1962 Australian Grand Prix
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
Results as follows.Pos | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car | Laps | Time |
1 | 47 | 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 | Syd Negus | Cooper T20 / Repco-Holden 2.3L | 47 | |
7 | 2 | Ted Edwards | E Edwards | T.S. Special / GMC 4.5L | 47 | |
8 | 4 | 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 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | 50 | Accident |
DNS | 11 | Wally Higgs | W Higgs | Peugeot Special / Peugeot 1.1L | Engine |