1978 Australian Sports Car Championship

The 1978 Australian Sports Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Group D Production Sports Cars.[1] It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian National Title [2] and it was the tenth Australian Sports Car Championship.[3]

The championship was won by Ross Mathiesen [4] driving a Porsche Carrera.[3]

Calendar

The championship was contested over a four-round series.[4]

Round[4] Circuit[4] State Date[4] Format[4] Round winner[4] Car
1 Calder Victoria 10 March Two heats Ross Bond Bolwell Nagari
2 Lakeside International Raceway [5] Queensland 2 April Two heats Ross Mathiesen Porsche Carrera
3 Amaroo Park New South Wales 21 May One race Ross Bond Bolwell Nagari
4 Winton Victoria 20 August Two heats Ross Mathiesen Porsche Carrera

Classes

Cars competed in two engine displacement classes.[2]

  • Up to and including 2000cc[2]
  • Over 2000cc[2]

Points system

Championship points were awarded at each round on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the first six finishers in each class, and on a 4-3-2-1 to the first four finisher outright, irrespective of class.[2]

At rounds which were contested over two heats, round placings were determined by allocating "points" to the first fourteen placegetters in each heat on a 20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.[2] Where more than one driver attained the same total, the relevant round placing was awarded to the driver gaining the higher place in the last heat.[2] Actual championship points were then awarded based on the calculated round placings.[2]

Championship results

Position Driver[4] Car[4] Entrant [6] Class[4] Calder[7] Lakeside[7] Amaroo[7] Winton[7] Total[4]
1 Ross Mathiesen Porsche Carrera[2] Ross Mathiesen Over 2000cc 9 13 9 13 44
2 Bill Evans Triumph TR7 Playboy Racing Team Up to 2000cc 9 9 4 10 32
= Ross Bond Bolwell Nagari Ross Bond Over 2000cc 13 6 13 - 32
4 Allan Hanns Datsun 2000 Allan Hanns Up to 2000cc 6 4 9 2 21
5 John Latham Porsche Carrera John Latham Over 2000cc - 9 - 9 18
6 Alan Edwards [8] Bolwell Nagari Alan Edwards Over 2000cc 6 4 2 2 14
7 Ray Julian [9] Datsun 2000 Ray Julian Up to 2000cc 1 6 6 - 13
8 Neal Swingler [10] Triumph GT6 Neal Swingler Up to 2000cc 3 2 - 6 11
= Warwick Henderson Chevrolet Corvette (C3) W. Henderson Over 2000cc 4 2 4 1 11
10 Peter Fitzgerald Porsche 911S Complan Over 2000cc - - 6 3 9
11 Fernando D'Alberto Datsun 260Z Fernando D'Alberto Over 2000cc 2 - - 6 8
12 Bob Kennedy Triumph TR5 Bob Kennedy Up to 2000cc[11] 4 3 - - 7
13 Chris Swingler Triumph Spitfire Autocarb Up to 2000cc 2 - - 3 5
14 Rex Colliver Lotus 47 Up to 2000cc - - - 4 4
15 Anthony Timmins Austin-Healey Sprite Up to 2000cc - - 3 - 3
= Ellen Reed MG Midget Ellen Reed Up to 2000cc - 1 2 - 3
17 Bernard van Elsen Bolwell Bernard van Elsen Over 2000cc 1 - - - 1
= Michael Finnis Jaguar E-Type Michael Finnis Over 2000cc - 1 - - 1
= Matt Pintar Bolwell Mark 7[12] Over 2000cc - - - 1 1
= Gary Ryan Triumph Spitfire Up to 2000cc - - - 1 1

References

  1. ^ Conditions for Australian Titles in the 1978 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport refers to “Sports Cars complying with Group D”. Classifications on page 240 of the 1978 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport refers to “Production Sports Cars (Group D)"
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conditions for Australian Titles, 1978 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 84 to 86
  3. ^ a b Records, Titles and Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-6
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Australian Sports Car Championship, Australian Competition Yearbook, Number 8, 1979, pages 65 to 67
  5. ^ Official Programme, Lakeside International Raceway, Sunday, April 2, 1978
  6. ^ Official Programme, Calder, 19 March 1978
  7. ^ a b c d Round points calculated by applying the points system, as published in the 1978 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, to the round results, as published in Australian Competition Yearbook Number 8
  8. ^ Australian Competition Yearbook has Allan Edwards, Official Programme, Calder, 19 March 1978 has Alan Edwards
  9. ^ Australian Competition Yearbook has Ray Julien, Official Programme, Calder, 19 March 1978 has Ray Julian
  10. ^ Australian Competition Yearbook has Neil Swingler, Official Programme, Calder, 19 March 1978 has Neal Swingler
  11. ^ Australian Competition Yearbook Number 8 indicates that Kennedy competed in the Up to 2000cc class at Calder and Lakeside, notwithstanding Triumph’s TR5 model being powered by a 2500cc engine.
  12. ^ No SR6 here, wwwbollyblog.blogspot.com, as archived at web.archive.org

Further reading

Jim Shepherd, Australian Sports Car Championship, 1978, A History of Australian Motor Sport, 1980, pages 178 to 179

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