The 1976 Australian Drivers' Championship was an Australian motor racing competition open to Australian Formula 1 cars and Australian Formula 2 cars.[1] It was authorised by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian National Title with the winner awarded the CAMS Gold Star.[1] The title was the 20th Australian Drivers' Championship.[2]
The championship was won by John Leffler driving a Lola T400.[3]
The championship was contested over a four-round series.[4]
Round | Round/race name | Circuit | State | Date | Round format | Winner | Car | Report | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Australian Grand Prix | Sandown Park | Victoria | 12 September | One race | John Goss | Matich A51/53[5] Repco Holden | Report | |
2 | Oran Park | New South Wales | 19 September | One race | Max Stewart | Lola T400 Chevrolet | |||
3 | Calder Raceway | Victoria | 17 October | Two Heats | John McCormack | McLaren M23 Leyland | |||
4 | Mirafiori 5000[6] | Phillip Island | Victoria | 28 November | One race | Alf Costanzo | Lola T332 Chevrolet |
Championship points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first six place-getters at each round.[1] For Round 3 only, round placings were determined by allocating points to the first fourteen place-getters in each heat on a 20–16–13–11–10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis.[1] Championship points were then awarded on the standard 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top six drivers for that round.[1] Only holders of current and valid full General Competition Licenses issued by CAMS were eligible for the championship.[1]
Position | Driver | Car | Entrant[7] | San. | Ora. | Cal. | Phi. | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Leffler | Lola T400 Chevrolet | Grace Bros Racing | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 22 |
2 | Max Stewart | Lola T400 Chevrolet | M Stewart | – | 9 | 3 | – | 12 |
3 | John McCormack | McLaren M23 Leyland | J McCormack Budget Rent-a-Car[8] | – | – | 9 | 2 | 11 |
4 | Bruce Allison | Lola T332 Chevrolet | B Allison Hobby & Toyland[9] | – | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
5 | John Goss | Matich A51/53 Repco Holden | John Goss Racing Pty Ltd | 9 | – | – | – | 9 |
Alf Costanzo | Stock 84 Brandy A. Costanzo [10] | – | – | – | 9 | 9 | ||
7 | Garrie Cooper | Elfin MR8 Chevrolet | Ansett Team Elfin | – | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
8 | Kevin Bartlett | Lola T400 Chevrolet | Shellsport | – | 6 | – | – | 6 |
9 | Chris Milton | McLaren M22 Chevrolet | John Martin's / Shellsport | 4 | – | – | – | 4 |
10 | Andrew Miedecke | Brabham BT36 Ford | Grace Bros Racing | 3 | – | – | – | 3 |
11 | Chris Farrell | Elfin 622 Ford | C. Farrell [11] | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
Gil Cameron | McLaren M10B Chevrolet | VYI's Fashion Sunglasses | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | |
John Edmonds | Elfin MR5B Repco Holden | Hi-Way Denims J. Edmonds | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
Note:
The championship has been referred to by various names including the 1976 Australian Formula 1 Championship,[1] the 1976 Gold Star Championship,[6] the 20th Australian Formula 1 Drivers Championship for the 1976 C.A.M.S. Gold Star Award[11] and the 1976 Australian Drivers' Championship.[4] The latter term is used by CAMS in historical records[2] [12] and has been used in this article.