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1984 Australian Drivers' Championship
Motor racing competition
Motor racing competition
The 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to drivers of racing cars complying with Formula Mondial regulations.
The winner of the title, which was the 28th Australian Drivers' Championship, was awarded the 1984 CAMS Gold Star. John Bowe won the championship driving a Ralt RT4 Ford. It would be the first of two such titles for the Tasmanian driver. Finishing second in the championship was four-time defending champion Alfredo Costanzo in his Porsche Cars Australia team Tiga FA81 Ford, while the 1983 Australian Sports Car Champion Peter Hopwood driving his Ralt RT4 Ford finished in third place in his first full season of open wheel racing.
After finishing 4th and being the first resident Australian driver home in the non-championship 1984 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway in November, Alfie Costanzo effectively retired from open wheel racing when his Porsche Cars Australia team boss Alan Hamilton closed the race team.
Calendar
The championship was contested over a seven-round series with each round held as a single race. Winton Raceway was originally intended to host the final round of the series on 14 October but that meeting was cancelled. Negotiations between track secretary Michael Ronke and CAMS saw the round re-instated to 2 months earlier than planned (12 August) becoming Round 4 instead of Round 7. This rescheduling ultimately cost Alfredo Costanzo any chance he had of successfully retaining his championship as he had booked business with Porsche in West Germany for the weekend of the rescheduled race. John Smith would take his place in the Tiga FA/83 for the race.
| Round | Circuit | Event | City / state | Date | Winner | Car | Team | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Rd 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide International Raceway | Porsche Cars Australia Trophy | Adelaide, South Australia | 1 July | Alfredo Costanzo | Tiga FA81 Ford | Porsche Cars Australia | ||||||||
| Lakeside International Raceway | Brisbane, Queensland | 22 July | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/84 Ford | Chris Leach Racing | |||||||||
| Calder Park Raceway | Melbourne | 29 July | Alfredo Costanzo | Tiga FA81 Ford | Porsche Cars Australia | |||||||||
| Winton Raceway | Benalla, Victoria | 12 August | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/84 Ford | Chris Leach Racing | |||||||||
| Oran Park Raceway | Sydney | 19 August | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/84 Ford | Chris Leach Racing | |||||||||
| Wanneroo Park Raceway | Perth, Western Australia | 26 August | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/84 Ford | Chris Leach Racing | |||||||||
| Sandown International Raceway | EON FM Cup | Melbourne | 9 September | John Bowe | Ralt RT4/84 Ford | Chris Leach Racing |
Points system
Championship points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top six classified finishers at each round.
Results
| Position | Driver | No. | Car | Entrant | Rd1 | Rd2 | Rd3 | Rd4 | Rd5 | Rd6 | Rd7 | Total | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Bowe | 4 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Chris Leach Racing | 6 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | **52** | ||||||||||||
| Alfredo Costanzo | 1 | Tiga FA81 Ford | Porsche Cars Australia | 9 | – | 9 | – | 6 | 6 | 3 | **33** | ||||||||||||
| Peter Hopwood | 22 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Menage Racing | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | **23** | ||||||||||||
| Bruce Connolly | 51 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Bruce Connolly | 4 | 6 | 4 | – | 3 | – | 2 | **19** | ||||||||||||
| Lucio Cesario | 30 | Tiga FA83 Ford | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Ralt RT4 Ford | Porsche Cars Australia | 1 | – | 2 | 6 | – | – | 6 | **15** | ||||||||||||||
| Graham Watson | 8 & 9 | Ralt RT4 Ford | Ralt Australia | – | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | **13** | ||||||||||||
| Peter Macrow | 25 | Cheetah Mk 8 Ford | Repco Engine Parts | 2 | – | – | 2 | – | 2 | – | **6** | ||||||||||||
| John Smith* | 1 | Tiga FA83 Ford | Porsche Cars Australia | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | – | **4** | ||||||||||||
| Ian Bland | Kaditcha Ford | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | **4** | ||||||||||||||
| Peter Phillips | Ralt RT4 Ford | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | **3** | ||||||||||||||
| Peter Bull | Elfin 622 Ford | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | **2** | ||||||||||||||
| Bob Creasy | 6 | Ralt RT4 Ford | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | **1** |
*John Smith subbed for Costanzo at Round 4 due to Costanzo being in Germany
References
References
- CAMS Manual of Motor Sport 1984, page 90
- Barry Catford, Australian Drivers Championship, Australian Motor Racing Year 1984/85, pages 202 to 217
- [http://www.racingsportscars.com/covers/_Sandown-1984-09-09s.jpg 1984 CAMS Gold Star – Sandown]
- Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, Sunday 1 July 1984, page 29
- Race Data, Final round, Racing Car News, November 1984, page 54
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