# 1971 Australian Grand Prix

The 1971 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Warwick Farm Raceway in New South Wales, Australia on 21 November 1971. It was open to Racing Cars complying with either Australian Formula 1 or Australian Formula 2 regulations.
The race was the thirty sixth running of the Australian Grand Prix. Frank Matich won his second straight AGP and, as in 1970, he started the race on pole and also set the fastest race lap. The race marked the debut of Matich's self designed and built Matich A50 which was powered by a Repco Holden V8 engine. Matich won the race by 58.7 seconds from Kevin Bartlett driving a McLaren M10B-Chevrolet, with Alan Hamilton, also driving McLaren M10B-Chevrolet, 1.1 seconds behind Bartlett in third place.
Other than two New Zealanders, the only international driver in the event was 1964 Formula One World Drivers' Champion John Surtees. The Englishman started ninth in his Surtees TS8-Chevrolet, and battled with Bartlett, Hamilton, and, until his retirement, Colin Bond in the McLaren M10B in which Matich had won the 1970 Australian Grand Prix. Surtees ultimately placed 14th after suffering two punctures late in the race. 1971 Rothmans F5000 European Championship winner Frank Gardner was unable to start the race after damaging his Lola T300 in the first practice session on the Saturday.

## Classification

Results as follows:

### Official practice

Grid positions for the race were determined during "official practice".
| Pos | No | Driver | Car/Engine | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 1 | Frank Matich | Matich A50 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | 1:24.3 | — |
| 2 | 8 | Bob Muir | Mildren Mono / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4 | 1:25.4 | +0.9 |
| 3 | 7 | John Harvey | Brabham BT36 / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4 | 1:25.6 | +1.3 |
| 4 | 6 | Max Stewart | Mildren / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4 | 1:25.8 | +1.5 |
| 5 | 14 | Graeme Lawrence | Brabham BT30 / Cosworth FVC 1.8L I4 | 1:26.0 | +1.7 |
| 6 | 9 | Alan Hamilton | McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 1:26.3 | +2.0 |
| 7 | 2 | Colin Bond | McLaren M10B / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | 1:26.4 | +2.1 |
| 8 | 5 | Kevin Bartlett | McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 1:26.8 | +2.5 |
| 9 | 3 | John Surtees | Surtees TS8 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 1:27.2 | +2.9 |
| 10 | 11 | John McCormack | Elfin MR5 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | 1:27.6 | +3.3 |
| 11 | 12 | Warwick Brown | McLaren M4A / Cosworth FVC 1.9L I4 | 1:29.3 | +5.0 |
| 12 | 26 | Jack Bono | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:29.7 | +5.4 |
| 13 | 15 | Don O'Sullivan | McLaren M18 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | 1:29.7 | +5.4 |
| 14 | 17 | Gary Campbell | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:30.1 | +5.8 |
| 15 | 20 | Alfredo Costanzo | Elfin AC1 / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:30.1 | +5.8 |
| 16 | 16 | Henk Woelders | Elfin 600C / Waggott T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:31.2 | +6.9 |
| 17 | 10 | Colin Hyams | Lola T192 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | 1:31.4 | +7.1 |
| 18 | 19 | Terry Quartly | Lotus 32B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:31.8 | +7.5 |
| 19 | 25 | Ian Fergusson | Bowin P3A / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:33.0 | +8.7 |
| 20 | 21 | Ian Cook | Devione LC2 / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:33.8 | +9.5 |
| 21 | 24 | Ross Ambrose | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:34.2 | +9.9 |
| 22 | 18 | Clive Mills | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L I4 (AF2) | 1:34.8 | +10.5 |
| 23 | 23 | Chris Farrell | Brabham BT6 / BRM Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | DNP | |
| – | 4 | Frank Gardner | Lola T300 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | DNP | – |

### Race

| Pos | No. | Driver | Car | Entrant | Laps | Time / Reason |
| 1 | 1 | Frank Matich | Matich A50 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | Rothmans Team Matich | 45 | 1h 05m 09.5s |
| 2 | 5 | Kevin Bartlett | McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | Kevin Bartlett Shell Racing | 45 | 1h 06m 08.2s |
| 3 | 9 | Alan Hamilton | McLaren M10B / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | Porsche Distributors Racing Pty Ltd | 45 | 1h 06m 09.3s |
| 4 | 14 | Graeme Lawrence | Brabham BT30 / Cosworth FVC 1.8L 4cyl | Air New Zealand | 45 | 1h 06m 09.7s |
| 5 | 6 | Max Stewart | Mildren / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L 4cyl | Max Stewart Motors – Waggott Engineering | 45 | 1h 06m 10.2s |
| 6 | 11 | John McCormack | Elfin MR5 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | Elfin Sports Cars | 44 | |
| 7 | 12 | Warwick Brown | McLaren M4A / Cosworth FVC 1.9L 4cyl | Pat Burke Racing | 43 | |
| 8 | 17 | Gary Campbell | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Provincial Motors | 43 | |
| 9 | 16 | Henk Woelders | Elfin 600C / Waggott T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Bill Patterson Racing | 43 | |
| 10 | 26 | Jack Bono | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Graham Collier | 43 | |
| 11 | 25 | Ian Fergusson | Bowin P3A / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Ian Ferguson | 42 | |
| 12 | 21 | Ian Cook | Devione LC2 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Autocorse | 42 | |
| 13 | 18 | Clive Mills | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Clive Millis Motors Pty Ltd | 41 | |
| 14 | 3 | John Surtees | Surtees TS8 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | Team Surtees | 38 | |
| 15 | 18 | Terry Quartly | Lotus 32 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Jeff Noblett | 38 | |
| Ret | 7 | John Harvey | Brabham BT36 / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L 4cyl | Bob Jane Racing | 23 | Exhaust |
| Ret | 15 | Don O'Sullivan | McLaren M18 / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | Don O'Sullivan Racing Pty Ltd | 21 | Crash |
| Ret | 2 | Colin Bond | McLaren M10B / Repco Holden 5.0L V8 | Rothmans Team Matich | 20 | Oil pressure |
| Ret | 20 | Alfredo Costanzo | Elfin AC1 / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Alfredo Costanzo | | Engine |
| Ret | 10 | Colin Hyams | Lola T192 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | Colin Hyams | | Wheels |
| Ret | 24 | Ross Ambrose | Elfin 600B / Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | Ross Ambrose | | |
| Ret | 23 | Chris Farrell | Brabham BT6 / BRM Ford T/C 1.6L 4cyl (AF2) | BP Cordon Service Station | | Oil pressure |
| Ret | 8 | Bob Muir | Mildren Mono / Waggott TC 4V 2.0L I4 | Robert Muir Motors Pty Ltd | 0 | Bent valve |
| DNS | 4 | Frank Gardner | Lola T300 / Chevrolet 5.0L V8 | Amalgamated Scooters – Team Lola | – | Practice accident |
* (AF2) indicates Australian Formula 2 car