Australian Formula Pacific 1981

The announcement from CAMS in May 1981 that Formula Pacific would become Australia's senior formula for 1981 was quickly followed by the news that the Australian Grand Prix at Calder in November would also be for Formula Pacific cars. Only a few suitable cars were in the country at the time, led by the Ralt RT1s of John Smith and Charlie O'Brien and the Chevron B39 that Larry Perkins drove for Paul England, but orders were rapidly placed for brand new Ralt RT4s for Bruce Allison, Andrew Miedecke and John Bowe.

A championship for Formula Pacific cars was briskly organised, sponsored by National Panasonic, and kicked off with a pair of races at Lakeside in July. Perkins won this event on aggregate from O'Brien after pole-sitter Miedecke retired and Allison, in the other RT4, could only manage third. Miedecke was dominant at Adelaide a week later, taking pole and both heats, with Smith just holding on to second place from Allison and Perkins. Tasmanian Bowe's RT4 was ready for the third round and he won the first heat, only to trigger an accident with Miedecke in heat 2 and was disqualified later by the stewards. With the order shuffled between the two heats, O'Brien was the aggregate winner from Allison, and that left the overall title position very close going into the last race, with Smith and Allison tied on 14 points, Perkins on 12, O'Brien on 11 and Miedecke on 10. While Miedecke was again dominating both heats at Oran Park, John Smith's second place in the first heat put him on track for the title, only for Allison to pull ahead in heat 2 to finish second and clinch the title by a single point. After four pole positions and four wins, Miedecke was in good shape for the forthcoming Grand Prix.

The races

19 Jul 1981 > Lakeside

19 Jul 1981 > Lakeside

26 Jul 1981 > Adelaide International Raceway

26 Jul 1981 > Adelaide International Raceway

02 Aug 1981 > Calder

02 Aug 1981 > Calder

23 Aug 1981 > Oran Park

23 Aug 1981 > Oran Park

08 Nov 1981 > Australian Grand Prix at Calder

National Panasonic Formula Pacific Championship events shown in bold

1981 National Panasonic Formula Pacific Championship table

Next: Australian Gold Star 1982

Next: New Zealand 1982

Points table constructed.

Australia was awash with RT4s by the time of the GP in November, as Smith, O'Brien and Perkins took delivery of theirs, and six more were bought by GP promoter Bob Jane and Ralt importer Graham Watson for guest stars, including three of the top four in the World Championship, Can-Am champion Geoff Brabham and British Formula Atlantic champion Ray Mallock. And Roberto Moreno, a largely overlooked Brazilian F3 driver, who proceeded to beat Alan Jones to pole position and then overtook the World Champion in the race on his way to winning by more than a lap.