The 1957 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of

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cars. The championship was contested over a nine race series with the winner awarded the 1957 CAMS Gold Star.The CAMS Gold Star, 1958 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 48 & 50 It was the first

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship contested annually from 1957 to 2014 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor ...

and the first motor racing title to be decided over a series of races at Australian circuits. The series was won by Victorian racer

Lex Davison Alexander Nicholas Davison (12 February 1923 – 20 February 1965) was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 and 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1957. He drove HWM-Jaguar, Ferrari, As ...

driving a Ferrari 500/625.1957 Gold Star, members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw/
Retrieved 22 June 2013 Davison dominated the championship, winning six of the nine races, including the series-opening 1957 Australian Grand Prix, to finish 19 points ahead of Tom Hawkes ( Cooper T23

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

). The other drivers to win races were Murray Trenberth (Vincent 1000), Arnold Glass ( HWM Jaguar) and Stan Jones (

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Calendar

The championship was contested over a nine race series. Shortly after the running of the Victorian Trophy, the

Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Motorsport Australia, formerly the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), is the nationally recognised governing and sanctioning body for four-wheeled motorsport in Australia. It is affiliated with the Federation Internationale de l'A ...

announced that it had introduced an annual "Gold Star" award for the champion Australian racing driver, with the Australian Grand Prix and the Victorian Trophy being retrospectively included in the list of nominated races counting towards the inaugural championship.

Points system

Championship points were awarded on an 8-5-3-2-1 basis for the first five places at each race.

Points table

At the Australian Grand Prix race at Caversham Lex Davison shared the winning car with Bill Patterson and championship points were allotted in proportion to the laps driven by each.

Championship name

The championship was referred to by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport at the time simply as "The CAMS Gold Star". However the actual Gold Star medallion was inscribed with the words "Champion Australian Driver" and historical records published by CAMS use the term "Australian Drivers' Championship".Records Titles and Awards, 2002 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-4

Calendar

Points system

Points table

Championship name

References

Further reading