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Yet another Cooper Mk IV 'T51', the distinctive yellow machine of Austin Miller at Bathurst.  Copyright John Ellacott 2008.  Used with permission.

Australian Gold Star 1960

Alec Mildren acquired one of the latest Mk IV 'T51' Coopers, fitted a 2.5–litre Maserati 250S engine and ran away with the 1960 Gold Star. After finishing second to Jack Brabham's T51 at Longford in March, he won the next three races plus the final round at Caversham in December.

Also in a late-1959 Mk IV was Bib Stillwell who won at Port Wakefield in October, the only Gold Star race Mildren didn't finish, and also won races at Fishermen's Bend and Warwick Farm at either end of the year. A string of seconds and thirds in the Gold Star races gave him second place in the table ahead of Bill Patterson who retained his 1959-model T51 but only won one race, the Phillip Island Gold Star in December which Mildren didn't attend.

The races

14 Feb 1960 > Victorian Trophy at Fishermen's Bend

05 Mar 1960 > Longford Trophy

07 Mar 1960 > LCCT Trophy at Longford

14 Mar 1960 > Repco Trophy at Phillip Island

18 Apr 1960 > Bathurst 100

12 Jun 1960 > Australian Grand Prix at Lowood

04 Sep 1960 > Queensland Road Race Championship at Lowood

02 Oct 1960 > Craven A International at Bathurst

10 Oct 1960 > Advertiser Trophy at Port Wakefield

05 Dec 1960 > Western Australia Trophy at Caversham

11 Dec 1960 > Lukey Trophy at Phillip Island

18 Dec 1960 > Warwick Farm Trophy

Australian Gold Star events shown in bold

1960 Australian Gold Star table

1Alec Mildren2.5 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Maserati55 pts4 wins
2Bib Stillwell2.2 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Climax36 pts1 win
3Bill Patterson2.4 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Climax20 pts1 win
4=Lex Davison3.0 Aston Martin DBR4/25012 pts 
4=Arnold Glass2.5 Maserati 250F12 pts 
4=Jack Brabham2.5 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Climax12 pts1 win

Next: the 1961 season

Every race of the season was won by the 1959/60 Mk IV Cooper, known retrospectively as the 'T51'. The other three non-Gold Star races in 1960 were all won by Jack Brabham.