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.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1971 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 79
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 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. 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.
Classification
Results as follows:
Official practice
Grid positions for the race were determined during "official practice".Official Programme, 36th Australian Grand Prix, Warwick Farm, 21 November 1971 Pos No Driver Car/Engine 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 Frank Gardner Lola T300 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 DNP –
Race Pos No. Driver Car Entrant 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 23Alan Wood, Matich takes his second A.G.P.!, Racing Car News, January 1972, pages 24–25 ExhaustXXXVI Australian Grand Prix 1971, www.formula2.net, as archived at web.archive.org Ret 15 Don O'Sullivan McLaren M18 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 Don O'Sullivan Racing Pty Ltd 21 Crash Ret 2 Colin Bond McLaren M10B / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 Rothmans Team Matich 20 Oil pressure Ret 20 Alfredo Costanzo Elfin AC1 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) Alfredo Costanzo Engine Ret 10 Colin Hyams Lola T192 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 Colin Hyams Wheels 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 Ret 8 Bob Muir Mildren Mono / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4 Robert Muir Motors Pty Ltd 0 Bent valveJohn Smailes, Matich's mighty AGP win, Australian Auto Action, 26 November 1971, pages 8&9 DNS 4 Frank Gardner Lola T300 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 Amalgamated Scooters – Team Lola – Practice accident
(AF2) indicates Australian Formula 2 car
Notes Pole position: Frank Matich – 1'24.3 Starters: 23 Finishers: 15 Winner's average speed: 93.32 m.p.h. Australian Formula 2 Class winner: Gary Campbell Fastest lap: Frank Matich – 1'24.6 (94.75 mph / 154.08 km/h) (New outright lap record)
References
External links Australian Grand Prix, Warwick Farm, 21 Nov 1971, www.oldracingcars.com Formula 5000 1971, autopics.com.au