The 1973 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to drivers of

Australian Formula 1 Australian Formula 1 (AF1) was a motor sport category for open-wheeler racing cars which was current in Australia from 1970 to 1983. AF1 was introduced by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport in 1970, initially restricting cars to unsuperch ...

and

Australian Formula 2 Australian Formula 2, sometimes abbreviated to AF2 or ANF2, is a "wings and slicks" formula racing category in Australia. The category is one of Australia's oldest, dating back to 1964. The current format of AF2 was introduced in 1978. Brian Shea ...

cars.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1973 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 92 to 93 It was the seventeenth

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 ...

Records, Titles and Awards : Australian Drivers' Championship – CAMS Gold Star, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-4 and the championship winner was awarded the 1973 CAMS "Gold Star". The championship was won by John McCormack driving an

Elfin MR5 The Elfin MR5 is an Australian Formula 5000 racing car produced from 1971-1972 by Elfin Sports Cars. Designed by Elfin owner/driver Garrie Cooper, the MR5 was the first car built by Elfin for Formula 5000 racing which had formed the basis of Aus ...

Repco Holden Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retailer company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialized manufacturing, for which they gained a high r ...

Schedule

The championship was contested over a five-round series with one race per round.Australian Formula One Championship, Australian Competition Yearbook, 1974 Edition, pages 60 to 77 There was to be a round at

Symmons Plains Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of th ...

on 23 September in an event shared with the

1973 Australian Formula 2 Championship The 1973 Australian Formula 2 Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title open to Australian Formula 2 racing cars.Australian Title Conditions, 1973 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 84-85 It was the seventh Australian Formula 2 Champi ...

. However, as just four

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...

cars were entered, organisers decided to run the event only for Formula Two cars. There was also originally to be an event at

Warwick Farm Warwick Farm is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Warwick Farm is located 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool and is part of the Sou ...

before that facility closed suddenly earlier in 1973. As a result of these cancellations, a second event was added at

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 ...

in late November.

Points system

Championship points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the top six places in each round with all rounds counting towards each driver's points total. Only drivers holding a CAMS General Competition License were eligible to score points.

Results

Note: The Australian Grand Prix was won by New Zealander

Graham McRae Graham McRae (5 March 1940 – 4 August 2021) was a racing driver from New Zealand. He achieved considerable success in Formula 5000 racing, winning the Tasman Series each year from 1971 to 1973, and also the 1972 L&M Continental 5000 Champio ...

. However, as the Australian Drivers' Championship was open only to holders of a CAMS General Competition License, 9 points were awarded to the highest placed eligible driver, John McCormack, 6 points to the second highest placed eligible driver etc.

Championship name

Conditions for the championship were promulgated by CAMS under the name "Australian Formula 1 Championship – Gold Star Award", with mention of the requirement for the phrase "Australian Champion Driver" to be reserved exclusively for the winner of the CAMS Gold Star. Historic records published by CAMS use the term

and that title has been used here.

References

{{Australian Drivers' Championship Australian Drivers' Championship Drivers' Championship Formula 5000