1976 Australian Drivers' Championship

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]

Calendar

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

Round^[4]	Round/race name	Circuit^[4]	State	Date^[4]	Round format^[4]	Winner^[4]	Car^[4]	Report
1	Australian Grand Prix^[4]	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

Points system

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]

Results

Position	Driver^[4]	Car^[4]	Entrant^[7]	San.^[4]	Ora.^[4]	Cal.^[4]	Phi.^[4]	Total^[4]
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^[5] Repco Holden	John Goss Racing Pty Ltd	9	–	–	–	9
5	Alf Costanzo	Lola T332 Chevrolet	Stock 84 Brandy A. Costanzo ^[10]	–	–	–	9	9
7	Garrie Cooper	Elfin MR8 Chevrolet	Ansett Team Elfin^[9]	–	2	2	4	8
8	Kevin Bartlett	Lola T400 Chevrolet	Shellsport^[9]	–	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^[9]	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^[8] J. Edmonds ^[10]	–	–	–	1	1

Note:

There were only five classified finishers at the Sandown Park round.^[4]
Vern Schuppan (Elfin MR8 Chevrolet) placed second at the Sandown Park round but was not eligible to score championship points.^[4]

Championship name

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.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Conditions for Australian Titles, The Australian Formula 1 Championship, 1976 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 80–81
^ ^a ^b Australian Drivers' Championship – CAMS Gold Star, 2002 CAMS Manual of Australian Motor Sport, page 14-4
^ Evan Green, Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, page 15
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r Australian National Formula One Review, Australian Competition Yearbook, 1977 Edition, pages 84 to 93
^ ^a ^b Matich A51/53, The official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix, 1986, pages 402 to 404
^ ^a ^b Paul Harrington, Alf's second in a row – Leffler's crown at last, Australian Auto Action, 9 December 1976, page 11
^ Event 4, Marlboro presents the Australian Grand Prix, Official Programme, Sandown International Motor Racing Circuit, 12 September 1976
^ ^a ^b Mirafiori 5000, Phillip Island, 28 Nov 1976, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved on 14 April 2014
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Australian Gold Star Race, Oran Park, 19 Sep 1976, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved on 14 April 2014
^ ^a ^b Official Souvenir Programme, Phillip Island, Sunday, November 21, 1976 and Sunday, November 28, 1976
^ ^a ^b Official Programme, Oran Park, 19th September 1976
^ Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, docs.cams.com.au As archived at www.webcitation.org on 14 April 2014