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The very smart Matich A51/A53 of Jim Richards at Sandown in 1979.  Copyright oldracephotos.com/Neil Hammond. Used with permission.

Rothmans International series 1979

If you design a points system that awards 15 points for a win and 14 for second place, you cannot be surprised if you end up with a champion who did not win a single race. Alfredo Costanzo won the first two races, finished third in the next race, and was leading the fourth and final race, on his way to a well-deserved championship, when a slower car got in his way and knocked him out of the race. In contrast, Larry Perkins had a seventh, a third and a second, but after Costanzo's elimination, he only had to finish to be crowned champion. The other leading drivers were reigning champion Warwick Brown, who crashed heavily in practice at the first race but recovered to win the final round from pole, and David Kennedy whose Formula 1 Wolf WR4 was hamstrung by having to use wooden Aurora type rubber.

Even the addition of a couple of F1 cars from the British Aurora series could not disguise the fact that Australia only had a handful of competitive F5000 cars and that the performance gaps to some of the older cars had become dangerous. This would be the last International series in Australia.

The races

04 Feb 1979 > Sandown Park Cup

11 Feb 1979 > Adelaide '100' at Adelaide International Raceway

18 Feb 1979 > Surfers Paradise '100'

25 Feb 1979 > Oran Park "100"

1979 Rothmans International Series table

1Larry Perkins(F5000) Elfin MR8-C - Chevrolet V835 pts 
2Alfredo Costanzo(F5000) Lola T430 - Chevrolet V828 pts2 wins
3Warwick Brown(F5000) Lola T333/T332C - Chevrolet V822 pts1 win
4=David Kennedy(F1) Wolf WR4 - Cosworth DFV V818 pts1 win
4=John Wright(F5000) Lola T400 - Chevrolet V818 pts 
6Colin Bond(F5000) Brabham BT43 - Chevrolet V814 pts 
7Colin Trengove(F5000) Lola T332 - Chevrolet V813 pts 
8Vern Schuppan(F5000) Elfin MR8B-C - Chevrolet V812 pts 
9John McCormack(F5000) McLaren M23 - Leyland P76 Repco V811 pts 
10=Graham McRae(F5000) McRae GM3 - Chevrolet V810 pts 
10=Jim Richards(F5000) Matich A51/A53 - Repco Holden V810 pts 

Previous: the 1978 Internationals

Points table from Autosport 1 Mar 1979 p7.