Tasman series
The Tasman Series (English: Tasman Series ) was a series of automobile races that were held annually in Australia and New Zealand from 1964 to 1975 . It was named after the Tasman Sea , which separates the two countries. The rules of the Tasman series were initially based on those of Formula 1 . The races took place in January and February of each year. In the early years, the Tasman series was popular with both drivers and chassis manufacturers. When the series was based on Formula 5000 at the beginning of the 1970s , the personal and organizational connection to Formula 1 was lost. Three championship titles each went to Jim Clark and Graham McRae .
history
The Formula 1 era
The first season of the Tasman series took place in January and February 1964. The regulations were drafted in such a way that Formula 1 and Formula 2 racing cars were permitted. The biggest difference concerned the engine: The Tasman series allowed the use of 2.5 liter naturally aspirated engines, as they had been used in Formula 1 until 1960 . This decision was mainly due to cost reasons: After Formula 1 switched to 1.5 liter engines, the larger engines that had been used until then had become obsolete; on the other hand, the manufacturers still had a sufficient number of used engines of this configuration in stock, which were given to the teams at low cost for the oceanic races. The Tasman series retained these regulations even beyond 1965: While Formula 1 was again powered by 3.0-liter naturally aspirated engines from 1966 , Tasmania still had a maximum displacement of 2.5 liters. In practice, the Formula 1 engines were adapted accordingly during this time; BRM , Ferrari and from 1968 also Cosworth had developed corresponding derivatives of their standard engines.
In the 1960s, the Tasman series was popular with both drivers and Formula 1 chassis manufacturers; Graham Hill called the Tasman series "my winter quarters" at the time. The attractiveness initially resulted from the technical proximity of the series to Formula 1; In addition, the Tasman Series races were timed: they took place in January and February of each year; H. after the end of a Formula 1 season and before the start of the next season. During this time, when it was winter in the northern hemisphere, no races could be run in Europe for climatic reasons. The Tasman series allowed drivers to maintain racing practice during their Formula 1 free time, and it gave designers the opportunity to test new technical developments before the start of the upcoming Formula 1 season. As a result, almost all Formula 1 designers in the Tasman series competed with factory teams until 1969; that included Scuderia Ferrari. The starting field was supplemented by numerous private teams.
The Formula 5000 era
Contrary to expectations, the costs for competitive engines in Formula 1 rose towards the end of the 1960s. This development ultimately also affected the Tasman series. In the private teams in particular, there was increasing resistance to the price trend. The organizers of the Tasman series then changed the regulations. In order to reduce costs, they turned to the concept of the Formula 5000, which used large-volume eight-cylinder engines of American origin that were closely related to high-volume designs. Suppliers were now manufacturers such as Chevrolet and Ford . The displacement of pure racing engines, which were basically still permitted, was limited to 2.0 liters at the same time.
Technically, this development led away from Formula 1. The Formula 1 works teams now quickly withdrew from the Tasman series, because the oceanic races could no longer draw conclusions for the Formula 1 world championships. Designers like Lola and Chevron , who were not represented in Formula 1, then increasingly supplied the Tasman teams, and some local racing drivers even used their own designs. Graham McRae, for example, won the championships in 1972 and 1973 with Leda and McRae cars that he developed and built himself.
Even the European drivers established in Formula 1 hardly ever made it into the Tasman series in the 1970s. Last season's starting field consisted entirely of Australian drivers. One of the few exceptions was the Briton Peter Gethin , who won the European Formula 5000 Championship in 1969 and 1970 and was the Tasman Series champion in 1974.
Further development
From 1976 the Australian and New Zealand races were held separately from each other:
- the four Australian races were named Rothmans International Series . It existed from 1976 to 1979 and largely followed the Formula 5000 regulations.
- The four New Zealand races were grouped under the name Peter Stuyvesant Series . From 1977 it was advertised for Formula Pacific vehicles (engines up to 1.6 liters displacement).
Organization and races
A Tasman season consisted of eight to ten races that were carried out one week apart. The season started with four or five consecutive races in New Zealand. Then the teams moved to Australia, where the rest of the races took place. For some races the organizers used permanent race tracks, for others temporary courses, for example at airports, were set up. The composition of the New Zealand routes remained unchanged during the eleven years of existence of the Tasman series; in Australia, however, the routes changed repeatedly.
Routes in New Zealand
- Levin Circuit in Levin (1964-1975)
- Pukekohe Park Raceway in Pukekohe (1964–1975)
- Wingram Airfield Circuit in Christchurch (1964–1975)
- Teretonga Park near Invercargill (1964–1975)
Routes in Australia
- Sandown Raceway in Melbourne (1964-1975)
- Warwick Farm Raceway in Warwick Farm ( Sydney ) (1964–1973)
- Lakeside International Raceway in Brisbane (1964; 1966-1967)
- Longford Circuit in Longford ( Tasmania ) (1964–1968)
- Surfers Paradise International Raceway in Surfers Paradise (1968; 1970-1975)
- Adelaide International Raceway in Virginia (1972-1975)
- Oran Park in Narellan (Sidney) (1974–1975)
master
| year | driver | chassis | team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 |
 Bruce McLaren
|
cooper | McLaren | 47 (39) |
| 1965 |
 Jim Clark
|
lotus | lotus | 44 (35) |
| 1966 |
Jackie Stewart
|
BRM | BRM | 45 |
| 1967 |
Jim Clark
|
lotus | lotus | 45 |
| 1968 |
Jim Clark
|
lotus | lotus | 44 |
| 1969 |
Chris Amon
|
Ferrari | Scuderia Veloce | 44 |
| 1970 |
Graeme Lawrence
|
Ferrari | 30th | |
| 1971 |
Graham McRae
|
McLaren | Crown Lynn | 35 |
| 1972 |
Graham McRae
|
Leda Cars | Grid International (NZ) Ltd. | 39 |
| 1973 |
Graham McRae
|
McRae Cars | STP Corporation | 40 |
| 1974 |
Peter Gethin
|
Chevron | Chevron | 41 |
| 1975 |
Warwick Brown
|
Lola | Part Burke Racing | 31 |
literature
- Adriano Cimarosti: The century of racing , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9
- Maurice Hamilton: Frank Williams. The inside story of the man behind Williams-Renault . London 1998. ISBN 0-333-71716-3 .
- David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 116.
- Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend , MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 .
- Hartmut Lehbrink, Rainer W. Schlegelmilch: McLaren Formula 1 . Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft Köln 1999. ISBN 3-8290-0945-3
- Doug Nye: The Big Book of Formula 1 Racing Cars. The three-liter formula from 1966 . Publishing house Rudolf Müller, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-481-29851-X .
Web links
- official website ( Memento of February 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Tasman Series Race Summary 1964–1969