While the popular notion of Surfers Paradise is of sun, surf, sand and bikini-clad babes, Greg Langridge’s photographs show that nothing could be further from that stereotype; the Gold Coast rained cats and dogs during the Australian Grand Prix held on August 31, 1975.
Sandown hosted the final ’75 Tasman Cup round on February 23, so it was a long time between drinks for the F5000 pilots that didn’t have a gig overseas or another domestic racing program to keep their hands in. The five-round Australian Drivers Championship, aka the Gold Star, started at Surfers and finished at Phillip Island on November 28.
Gold Star Field…
Of the Tasman Top Trio, Warwick Brown headed back to the US, where he had a Jack McCormack Racing Talon Chev ride, Kiwi Graeme Lawrence did only the AGP, while John Walker was back with his Lola T332 retubbed after the colossal Sandown shunt from which he had ‘walked away’. Not back early enough, though, he missed the first AGP round, which proved rather critical at the season’s end…
Max Stewart and Kevin Bartlett were still grumpy about their variable-rate suspension Lola T400 Chevs, while the advantages of John Leffler’s variable-rate suspension Bowin P8 – handling and roadholding aspects of his Bowin P6F Formula Ford and Bowin P8 Hart-Ford 416B that he loved throughout 1973-74 – weren’t realised as the marriage of a Chev V8 with the Bowin P8 monocoque was executed poorly by Leffo and his team; the car was as stiff as a centenarians todger. A shame, as a Repco-Holden was a P8 bolt-on – John Joyce designed and built the car for that engine – the Chev, while bought at a good price, was not so.
A bloke falling back in love with Repco-Holden F5000 V8s was ’73 Gold Star Champ, John McCormack. He’d persevered with the aluminium Repco-Leyland F5000 V8-engined Elfin MR6 throughout 1974. While the car was light, it was hopelessly underpowered, unreliable and therefore uncompetitive.
Repco Ltd withdrew from racing in July 1974. The new Repco-Leyland F5000 program was a casualty. Unlike the cast-iron Holden 308 engine, the Leyland P76 V8 wasn’t structurally strong enough for racing. When Phil Irving ‘sectioned’ the engine at the program’s outset, he found it quite different to the Oldsmobile F85 aluminium V8 block that formed the basis of his 1966 World F1 Championship-winning 3-litre F1 Repco-Brabham 620 engine.
GM sold the BOP V8 (Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac) project to Rover, which made changes to it, too, and Leyland Australia when they built their 4.4-litre variant for the short-lived, very good but exceptionally ugly P76. Repco’s engineering resources would have overcome the shortcomings, as McCormack and Irving did ultimately, just! See here:https://primotipo.com/2024/10/18/repcos-withdrawal-from-racing/
In the interim, McCormack, Dale Koenneke and Simon Aram cranked old-faithful, their Repco-Holden V8s into the MR6 and instantly found the speed and reliability they needed. Mac was fourth in the ’75 Tasman.
The most impressive ’75 F5000 debutant was Bruce Allison, who enjoyed a successful season of ANF2 in 1974. His Birrana 274 Hart-Ford 416B was looked after by ace mechanic/engineer/Driver Whisperer Peter Molloy. The same combination ran the low miles Lola T332 Chev raced by KB in ’74 throughout 1975-76.
Soon to be 1975 Formula Ford Driver to Europe winner Paul Bernasconi was promising in Max Stewart’s other Lola T330 and T400, so too was Jon Davison in a self-funded Matich A50 Repco-Holden that had been raced by Walker in Australia and the US (A50-004). The Matich Repco-Holden top gun was John Goss, who was already a Tasman round winner despite graduating to F5000 in mid-1974.
Australian Grand Prix…
Bruce Allison proved he wasn’t remotely phased by the brawny 500bhp roller-skates, putting his T332 on pole of the big-balls track he knew so well. John Goss matched his time, with Leffo third.
When race day dawned very wet, the probable front-runners were rated as Stewart and Leffler, who had sets of Firestone wets of the type used by Brit Steve Thompson, who had run away and hid in his Chevron B24 Chev in the similarly soggy, steamy 1973 Warwick Farm 100 Tasman round.
Two warm-up laps allowed the starters to get a feel for the challenging conditions, then John Leffler’s Bowin jumped outta the box and blasted away under the Dunlop Bridge ahead of Allison, McCormack and Goss.
Leffo had a five-second gap after one lap and stretched this to 13 after seven. Bartlett spun early and dropped 20 seconds in his recovery. Leffler’s Bowin looked twitchy, but there was no holding him back as the race settled down.
After the first couple of laps Allison eased back a bit from the Grace Bros car but found McCormack’s Elfin MR6 harrying him. Jon Davison was driving his Matich well with fellow Matich racer Goss in heaps of strife with a badly misted visor after he’d accidentally wiped the demisting fluid off it before the race.
Enno Buesselmann retired his Elfin 622 Lotus-Ford ANF2 car after a dive under Graeme Lawrence at Firestone didn’t end well; he speared off onto the swamplike infield from which there was no escape.
By lap five, Bartlett had closed right up on Davison while Stewart and McCormack gained on Allison. Leffler was lapping the stragglers but lengthened his lap times by four or five seconds each time he had to submarine through a car’s spray.
On lap nine Allison spun at Goodyear, letting McCormack and Stewart through while Bartlett retired after being hit by a missile as he raised his visor to see where he was going.
Leffler extended his lead to 20 seconds from McCormack and Stewart, then there was a gap to Allison, then Davison ahead of Ray Winter, in the ex-Gardner/Bartlett/Muir Mildren Yellow Submarine Hart-Ford 416B ANF2 car, then Lawrence, Lola T332, Garrie Cooper, Elfin MR5B Repco-Holden and Chris Milton’s ex-David Hobbs McLaren M22 Chev.
Allison spun again after 17 laps at which point Peter Molloy called it a day, while McCormack and Stewart chased down Leffler.
With 20 laps down Leffler was slowed by Davison’s spray while Stewart blasted past Cooper and then caught Leffler but spun trying to go under him at Lukey.
Max then got his dander up and set the fastest race lap, gathered up McCormack in three laps, passing him under the bridge and set off after Leffler 10 seconds up the road but now nursing an engine that wasn’t running on all eight thanks to the liberal dousing of his electrics by the Rain Gods.
Stewart dived past Leffler into Lukey on lap 31 and then opened a lead just as McCormack was black-flagged into a pit stop for not wearing a vizor. Stewart wasn’t using his either; he was keeping it cocked open with one hand while driving with the other.
Cooper retired with suspension failure and McCormack was soon back in the pits with a tyre that had thrown its tread. This chain of misfortune left Ray Winter holding down third place in his F2 Mildren followed by Lawrence.
Max Stewart took a plucky, but lucky win from Leffler, the star of the day, then Ray Winter in a fantastic drive of the Sub, from Graeme Lawrence, John McCormack and Chris Milton.
Gold Star Championship…
A fortnight after Surfers the F5000 Circus convened at Sandown Park in Melbourne’s southern suburbs where the Marlboro 100 was taken in fine style by John Walker’s Lola T332 Repco-Holden from Bruce Allison, Kevin Bartlett and John Leffler.
Walker started the September 15 race from pole – no sign of any heebie-jeebies as a legacy of his Tasman Cup accident in February.
John Goss seemingly had the race in the bag, leading until lap 21 of 32 when his rear wing support broke. From then Walker and Allison were neck and neck with Bruce only metres away from Adelaide’s finest in the ex-Bartlett T332 Chev. Of the frontrunners, only McCormack – from grid two – had a DNF due to a gearbox problem.
In a tightly compressed Gold Star, the next round was at Oran Park in Sydney’s outer west, the following weekend, September 21.
The top three qualifiers were Stewart, Allison and McCormack from Walker, Leffler and Bartlett. The race organisers used a two-heat format, each comprising 24 laps of the by then longer circuit.
Stewart won the first from McCormack and Leffler, Leffo having again got the jump at the start. Max led but trailed oil smoke, Mac awaited the black flag, which didn’t come, his percentage play didn’t work as by the time Max eased, he was out of the Elfin’s reach.
Stewart had the advantage until he pitted on lap 7 with his nose-section coming adrift. McCormack then led before being passed by Allison. John returned the favour, and the crowd was treated to that duel, and another between Walker and Leffler. Mac’s flat-plane-crank Repco-Holden had the better of Allison’s Molloy Chev, then the matter was settled when Bruce went wide exiting BP and hit the wall.
When the results were aggregated, John McCormack won the round from Stewart, Leffler and Walker. At that stage Stewart was on 15 Gold Star points, Leffler 13, and McCormack and Walker 12 points.
The final two rounds were in Victoria which made logistics a bit easier for the teams, Calder was on October 19, and Phillip Island a month later, on November 28.
Bob Jane’s boys went for a two-race format, 30 laps, or thirty miles each. John McCormack took pole with a 39.8-second lap – under the magic 40 seconds – from Max Stewart on 39.9 and KB 40 seconds neat.
McCormack won the first heat, holding the lead from flag to flag, from Stewart and John Walker, then a fiercely scrapping Bartlett and Leffler. John McCormack got the jump in the second heat, too. Stewart’s challenge faded early with engine problems and ultimately a black flag. Bartlett spun early, so too did Mac, leaving Walker in the lead, an advantage he held to the end from Mac, KB and Paul Bernasconi, in Max’s old T330 Chev.
McCormack won the round from Walker, Stewart and Bartlett; the Gold Star tally was McCormack 21, Stewart 19, Walker 18 and Leffler still on 13 and effectively out of the running. The title swung on the final round…
KB was in good form as he drove over the bridge from San Remo to Newhaven on Phillip Island on November 20. He sneaked in the Macau Grand Prix between Calder and Phillip Island on November 16, finishing a great second to winner John McDonald’s Ralt RT1 Lotus-Ford. Bartlett raced an Equipe 66 (LC Kwan, Hong Kong) Brabham BT40 Lotus-Ford.
McCormack took pole on the fast, challenging, still pretty rough track, 1.8 seconds clear of Bartlett, Leffler and Stewart.
The Bowin P8 Chev put its power down amazingly well, and Leffo made another of his screamer starts, blasting into the lead from row two. Stewart was out early with a broken pushrod. KB lined Leffo up in Southern Loop; soon John Walker followed suit. McCormack’s challenge faded; a moment through the Southern Loop rough stuff on the first lap had upset his car’s handling, then Leffler slowed with fuel feed problems.
Walker was racing Bartlett for his (JW’s) Gold Star. He needed to win the race to bridge the gap to McCormack. For the rest of the race, it was cut-and-thrust. KB led, then extended his lead when JW miscued at Repco, who then made up the shortfall over the ensuing six laps. Walker took the lead and held it for three laps before the head gasket(s) started to fail, causing a loss of power.
The Australian Motor Racing Annual recorded it this way, ‘Bartlett quickly closed up again, passing Walker flat in fifth while crossing the line to start the final lap. Walker hung on, chasing the red Lola up the back section of the circuit, where he made a last try for the lead at the right-hander before Lukey. It almost came off, except that KB had him covered to the extent that the T400 stayed in front.’
‘However, KB hit a patch of water and spun off while Walker, trying to avoid the red Lola, speared off into the long grass on the inside of the circuit, heading for Len Lukey’s cow sheds. Bartlett was the first to recover and regained the circuit to win by 23 seconds from John McCormack, with a very angry Johnnie Walker filling third place in a Lola with a very battered nose.’
‘But the drama was not over, as KB sped across the line to receive the flag, he backed off, and the rear wheels of his car locked on the rain-dampened track. Next thing, KB was sideways at 230 km/h and heading for the armco. Many would have crashed, but KB’s superb reflex action saved the day, he avoided the fence by a few centimetres and continued safely on for his cool-down lap.’
‘It was KB’s first win since the championship race at Phillip Island the year before. For Walker, it was a bitter disappointment as a win in the race would have clinched him the Australian Driven Championship. But Walker failed to contest the first round – something no serious racer can afford to do if he wants to win a title.’
True…but perhaps a tad hard given the expenditure required of his Lola T332 to get it back into RWC in the time available. Thankfully, the planets and karma were fully aligned for JW in 1979 when he took a lucky AGP win and the Gold Star in Martin Sampson’s Lola T332 Chev – the ex-Bartlett/Allison/Bartlett chassis.
Credits…
Greg Langridge-State Library of Queensland, Richard Cousins, GCB-Gold Coast Bulletin, Chris Jewell, Steve Elliott, Terry Marshall, Gavin Fry, Ian Smith, Doug Grant Collection, Mike Harding, Robert Davies, Bruce Keys
Tailpiece…
Heaven on a stick was the old paddock at Sandown!
Crowded as anything for competitors but great for spectators, here the Shell tent during the 1975 Tasman round with Chris Amon’s Talon MR1 shot front and centre. Then Jim Murdoch’s Begg 018, Kevin Bartlett’s Lola T332, with Graeme Lawrence’s #14 T333 airbox there too.
Finito…
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