1997 Australian Formula Ford Championship
The 1997 Australian Formula Ford Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars.[1] It was 28th national series to be held in Australia for Formula Fords and the fifth to be contested under the Australian Formula Ford Championship name.[2] The championship, which was promoted as the Ford Motorsport / Slick 50 Australian Formula Ford Championship, was won by Western Australian Garth Tander, driving a Van Diemen RF95.[3]
Calendar
The championship was contested over an eight-round series[3] with two races per round.[4]
| Round[3] | Circuit[3] | State[3] | Date[3] |
| 1 | Calder | Victoria | 15 March |
| 2 | Phillip Island | Victoria | 13 April |
| 3 | Sandown | Victoria | 27 April |
| 4 | Eastern Creek | New South Wales | 27 May |
| 5 | Lakeside | Queensland | 15 June |
| 6 | Barbagallo | Western Australia | 6 July |
| 7 | Mallala | South Australia | 13 July |
| 8 | Oran Park | New South Wales | 3 August |
Points system
Championship points were awarded on the results of each race as per the following table.
| Position[5] | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
| Points[5] | 20 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Results
| Position[6] | Driver[6] | No.[4][7] | Car[4][7] | Entrant[4][7] | Cal[6] | Phi[6] | San[6] | Eas[6] | Lak[6] | Bar[6] | Mal[6] | Ora[6] | Total[6] |
| 1 | Garth Tander | 17 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Fastlane Racing | 40 | 20 | 40 | 32 | 14 | 32 | 40 | 30 | 248 |
| 2 | Marcos Ambrose | 4 | Van Diemen RF97 Ford | Marcos Ambrose | 26 | 16 | 28 | 40 | 40 | 22 | 30 | 36 | 238 |
| 3 | Todd Kelly | 12 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Todd Kelly | - | 32 | 32 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 1 | 21 | 166 |
| 4 | Craig Zerner | 35 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Craig Zerner | 32 | - | 20 | 26 | - | - | 10 | 20 | 108 |
| 5 | Greg Ritter | 36 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | Greg Ritter | 14 | 24 | - | 6 | 26 | - | 26 | 1 | 97 |
| 6 | Christian Jones | 27 | Spectrum 06 Ford | George Stockman | - | 18 | - | - | 28 | 13 | 16 | 12 | 87 |
| = | Aaron McNally | 74 | Van Diemen RF97 Ford | Aaron McNally | 6 | 14 | 12 | 10 | - | 18 | 1 | 26 | 87 |
| 8 | Adam Macrow | 71 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Team Arrow | 18 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 2 | - | 60 |
| 9 | Justin Cotter | 7 | Mygale SJ95 Ford | Justin Cotter | 12 | 4 | 14 | 14 | - | - | - | 4 | 48 |
| 10 | Phillip Scifleet | 77 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Phillip Scifleet | 3 | - | 1 | 22 | - | 1 | 2 | 12 | 41 |
| 11 | John Blanchard | 3 | Mygale SJ97 Ford | Apache Constructors | - | 24 | - | 14 | - | - | - | - | 38 |
| 12 | Scott Bargwanna | 9 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Scott Bargwanna | - | - | 18 | - | 2 | - | - | 14 | 34 |
| 13 | Kerry Wade | 14 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | 12 | - | - | - | - | 20 | - | - | 32 | |
| = | Brett Burvill | 73 | Van Diemen RF92 Ford | Fastlane Racing | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | 22 | - | 32 |
| 15 | Ray Stubber | 54 | Spectrum 06 Ford | - | - | - | - | - | 20 | - | - | 20 | |
| 16 | Dugal McDougall | 8 | Mygale SJ97 Ford | Apache Constructors | 2 | - | - | - | 16 | - | - | - | 18 |
| 17 | Damien White | 31 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Team Arrow | - | 14 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 16 |
| 18 | Christian Murchison | 52 | Van Diemen RF95 & RF94 Ford | Fastlane Racing | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | 10 | - | 14 |
| = | Ken Smith | 73 | Van Diemen RF92 Ford | Fastlane Racing | - | - | - | - | - | - | 14 | - | 14 |
| 20 | Ashley Cutchie | 15 | Swift SC96K Ford | Swift Racing Cars | - | - | - | - | 12 | - | - | - | 12 |
| = | Cameron Schearer | 48 | Mygale SJ95 Ford | Apache Constructors | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 10 | - | - | 12 |
| 22 | Wayne Stoddard | 46 | Vector MG96 Ford | W Stoddard | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 |
| = | Rodney Forbes | 25 | Van Diemen RF92 Ford | R Forbes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | 10 |
| 24 | Dean Lindstrom | 19 | Van Diemen RF91 Ford | - | 6 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | |
| = | Michael Simpson | 38 | Van Diemen RF96 Ford | M Simpson | - | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 |
| = | Tim Leahey | 75 | Van Diemen RF96B Ford | Tim Leahey | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | - | 8 |
| 27 | Scott Marsh | 42 | Swift SC92F Ford | S Marsh | - | 4 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | 6 |
| 28 | Andrew Reid | 26 | Swift SC97K Ford | Inspired Racing | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 4 | - | 5 |
| 29 | Murray Ditton | 41 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Murray Ditton | - | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 |
| = | Owen Ow | 55 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | 4 | |
| 31 | Christopher Dell | 57 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | Christopher Dell | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 |
| 32 | Sam Oliver | 80 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | Prix Max | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
References
- ^ Specific Conditions, Australian Formula Ford Championship, CAMS Manual of Motor Sports, 1997, pages 7-10 to 7-11
- ^ Records, Titles and Awards, 2006 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 14-5
- ^ a b c d e f 1997 FORD MOTORSPORT/SLICK 50 - AUSTRALIAN FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP Archived 16 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from www.formulaford.com.au on 1 August 2012
- ^ a b c d 1997 Results Calendar & Archive Retrieved from www.racetime.com.au on 7 July 2000 (individual race result pages no longer accessible)
- ^ a b 1997 Ford Motorsport/Slick 50 Australian Ford Ford Championship Final Pointscore, Formula Ford Assoc. Inc., 11-08-1997
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 1997 Formula Ford Pointscore, Motor Racing Australia, January/February 1998, page 69
- ^ a b c Entry list, Ford Motorsport / Slick 50 Australian Formula Ford Championship, Round 7, Race 1, Official Programme, Mallala, 13 July 1997