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1980 Australian Grand Prix


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#1 Graham Clayton

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Posted 15 February 2001 - 20:36

While looking up the results of the 1980 Australian Grand Prix in the excellent 50 year history of the AGP book, I came across something that I had not noticed before.

There were THREE different formulas represented in the
race:

1. Formula 1

Alan Jones - Williams FW07 Cosworth V-8
Bruno Giacomelli - Alfa Romeo 179 V-12

2. Formula 5000 (21 in all)

3. Formula Pacific/Mondial (3 in all)

The AGP had been a F5000 race since 1970.
Jones competed to celebrate his victory
in the 1980 F1 drivers World Championship.

Formula Pacific/Mondial was to replace F5000
in 1981, so these cars were given a run also.

Have there been any other open-wheel races
where 3 different formulas have competed
against each other? I suppose some of the
"Formula Libre" races in Europe might have
had this happen.

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#2 Allen Brown

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Posted 15 February 2001 - 20:54

Graham

1960's club libre racing was scary - all sorts of things in the same race. Among more major races, I'd suggest the 1976-77 European G8 championship, where F1, F5000, F2 and F Atlantic regularly raced against each other. Brands Hatch (30 Aug 1976) had several F5000 Chevy V8s on the grid, plus half a dozen of so F1 Cosworth DFV, a couple of 3.4-litre Ford GAs, two F2 BMW M12s, a couple of F2 Hart 420Rs and more Formula Atlantic BDAs that you could shake a stick at.

Pretty chaotic as I remember it.

Allen

#3 Rob29

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Posted 15 February 2001 - 21:45

South Africa had F1/F5000/F2 in early '70s.
The Australian races I don't think were ever officially F3000.More like Tasman Formula or "Australian F1".

#4 Ray Bell

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Posted 16 February 2001 - 03:49

There was indeed a Tasman F5000, which differed from either the British or US version by allowing fuel injection IIRC.
But the AGP of 1980 followed the Gold Star rounds of that year in allowing the field to be bolstered by the inclusion of FAtlantics (Pacific, really?), and then by special arrangement the F1 cars.
Note that ANF2 cars (single cam 1600s) were not allowed.

#5 David McKinney

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Posted 16 February 2001 - 06:30

The initial major difference between F5000 in various parts of the world was in the size of racing (as distinct from "stock-block") engines admitted. In North America it was three litres, which allowed F1 cars, in Europe it was 2 litres (the contemporary F2) and in the Tasman Formula 2500cc, to allow the local teams to continue running their engines from the previous formula. I repeat this was the initial difference, as most if not all changed later. South Africa was also 3000cc, IIRC.

#6 Falcadore

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Posted 16 February 2001 - 09:09

Rob29,
What do you mean by Australian races not being genuine F3000? Is that a typo? F5000 was very strong here for a while, even built up a not unimpressive industry around the construction of F5000 chassis. The were ridgy-didge F5000 cars. The only ground effect F5000 ever built, the MR9 was built by Garrie Cooper's Elfin workshops. IIRC John Bowe drove for Cooper at the time. Did Cooper drive the MR9 most of the time, or did Bowe get a chuck of seat time? Would be interesting to get Bowe's comments on the car with the distance of time for reflection.

Or do you mean our current F3000 based category? Formula Holden (formerly Formula Brabham and Formula Australia at the concept stage) is not genuine F3000, no. It uses F3000 chassis with a lcoally developed 3.8 litre control engine of Holden manufacture with Buick design origins. But what F3000 categories these days are genuine F3000? Japan isn't.


#7 Rob29

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Posted 16 February 2001 - 09:21

Apologies for the typo-I did mean F5000.What I meant was they were not run to the original F5000 rules as devised by John Webb of Brands Hatch. The Americans(SCCA) changed the name of their FA,and the Tasman Championship admited F5000 cars from 1970.John Webb also thought up the name Formula Atlantic to which SCCA later re-named their FB.

#8 fines

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Posted 16 February 2001 - 19:26

I think most of these formulae stemmed from John Webb's dissatisfaction with F2 at the end of the sixties. He desperately sought cheap, crowd-pulling racing for his tracks and came up with some interesting ideas, the Brands Hatch FLibre of 1972 amongst them.

#9 Ray Bell

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Posted 16 February 2001 - 21:06

True enough, the restrictions on 'free design' engines was different as mentioned, with the further difference in the Australian National Formula One of 1971(?), which only included these up to two litres. The Waggott TC4V held sway in that section, even won a couple of races outright, and I think even the Gold Star.
Definitely Fuel Injection was an issue across the waters, however. Check period photographs and you'll see carburettors somewhere. Where are those shots of Gethin?

#10 Marcor

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Posted 06 March 2001 - 01:29

What was the precise date of the 1980 AGP ?

#11 Graham Clayton

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Posted 06 March 2001 - 01:32

Originally posted by Marcor
What was the precise date of the 1980 AGP ?


Marcor,
I have just moved house, so my reference books are hard to get
at the moment.
Using my memory, it was around the 9th or 10th
of November 1980, in the middle of the Australian summer.
The race was conducted in temeperatures that got up
to the mid 30's Celsius.

#12 Ray Bell

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Posted 06 March 2001 - 01:50

November 16, in the late spring... summer starts December 1 here.

But it was hot... the balloons were bursting when they hit the bitumen...

#13 jadb1

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Posted 09 November 2004 - 05:47

There are photos of this race?
Thank you
alejandro


#14 Ray Bell

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Posted 09 November 2004 - 06:49

Thousands of them...

The Official 50-Race History of the Australian Grand Prix includes no fewer than eleven colour action pics... I have no doubt there are more than that in the Australian Motor Racing Yearbook for that year. Most of these would be Ray Berghouse (Chevron Publications) photos, but undoubtedly many other photographers were there.

I personally took none that day. In fact, I don't think I ever took a photo at Calder.

#15 Mark Beckman

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Posted 10 November 2004 - 15:31

Originally posted by Graham Clayton
While looking up the results of the 1980 Australian Grand Prix in the excellent 50 year history of the AGP book, I came across something that I had not noticed before.

There were THREE different formulas represented in the
race:

1. Formula 1

Alan Jones - Williams FW07 Cosworth V-8
Bruno Giacomelli - Alfa Romeo 179 V-12

2. Formula 5000 (21 in all)

3. Formula Pacific/Mondial (3 in all)

The AGP had been a F5000 race since 1970.
Jones competed to celebrate his victory
in the 1980 F1 drivers World Championship.


I was there for that, went to most Calder races as I only lived an hour away then - darn Calder was always either stinking hot or freezing bitterly cold, never seemed inbetween and was stinking hot that day.

Anyway I just responded to tell you a funny story about the day - a Tasmanian (one of our states) newspaper reported the upcoming race with the entered F1 stars "Alan Jones" and "Jack O'Malley" entered :rotfl:

Actually was a bloody good race between Jones and Giacomelli for quite a while and funny (as in strange) to watch our great F5000 cars get passed on the outside like they were standing still by the F1 cars.

.

#16 Andrew Kitson

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Posted 10 November 2004 - 15:49

Of course the ultimate Formula Libre race 'The Rothmans 50,000' at Brands in August 1972 turned out to be very dissapointing, following the PR blurb which promised F1, F5000, F2, F.Atlantic, Can-Am, Sports prototypes, even NASCAR...

Emerson Fittipaldi walked away with it in the JPS Lotus in what was effectively an F1/F5000 'Race of Champions' type affair with a few additional F2 cars and a single sportscar, a Group 6 Lola.

#17 Graham Clayton

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 11:04

The 2001 United States Formula Three championship never had more than 3 (and in the majority of races, only 2) cars competing at each race, so the field was padded out with Formula Ford and Formula Continental cars, amongst others:

http://www.speedspor...01/results.html