In a recent thread there was a post from Ray Bell about the Tasman Series starting in 1964.
These are the regulations for that series as published in the December 1963 edition of the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs' Motor Sport Newsletter.
There was a change to the scoring system for the 1966 Tasman Series. The points scored no longer had to include the New Zealand Grand Prix and the Australian Grand Prix; instead any three races in each country would be counted.
The point of it all was that the words 'Tasman Series', or even 'Tasman races' were not used until the competition was inaugurated...
Today we may refer to those events on both sides of the Tasman Sea as pre-Tasman, but not Tasman Series, or Tasman Cup.They were simply International races held in each country.
Ironically, David McKinney blamed the introduction of the series for the decline in the standard of those International races held in New Zealand from 1964 onwards. And, when you look at his argument, there is good cause to say he was right.
David McK also told me that saloons were a distraction from resources going into proper racing cars, they were just a filler and should have stayed that way.
But his main argument was that the NZ Summer season was getting really good entries. This peaked with virtually the whole grid from the USGP of 1960 coming across in 1961.
It was still a good entry in '62 and '63. And in those three years there were Australian races to extend the 'season' and help cover the costs for the competitors. And in '64 the Tasman Cup came along and Bruce McLaren won it.
But the quality of the entry was declining. Sure, it seemed good when the Ferrari/Ferraris came, but by then McLaren was no longer bringing a team and Brabham was a bit hit-and-miss and the BRMs were lesser cars. Lotus, though, did remain a constant from 1965 onwards.
Until they all stopped coming in 1970, leaving us with F5000 if we were to have international participation at all.
Ray, We were fortunate to get the fields we did when you compare the USGP prize money to the NZGP money in 1967-69.
e.g. In 1967 "A return to North America and the picturesque Watkins Glen circuit was already a guardsmen for the F1 calendar, although the organisers felt they still need to persuade potential pedlars. As such, a huge prize fund totalling $100,000 was gathered ahead of the race, with $20,000 set to be handed to the race winner."
Here is a page of entrants for the 1969 NZGP. (Note the prize money !)
By that time, however Ken, it was all a different ball game...
The GP cars they ran at Watkins Glen were unable to compete here. Even Brabham built a different car, though he could possibly have simply fitted a different engine, while Cosworth had to build bespoke engines for Team Lotus and Frank Williams to fit our formula.
I would suggest it's also an unfair comparison, for the Cameron Argetsinger offerings for the late-sixties USGPs were totally divorced from anything else previously offered for any Grand Epreuve, more on a par with the Indianapolis 500.
