The 1961 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n motor racing titleRecords, Titles & Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-4 for drivers of

Formula Libre Formula Libre, also known as Formule Libre, is a form of automobile racing allowing a wide variety of types, ages and makes of purpose-built racing cars to compete "head to head". This can make for some interesting matchups, and provides the oppor ...

cars. The title was contested over a five race series1961 Gold Star races at members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw via web.archive.org
Retrieved on 3 June 2013 with the winner awarded the 1961 CAMS Gold Star.The CAMS Gold Star, 1961 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 50 It was the fifth

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 ...

. The series was dominated by

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

n racer Bill Patterson driving a

Cooper T51 The Cooper T51 was a Formula One and Formula Two racing car designed by Owen Maddock and built by the Cooper Car Company for the 1959 Formula One season. The T51 earned a significant place in motor racing history when Jack Brabham drove the car ...

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

. Patterson won three of the five races and was second and fourth in the other two. He finished the series 36 points ahead of

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 Australian Grand Prix, 1954 and 1961 Australian Grand Prix, 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' ...

(

Aston Martin DBR4 The Aston Martin DBR4/250, commonly referred to simply as the DBR4, is a Formula One racing car, designed by Ted Cutting for the sports car manufacturer Aston Martin. Following notable successes in sports car racing during the mid- to late-1950 ...

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer. History Pre WW1 The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocat ...

Bib Stillwell Bib Stillwell (born Bermar Sellars Stillwell; 31 July 1927 – 12 June 1999) was a racing driver who was active in Australian motor racing from 1947 to 1965. He won the Australian Drivers' Championship in each of the four years from 1962 to 1965 ...

(

Cooper T53 The Cooper T53 is a Formula One car built by British motorsport team Cooper for the 1960 Formula One season. Jack Brabham drove it to his second World Championship that year, and with teammate Bruce McLaren gave Cooper its second Constructors' Cham ...

) placed third in the points standings. The two races not won by Patterson were

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

, won by British driver

Roy Salvadori Roy Francesco Salvadori (12 May 1922 – 3 June 2012) was a British racing driver and team manager. He was born in Dovercourt, Essex, to parents of Italian descent. He graduated to Formula One by 1952 and competed regularly until 1962 for a su ...

in a

and Mallala, won by Davison, also driving a

Calendar

A sixth championship race was originally scheduled to be held

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...

on 10 December. Although a "Racing Car Scratch Race" (The Isle of Wight Trophy) was held at the circuit on that date, a contemporary report in Australian Motor Sports magazine does not label this as a "Gold Star" race and it is omitted from 1961 Gold Star championship summaries at "members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw" and "www.oldracingcars.com"Australian Gold Star 1961, www.oldracingcars.com
Retrieved on 4 June 2013

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 12-7-5-3-2-1 basis for the first six places in each race. Points were awarded only to drivers racing under an Australian licence.Patterson's victory gives him big lead for CAMS Gold Star, Sports Car World (magazine), circa May 1961 Ties were determined by the relevant competitors' placings in the Australian Grand Prix.

Championship results

The opening race at Longford was won by Englishman

who was not eligible for championship points. First place points for that race were therefore awarded to the second placed driver, Bill Patterson.

Championship name

The championship was referred to by 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'Au ...

in the 1961 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport simply as "The CAMS Gold Star". However historical records published by CAMS use the term "Australian Drivers’ Championship" and that title has been used in this article.

References

External links

Bill Patterson at the Gold Star, www.terrywalkersplace.com
{{Australian Drivers' Championship Australian Drivers' Championship Drivers' Championship