1962 Australian Grand Prix

  1962 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 6 in 1962 Australian Drivers' Championship
Date	18 November 1962
Location	Caversham, Western Australia
Course	Airfield circuit 3.621 km (2.25 mi)
Distance	45 laps, 162.945 km (101.25 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Time	1'19.6
Fastest lap
Driver	Jack Brabham	Repco Brabham-Climax [1]
Time	1'20.0
Podium
First	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax
Second	John Youl	Cooper-Climax
Third	Bib Stillwell	Cooper-Climax

The 1962 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race for Formula Libre cars, held at the Caversham circuit in Western Australia, Australia on 18 November 1962. It was the twenty seventh Australian Grand Prix and the sixth and final race in the 1962 Australian Drivers' Championship. Held at the former United States Navy air base in still remote Western Australia, it had just ten starters, seven of which had made the long journey across the Nullarbor Plain from the eastern states, and three of which were local entries. It was the second of only three Australian Grands Prix to be held in Western Australia and the next would not be held until 1979.

Bruce McLaren won his first Australian Grand Prix, beginning a new era for the race in which the results would be dominated by professional drivers and teams rather than the gentleman amateurs who had won most of the post-war AGP races. It also began an AGP rivalry between the two senior drivers from the region, McLaren and Jack Brabham who were already long-time rivals in Formula One racing. This rivalry, with the growing influence of the two in Formula One, would assist in the creation of the Tasman Series in 1964.

Race classification

The 9th placed Lotus Super 7, pictured in 2012

Results as follows.^[2]

Pos	No.	Driver	Entrant [3]	Car	Laps	Time
1	47 [1]	Bruce McLaren	Bruce McLaren	Cooper T62 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.7L	60	1h 21m 58.4s
2	5	John Youl	Scuderia Veloce	Cooper T55 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L	60	1h 22m 40s
3	6	Bib Stillwell	B S Stillwell	Cooper T55 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L	60	1h 22m 44.7s
4	3	Bill Patterson	Bill Patterson Motors	Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L	57
5	7	Arnold Glass	Capitol Motors	BRM P48 / Buick 3.9L	55
6	14	Syd Negus	S A Negus	Cooper T20 / Repco-Holden 2.3L [3]	47
7	2	Ted Edwards [3]	E Edwards	T.S. Special / GMC 4.5L	47
8	4 [1]	Lex Davison	Ecurie Australie	Cooper T53 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.7L	46
9	26	Jeff Dunkerton	J Dunkerton	Lotus Super 7 / Ford 1.5	46
Ret	1	Jack Brabham	Ecurie Vitesse	Repco Brabham BT4 [4] / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L	50	Accident
DNS	11	Wally Higgs	W Higgs	Peugeot Special / Peugeot 1.1L [5]		Engine

Notes

• Pole Position: Bruce McLaren - 1:19.6 ^[5]
• Winner’s average speed: 145.49 kph ^[4]

• Fastest Lap: Jack Brabham - 1:20.0 ^[4]

References