1980 Australian Drivers' Championship

The 1980 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Australian Formula 1 racing cars.[1] The winner of the championship, which was the 24th Australian Drivers' Championship, was awarded the 1980 CAMS Gold Star.[2]

1980 Australian Drivers' Championship
Previous: 1979 Next: 1981

The championship was won by Alfredo Costanzo driving a Lola T430 Chevrolet.

Calendar
Alfredo Costanzo won the championship driving a Lola T430 similar to the car pictured above
Jon Davison placed second with a Lola T332 similar to the example above
John Bowe placed third driving an Elfin MR8 similar to the example pictured

The title was contested over an eight-round series with one race per round.[3][4]

Round [3] Race name [3] Circuit [3] State Date [3] Winning driver [3] Car
1 Sandown Park Victoria 24 February John Wright Lola T400 Chevrolet
2 Baskerville Tasmania March Jon Davison Lola T332 Chevrolet
3 Symmons Plains Tasmania 23 March John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
4 Oran Park New South Wales 4 May John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet
5 Lakeside Queensland 20 July Jon Davison Lola T332 Chevrolet
6 Sandown Park Victoria 14 September Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet
7 Rose City Trophy Winton Victoria 26 October Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet
8 Australian Grand Prix Calder Raceway Victoria 16 November Alan Jones Williams FW07B Ford

Class Structure

Australian Formula 1, in its 1980 incarnation, catered for cars complying with any one of the following three Formulae:

For championship points allocation purposes, cars competed in two classes:

  • Over 1600cc: Open to "Formula 5000" cars and "International Formula One" cars
  • Under 1600cc: Open to "Formula Pacific" cars [6]

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six Australian license holders in each class at each round. Bonus points were awarded on a 4-3-2-1 basis to the top four Australian license holders at each round, regardless of class.

Results
Position Driver Car Entrant [7] San Bas Sym Ora Lak San Win Cal Total [8][9]
1 Alfredo Costanzo Lola T430 Chevrolet Porsche Distributors - 2 9 - 8 13 13 13 58
2 Jon Davison Lola T332 Chevrolet Lee Seeton 9 13 6 6 13 2 3 - 52
3 John Bowe Elfin MR8 Chevrolet Ansett Team Elfin 4 9 13 13 3 - 9 - 51
4 Chas Talbot Lola T332 Chevrolet Chas Talbot 6 4 - - - 9 5 9 33
5 John Wright Lola T400 Chevrolet John Wright 13 6 - 9 - - - - 28
6 Ray Hanger March 77B Ford Ray Hanger - - - 4 6 9 4 - 23
7 Peter Williamson Galloway Ford Peter Williamson Pty Ltd - - - - 12 - - - 12
Rob Butcher Lola T332 Chevrolet Hahndorf Motor Museum - - - - - 6 - 6 12
9 Paul Hamilton Elfin 600 Paul Hamilton [10] - - - 9 2 - - - 11
John Smith Ralt RT1 John Smith - - - - - - 11 - 11
11 Clive Millis Elfin 700   - 9 - - - - - - 9
Andrew Newton Elfin 700   - - 9 - - - - - 9
Greg Doidge Matich A53 Greg Doidge [11] 1 - 4 4 - - - - 9
14 Dave Cooper Elfin 700   - 6 - - - - - - 6
Mike Stack Cheetah   - - - 6 - - - - 6
Gary Cosser Bowin P6 Ford   - - - - - - 6 - 6
Peter Middleton Elfin MR8 Chevrolet P Middleton 2 - - - - 4 - - 6
18 Ivan Tighe Chevron B37 Chevrolet Ivan Tighe - - - - 5 - - - 5
19 Bob Power Kaditcha Bob Power [10] - - - - 4 - - - 4
20 Peter Bull Elfin Peter Bull [10] - - - - 3 - - - 3
Garrie Cooper Elfin MR9 Chevrolet Ansett Team Elfin - - - - - - - 3 3
Ian Adams Lola T330 Chevrolet Ian Adams - - - - - 1 2 - 3
Peter Edwards Lola T332 Chevrolet PJ Edwards - - 2 - - - - 1 3
Mel McEwin Matich A53 Repco Holden Mel McEwin 1 1 1 - - - - - 3
25 Colin Trengrove Lola T332 Chevrolet John Silman Power Tools - - - - - - - 2 2

The following drivers were not eligible for championship points as they were not Australian license holders.

References
  1. CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1980 page 93
  2. Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, docs.cams.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
  3. Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127
  4. Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 110-127
  5. Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, pages 22-23
  6. Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, page 108
  7. Souvenir Program, Calder Raceway, 15-16 Nov 1980, page 44
  8. Championship Pointscore (Top 10), Racing Car News, December 1980, page 21
  9. Points totals below tenth position were calculated from round results published in Australian Motor Racing Year, 1980/81, pages 108-127
  10. Des White, Davison Inherits a Great Win!, Racing Car News, September 1980
  11. Raceday Competition Communicator, Sandown, September 13–14, 1980

Further reading
  • The official 50-year history of the Australian Grand Prix, 1986, pages 436-444
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