1957 Australian Drivers' Championship
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The 1957 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n motor racing title for drivers of Formula Libre 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 is a motor racing championship contested annually since 1957 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category. This category was determined by the Confederation of Australia ...
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 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
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). The other drivers to win races were Murray Trenberth (Vincent 1000), Arnold Glass ( HWM
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) and Stan Jones ( Maserati 250F).


Calendar

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


References


Further reading

* CAMS Gold Star Award, Points score up to and including Wakefield Trophy, Australian Motor Sports, November 1957, page 445 * First Gold Star, Australian Motor Sports, January 1958, page 7 {{Australian Drivers' Championship Australian Drivers' Championship Drivers' Championship