Motorsport: Second time around, but still single

Tony Richards in the Lola T332, one of the original cars that raced in the 70s. Photo / Supplied

You only had to look around you at the Australian Grand Prix to see how the race cars in the MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series draw a crowd.

At their first appearance at a major international motor racing event in 30 years, the single-seaters were given a standing ovation from spectators in the stands each time they rumbled out on to the track.

British driver Mark Dwyer (Lola T400), and eventual 2008-09 runner-up Tony Richards (Lola T332), shared the wins at the Melbourne series finale after poleman Michael Lyons and champion-elect Ken Smith had a weekend-ending tangle early in the first race. But the 32 cars that made the grid were the real stars.

Australia was one of the last countries in the world to stage national championship races for the stock-block V8-engined Formula 5000 single-seaters.

Yet the latter-day popularity of touring cars has meant it no longer has a serious single-seater culture to speak of, hence the rock concert-like response to the F5000 cars at Albert Park.

These were the cars - the very cars in the case of Stan Redmond's Lola T332 and David Abbott's Lola T430 - which contested the Australian Grand Prix through the golden era of the 1970s. Warwick Brown won it in the now Abbott-owned T430 in 1977, and Johnnie Walker won it two years later in the T332 now owned and driven by Redmond.

The F5000 category was created to bridge the price and performance gap between small four-cylinder single seaters and the larger and considerably more expensive V8- and V12-engined Formula One cars of the time. It didn't last long first time around - but it has certainly ignited interest these days.

Says veteran Smith of the F5000 cars: "They were special all right. They still are. Real racing cars I call them." Smith, 67, is enjoying the distinction of being one of the few drivers to race the cars competitively first and second time around.

He sold his last F5000 car at the end of the 1970s (the car Australian Andrew Robson raced at Melbourne) to buy one of the smaller, more nimble Formula Pacific single-seaters.

But he retained fond memories for the simple, stock-block V8s and jumped at the chance to get back behind the wheel when New Zealand Formula 5000 Association committee member David Abbott offered him a drive in one of his two Lola T430s.

Smith and Abbott represent two of the reasons why New Zealand did not follow Australia's lead down the touring car route, and why the series has proved so popular. Smith has always carried the flame for an internationally relevant single-seater category, while Abbott's contribution is more recent, kick-started when he sought out a Formula 5000 single-seater to buy and restore.

In doing so, he met a number of like-minded individuals and eventually set up the New Zealand Formula 5000 Association and what is now known as the MSC New Zealand F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series.

At first the rebuilt F5000s had to share grids at classic and historic meetings. But numbers for stand-alone races grew as more and more cars were pulled out of museums or garages around the world.

The invitation to join the support roster at the Australian Grand Prix was a breakthrough - and the event proved so successful that a return next year could be on the cards.

There's also the possibility of a F5000 series in the United States, now that an owner/drivers association is up and running stateside.

"There's certainly the interest," said Abbott. "And the more we can do to get these fantastic cars back out in front of people the better."