How Did We Get Here?

Open-wheelers are the most popular form of motorsport in most parts of the world. Yet in Australia and New Zealand, touring cars reign supreme. This despite the fact great grand prix drivers descended to the region to race in the annual Tasman Series and the popularity of the local Formula 5000 category. So how did we get here with touring cars on top?

- Matt Coch

Australian motorsport was revolutionised before our very eyes, yet somehow none of us saw it happening. From a sport dominated by open-wheelers, throughout the 1970s the barometer of public opinion gradually began swinging in favour of touring cars, which by the end of the decade had made legends out of Peter Brock and Allan Moffat.

To that point, motorsport in Australia had been dominated, largely, by the annual Tasman Series. The world’s best open wheel racers would venture south from the snowy European winter, lapping up the the sun, sand and circuits of Australia and New Zealand. It was a golden era, with our own Jack Brabham the established star on the world stage, a man who had seemingly single-handedly conquered the automotive powerhouses of Ferrari and Lotus with an engine developed in Melbourne.

Adding to the international flavour were many of those against whom Brabham competed in Europe, providing fans with an almost complete Formula 1 grid on their own doorstep. From Lakeside to Sandown, motorsport fans throughout the 1960s enjoyed an opportunity to rub shoulders with the greats of the sport: Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt and others.

The success of the Tasman Series hung largely on the fact that it provided many of the European teams with a means to generate an income during what would otherwise be the off-season. Back then, before rampant commercialisation of the sport contractually prohibited such outings, teams and drivers competed in non-championship events, filling their coffers with starting money from organisers.

Together with a possible market into which to sell their old cars, many teams leapt at the chance to compete year round, with a host of locals buying up machines to race against them, Kevin Bartlett and Frank Gardner among their number.