1957 Australian Drivers' Championship


The 1957 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Formula Libre cars. The championship was contested over a nine race series with the winner awarded the 1957 CAMS Gold Star. It was the first Australian Drivers' Championship and the first motor racing title to be decided over a series of races at Australian circuits.
The series was won by Victorian racer Lex Davison driving a Ferrari 500/625. Davison dominated the championship, winning six of the nine races, including the series-opening 1957 Australian Grand Prix, to finish 19 points ahead of Tom Hawkes. The other drivers to win races were Murray Trenberth, Arnold Glass and Stan Jones.

Calendar

The championship was contested over a nine race series.
RaceCircuitDateWinning driversCarReport
Australian Grand PrixCaversham4 MarchLex Davison & Bill PattersonFerrari 500/625Report
Victorian TrophyAlbert Park24 MarchLex DavisonFerrari 500/625
South Australian TrophyPort Wakefield22 AprilMurray TrenberthVincent 1000
Bathurst 100Mount Panorama22 AprilArnold GlassHWM Jaguar
Queensland Road Racing ChampionshipLowood16 JuneLex DavisonFerrari 500/625
Lowood TrophyLowood11 AugustStan JonesMaserati 250F
New South Wales Road Race ChampionshipMount Panorama6 OctoberLex DavisonFerrari 500/625
Port Wakefield TrophyPort Wakefield12 OctoberLex DavisonFerrari 500/625
Australian Motor Sports Magazine Trophy RacePhillip Island27 OctoberLex DavisonFerrari 500/625

Points system

Championship points were awarded on an 8-5-3-2-1 basis for the first five places at each race.

Points table

At the Australian Grand Prix race at Caversham Lex Davison shared the winning car with Bill Patterson and championship points were allotted in proportion to the laps driven by each.

Championship name

The championship was referred to by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport at the time simply as "The CAMS Gold Star". However the actual Gold Star medallion was inscribed with the words "Champion Australian Driver" and historical records published by CAMS use the term "Australian Drivers' Championship".