The 1971 Australian Drivers’ Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Australian Formula 1 and Australian Formula 2 racing cars.[1] It was the fifteenth Australian Drivers' Championship[2] and the first to feature cars complying with a new for 1971 Australian Formula 1[3] which permitted cars with production based V8 engines of up to 5 litre capacity (commonly known as Formula 5000 cars) or racing engines of up to eight cylinders and up to 2 litre capacity.[4] The championship winner was awarded the 1971 CAMS Gold Star and the title of Australian Champion Driver.[1]
The championship was won by Max Stewart from Kevin Bartlett, Alan Hamilton and John McCormack, with only two points separating first from fourth after the final race.[5]
The championship was contested over a six race series.[6] Races were staged concurrently with those of the 1971 Australian Formula 2 Championship[1]
| Race | Race name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Car | |
| 1[7] | Governor's Trophy | Lakeside | 6 June | Kevin Bartlett | McLaren M10B Chevrolet | |
| 2 | Angus & Coote Diamond Trophy[8] | Oran Park Raceway[9] | 27 June | Max Stewart | Mildren Waggott | |
| 3 | Glynn Scott Memorial Trophy[10] | Surfers Paradise International Raceway | 29 August[11] | Frank Matich | McLaren M10B Repco Holden | |
| 4 | Victoria Trophy[12] | Sandown [13] | 12 September[14] | Kevin Bartlett | McLaren M10B Chevrolet | |
| 5 | Examiner 1000[15] | Symmons Plains[16] | 25 September | Tony Stewart | Elfin 600B England | |
| 6 | Rothmans Trophy[17] | Mallala Race Circuit | 11 October | John McCormack | Elfin MR5 Repco Holden |
Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six placegetters in each race.[1] Each driver could retain points only from his/her best five race results.[1] Only holders of a General Competition License issued by CAMS were eligible to compete for the title.[1]
| Position | Driver | Car | Entrant | Lak | Ora | Sur | San | Sym | Mal | Total | |
| 1 | Max Stewart | Mildren Waggott | Alec Mildren Racing Max Stewart Motors | 6 | 9 | 3 | - | 1 | 4 | 23 | |
| 2 | Kevin Bartlett | McLaren M10B Chevrolet | Kevin Bartlett Shell Racing | 9 | - | 4 | 9 | - | - | 22 | |
| = | Alan Hamilton | McLaren M10B Chevrolet | Porsche Distributors Racing | 4 | 6 | 6 | - | - | 6 | 22 | |
| 4 | John McCormack | Elfin MR5 Repco Holden | Elfin Sports Cars | - | - | - | 6 | 6 | 9 | 21 | |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | Elfin 600B England Ford | Paul England Pty Ltd | 3 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 1 | 16 | |
| 6 | Henk Woelders | Elfin 600C Waggott | Bill Patterson Racing | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | - | 2 | 11 | |
| 7 | Warwick Brown | McLaren M4A Cosworth | Pat Burke Racing | - | - | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | 10 | |
| 8 | Frank Matich | McLaren M10B Repco Holden | Rothmans Team Matich | - | - | 9 | - | - | - | 9 | |
| 9 | Jack Bono | Elfin 600B Ford | Graham Collier | - | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | - | 6 | |
| 10 | Garrie Cooper | Elfin 600B Lotus | Elfin Sports Cars | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | 3 | |
| = | Colin Hyams | Lola T192 Chevrolet | Colin Hyams | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 3 | |
| 12 | Ivan Tighe | Elfin 600B Ford[18] | Ivan Tighe | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | |
| 13 | John Walker | Elfin 600C Ford | City State Racing Team | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
| = | John Ampt | Elfin Mono IIB Ford | John Ampt | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
New Zealander Graeme Lawrence (Brabham BT30 Ford) placed second at Oran Park, but not being an Australian resident he did not qualify for championship points.[8]