# 1964 Tasman Series

The 1964 Tasman Series was an international motor racing series contested in New Zealand and Australia over eight races beginning on 4 January and ending on 2 March. It was the first Tasman Series. The series, which was officially known as the Tasman Championship for Drivers, was organised jointly by the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs Inc. and the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport with the winning driver awarded the Tasman Cup. The championship was open to racing cars using unsupercharged engines of up to 2,500 c.c. capacity.
The inaugural series was a battle of the British-based expatriates with a two-car team led by Australian Jack Brabham and a two-car team of Coopers from Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, led by the New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Although Denny Hulme won the opening round of the series, McLaren took a trifecta of wins in New Zealand setting up the title win. When the teams moved to Australia, Brabham won the first three races, ensuring a thrilling finish, however Brabham was unable to better his score and therefore McLaren emerged as champion. The last round of the series at Longford was won by the Englishman, Graham Hill, securing sixth place in the final standings as a result. Brabham led the final race until the last laps before his car suffered a transmission failure.
The most successful of the local-based drivers was John Youl. Although the Cooper T55 he was driving was three-years old, he took the aging car to six top five finishes. Australian Bib Stillwell only completed in three races, twice beating Youl, including a second place in the Australian Grand Prix. Another competitive local was Frank Matich in his Repco Brabham BT7A, taking pole at Warwick Farm. Whilst leading, his suspension broke and he was forced to retire. With a further four retirements, Matich only finished one race, gaining a third place at Longford.

## Results and standings
### Races

| Round | Round | Name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Winning car | Winning team | Report |
| New Zealand | 1 | Vic Hudson Memorial Race | Levin | 4 January | Denny Hulme | Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | Motor Racing Developments | Report |
| New Zealand | 2 | Eleventh New Zealand International Grand Prix | Pukekohe | 11 January | Bruce McLaren | Cooper T70 Coventry Climax | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | Report |
| New Zealand | 3 | 10th International Lady Wigram Trophy Race | Wigram | 18 January | Bruce McLaren | Cooper T70 Coventry Climax | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | Report |
| New Zealand | 4 | Teretonga International | Teretonga | 25 January | Bruce McLaren | Cooper T70 Coventry Climax | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | Report |
| Australia | 5 | 29th Australian Grand Prix | Sandown | 9 February | Jack Brabham | Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax | Ecurie Vitesse | Report |
| Australia | 6 | International 100 Race | Warwick Farm | 16 February | Jack Brabham | Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax | Ecurie Vitesse | Report |
| Australia | 7 | Lakeside International 99 | Lakeside | 23 February | Jack Brabham | Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax | Ecurie Vitesse | Report |
| Australia | 8 | South Pacific Trophy | Longford | 2 March | Graham Hill | Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | Scuderia Veloce | Report |
| Source: |||||||||

### Points system

Championship points were awarded at each race on the following basis:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
| Points | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Championship placings were determined by points won by drivers in the New Zealand Grand Prix and any two of the other three races held in New Zealand, plus the Australian Grand Prix and any two of the other three races held in Australia.

### Standings

| Pos | Driver | Car | Entrant | Lev | Puk | Wig | Ter | San | War | Lak | Lon | Pts |
| 1 | Bruce McLaren | Cooper T70 Coventry Climax | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | (3) | 1 | 1 | 1 | Ret | 2 | (3) | 2 | 39 (47) |
| 2 | Jack Brabham | Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax | Motor Racing Developments Ecurie Vitesse | | Ret | 2 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | Ret | 33 |
| 3 | Denny Hulme | Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | Motor Racing Developments Ecurie Vitesse | 1 | 2 | 3 | Ret | 5 | 5 | 9 | | 23 |
| 4 | Timmy Mayer | Cooper T70 Coventry Climax | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing | 2 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | Ret | DNS | 23 |
| 5 | John Youl | Cooper T55 Coventry Climax | John Youl | 4 | 4 | 4 | DNS | 3 | Ret | 2 | 5 | 21 |
| 6 | Graham Hill | Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | Scuderia Veloce | | | | | | 4 | | 1 | 12 |
| 7 | Bib Stillwell | Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | BS Stillwell | | | | | 2 | 6 | | 4 | 10 |
| 8 | Jim Palmer | Cooper T53 Coventry Climax | Jim Palmer | (6) | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 10 | | 8 | 9 (10) |
| 9 | Tony Shelly | Lotus 18/21 Coventry Climax Lola Mk4A Coventry Climax | Shelley Motors Ltd AL Shelley | 5 | 6 | (6) | 4 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 (9) |
| 10 | Frank Matich | Repco Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax | Total Team | | Ret | | | Ret | Ret | Ret | 3 | 4 |
| 11 | Frank Gardner | Repco Brabham BT6 Ford | Alec Mildren Racing Pty Ltd | | | | | 10 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| 12 | Bill Thomasen | Cooper T53 Coventry Climax | Corsair Racing Team | Ret | DNS | | 5 | | | | | 2 |
| 13 | Roly Levis | Lotus 22 Ford | RA Levis | 7 | 9 | 10 | 6 | | | | | 1 |
| 13 | Lex Davison | Cooper T62 Coventry Climax | Ecurie Australie | | | | | Ret | 8 | | 6 | 1 |
| 13 | Glynn Scott | Lotus 27 Ford | Glyn Scott Motors | | | | | Ret | Ret | 6 | | 1 |
| — | Rex Flowers | Lotus 20B Ford | Flowers Transport | 8 | 12 | 7 | Ret | | 12 | 8 | | 0 |
| — | Andy Buchanan | Brabham BT6 Ford | Wilson Motors Ltd | 10 | 7 | 9 | | | | | | 0 |
| — | Greg Cusack | Repco Brabham BT6 Ford | Scuderia Veloce | | | | | | 11 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| — | Arnold Glass | Lotus 27 Ford | Capitol Motors | | | | | 7 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 |
| — | Jim Boyd | Valour Ford | JA Malcolm | | Ret | | 7 | | | | | 0 |
| — | Ken Sager | Lotus 20 Ford | JH Sager | | 11 | 11 | 8 | | | | | 0 |
| — | David Young | Cooper T59 Ford | David Young | | 8 | Ret | | | | | | 0 |
| — | Neil Whittaker | Cooper T43 Coventry Climax | | 9 | | | | | | | | 0 |
| — | David Walker | Repco Brabham BT2 Ford | David Walker | | | | | 9 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 0 |
| — | Leo Geoghegan | Lotus 27 Ford | Total Team | | | | | Ret | 9 | | | 0 |
| — | Dene Hollier | Cooper T52 Ford | Dene Hollyer Limited | | 10 | | | | | | | 0 |
| — | Peter Slocombe | Lotus 18 Ford | | 11 | | | | | | | | 0 |
| — | Jack Hobden | Cooper T51 Coventry Climax | Louis Hobden | | | | | | | | 11 | 0 |
| — | Mel McEwin | Elfin Ford | Mel McEwin | | | | | Ret | | | 12 | 0 |
| — | Chris Amon | Lola Mk4A Coventry Climax | Reg Parnell Racing | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | | | | | 0 |
| — | Charlie Smith | Elfin Ford | CG Smith | | | | | Ret | Ret | | | 0 |
| — | Jack Hunnam | Elfin Mono Ford | Jack Hunnan Motors | | | | | Ret | Ret | | | 0 |
| — | Bill Patterson | Cooper T53 Coventry Climax | Bill Patterson Motors | | | | | Ret | | | Ret | 0 |
| — | Tony Osborne | Cooper T53 Coventry Climax | AJR Osborne | | | | | Ret | | | Ret | 0 |
| — | Bruce Abernethy | Cooper T41 Coventry Climax | | Ret | | | | | | | | 0 |
| — | Doug Whiteford | Cooper T53 Coventry Climax | Bill Patterson Motors | | | | | Ret | | | | 0 |
| — | Keith Rilstone | Elfin Ford | KN Rilstone | | | | | Ret | | | | 0 |
| — | David Fletcher | Lola Mk5 Ford | DK Fletcher | | | | | Ret | | | | 0 |
| — | Wally Mitchell | MRD Brabham Ford | East Burwood Motors | | | | | Ret | | | | 0 |
| — | Lionel Ayers | Lotus 20 Ford | | | | | | | | Ret | | 0 |
| — | Barry Porter | Lotus 15 Coventry Climax | | | | | DNS | | | | | 0 |
| — | Ken Smith | Lola Mk2 Ford | M Smith | DNQ | | | | | | | | 0 |
| Pos | Driver | Car | Entrant | Lev | Puk | Wig | Ter | San | War | Lak | Lon | Pts |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |