The 1968 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at

Sandown Park Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse rac ...

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 ...

, Australia on 25 February 1968. The race was open to Racing Cars complying with the

Australian National Formula The Australian National Formula (often abbreviated to ANF) was an Australian motor racing category which was introduced by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport in 1964 and remained current until the end of 1969. It had replaced Formula Libre ...

or the Australian 1½ Litre Formula. It was the thirty third Australian Grand Prix and was also round seven of the 1968 Tasman Series. The race was staged by the Light Car Club of Australia and was sponsored by the

Royal Automobile Club of Victoria The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) is a motoring club and mutual organisation. It offers various services to members, including insurance and roadside assistance. It has about 30,000 ordinary club members who have access to the li ...

. Jim Clark, driving a Lotus 49T, won by 0.1 seconds from

Chris Amon Christopher Arthur Amon (20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand ...

(Dino 246), with whom he battled for the lead throughout the race. Clark's victory was rewarded with the Lex Davison Trophy and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria Trophy. It proved to be the last major victory for the Scotsman. Twice winner of the

World Championship of Drivers Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, three-time

Tasman Series The Tasman Series (formally the Tasman Championship for Drivers)Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport with National Competition Rules 1974, pages 80 to 83 was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 ove ...

champion and the winner of the

1965 Indianapolis 500 The 49th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Monday, May 31, 1965. The five-year-old "British Invasion" finally broke through as Jim Clark and Colin Chapman triumphed in dominatin ...

, Clark was killed in a

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name re ...

crash at the

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

circuit in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

six weeks after the race. In his last drive in an Australian Grand Prix,

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

started the race from pole position but retired with engine failure.

set the fastest race lap.

Leo Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan (16 May 1936 - 2 March 2015) was an Australian former racing driver. He was the elder of two sons of former New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, both of whom become dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s. Whi ...

(

Lotus 39 The Lotus 39 was a single-seat racing car produced by Team Lotus. It was originally intended for use in Formula One, to be powered by the Coventry Climax 1.5 litre flat-16 engine. The engine project fell through and the chassis was modified to ac ...

Repco V8 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 ...

) was the first Australian resident driver to finish,Tasman Cliff-Hanger!, Sports Car World, April 1968, pages 20 & 21 an achievement which was rewarded with the Langridge Cup.

Classification

Results as follows:

Notes

* Attendance: 12,000 * Winner's average speed: 101.5 mph (163.3 km/h)The official history of the Australian Grand Prix – 80 Races, p. 245

References

External links

Australian Grand Prix, Sandown Park, 25 Feb 1968, www.oldracingcars.com
{{s-end Grand Prix Australian Grand Prix Motorsport at Sandown Tasman Series Australian Grand Prix