The 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship was an Australian motor racing competition open to racing cars complying with CAMS Formula Holden regulations. The championship winner was awarded the 1989 CAMS Gold Star as the Australian Drivers' Champion. It was the 33rd running of the Australian Drivers' Championship and the first to feature the Formula Holden class which had been developed during 1988, originally named Formula Australia.
The championship began on 7 May 1989 at Mallala Motor Sport Park and ended on 10 September at Sandown Raceway after ten rounds. Defending champion Rohan Onslow of Sydney won his second consecutive Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Ralt RT20. Mark McLaughlin, the winner of the inaugural Formula Holden race at Mallala, placed second in his Elfin FA891 (an Australian car designed and built specifically for the new category as opposed to the Ralt's which were sourced from Formula 3000 racing overseas). Channel 7 television commentator and then sometime touring car driver Neil Crompton finished third in his debut year in open wheel racing driving an ex-Satoru Nakajima Ralt RT20.
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship. TeamCarNoDriver R.J.Macarthur Onslow Ralt RT20 1 Rohan Onslow Tony Blanche Ralt RT21 3 Tony Blanche Competitive Edge Ralt RT20 4 Roger Martin Clive Kane Photography Ralt RT21 5 Simon Kane Elfin Sports Cars Elfin FA891 6 Mark McLaughlin Boylan Racing Ralt RT20 7 Neil Crompton Bap Romano Spa FB001 8 Bap Romano Cascone Corporation Spa FB001 812 Sam Astuti John Briggs Ralt RT21 9 John Briggs Ray Cutchie Ralt RT4 11 Ray Cutchie Brian Shead Cheetah Mk.9 13 Peter Glover TAFE Team Motorsport Shrike NB89H 18 Arthur Abrahams Ian Richards 20 Peter Doulman Mark Poole David Mawer Ralt RT21 27 Elwyn Bickley John Smith Brett Fisher Liston BF3 50 Brett Fisher Chris Hocking 87BAustralian Drivers Championship - Gold Star, Round 1 (entry list), Official Programme, Mallala, Sunday May 7th 1989, page 21The 87B was designed and built in Australia and was based on the March 87B; as recorded in the article Formula Holden is Here! Official Programme, Mallala, Sunday May 7th 1989, page 20 74 Chris Hocking Rohan Onslow John Hermann Ralt RT4 88 John Herrman
Note: All cars were required by the Formula Holden regulations to be fitted with 3.8 litre Holden V6 engines.Formula Holden, Official program, Foster's Australian Grand Prix, Adelaide, 2–3–4–5 November 1989, pages 133–134
Race calendar The 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship was contested over ten rounds at five race meetings. Rd.CircuitLocation / stateDateWinnerTeam 1 Mallala Motor Sport Park Mallala, South Australia 7 May Mark McLaughlin Elfin Sports Cars 2 Rohan Onslow R.J.Macarthur Onslow 3 Winton Motor Raceway Benalla, Victoria 4 June Rohan Onslow R.J.Macarthur Onslow 4 John Briggs John Briggs 5 Oran Park Raceway Sydney, New South Wales 9 JulyAustralian Motor Racing Year 1989/90, pages 172 & 174 Rohan Onslow R.J.Macarthur Onslow 6 Rohan Onslow R.J.Macarthur Onslow 7 Amaroo Park Sydney, New South Wales 6 AugustProgram, Amaroo Park Raceway, Sunday, August 6, 1989 Neil Crompton Boylan Racing 8 Simon Kane Clive Kane Photography 9 Sandown International Raceway Melbourne, Victoria 10 SeptemberAustralian Motor Racing Year 1989/90, pages 180 to 184 Sam Astuti Cascone Corporation 10 Neil Crompton Boylan Racing
Points system Championship points were awarded 9–6–4–3–2–1 based on the top six race positions at each round.Conditions For Australian Titles, 1989 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 75
Results Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Pts 1 Rohan Onslow 5th 1st 1st Ret 1st 1st Ret 6th 2nd 3rd 49 2 Mark McLaughlin 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd DNS 3rd 2nd 3rd Ret Ret 41 3 Neil Crompton 3rd 5th Ret 3rd 2nd 6th 1st DNS 3rd 1st 39 4 Sam Astuti Ret DNS 4th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd 31 5 Simon Kane DNS DNS 4th 4th 7th 2nd 5th 1st Ret DNS 23 John Briggs 4th 6th 3rd 1st Ret 8th 4th 4th 23 7 Peter Glover 2nd 3rd 6th DNS 11 8 Chris Hocking 5th 5th 6th 5th 7th DNS 5th DNS 9 9 Peter Doulman 9th Ret 6th 4th 6th 5th 7 10 Mark Poole 3rd Ret 4 11 Bap Romano Ret 4th 3 John Smith 4th DNS 3 Tony Blanche Ret DNS Ret Ret 8th 7th 8th 5th DNS 6th 3 14 Ian Richards 5th Ret 8th Ret 2 15 Ray Cutchie 7th 8th 7th 6th 7th Ret 1 Brett Fisher 6th 9th Ret Ret 1 Pos Driver Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9 Rd 10 Pts
References
Further reading
External links Australian Drivers’ Championship – CAMS Gold Star, motorsport.org.au, as archived at web.archive.org Images from the championship at raidermotorsport.com.au