Australian Formula 2 Championship

Sandown Park, 17 Apr 1977

All cars are 1.6-litre ANF2 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T360 ['AU1'] (John Davis): Believed to be the prototype T360, which was tested at Silverstone and then used to facilitate construction of production jigs. It was a complete car when acquired by Don Baker of Dolphin Racing and Lola agent Glen Abbey, but dismantled and shipped to Australia in parts, where it was given the identity 'AU1'. Fitted with a Ford twin cam engine for ANF2, and raced by Chris Farrell, Graeme Lawrence, and Kevin Bartlett. Acquired by Fred Gibson from the Bartlett-Abbey organisation in mid-1974. To Doug McArthur for 1975 and 1976, then to Andrew Miedecke and rebuilt as a Formula Pacific for the 1977 New Zealand series. Returned to Australia for John Davis to race as an ANF2 in 1977, then converted to the new single-cam ANF2 and raced by Davis in 1978. Then to Jim Hunter but remained unused until it reappeared in historic racing in 1989. Bought by Colin Haste (Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia) in 2002, and still with him in 2013.
2. Brabham BT35 [36] (Kurt Seeberg): First known when a new F3 Brabham "BT35-36" was advertised by Bill Thompson from London and Brentwood telephone numbers in Autosport in November 1971. Although "BT35-36" could refer to a BT35 updated to Bt36 specification, that makes no sense for a brand new F3 car, so it must be assumed this was a reference to chassis number BT35-36. The advert said that the car had not been raced. This car was next seen 18 months later when it was raced in ANF2 specification by Bob Holden in Australia. It is understood to have been owned by Australian sometime MRD mechanic Ray Pounder at or just before this. It passed to Brian Cameron for 1974, and was raced by him and by Ken Hastings in early 1974. Then to Kurt Seeberg and raced by him from July 1974 to 1981 at least. Later sold to Brian Sampson (Melbourne) in 2003.
3. Brabham BT35 [8] (John Millard): New to Ed Reeves for British Formula Atlantic in 1971, using Wood BDA engines. Also raced by David Morgan at a couple of late season races. Retained by Reeves for Morgan to drive in 1972, and fitted with an 1860cc Wood BDA for the F2 race at Mallory Park in March 1972 which, remarkably, Morgan won. Reeves then bought a new BT38 for Morgan, and the BT35 was sold via Alan Jones to John and Chrystal Millard in Australia, who fitted a Ford twin cam for the ANF2 category, but it was four years before the car ran again. Raced by John Millard until February 1978 when an accident at Sandown Park damaged the chassis. Bought by Denis Lupton in September 1978 still in damaged state and repaired but still not assembled until bought by Bryan Miller (Kiama, NSW) in 1999. Retained by Miller until May 2014 when bought by John Hughes and shipped back to England.
4. Brabham BT28 [20] (Denis Lupton): New to Mike Stowe's Car Consultants (USA) and entered for Stowe and David Cole to race in late-1969 F3 with a Felday engine. Sold to Dick Barker in December but crashed at the Mallory Park Boxing Day libre race. Raced by Barker in F3 and in libre in 1970 but crashed again at Oulton Park on 25 May 1970. Sold to Bobby Howlings late 1970, and then to Alan Joy who updated it for the new 1600cc F3 in 1971. Next seen with Spencer Elton (Westbury, Wiltshire) in March 1972 and sold to David Wadham-Smith. Returned to Elton in January 1973. Later sold by Low Cost Racing to Greg Bowden and then to Denis Lupton (Australia) who converted it to ANF2 specification with a 1.6-litre Ford twin cam, running it from 1975 to 1977. Still owned by Denis in 2009.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.

Individual sources for this event

Results from Racing Car News May 1977 p76. This was the sole Australian F2 championship race of 1977.