Tasman classics for Eastern Creek

Sponsored by Shannons, the Revival has attracted strong international interest, with cars coming from Britain, the US and New Zealand.

The most celebrated British entry is a Coventry-Climax 2495cc-powered Lotus 32B driven by Malcolm Rickets. It’s the car that Jim Clark drove to win the 1965 Tasman Series, with victories at Levin, Wigram, Teretonga (all in New Zealand) and Warwick Farm (Australia). New Zealander Jim Palmer drove the 32B the following year to third place in the 1966 Tasman Series.

Other distinguished British entries for the Revival include the Lotus 49B that Austrian Jochen Rindt drove to victory in several rounds of the 1969 Tasman Series including Warwick Farm; and the Brabham BT7 that gave American Dan Gurney Grand Prix victories in France and Mexico in 1964.
Two cars with particularly strong Tasman historic links will be coming to the Tasman event from America. Jack Brabham’s Climax-powered BT4 – the car Brabham campaigned in the 1963 Tasman Series – will be there, together with a Repco V8 powered Brabham BT23A, similar to the car that Brabham drove to the 1966 world title.

Another Brabham – the Ford 1498cc-powered BT18 campaigned in the 1967 and 1968 Tasman Series by New Zealander Roly Levis – is also on its way.

The Tasman Revival’s 22 international entries also include some interesting racing cars that, while not strictly Tasman Formula cars, were campaigned or designed to campaign in the same period and have great spectator appeal.

Amongst these cars is the Kieft, a car conceived in 1953 to compete in Formula 1 but not completed until 2002, the 3.0-litre Cosworth F1 Tyrell 004 built for Jackie Stewart in 1972, the M23
F1 McLaren that Denny Hulme drove to sixth place in the 1973 F1 championship, a
1968 McLaren M4A, the 1959 Old Yeller Buick Special and the 1968 Begg Daimler racing car.