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
1 | Alec Mildren | 2.5 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Maserati | 55 pts | 4 wins |
2 | Bib Stillwell | 2.2 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Climax | 36 pts | 1 win |
3 | Bill Patterson | 2.4 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Climax | 20 pts | 1 win |
4= | Lex Davison | 3.0 Aston Martin DBR4/250 | 12 pts | |
4= | Arnold Glass | 2.5 Maserati 250F | 12 pts | |
4= | Jack Brabham | 2.5 Cooper Mk IV 'T51'-Climax | 12 pts | 1 win |
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.