Australian Formula 2 Race

Amaroo Park, 18 Aug 1973

All cars are 1.6-litre ANF2 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Surtees TS15 [04] (Graeme Lawrence): New to Graeme Lawrence and raced in the 2-litre class of the 1973 Tasman Cup, using a 1.9-litre Hart BDA. Then raced in Southeast Asian events, using a Hart Ford twin cam engine. Retained for Southeast Asian 1600cc events in 1974, but Lawrence used his new F5000 Lola T332 in the Tasman series. Retained again for Southeast Asian 1600cc events in 1975. He still had the car in early 1976 when he was musing whether to convert it to Formula Pacific. Later in 1976 the car was sold to Rex Hart and fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Formula Pacific, and raced in New Zealand from 1977 to 1981. Sold to Ken Smith in 1982, and sold by him to John Wigston (Auckland) in 1984.
2. Mildren 'Mono' (Ray Winter): Designed by Len Bailey and built by Alan Mann Racing for Alec Mildren Racing in Australia in late 1968, when it was raced by Frank Gardner using one of 2.5-litre Alfa T33 V8 engines from the team's Brabham BT23D. Raced by Gardner in the 1969 Tasman series, then by Kevin Bartlett in the 1969 Gold Star series. Later in 1969 it was fitted a Waggott TC4V engine, and Bartlett used it in this form in the 1970 Tasman and the 1970 Gold Star. It was sold to Bob Muir at the end of 1970 and raced by him through 1971 and early 1972, both with his 2-litre Waggott engine and with a Ford twin cam engine for Southeast Asian events. Then to Ray Winter and used in ANF2 in 1973 and 1974. Winter used the car again on occasion in 1975 and 1976. Later on, when the new single-cam Australian F2 was introduced, the old Mildren was raced in that category by Greg Ferrall. Then unknown until acquired by Lionel Ayres and restored. The car was retained by Bruce Ayres after his father Lionel's death in 2013.
3. Lotus 59 [59-FB-14] (Bob Johns): New to Australia Lotus importer Leo Geoghegan, replacing his very successful but ageing Lotus 39-Repco. The Lotus was fitted with a 2-litre Waggott TC4V engine and used in Australian National Formula 1 and Tasman events in 1970 and 1971.  He won two Australian Gold Star race in this car, at Warwick Farm in September 1970 and at Mallala a few weeks later.  After spending 1972 on the sidelines, the Lotus was sold to Bob and Gary Johns for 1973, fitted with a Ford twin cam engine, and used in Australian Formula 2 from 1973 to 1975. By 1985, it had been acquired by John Holmes (Toowoomba, Queensland), and was restored to its original Waggott configuration.
4. Brabham BT2 [FJ-3-62] (Doug Hicks): Built at MRD by Frank Gardner and raced by Gavin Youl as a factory entry in European FJ in 1962. Taken to Australia at the end of the European season, and raced by Youl in the Australian Formula Junior Championship race at Catalina Park in late October. Sold to Geoff McClelland (NSW, Australia) 1963 and raced in Australia as a FJ and later with a 1.5-litre engine in ANF1.5. To Phil West (NSW, Australia) 1966 December and raced in ANF2 - Mike Barker (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia) March 1968 - Peter Roach (Victoria, Australia) 1970 - Doug Hicks (Victoria, Australia) 1972 and fitted with 1300cc Toyota Corolla engine for ANF3; also driven by Peter Jones. Later to Alan Smith (Tasmania, Australia) 1974 and driven by Geoff Bantick in 1978 and 1979. In November 1993, Denis Lupton purchased the car for Jim Russell (Victoria, Australia) and started a full restoration to its original FJ spec. To Nick MacDonald (Australia) 1995 who completed the restoration and raced the car in historic events between 2001 and 2003. To Graham Brown (Queensland, Australia) in 2003 and raced consistently in Australian until 2013 when he sold it to Grant Craft, who raced it in 2013, 2014 and 2016, and at the Phillip Island Classic in March 2017.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.