Australian Gold Star 1963
The importance of consistency was clearly demonstrated by Bib Stillwell in 1963 as he took the Gold Star without winning a race in his all-new Brabham BT4, a beefed-up 2.7-litre version of the BT3 F1 car. His strong performances in the Internationals had bagged maximum points at two races but not before his rival John Youl had qualified an impressive second at Lakeside only to retire. When the season restarted in September, Youl took a second and two wins from the last three places but couldn't catch Stillwell for the Gold Star.
Jack Brabham won the Australian GP in his works Brabham BT4 from John Surtees in the Bowmaker team's ex-F1 Lola Mk 4 and Surtees then won the Lakeside International a week later in Jack's absence. Bruce McLaren won at Longford and Sandown Park in Tommy Atkins' custom-built Cooper T62. Lex Davison then took over that car to win the Victorian Trophy at Calder and the Bathurst 100, both in April and neither counting towards the Gold Star. Davison won again at the Victorian Road Race Championship at Sandown Park in September before John Youl won the final two races in his 1961 ex-F1 Cooper T55.
The races
10 Feb 1963 > Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm
17 Feb 1963 > Lakeside International
04 Mar 1963 > South Pacific Championship at Longford
10 Mar 1963 > Sandown Park International
11 Apr 1963 > Victorian Trophy at Calder
15 Apr 1963 > Bathurst 100
15 Sep 1963 > Victorian Road Race Championship at Sandown Park
14 Oct 1963 > Advertiser Trophy at Mallala
01 Dec 1963 > Hordern Trophy at Warwick Farm
Australian Gold Star events shown in bold
1963 Australian Gold Star table
| 1 | Bib Stillwell | 2.5 Brabham BT4 - Climax FPF | 41 pts | |
| 2 | John Youl | 2.5 Cooper T55 - Climax FPF | 38 pts | 2 wins |
| 3 | David McKay | 2.7 Brabham BT4 - Climax FPF | 25 pts | |
| 4= | Jack Brabham | 2.7 Brabham BT4 - Climax FPF | 12 pts | 1 win |
| 4= | Lex Davison | 2.7 Cooper T62 - Climax FPF | 12 pts | 1 win |
In 1963, the first three rounds of the six-race Gold Star were the three Internationals at Warwick Farm, Lakeside and Longford so the winner of those races was typically not eligible for the Gold Star. Jack Brabham won the Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm but the other two were won by John Surtees (with Bib Stillwell getting 12 pts for third place) and Bruce McLaren (with Stillwell second) respectively.
So Stillwell ended the season with two 12-point scores and one second place and Youl scored two wins, one second place and a 7-point score from Longford. Brabham and Davison each had just one win, Davison having retired from every other Gold Star race.