The 1984 Australian Grand Prix was a race for

Formula Mondial Formula Mondial was an international motor racing category which was introduced to replace both Formula Atlantic and the similar Formula Pacific''The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring'', 1986, page 171 in 1983.''Australian Motor Racing Yearbook, 1982 ...

racing cars, held at Calder Park Raceway in

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 18 November 1984. It was contested over a distance of 160.9 km (100 laps x 1.609 km) or an even 100 miles. The race was the forty ninth Australian Grand Prix, the fifth to be held at Calder and the fourth to be held specifically for

Formula Pacific Formula Pacific was a motor racing category which was used in the Pacific Basin area from 1977 to 1982. It specified a single-seat, open-wheeler chassis powered by a production-based four-cylinder engine of under 1600cc capacity. The formula was bas ...

racing cars. It was the last Australian Grand Prix to be held prior to the race becoming a round of the

Formula One World Championship 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, ...

the following year.

Race

The race was won by Brazilian driver

Roberto Moreno Roberto Pupo Moreno (born 11 February 1959), usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 championship p ...

, his third win during the four years in which the Grand Prix was held for the Formula Pacific / Formula Mondial category. While Formula Mondial would continue as the premier Australian open-wheel racing category for another two years, and would not be completely replaced until the creation of

Formula Holden Formula Holden was an Australian open wheel racing category introduced in 1989. History Known during its development as Formula Australia, it was initially for chassis constructed from aluminium only, running a 3.8-litre Buick V6 engine a ...

in 1989, this was the last year it would be associated with the Australian Grand Prix, as the race was granted Formula One World Championship status from

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and would be contested only by

Formula One 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, ...

cars. In many ways, Australian domestic open-wheel racing would be deprived of a signature race by the arrival of Formula One, a situation that continues as of 2015. The trend of the race organiser

Bob Jane Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...

of importing overseas star racers (mostly Formula One drivers) continued. In addition to Moreno, the starters for the 1984 race included , and F1 World Champion

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...

, F1 World Champion

Keke Rosberg Keijo Erik Rosberg (born 6 December 1948), known as "Keke" (), is a Finnish former racing driver and winner of the Formula One World Championship. He was the first Finnish driver to compete regularly in the series, as well as the first Finnish ...

, as well as Formula One drivers

Andrea de Cesaris Andrea de Cesaris (31 May 19595 October 2014) was an Italian racing driver. He started 208 Formula One Grands Prix but never won. As a result, he holds the record for the most races started without a race victory. A string of accidents early in ...

and

François Hesnault François Hesnault (born 30 December 1956) is a former racing driver from France. He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 25 March 1984. He scored no championship points. Hesnault enjoyed some success in the French Formula Th ...

. De Cesaris started from an unguarded pit lane ahead of the field and led the race briefly, although official lap scoring started his race when he started his second lap.

1984 Australian Drivers' Championship The 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title open to drivers of racing cars complying with Formula Mondial regulations.CAMS Manual of Motor Sport 1984, page 90 The winner of the title, which was ...

winner and front row qualifier, John Bowe, led the race until lap 9 when overtaken by Moreno after a loose spark plug lead caused his 1.6-litre

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

engine to misfire. He was forced to pit for a replacement plug lead. Poor starts by Moreno's teammate for the race, Niki Lauda, Rosberg and de Cesaris were overcome as the race progressed. Both keen aviators, Lauda and Rosberg had actually spent most of practice and qualifying attending an air show at the nearby

Essendon Airport Essendon Fields Airport , colloquially known by its former name Essendon Airport, is a public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. It is located next to the intersection of the Tullamarin ...

, with newly crowned World Champion Lauda stating that he was in Australia mostly for a holiday and just to get away from Europe. Hesnault, Bowe's teammate, retired after a bump with Bruce Connolly. Lauda and Rosberg diced briefly for third, before Rosberg and Terry Ryan clashed when Ryan was being lapped, with the closely following Lauda also colliding with Ryan, the result being that Rosberg and Ryan were able to continue while Lauda was out. Bowe dropped down the field with electrical problems. First Rosberg then de Cesaris caught and overtook the Tiga FA81/83 of

Alfredo Costanzo Alfredo Costanzo (born 3 January 1943, in Calabria, Italy) is a retired Italian born Australian racing driver. From 1980 to 1983 Costanzo won four Australian Drivers' Championships in a row, equalling the record set by Bib Stillwell from 1962 ...

to fill the podium positions. Bowe finished sixth behind David McMillan. The

Ralt RT4 The Ralt RT4 is an open-wheel formula racing car, designed, developed and built by Ralt, for Formula Atlantic (and was also occasionally raced in Formula Two categories), in 1980. It was later converted into a closed-wheel prototype, and used in th ...

was the choice of car for three-quarters of the field, with 18 of the 24 starters driving one. Other cars included Costanzo's Tiga FA81/83, two Cheetah Mk.8's, a Kaditcha FA82A, a Liston BF2 and a Dart 83M. All cars were powered by the 1.6-litre Ford BDA 4 cylinder engine. Touring car driver Peter Williamson was entered in a

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

powered

Toleman Toleman Motorsport was a Formula One constructor based in the UK. It was active between 1981 and 1985 and participated in 70 Grands Prix. Origins The Toleman company was formed in 1926 by Edward Toleman for the purpose of delivering Ford ...

TG860, but a crash in early practice that damaged the car saw him announce his retirement from open wheel racing. Consequently, the Toleman was withdrawn from the meeting. Due largely to the Australian Grand Prix becoming a round of the

from 1985, John Bowe became the last Australian driver to lead an AGP until Mark Webber led lap 21 of the

2006 Australian Grand Prix The 2006 Australian Grand Prix (officially the 2006 Formula 1 Foster's Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne on 2 April 2006. The 57-lap race was the 22nd Australia ...

in a Williams FW28- Cosworth. With Moreno taking the lead from Bowe on lap 9 of the race, it would be a total of 1,504 race laps before Webber would next put an Australian in the lead of an Australian Grand Prix.

Classification

Results as follows:

Qualifying

Race

* Winner's race time: 1 h 10 min 51.39 s * Winner's average speed: 136.33 km/h (74.71 mph) * Fastest lap:

: 41.27 s, 140.4 km/h (87.3 mph)

Race

Classification

Qualifying

Race

References

Further reading