The 1997 Australian Formula Ford Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars.[1] It was 28th national series to be held in Australia for Formula Fords and the fifth to be contested under the Australian Formula Ford Championship name.[2] The championship, which was promoted as the Ford Motorsport / Slick 50 Australian Formula Ford Championship, was won by Western Australian Garth Tander, driving a Van Diemen RF95.[3]
The championship was contested over an eight-round series[3] with two races per round.[4]
Round[3] | Circuit[3] | State[3] | Date[3] |
1 | Calder | Victoria | 15 March |
2 | Phillip Island | Victoria | 13 April |
3 | Sandown | Victoria | 27 April |
4 | Eastern Creek | New South Wales | 27 May |
5 | Lakeside | Queensland | 15 June |
6 | Barbagallo | Western Australia | 6 July |
7 | Mallala | South Australia | 13 July |
8 | Oran Park | New South Wales | 3 August |
Championship points were awarded on the results of each race as per the following table.
Position[5] | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
Points[5] | 20 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Position[6] | Driver[6] | No.[4][7] | Car[4][7] | Entrant[4][7] | Cal[6] | Phi[6] | San[6] | Eas[6] | Lak[6] | Bar[6] | Mal[6] | Ora[6] | Total[6] |
1 | Garth Tander | 17 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Fastlane Racing | 40 | 20 | 40 | 32 | 14 | 32 | 40 | 30 | 248 |
2 | Marcos Ambrose | 4 | Van Diemen RF97 Ford | Marcos Ambrose | 26 | 16 | 28 | 40 | 40 | 22 | 30 | 36 | 238 |
3 | Todd Kelly | 12 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Todd Kelly | - | 32 | 32 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 1 | 21 | 166 |
4 | Craig Zerner | 35 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Craig Zerner | 32 | - | 20 | 26 | - | - | 10 | 20 | 108 |
5 | Greg Ritter | 36 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | Greg Ritter | 14 | 24 | - | 6 | 26 | - | 26 | 1 | 97 |
6 | Christian Jones | 27 | Spectrum 06 Ford | George Stockman | - | 18 | - | - | 28 | 13 | 16 | 12 | 87 |
= | Aaron McNally | 74 | Van Diemen RF97 Ford | Aaron McNally | 6 | 14 | 12 | 10 | - | 18 | 1 | 26 | 87 |
8 | Adam Macrow | 71 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Team Arrow | 18 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 2 | - | 60 |
9 | Justin Cotter | 7 | Mygale SJ95 Ford | Justin Cotter | 12 | 4 | 14 | 14 | - | - | - | 4 | 48 |
10 | Phillip Scifleet | 77 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Phillip Scifleet | 3 | - | 1 | 22 | - | 1 | 2 | 12 | 41 |
11 | John Blanchard | 3 | Mygale SJ97 Ford | Apache Constructors | - | 24 | - | 14 | - | - | - | - | 38 |
12 | Scott Bargwanna | 9 | Van Diemen RF95 Ford | Scott Bargwanna | - | - | 18 | - | 2 | - | - | 14 | 34 |
13 | Kerry Wade | 14 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | 12 | - | - | - | - | 20 | - | - | 32 | |
= | Brett Burvill | 73 | Van Diemen RF92 Ford | Fastlane Racing | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | 22 | - | 32 |
15 | Ray Stubber | 54 | Spectrum 06 Ford | - | - | - | - | - | 20 | - | - | 20 | |
16 | Dugal McDougall | 8 | Mygale SJ97 Ford | Apache Constructors | 2 | - | - | - | 16 | - | - | - | 18 |
17 | Damien White | 31 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Team Arrow | - | 14 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 16 |
18 | Christian Murchison | 52 | Van Diemen RF95 & RF94 Ford | Fastlane Racing | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | 10 | - | 14 |
= | Ken Smith | 73 | Van Diemen RF92 Ford | Fastlane Racing | - | - | - | - | - | - | 14 | - | 14 |
20 | Ashley Cutchie | 15 | Swift SC96K Ford | Swift Racing Cars | - | - | - | - | 12 | - | - | - | 12 |
= | Cameron Schearer | 48 | Mygale SJ95 Ford | Apache Constructors | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 10 | - | - | 12 |
22 | Wayne Stoddard | 46 | Vector MG96 Ford | W Stoddard | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 |
= | Rodney Forbes | 25 | Van Diemen RF92 Ford | R Forbes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 | 10 |
24 | Dean Lindstrom | 19 | Van Diemen RF91 Ford | - | 6 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | |
= | Michael Simpson | 38 | Van Diemen RF96 Ford | M Simpson | - | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 |
= | Tim Leahey | 75 | Van Diemen RF96B Ford | Tim Leahey | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | - | 8 |
27 | Scott Marsh | 42 | Swift SC92F Ford | S Marsh | - | 4 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | 6 |
28 | Andrew Reid | 26 | Swift SC97K Ford | Inspired Racing | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 4 | - | 5 |
29 | Murray Ditton | 41 | Spectrum 06 Ford | Murray Ditton | - | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 |
= | Owen Ow | 55 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | 4 | |
31 | Christopher Dell | 57 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | Christopher Dell | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 |
32 | Sam Oliver | 80 | Van Diemen RF94 Ford | Prix Max | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |