1975 THE LAST TASMAN SERIES RACE Sandown

/ super100mph
The final round of the 1975 Tasman Series, held in front of 30,000 fans at Sandown International Raceway in Melbourne, was to be the last ever Tasman Series race.
ABC TV's Sportsnight covered the event and presented great interviews with drivers of the day including: John McCormack, Kevin Bartlett, Max Stewart, John Davison and Graham Lawrence.
Other drivers included: Johnnie Walker, Warwick Brown, Chris Amon, Graham McRae, Garrie Cooper and eventual winner John Goss.
All credit to ABC TV Australia.
1975 Tasman Series info:
en.wikipedia.o...
Tasman Series 1964-1975 info:
en.wikipedia.o...
Music:
Twisted Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
Motor sport is an international language.

[@vince065us]

This was a golden era in racing.There was The Tasman Series in Australia, The European Formula 5000 Series,and The USAC Formula 5000 Series here in America.

[@markmark5269]

Good memories, I was in the grandstand and Dad was spannering on John Davidson's car. Walker's crash looked frightening from the grandstand, remember it vividly. Days when you could walk freely around the pits and talk to the drivers.

[@thethirdman225]

Mark Mark Yeah, and they made time for supporters too.

[@patkennedy1973]

I was on the infield on the top of the hill and remember the pieces of fencing flying through the air.

[@bradwilliams1691]

I remember back in 1976, I met & talked at length with Alan Jones. I also remember telling him that I believed that he was good enough for a tilt at F-1 - little did I know.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

A youthfull Dale Kohnecke, the K behind K&A working on Macs car.

[@LB1973]

That was utterly fascinating

[@Super100MPH]

+LB1973 We thought so. Cheers

[@griffsrearmountturbothemod1623]

That was a pleasent surprise with the interveiws. Enjoyed it .

[@cm-kl2wx]

Agree...issues that are never raised these days...different generation...

[@thethirdman225]

cm243286 How articulate were John McCormack and Kevin Bartlett? Motorsport in this country missed a big opportunity with people like them.

[@cm-kl2wx]

Great quality video for the time...kudos!!!

[@stevedriver1476]

Warwick farm was my local track and the presentation of these F5000 cars was incredible.... They were like show cars.. Frank Matich was hard to BEAT. The Aussie made cars were as good as any Lola or American chassis.

[@barryphillips7327]

Larry Perkins was in F1 before the tin tops.

[@gavinedinburgh]

Interesting observation made about how promotional preferences influence the success of different racing categories. Much the same in the UK, where there was a clear bias against Formula Atlantic in favour of Formula 3, despte Atlantic cars being much more spectacular and fan-friendly (noise, tyres, speed, etc).....

[@jdb47games]

I had forgotten how terrible coverage of motorsport was in my childhood in the 60's & 70's. This unfortunately has reminded me! Just show the race, for Heaven's sake!

[@bradgotch]

jdb47games Australian coverage of motor sport is below average full stop.

[@aMarkJeffery]

To be fair, that wasn't the actual race coverage. Sportsnight was a short-lived half hour sports magazine show (on Friday or Saturday nights IIRC) and this coverage of Australian F5000 in prime time would have been a pretty big deal.

[@thethirdman225]

jdb47games I thought those interviews were excellent. Very different from what we’re used to these days. I was really interested in the level of commitment these guys showed.

[@stefantrnacek1394]

S5000 need the tall airbox.

[@petermordan8449]

Sure beats the hell out of modern day F1

[@beeemm2578]

Especially now...same guy wins every race...so exciting 🙄

[@stickmansamsmith]

So what actually caused that crash? Did his braking into the corner pull the car left? Or did he just dip a wheel onto the grass accidentally?

[@thethirdman225]

I never figured that out for myself and I’ve never read anything that shines any light on it. I do know that witnesses who saw Garrie Cooper’s similar accident in 1978 noted that as the car was bouncing over the bumps on the straight, the rear wing collapsed and the car slewed violently to the left. I have wondered if it was possible that Walker’s suspension might have failed at the critical moment.

[@fredeuce1]

Those drivers that were interviewed were Kevin Bartlett, John McCormack , Graeme McRae and Max Stewart . Who was the fifth driver?

[@thethirdman225]

Jon Davison.

[@frederickmiles327]

the driver panel are Bartlett, McCormick, Goss and Max Stewart. Warwick Brown is seen in a couple of interview sections and Graham Lawrence wanders in after a cough ( spewing the piss I imagine, not pre race nerves). McRae had crashed out of the 1975 Tasman by this point, in the NZ rounds he had at least matched Amon in qualifying, equal at Wigram, @nd at Teretonga possibly 0.2 faster at Puke. At Levin incredibly dangerous I mile track no one would have attempted to challenge McRae, Matich and Hailwood cruised there. McRae wrote off the GM2 at Surfers or Oran Park and raced a Matich at Oran Park, he does not appear to have been at Sandown. McRae Gm2 is a marginally lighter version of the Talon raced by Amon whose car did not have the hp to be competitive here at Sandown but if you watch the segment of him going thru Marlboro country or whatever, Amon as with Hailwood is possibly able to adjust the line later than anybody else.

[@thethirdman225]

Was John Goss using a flat plane crank? His engine sounds completely different from that of Warwick Brown.

[@markmark5269]

All the front cars with Chevs were flat plane cranks. Goss's car was unusual in that it was a Ford 302, don't know what crank he had, something hitting my memory that is was flat plane. McCormick may have had the enlarged Leyland P76 aluminium engine at the time, not sure. 3:32 My Dad was spannering for John Davidson at the time, talk about a shoestring budget!

[@thethirdman225]

@@markmark5269 They don't sound like flat plane cranks, although Goss's car does. It's not like the exhaust system would have been much of a contributor to that - not in the case of the Chevrolet-powered versions. Was that the Ford 302 version? I thought it came later. I remember when he was developing that.

[@5CGQ]

Goss had only recently bought the car from Matich, and was still running the flat-plane Repco (Holden) that it came with. He switched to Ford later. You can hear it quite clearly at about 21:00 in. Walker was also running a flat-plane, which I think was a Repco.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

It was a Repco Holden engine, not a Ford. And yes I believe flat plane. The car made an appearance at Winton very recently, Oct 22 and still sounds the same and not withstanding reliability was still very quick. AFAIK flat plane Chevs were tried but not for long. I feel that Mac was using a Repco Holden as well,, the Leyland was never reliable or that fast and viabrated bad,, shaking the rivets out of the tub

[@ldnwholesale8552]

@@5CGQ Yes it was. Then he got to drive the Magnum Wheels car which was a Chev

[@thethirdman225]

15:55 too true. These guys were privateers competing for publicity against the likes of General Motors and Ford. It cost us dearly and left us on the shelf for decades. Hopefully with the decline of V8 Supercars and the rise of S5000 we might see some redress.

[@markmark5269]

Shirley you're not serious? V8Supercars is a corporation who CAMS fall over themselves for, and regardless of the shit it is, CAMS will always support and invest into the assholes. That CAMS has taken the Touring Car Title, that rightfully belongs to all members of CAMS, and handed it to a private organisation, and agree to manufacturer's whims should tell you something. Now we have a fucked up diesel pickup class even, and they are over $100,000 by the time you buy the 'Spec Race Kit' for them, and you have to go through a manufacturer. F5000 is a poorly conceived joke, just another money sport that will see a handful of cars at the beginning, then people drifting out of it like every other open wheeler class in Australia. It's a shame because a number of inexpensive, but spectacular classes could easily be conceived - if they wanted to.

[@thethirdman225]

Mark Mark Well you tell me why it works in every other country that has Motorsport but not here. If you look at the structure of S5000, it’s very different from what it was in F5000 in 1975. On top of that, the new cars will be a lot more reliable and cheaper to operate. I would take a bet that they will be cheaper to operate than the historic 5000s.

[@markmark5269]

Again, that can not be a serious question? Have they got 10 Formula 4 cars running in a race yet? Have they got 10 Formula 3 cars running in a race yet? 2 more complete wastes of time to add to the long list of CAMS brilliant ideas. Love Australian rallying too, 350,000 different classes with 2 or 3 cars in each class, the main class has 1 or 2 WRC cars competing, the other few stragglers made up of cars with a 30 year spread , what a joke, meanwhile the 2wd historic class is very competitive and large entries, you know, cars people can afford, and afford to repair after.. Motorsport works in other countries because of the coverage it gets, and that equals sponsorship to run the hideously overpriced vehicles. Toby Price just won Dakar, eg: he is the World Champion of RallyRaid, what coverage did he get? It goes live in many European countries, and gets decent coverage in the States too.. S5000 is of course overpriced, and the wrong formula for Oz, no pun intended. Here's a point I always make as an example, if you have a spec series like S5000, why the fuck would you run carbon fiber suspension arms when all cars are the same? There is no performance advantage over the next guy because they are spec, i.e you all have the same arms, so make them out of mild steel tube. Cheaper, and cheap to replace. Why is S5000 not running crate LS3's (dry sumped) rather than $50,000+ (whatever) specially built engines. As has been seen countless times in Australian race and rally series, few competitors can barely afford these series, and the ones that do, when they have a prang they can't afford to get back on the track, repair'ability is a most serious consideration that does not get taken into account. Why are these series aimed only at the wealthy? I design and build cars from scratch, around 20 over the last 35 years or so, 2 in my factory right now under construction, I could build numbers of various designs that could easily be used for cheap, spectacular, fast racing series, but then again, a number of people such as Harrop, Albins, Holinger and various other Aus motor racing parties wouldn't make a cent out of those series. S5000 will go exactly as I said, maybe 4 to 6 cars will run the first 2 years, even then the first 2 or 3 will lap the rest, there will be a few scattered cars left in 3 or4 years time, if not sooner, just as the last effort, Formula Holden went, and many other CAMS attempts. meh sod off, you're boring, and I'm right, you know I'm speaking facts, I'll bookmark this and come back after this year's series are run and laugh in your face.

[@thethirdman225]

@@markmark5269 Last things first: *_"meh sod off, you're boring, and I'm right, you know I'm speaking facts, I'll bookmark this and come back after this year's series are run and laugh in your face."_* Man, I never saw anyone get through a day so fast. Why so aggressive? If you want an answer - and the length of your post suggests you expect one - show some self-respect and don't expect it to confirm your personal prejudices. You might be surprised. *_"2 more complete wastes of time to add to the long list of CAMS brilliant ideas."_* S5000 is not a CAMS idea. It has been sanctioned as the Australian National Formula One and that is all. *_"Motorsport works in other countries because of the coverage it gets, and that equals sponsorship to run the hideously overpriced vehicles."_* It gets plenty of coverage here too as long as you subscribe to Fox. But there are other avenues and they are growing. This is the side I'm connected with. *_"S5000 is of course overpriced, and the wrong formula for Oz, no pun intended."_* At $300,000 for a rolling chassis and engine, it's cheaper than a Porsche GT used in state level racing. Everything that could be done to keep the cost down while maintaining a high level of sophistication has been done. The initial proposal was aggressively countered by Supercars. They even built a carbon fibre clone of a Lola T-332 with a Supercar engine and gearbox in it. The idea was ridiculous for all sorts of reasons so why do you think they did that? Clearly, they saw it as a threat and have since done everything they can to nobble it. I suspect you are already aware of this from some of your other comments. That is why it will operate under a completely different model than anything before. More on that in a minute. *_"Here's a point I always make as an example, if you have a spec series like S5000, why the fuck would you run carbon fiber suspension arms when all cars are the same? There is no performance advantage over the next guy because they are spec, i.e you all have the same arms, so make them out of mild steel tube. Cheaper, and cheap to replace."_* Good point. I have no answer to this question. But you might as well point to the V8s which run carbon parts all over them. I don't see this as out of kilter wit the rest of the concept, especially if they want to market it overseas. With all due respect, I think making those components out of mild steel, while affordable, would be seen as low-balling the project. *_"Why is S5000 not running crate LS3's (dry sumped) rather than $50,000+ (whatever) specially built engines."_* The engine is a Ford Coyote built in Brisbane and cost limited to - I think $25,000 all up. Unlike old F5000 engines they are fitted with rev limiters and other electronics which you would be very familiar with. They are expected to basically go a season without a rebuild. It is a crate engine - exactly the same as an LS-3 but more modern. *_"As has been seen countless times in Australian race and rally series, few competitors can barely afford these series, and the ones that do, when they have a prang they can't afford to get back on the track, repair'ability is a most serious consideration that does not get taken into account. Why are these series aimed only at the wealthy?"_* This is the lynchpin. Have you looked at the model they are using? Because it's very different from anything else we have seen in high-level Australian Open Wheeler racing in the past. _Those 14 cars that are currently being assembled by Garry Rogers Motorsport are already spoken for._ The S5000 fraternity is a stand alone group and this is why it has taken so long to get it up and running. At the moment, it consists only of team owners. I don't think there are any contracted drivers yet but S5000 is notoriously low key in terms of its publicity and have made no effort to engage traditional media, while their Facebook efforts have been notable for their paucity of information. That is their Achilles heel. *_"S5000 will go exactly as I said, maybe 4 to 6 cars will run the first 2 years, even then the first 2 or 3 will lap the rest, there will be a few scattered cars left in 3 or4 years time, if not sooner"_* That will depend on the uptake and particularly, the marketing. At the moment, marketing is their weakest point. Time will tell because the first race is at SMSP in May.

[@rencelani-ty2sc]

I miss this racing badly why cancel this great event USA NZ AUS and ENG all had Formula 5000 took to muck gloss of other categories I guess

[@frederickmiles327]

Not the last Tasman. The Australian races were the real Tasman. Amon thought Warwick Brown should be in F1. Frank Williams said Warwick was the hardest man he ever met. That saying something for someone who thought Ridnt the best. And Jackie always said the same about Ridnt. Walker had blocked Chris for 200 laps in the previous 3 races. I am not convinced is that Walker has simply not been given enough space, on the basis if he is good as he thinks, he should be able to hold it.

[@hcrun]

The last of the 1975 series, mate. (Sheesh!) And it's RiNDt.

[@thethirdman225]

Walker was always underfunded.

[@5CGQ]

Well actually it WAS the last Tasman. From 1976 it became The Rothmans International with only 4 rounds, all in Australia.

[@aldee7533]

Oh fuckme! The TV production copied America's (ABC Sports) coverage of racing.

[@phillip5245]

3:41 Get a haircut KB!

[@thethirdman225]

23:07 Get a haircut Warwick!