasmania of Chris Amon after a famous duel between the pair.

Reigning Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme finished equal seventh in the series in his Formula 2 Brabham with a best finish of third in Round 3 for the Lady Wigram Trophy, his first race of the series.

Schedule

RoundNameCircuitDateWinning driverWinning carWinning teamReport
New
Zealand
1New Zealand Grand PrixPukekohe6 January Chris AmonDino 246 TasmaniaC.AmonReport
2Levin InternationalLevin13 January Chris AmonDino 246 TasmaniaC.AmonReport
3Lady Wigram TrophyWigram20 January Jim ClarkLotus 49TTeam LotusReport
4Teretonga InternationalTeretonga27 January Bruce McLarenBRM P126Owen Racing OrganisationReport
Australia5Surfers Paradise 100Surfers Paradise11 February Jim ClarkLotus 49TTeam LotusReport
6Warwick Farm InternationalWarwick Farm18 February Jim ClarkLotus 49TTeam LotusReport
7Australian Grand PrixSandown25 February Jim ClarkLotus 49TTeam LotusReport
8South Pacific TrophyLongford4 March Piers CourageMcLaren M4AP.CourageReport

Points system

Points were awarded at each race on the following basis:[1]

Championship placings were determined by the total number of points scored by a driver in all races.[1]

Championship standings

PosDriverCar[3] PukLevWigTerSurWarSanLonPts
1 Jim ClarkLotus 49T CosworthRetRet12111544
2 Chris AmonDino 246 Tasmania1124Ret42736
3 Piers CourageMcLaren M4A Cosworth3245335134
4 Graham HillLotus 49T Cosworth223617
= Frank GardnerBrabham BT23D Alfa Romeo2RetRet39Ret4317
6 Bruce McLarenBRM P126RetRet5111
7 Pedro RodríguezBRM P126
BRM P261
RetRet6Ret106Ret28
= Denny HulmeBrabham BT23 Cosworth36659DNS8
9 Jim PalmerMcLaren M4A Cosworth43783
10 Richard AttwoodRetRet644
11 Leo GeogheganLotus 39 Repco4Ret7DNS3
= Roly LevisBrabham BT18 Ford848103
13 Kevin BartlettBrabham BT11A Coventry Climax5Ret8DNS2
= Red DawsonBrabham BT7A Coventry ClimaxRet59DNS2
= Paul BoltonBrabham BT22 Coventry Climax[4] 5RetRet2
16 Graeme LawrenceBrabham BT18 Ford69Ret91
= Bill StoneBrabham BT6 Ford10610Ret0
Bryan FaloonBrabham BT4 Coventry Climax7713DNS0
David OxtonBrabham BT16 FordRet10Ret70
Glyn ScottLotus 27 Ford7100
Jack BrabhamBrabham BT21E Repco7Ret0
John HarveyBrabham BT11A Coventry ClimaxRetRet80
Frank RadisichLotus 22 Ford8DNS0
Malcolm AldredLotus 22 Ford80
Alfredo CostanzoElfin Mono Ford80
John NicholsonLotus 27 Ford9DNS0
Ian FergusonLotus 27 Ford90
John McCormackBrabham BT4 Coventry Climax90
Ken SmithLotus 41 Ford12DNS11Ret0
Don MacDonaldBrabham BT10 Ford1112DNQ0
Graham McRaeBrabham BT6 FordRet14Ret0
Peter YockLotus 33 BRMRetRetDNQRet0
Vince AndersonBrabham BT11A Coventry ClimaxRet0
Grahame HarveyBrabham BT6 FordRet0
Greg CusackBrabham BT23 RepcoRetRetRetDNS0
Brian PageBrabham BT6 FordRetRet0
Max StewartRennmax FordRet0
Fred GibsonBrabham Coventry ClimaxRet0
Mel McEwinLotus 32B Coventry ClimaxRet0
Tony BatchelorBrabham BT6 FordDNS0
PosDriverCarPukLevWigTerSurWarSanLonPts

Notes and References

  1. The Tasman Championship for Drivers – Season 1968, 1968 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 66 to 69
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20080723204810/http://www.tasman-series.com/races/1968/round8/round8.asp IX South Pacific Trophy, www.tasman-series.com, as archived at web.archive.org
  3. http://www.sergent.com.au/motor/tasman1968.html Tasman Series 1968, www.sergent.com.au (linked round results pages)
  4. http://www.oldracingcars.com/brabham/bt22/ic-1-66 www.oldracingcars.com