F5000 seems doomed

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 8

F5000 seems doomed

By JOHN FRIDD Australian motorsport officials and journalists who were quick to dismiss the new New Zealand Formula Pacific series as a flop must have been given food for thought after the third round of their Formula 5000 series last week-end.

Twenty cars started the race at Sandown Park in Melbourne and only five finished, after engine failures forced out the bulk of the field. The five Formula Pacific races in the New Zealand Peter Stuyvesant series were notable for the high finishing rates, one of the reasons Formula Pacific was adopted.

Australia is now’ the only country in the world

with a F5OOO series — even the United States had dropped the formula and reintroduced Can-Am sports c..rs. with five-litre motors instead of sevenlitre units used when Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme dominated the series.

It is increasingly likely that Australia will'bow to international and internal pressure and adopt Formula Pacific in the next season or two, thus making a true Pacific Basin motor-racing series a possibility.

Warwick Brown is leading the present Australian F5OOO series, although he crashed on the warm-up lap in the Sandown race and Max Stewart won in his first finish in the Rothmans series. The Brit-

ish star, Peter Gethin, led for much of the race but a gamble on his engine, which was badly leaking engine coolant, failed and the engine seized five laps from the finish, giving Stewart his chance. Alfredo Costanozo was second and Garrie Cooper third. The drivers in the F5OOO series are pressing the organisers of the Rothmans series to extend the time between races, as they maintain the competitive nature of the racing, combined with the lack of preparation time, is causing the extremely high failure rate.