The 1973 New Zealand Grand Prix was a race held at the Pukekohe Park Raceway on 6 January 1973. The race had 20 starters.
It was the 19th New Zealand Grand Prix, and doubled as the first round of the 1973 Tasman Series. Australian John McCormack won his first NZGP in his Elfin MR5 who finished ahead of Britons Allan Rollinson and Steve Thompson. The first New Zealand driver to finish was Graham McRae in the McRae GM1 who came in 4th place.
After the fatal accident of Bryan Faloon the previous year, two chicanes were added to circuit in a bid to slow the cars down. One was placed down the back straight and the other was just before the main straight. These chicanes were very artificial, with them being made up of concrete kerbing, railway sleepers and tractor tyres.
Classification Pos No. Driver Team Car Laps Time 1 29 John McCormack Ansett Team Elfin Elfin MR5 / Repco 4994cc V8 58 57min 16.5sec 2 21 Alan Rollinson McKechnie Racing Organisation McRae GM1 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 58 + 0.6 s 3 3 Steve Thompson Servis / Alan Brodie Chevron B24 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 57 + 1 Lap 4 22 Graham McRae Crown Lynn McRae GM1 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 56 + 2 Laps 5 89 Garry Pedersen Wright Machinery Begg FM4 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 56 + 2 Laps 6 11 Ken Smith Air New Zealand Motor Racing March 722 / Cosworth 1930cc V8 52 + 6 Laps 7 15 Noritake Takahara Takahara Racing Inc. Brabham BT36 / Cosworth 1790cc V8 52 + 6 Laps 8 30 Dave McConnell D.W.M. Racing Ltd. Surtees TS15 / Hart 1975cc 4cyl 52 + 6 Laps NC 1 Frank Matich Frank Matich Racing Pty Ltd. Matich A50 / Repco 4994cc V8 43 Not Classified Ret 10 Warwick Brown Team Target Lola T300 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 54 Out of Fuel Ret 34 Sam Posey Champ Carr Inc. Surtees TS11 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 44 Throttle Ret 12 Baron Robertson Robertson Racing March 722 / Cosworth 1790cc V8 40 Engine Ret 52 Dexter Dunlop Cameron Racing McRae GM1 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 40 Flagged Off Ret 5 Kevin Bartlett Chesterfield Filter Racing Lola T300 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 17 Overheating Ret 7 Evan Noyes Gemco Racing McRae GM1 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 15 Fuel Injection Ret 36 Kelvin Cameron Cameron Motor Court Brabham BT23C / Cosworth 1791cc 4cyl 11 Flywheel Ret 19 David Oxton G.N. Begg Engineering Co. Ltd. Begg FM5 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 5 Accident Ret 6 Max Stewart Max Stewart Motors Lola T330 / Chevrolet 4995cc V8 3 Suspension DNS Frank Radisich McLaren M10B / Repco 4994cc V8 Did Not Start Source(s):
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