1971 Australian Grand Prix

The 1971 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Warwick Farm Raceway in New South Wales, Australia on 21 November 1971. It was open to Racing Cars complying with either Australian Formula 1 or Australian Formula 2 regulations.^[2]

1971 Australian Grand Prix
Australian Formula 1 & Australian Formula 2 race
Race details
Date	21 November 1971
Official name	XXXVI Australian Grand Prix
Location	Warwick Farm Raceway, Sydney, New South Wales
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	3.621 km (2.25 miles)
Distance	45 laps, 162.945 km (101.25 miles)
Weather	Fine, mild[1]
Pole position
Driver	Frank Matich	Matich-Repco Holden
Time	1'24.3
Fastest lap
Driver	Frank Matich	Matich-Repco Holden
Time	1'24.6
Podium
First	Frank Matich	Matich-Repco Holden
Second	Kevin Bartlett	McLaren-Chevrolet
Third	Alan Hamilton	McLaren-Chevrolet

The race was the thirty sixth running of the Australian Grand Prix. Frank Matich won his second straight AGP and, as in 1970, he started the race on pole and also set the fastest race lap. The race marked the debut of Matich's self designed and built Matich A50 which was powered by a Repco Holden V8 engine. Matich won the race by 58.7 seconds from Kevin Bartlett driving a McLaren M10B-Chevrolet, with Alan Hamilton, also driving McLaren M10B-Chevrolet, 1.1 seconds behind Bartlett in third place.

Other than two New Zealanders, the only international driver in the event was 1964 Formula One World Drivers' Champion John Surtees. The Englishman started ninth in his Surtees TS8-Chevrolet, and battled with Bartlett, Hamilton, and, until his retirement, Colin Bond in the McLaren M10B in which Matich had won the 1970 Australian Grand Prix. Surtees ultimately placed 14th after suffering two punctures late in the race.^[3] 1971 Rothmans F5000 European Championship winner Frank Gardner was unable to start the race after damaging his Lola T300 in the first practice session on the Saturday.^[4]

Classification

Results as follows:^[3]

Official practice

Frank Matich won the race driving a Matich A50 similar to the above

Grid positions for the race were determined during "official practice".^[5]

Pos	No	Driver	Car/Engine[5]	Time	Gap
1	1	Frank Matich	Matich A50 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	1:24.3	—
2	8	Bob Muir	Mildren Mono / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4	1:25.4	+0.9
3	7	John Harvey	Brabham BT36 / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4	1:25.6	+1.3
4	6	Max Stewart	Mildren / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4	1:25.8	+1.5
5	14	Graeme Lawrence	Brabham BT30 / Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4	1:26.0	+1.7
6	9	Alan Hamilton	McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	1:26.3	+2.0
7	2	Colin Bond	McLaren M10B / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	1:26.4	+2.1
8	5	Kevin Bartlett	McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	1:26.8	+2.5
9	3	John Surtees	Surtees TS8 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	1:27.2	+2.9
10	11	John McCormack	Elfin MR5 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	1:27.6	+3.3
11	12	Warwick Brown	McLaren M4A / Cosworth FVC 1.9L I4	1:29.3	+5.0
12	26	Jack Bono	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:29.7	+5.4
13	15	Don O'Sullivan	McLaren M18 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	1:29.7	+5.4
14	17	Gary Campbell	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:30.1	+5.8
15	20	Alfredo Costanzo	Elfin AC1 / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:30.1	+5.8
16	16	Henk Woelders	Elfin 600C / Waggott T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:31.2	+6.9
17	10	Colin Hyams	Lola T192 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	1:31.4	+7.1
18	19	Terry Quartly	Lotus 32B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:31.8	+7.5
19	25	Ian Fergusson	Bowin P3A / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:33.0	+8.7
20	21	Ian Cook	Devione LC2 / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:33.8	+9.5
21	24	Ross Ambrose	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:34.2	+9.9
22	18	Clive Mills	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2)	1:34.8	+10.5
23	23	Chris Farrell	Brabham BT6 / BRM Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	DNP
–	4[5]	Frank Gardner[4]	Lola T300 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8[5]	DNP[4]	–

Race

Pos	No.	Driver	Car[5]	Entrant[5]	Laps	Time / Reason
1	1	Frank Matich	Matich A50 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	Rothmans Team Matich	45	1h 05m 09.5s
2	5	Kevin Bartlett	McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	Kevin Bartlett Shell Racing	45	1h 06m 08.2s
3	9	Alan Hamilton	McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	Porsche Distributors Racing Pty Ltd	45	1h 06m 09.3s
4	14	Graeme Lawrence	Brabham BT30 / Cosworth FVC 1.8L 4cyl	Air New Zealand	45	1h 06m 09.7s
5	6	Max Stewart	Mildren / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L 4cyl	Max Stewart Motors – Waggott Engineering	45	1h 06m 10.2s
6	11	John McCormack	Elfin MR5 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	Elfin Sports Cars	44
7	12	Warwick Brown	McLaren M4A / Cosworth FVC 1.9L 4cyl	Pat Burke Racing	43
8	17	Gary Campbell	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Provincial Motors	43
9	16	Henk Woelders	Elfin 600C / Waggott T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Bill Patterson Racing	43
10	26	Jack Bono	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Graham Collier	43
11	25	Ian Fergusson	Bowin P3A / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Ian Ferguson	42
12	21	Ian Cook	Devione LC2 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Autocorse	42
13	18	Clive Mills	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Clive Millis Motors Pty Ltd	41
14	3	John Surtees	Surtees TS8 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	Team Surtees	38
15	18	Terry Quartly	Lotus 32 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Jeff Noblett	38
Ret	7	John Harvey	Brabham BT36 / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L 4cyl	Bob Jane Racing	23[6]	Exhaust[7]
Ret	15	Don O'Sullivan	McLaren M18 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	Don O'Sullivan Racing Pty Ltd	21[6]	Crash[7]
Ret	2	Colin Bond	McLaren M10B / Repco Holden 5.0L V8	Rothmans Team Matich	20	Oil pressure[7]
Ret	20	Alfredo Costanzo	Elfin AC1 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Alfredo Costanzo		Engine[7]
Ret	10	Colin Hyams	Lola T192 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8	Colin Hyams		Wheels[7]
Ret	24	Ross Ambrose	Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	Ross Ambrose
Ret	23	Chris Farrell	Brabham BT6 / BRM Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2)	BP Cordon Service Station		Oil pressure[7]
Ret	8	Bob Muir[8]	Mildren Mono / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4	Robert Muir Motors Pty Ltd	0[4]	Bent valve[4]
DNS[4]	4[5]	Frank Gardner[4]	Lola T300 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8[5]	Amalgamated Scooters – Team Lola[5]	–	Practice accident[4]

• (AF2) indicates Australian Formula 2 car^[5]

Notes

• Pole position: Frank Matich – 1'24.3^[3]
• Starters: 23^[8]
• Finishers: 15^[3]
• Winner's average speed: 93.32 m.p.h.^[1]
• Australian Formula 2 Class winner:^[5] Gary Campbell^[3]
• Fastest lap: Frank Matich – 1'24.6 (94.75 mph / 154.08 km/h)^[3] (New outright lap record)^[1]