Warwick Farm Raceway was a 3.621-kilometre permanent road course located in the outer western suburbs of Sydney. During the 1960s it formed a regular component of the Tasman Series, the prestigious summer championship that attracted leading Formula One drivers from Europe to race in Australia and New Zealand during the northern hemisphere winter. The 1967 series was particularly competitive, featuring the world's foremost drivers piloting current-specification machinery.
The Tasman Series of the mid-to-late 1960s represented a golden era for Australian motor racing. FIA regulations in Europe had moved to 1.5-litre engines for Formula One between 1961 and 1965, then returned to 3.0 litres in 1966. The Tasman's 2.5-litre formula, however, was close enough to Formula One specification to attract the participation of factory-supported teams and top drivers who could run closely related machinery. The series helped develop engineering solutions โ most notably the Repco-Brabham V8 โ that would prove significant in the wider Formula One world.
The race was promoted by the Australian Automobile Racing Co. Pty. Ltd. and attracted 15 starters competing over 45 laps. Jackie Stewart qualified on pole position with a time of 1 minute 30.8 seconds in the BRM P261.
Stewart led throughout and won with an average speed of 87.67 mph (141.08 km/h). He also set the race's fastest lap at 1 minute 34.4 seconds โ 88.62 mph (142.61 km/h) โ which was declared a new outright circuit record for Warwick Farm.
Jim Clark finished second in a Lotus 33. Clark had been among the Tasman Series points leaders that season. Reigning Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham started fourth on the grid and finished fourth in his Repco Brabham BT23A. Frank Gardner, driving a Repco Brabham BT16, completed the podium in third place to give the local contingent a presence at the front.
The David Langridge Trophy, awarded to the highest-placed resident driver, went to Leo Geoghegan.
The 1967 event was one of two consecutive Australian Grand Prix victories Stewart would achieve as part of the Tasman campaign, illustrating the extremely high quality of the field that year. Jim Clark's presence in the series was similarly notable: he would win the 1968 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown in what proved to be his final major victory before his death at Hockenheim in April 1968.
Stewart's win also came in the period when BRM was still capable of matching the best Lotus and Brabham machinery in the Tasman formula, even as the team's Formula One programme was entering a more difficult phase. The race formed part of a broader narrative of European teams using the antipodean summer both to compete seriously for the Tasman title and to develop components and test drivers in relatively low-pressure conditions compared to the World Championship season.
Gallery ยท 1 related image
