1964 Tasman Series

New Zealand Bruce McLaren The 1964 Tasman Series was an international motor racing series contested in New Zealand and Australia over eight races beginning on 4 January and ending on 2 March. It was the first Tasman Series. The series, which was officially known as the Tasman Championship for Drivers, was organised jointly by the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs Inc. and the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport with the winning driver awarded the Tasman Cup. The championship was open to racing cars using unsupercharged engines of up to 2,500 c.c. capacity.

The inaugural series was a battle of the British-based expatriates with a two-car team led by Australian Jack Brabham and a two-car team of Coopers from Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, led by the New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Although Denny Hulme won the opening round of the series, McLaren took a trifecta of wins in New Zealand setting up the title win. When the teams moved to Australia, Brabham won the first three races, ensuring a thrilling finish, however Brabham was unable to better his score and therefore McLaren emerged as champion. The last round of the series at Longford was won by the Englishman, Graham Hill, securing sixth place in the final standings as a result. Brabham led the final race until the last laps before his car suffered a transmission failure.

The most successful of the local-based drivers was John Youl. Although the Cooper T55 he was driving was three-years old, he took the aging car to six top five finishes. Australian Bib Stillwell only completed in three races, twice beating Youl, including a second place in the Australian Grand Prix. Another competitive local was Frank Matich in his Repco Brabham BT7A, taking pole at Warwick Farm. Whilst leading, his suspension broke and he was forced to retire. With a further four retirements, Matich only finished one race, gaining a third place at Longford.

Results and standings

Races

Round	Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Winning car	Winning team	Report	New
Zealand	1	2	3	4	Australia	5	6	7	8
Vic Hudson Memorial Race	Levin	4 January	New Zealand Denny Hulme	Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax	Motor Racing Developments	Report
Eleventh New Zealand International Grand Prix	Pukekohe	11 January	New Zealand Bruce McLaren	Cooper T70 Coventry Climax	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	Report
10th International Lady Wigram Trophy Race	Wigram	18 January	New Zealand Bruce McLaren	Cooper T70 Coventry Climax	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	Report
Teretonga International	Teretonga	25 January	New Zealand Bruce McLaren	Cooper T70 Coventry Climax	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	Report
29th Australian Grand Prix	Sandown	9 February	Australia Jack Brabham	Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax	Ecurie Vitesse	Report
International 100 Race	Warwick Farm	16 February	Australia Jack Brabham	Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax	Ecurie Vitesse	Report
Lakeside International 99	Lakeside	23 February	Australia Jack Brabham	Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax	Ecurie Vitesse	Report
South Pacific Trophy	Longford	2 March	United Kingdom Graham Hill	Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax	Scuderia Veloce	Report
Source:

Points system

Championship points were awarded at each race on the following basis:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Points
9	6	4	3	2	1

Championship placings were determined by points won by drivers in the New Zealand Grand Prix and any two of the other three races held in New Zealand, plus the Australian Grand Prix and any two of the other three races held in Australia.

Standings

Pos	Driver	Car	Entrant	Lev	Puk	Wig	Ter	San	War	Lak	Lon	Pts	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Pos	Driver	Car	Entrant	Lev	Puk	Wig	Ter	San	War	Lak	Lon	Pts
New Zealand Bruce McLaren	Cooper T70 Coventry Climax	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	(3)	1	1	1	Ret	2	(3)	2	39 (47)
Australia Jack Brabham	Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax	Motor Racing Developments
Ecurie Vitesse		Ret	2		1	1	1	Ret	33
New Zealand Denny Hulme	Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax	Motor Racing Developments
Ecurie Vitesse	1	2	3	Ret	5	5	9		23
USA Timmy Mayer	Cooper T70 Coventry Climax	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	2	3	8	2	4	3	Ret	DNS	23
Australia John Youl	Cooper T55 Coventry Climax	John Youl	4	4	4	DNS	3	Ret	2	5	21
United Kingdom Graham Hill	Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax	Scuderia Veloce						4		1	12
Australia Bib Stillwell	Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax	BS Stillwell					2	6		4	10
New Zealand Jim Palmer	Cooper T53 Coventry Climax	Jim Palmer	(6)	5	5	3	6	10		8	9 (10)
New Zealand Tony Shelly	Lotus 18/21 Coventry Climax
Lola Mk4A Coventry Climax	Shelley Motors Ltd
AL Shelley	5	6	(6)	4	8	7	5	7	8 (9)
Australia Frank Matich	Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax	Total Team		Ret			Ret	Ret	Ret	3	4
Australia Frank Gardner	Repco Brabham BT6 Ford	Alec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd					10	13	4	9	3
New Zealand Bill Thomasen	Cooper T53 Coventry Climax	Corsair Racing Team	Ret	DNS		5					2
New Zealand Roly Levis	Lotus 22 Ford	RA Levis	7	9	10	6					1
Australia Lex Davison	Cooper T62 Coventry Climax	Ecurie Australie					Ret	8		6	1
Australia Glynn Scott	Lotus 27 Ford	Glyn Scott Motors					Ret	Ret	6		1
New Zealand Rex Flowers	Lotus 20B Ford	Flowers Transport	8	12	7	Ret		12	8		0
New Zealand Andy Buchanan	Brabham BT6 Ford	Wilson Motors Ltd	10	7	9						0
Australia Greg Cusack	Repco Brabham BT6 Ford	Scuderia Veloce						11	7	10	0
Australia Arnold Glass	Lotus 27 Ford	Capitol Motors					7	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
New Zealand Jim Boyd	Valour Ford	JA Malcolm		Ret		7					0
New Zealand Ken Sager	Lotus 20 Ford	JH Sager		11	11	8					0
New Zealand David Young	Cooper T59 Ford	David Young		8	Ret						0
New Zealand Neil Whittaker	Cooper T43 Coventry Climax		9								0
Australia David Walker	Repco Brabham BT2 Ford	David Walker					9	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
Australia Leo Geoghegan	Lotus 27 Ford	Total Team					Ret	9			0
New Zealand Dene Hollier	Cooper T52 Ford	Dene Hollyer Limited		10							0
New Zealand Peter Slocombe	Lotus 18 Ford		11								0
Australia Jack Hobden	Cooper T51 Coventry Climax	Louis Hobden								11	0
Australia Mel McEwin	Elfin Ford	Mel McEwin					Ret			12	0
New Zealand Chris Amon	Lola Mk4A Coventry Climax	Reg Parnell Racing	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret					0
Australia Charlie Smith	Elfin Ford	CG Smith					Ret	Ret			0
Australia Jack Hunnam	Elfin Mono Ford	Jack Hunnan Motors					Ret	Ret			0
Australia Bill Patterson	Cooper T53 Coventry Climax	Bill Patterson Motors					Ret			Ret	0
Australia Tony Osborne	Cooper T53 Coventry Climax	AJR Osborne					Ret			Ret	0
New Zealand Bruce Abernethy	Cooper T41 Coventry Climax		Ret								0
Australia Doug Whiteford	Cooper T53 Coventry Climax	Bill Patterson Motors					Ret				0
Australia Keith Rilstone	Elfin Ford	KN Rilstone					Ret				0
Australia David Fletcher	Lola Mk5 Ford	DK Fletcher					Ret				0
Australia Wally Mitchell	MRD Brabham Ford	East Burwood Motors					Ret				0
Australia Lionel Ayers	Lotus 20 Ford								Ret		0
New Zealand Barry Porter	Lotus 15 Coventry Climax					DNS					0
New Zealand Ken Smith	Lola Mk2 Ford	M Smith	DNQ								0

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