Australian Gold Star 1976
Max Stewart bought a second Lola T400 at the end of 1975, the one prepared by Haas Racing as a backup for Brian Redman and therefore probably the best developed of the T400s, and raced it in the 1976 Gold Star. Ken Shirvington had also bought the T400 developed by VDS for Peter Gethin, and John Leffler had acquired the last car built from Carl Haas, so with Kevin Bartlett still having his car, five T400s raced in Australia in 1976. Up against them were two interesting new cars: John McCormack installed the lightweight Leyland P76 alloy engine in an ex-F1 McLaren M23, and Garrie Cooper produced the Elfin MR8.
After John Goss won the Australian GP in his Matich A51/A53 from Vern Schuppan in the new Elfin MR8, the remaining three rounds were won by Stewart, McCormack and the Lola T332 of Alfredo Costanzo, but when the points were counted it was Leffler that had won the title.
The races
12 Sep 1976 > Australian Grand Prix at Sandown Park
19 Sep 1976 > Oran Park
17 Oct 1976 > Calder
07 Nov 1976 > Rose City "10,000" at Winton
28 Nov 1976 > Mirafiori 5000 at Phillip Island
Australian Gold Star events shown in bold
1976 Australian Gold Star table
| 1 | John Leffler | Lola T400 - Chevrolet V8 | 22 pts | |
| 2 | Max Stewart | Lola T400 - Chevrolet V8 | 12 pts | 1 win |
| 3 | John McCormack | McLaren M23 - Leyland P76 V8 | 11 pts | 1 win |
| 4 | Bruce Allison | Lola T332 - Chevrolet V8 | 10 pts | |
| 5= | John Goss | Matich A51/A53 - Repco Holden V8 | 9 pts | 1 win |
| 5= | Alfredo Costanzo | Lola T332 - Chevrolet V8 | 9 pts | 1 win |
| 7 | Garrie Cooper | Elfin MR8-C - Chevrolet V8 | 8 pts | |
| 8 | Kevin Bartlett | Lola T400 - Chevrolet V8 | 6 pts | |
| 9 | Chris Milton | McLaren M18/M22 - Chevrolet V8 | 4 pts | |
| 10 | Andrew Miedecke | (ANF2) 1.6-litre Brabham BT36 - Ford twin cam | 3 pts |
All cars are 5-litre ANF1 (F5000) cars unless otherwise noted.