The 1982 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to racing cars complying with Australian Formula 1.[1] [2] It was the 26th Australian Drivers' Championship.[3] The title winner, Alfredo Costanzo[4] was awarded the 1982 CAMS "Gold Star".[1]
The championship was contested over an eight-round series.[4]
| Round | Name | Circuit | Date | Format | Winner | Car | |
| 1 | Oran Park | 25 April | Two heats | John Smith | Ralt RT4 Ford[5] | ||
| 2 | Adelaide International Raceway | 4 July | Two heats | Andrew Miedecke | Ralt RT4/81 Ford[6] | ||
| 3 | Wanneroo Park | 11 July | Two heats | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/81 Ford[7] | ||
| 4 | Lakeside | 25 July | Two heats | Charlie O'Brien | Ralt RT4/82 Ford[8] | ||
| 5 | Calder Raceway | 1 August | Two heats | Alfredo Costanzo | Tiga FA81 Ford[9] | ||
| 6 | Sandown Park | 12 September | One race | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/81 Ford[10] | ||
| 7 | Winton | 24 October | Two heats | Alfredo Costanzo | Tiga FA81 Ford[11] | ||
| 8 | National Panasonic Australian Grand Prix[12] | Melbourne International Raceway | 7 November | One race | Alfredo Costanzo | Tiga FA81 Ford[13] |
Championship points were awarded at each round on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six finishers in round.[1] Points were allotted only to Australian license holders, in their order of finishing, irrespectively of their actual position.[1] The best seven rounds results were counted for each driver.[1] Where rounds were conducted over more than one heat, points were allocated on a 20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for the first 14 places in each heat and then aggregated for each driver to determine the actual round placings.[1] Where more than one driver earned the same number of points the relevant round placing was awarded to the driver who was placed higher in the last heat.[1]
| Position | Driver | No. | Car | Entrant | Ora[14] | Ade | Wan | Lak | Cal | San | Win | Cal | Total | |
| 1 | Alfredo Costanzo | 1 | Tiga FA81 Ford | Porsche Cars Australia | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 9 | - | 9 | 9 | 42 | |
| 2 | John Bowe | 4 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | Chris Leach Racing | - | 6 | 9 | - | 6 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 38 | |
| 3 | Andrew Miedecke | 2 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | A Miedecke | - | 9 | - | 4 | - | 6 | - | 6 | 25 | |
| 4 | John Smith | 71 | Ralt RT4 Ford &<br>Ralt RT1 Ford | J Smith | 9 | - | - | 6 | - | - | 2 | 2 | 19 | |
| 5 | Charlie O'Brien | 3 | Ralt RT4/82 Ford | C O'Brien | - | 4 | 4 | 9 | - | - | - | - | 17 | |
| 6 | Richard Davison | 6 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | Clive Millis Motors Pty Ltd | 6 | - | - | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | 12 | |
| 7 | Robert Handford | 14 | Ralt RT4/82 Ford | R Handford | - | - | - | 3 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 7 | |
| 8 | Graham Watson | 9[15] | Ralt RT4 Ford | Graham Watson Motor Racing P/L | 3 | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | 6 | |
| = | Bruce Allison | 27 | Ralt RT4 Ford | - | - | - | - | 4 | 2 | - | - | 6 | ||
| = | Alan Jones | 27 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Alan Jones Racing | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | 6 | |
| 11 | Phillip Revell | 64 | Ralt RT4/81 Ford | Aub Revell | - | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| 12 | Paul Radisich | 25 | Ralt RT4 Ford | P Radisich | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | 4 | |
| 13 | Bob Creasy | 16 | Ralt RT4 Ford | B Creasy | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | |
| = | Chris Hocking | 74 | Cheetah Mk8 Ford | C Hocking | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | 3 | |
| 15 | Doug Macarthur | 12 | Ralt RT4 Ford | D M Macarthur | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | |
| = | Willie Stobard | 23 | Ralt RT4 Ford | W Stobard | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | |
| 17 | Russell Norden | Ralt RT4/82 Ford | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | |||
| = | Peter Williamson | 7 | Toleman TA860 Toyota | National Panasonic (Aust.) P/L | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
| = | Graham Brown | 77[16] | March 81A/82A Ford | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
Note: At the Australian Grand Prix, fifth placed Alfredo Costanzo was the highest placed driver eligible for the championship and thus was awarded the maximum championship points for the round.[15]
The conditions for the 1982 championship were published by CAMS under the name "Australian Formula 1 Championship".[1] Australian Motor Racing Year 1982/83 uses both "Australian Drivers Championship" and "Australian Formula One Championship" in its review of the series.[4] CAMS uses "Australian Drivers' Championship" in its historical records[3] and that has been followed here.