VIII WARWICK FARM INTERNATIONAL '100'
 Location - Warwick Farm Aust Laps - 45  Distance - 162.95 km  Date - 18/02/68  Weather - Fine
ENTRY LIST
No. DRIVER ENTRANT MAKE ENGINE
1 Denny Hulme Racing Team S.A. Brabham BT23 Cosworth FVA
2 Jack Brabham Ecurie Vitesse Brabham BT23E Repco V8 2.5
3 John Harvey Bob Jane Racing Brabham BT11A Repco V8 2.5
4 Chris Amon C. Amon Ferrari 246T Ferrari V6 2.4
5 Graham Hill Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 49T Cosworth DFV 2.5
6 Jim Clark Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 49T Cosworth DFV 2.5
7 Greg Cusack Scuderia Veloce Brabham BT23A Repco V8 2.5
8 Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo V8 2.5
9 Kevin Bartlett Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
10 Leo Geoghegan Geoghegan Racing Div. Lotus 39 Repco V8 2.5
11 Pedro Rodriguez Owen Racing Org. BRM P126 BRM V12 2.5
12 Richard Attwood Owen Racing Org. BRM P126 BRM V12 2.5
17 Fred Gibson N.E. Allen Brabham BT16 Climax FPF
18 Piers Courage Piers Courage McLaren M4A Cosworth FVA
19 Max Stewart Max Stewart Motors Renmax BN2 Ford 1.5
20 Glyn Scott Glyn Scott Motors Lotus 27 Ford 1.5
21 Ian Fergusson Ian Fergusson Lotus 27 Ford 1.5
22 Alfredo Costanzo Alfredo Costanzo Elfin Mono 100 Ford 1.5
23 Brian Page Brian Page Brabham BT2 Ford 1.5
Team Lotus DownunderThe results of the Warwick Farm race, the 6th 1968 Tasman round, duplicated the results from Surfers Paradise, one week earlier Clark, Hill and Courage. As at the Surfers, it was Chris Amon who made up the fourth of the competitive quartet. Throughout the race he put his name on the leader board, but after 100 miles Ford power propelled the first three place getters. The International status of the meeting was substantially consolidated by the entry of Jack Brabham, whose presence also ignited local interest. Australian promoters have long since found that the recipe for a box office success is to pit the cream of the world's drivers, "youngsters" like Clark and Hill, against Australia's own champion driver-constructor, Brabham.

Jack's weekend was fraught with difficulty. His Repco motor blew oil all day Saturday and was changed overnight. The replacement offended similarly throughout the race, causing a stop for oil, permitted under Tasman regulations, and an eventual deficit to Clark of one lap plus.

Competition between Amon, Clark, Brabham, Hill and Hulme, representing a total of nine World Championships, had to produce good racing on this drivers' circuit. The addition of wiry expatriate professional Frank Gardner and talented, wealthy Piers Courage producedHill sits in his pitbay a line-up which promised spectators an unforgettable race. This they got. The competition was so fierce that at quarter distance seven seconds separated these seven drivers.

The race marked a notable phase in the tyre war. Rodriguez, probably the longest standing user of Goodyear of all, abandoned the World Championship winning tyres and ran the V8 BRM on Dunlops. Brabham and Gardner also found the Goodyears unsuitable to hot adhesive surface, and opted to use Firestones.

The circus arrived at Warwick Farm with equipment little changed from Surfers. After the overheating troubles with the four-valve V6 at Surfers, the. Ferrari team refitted the three-valve motor. This unit had not been overhauled since its running in the four races in New Zealand, but the decision to use it on the tight Farm circuit was made to allow time to ready the four-valve motor for the faster races at Sandown and Longford. Unhappily, the three-valve unit was found to be well down on power during Saturday's practice, so it was replaced overnight.

Clark leads into Creek CornerMost pre-race interest centred on Brabham's car, yet another example, of the multi-purpose BT23, this time an E. Repco had long since abandoned efforts to prepare a 2.5 litre version of their new 4-cam motor. They built up a tweaked single cam motor similar to the new units recently supplied to Geoghegan, Cusack and Harvey.

The remaining vehicles had received only regular maintenance. New suspension parts had been brought out for Denny Hulme's F2 Brabham, while the BRM people were hopeful they had solved their fuel pump problems.

The Lotus Ford 1-2 at Surfers made Clark and Hill logical favourites, but the showing put up by Amon, Courage and Geoghegan in Queensland made the race wide open. Courage and Geoghegan had shown in Surfers that they could catch and pass Hill on a 100 m.p.h. circuit, and Warwick Farm' is always regarded as being kind to light, good-handling cars, despite a horsepower deficit.

The first practice session did little to clarify the favouritism. Clark, in the "heavy" Lotus stopped the clocks at 1.28.29 After doing several laps around this time, 1.7 seconds inside the lap record, he pulled into the pits to watch.

Hulme, Gardner, Hill, Cusack, Harvey, Bartlett and Amon, all got under 1.31s. One point five seconds covered this group, but, Clark was 1.3 seconds clear of it.

Since Amon's three-valve motor was giving trouble real interest in an upset centred on Piers Courage. He completedClark into Creek one lap in the little McLaren FVA and pitted for adjustments, then spent the rest of the session watching his mechanics trying to start the motor.

Graham Hill's ignition system stopped him after he had done 1.30s. The Lotus mechanics removed the tray of electrics and called on the Lucas specialists to assist in the diagnosis and repair. The community effort was eventually successful, after the exchange of many puzzled looks and suggestions.

Brabham's brand new car showed a few. teething troubles. The Repco motor was unable to hold its oil and Jack could do no better than 1.32.5s. The Lotus Fords took charge in the second session. Without much apparent effort, Clark got down to a staggering 1.27.4, 92.67 m.p.h. Graham Hill improved to Amon was close to Hill with 1.28.2, while Courage, Hulme, Cusack, Harvey, Gardner and Rodriguez got under 1.30.0. Brabham's troubles continued his best time being a just competitive 1.30 neat.

In the 1.5 litre class, Max Stewart's Rennmax was quickest with 1.32.9, followed by Alf Costanzo's Elfin with 1.34.3.

Brabham's and Amon's vehicles got their replacement motors overnight, and full field of 19 lined up on the grid on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Chris AmonFrom the start the Lotus Fords jumped into. the lead. Around Paddock Bend, Clark led from Hill, Amon, Courage and Hulme. Brabham was unable to break through the middle runners and he came round on lap one in 10th place.

On the first lap "Mr. Remarkable" Piers Courage slipped his Dunlop shod McLaren past Amon's Ferrari to take third. The order as they streaked across the line was Clark, Hill, Courage, Amon, Hulme, Cusack, Gardner, Rodriguez, Bartlett, Brabham, and Geoghegan.

Amon followed Courage for four laps and then thundered by. Brabham moved by Bartlett on lap two and Cusack ran out of brakes. He took the Brabham into the pits for repairs, but was able to complete only a few more laps before retiring.

Clark led an almost unbroken line of cars for the first half dozen laps. He was leading but the lead was immeasurable. On lap six Brabham took Pedro Rodriguez for seventh place, and then slowly the first gap began to open.

Brabham was lapping faster than Clark, so the distance between first and seventh became even less. As the cars accelerated out of the very slow Creek Corner and wound through the esses, they resembled a multi-coloured crocodile, whose anatomy from front to rear was Lotus, Lotus, Ferrari, McLaren, Brabham, Brabham and Brabham.Courage in his marvellous little McLaren

On lap 10 Jack Brabham was still in seventh place and was only seven seconds behind Jim Clark. The crowd loved every minute of Brabham's drive. They refused to accept his 10th place on the grid as a measure of his ability. He squeezed by Hulme during lap 10 and set out after Gardner, but was unable to shake off Hulme.

Brabham pursued Gardner for six laps and posted the fastest lap of the race at 1.29.0 before getting by into fifth place on lap 16.

By lap 19 Clark had managed to open a three second gap to Hill, who was then 21 seconds in front of Amon. Courage trailed Amon by less than half a second. Brabham got to within 1.4 seconds, of Courage, but was hampered by serious oil problems. He had too much of his oil on the track and too little in the Brabham tank. The triple World Driving Champion's challenge collapsed on lap 25 when he pitted for oil. The stop took 1.40 and put him a lap behind Clark.

Following Brabham's stop the order was Clark, Hill, Amon, Courage, Gardner and Hulme, then a gap to Rodriguez, Bartlett and Attwood. The circuit was very, slippery and the first six appeared to be prepared to hold station.

Frank Gardner was being hampered by a sticking throttle, and lost fifth to Hulme on the 28 tour.

Jim Clarks wins again at Warwick FarmAmon had managed to close on Hill and on lap 30 he made a bold attempt to wrest second from Hill. As the Londoner braked for the left hander, approaching the Causeway, Amon took a wide approach in an effort to drive around the outside of Hill. Unfortunately for Amon this was not possible and he was forced to stay wide, allowing ever eager Piers Courage to streak by.

Being pushed into fourth place when second was in sight seemed to upset Chris because he steadily lost ground. By lap 33 Amon was 11 seconds behind Courage, who was only 0.6 seconds behind Hill. Clark had managed to open a lead, an almost comfortable lead, of six seconds on Hill.

Amon's slump continued until lap 36 when Denny Hulme woke him up by snatching fourth place. Amon replied and following the 1600cc Brabham for four laps before retaking fourth place. By this stage he was 11 seconds behind Courage, and had no chance of regaining third.

Gardner's throttle linkage finally came adrift on the 38th lap, and he coasted to halt on the grass inside Leger Corner.

Clark completed the 45 laps to win the race without having been involved in one incident. His drive appeared easy,Clark congratulated by the great Stirling Moss serene and almost monotonous, but nothing could be more untrue. On this circuit, where any advantage the Lotus Ford has was reduced to an absolute minimum Clark maintained the pressure throughout the race. Graham Hill, despite having a faster race lap than Clark, was unable to shake his pursuers and had to, fight all the way.

Behind the Lotus Fords, which were separated. by 5.7 seconds, were Courage, Amon and Hulme, with Pedro Rodriguez a minute behind in the V8 BRM. Jack Brabham ran reliably after his stop to take seventh place.
RACE RESULTS
POSITION LAPS TIME
1. Clark 45 1:08'17.2
2. Hill 45 1:08'22.9
3. Courage 45 1:08'27.3
4. Amon 45 1:08'42.5
5. Hulme 45 1:08'46.1
6. Rodriguez 45 1:09'43.9
7. Brabham 44 FL:1'29.0
8. Costanzo 41 .
9. Fergusson 41 .
10. Scott 40 .
Gardner 38 DNF:Throttle
Bartlett 32 DNF:Half Shaft
Attwood 26 DNF:Gearbox
Harvey 14 DNF:Transmission
Stewart 11 DNF:Overheating
Page 10 DNF:Engine
Geoghegan 4 DNF:Engine
Cusack 3 DNF:Brakes
Gibson 2 DNF:Oil Pipe
Written by M.G.P.A for Motoring News. Article submitted by Milan Fistonic

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