1977 Australian Grand Prix winner Warwick Brown will present a trophy in his name to the winner of the final round of the 2021 VHT S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park this May.

The 1975 Tasman Series champion is the fourth legend of Australian open-wheel and Gold Star competition to be honoured this season, following awards named after fellow greats John McCormack (Tasmania), Alfie Costanzo (Phillip Island) and John Bowe (Sandown).

CLICK HERE to secure tickets to the Sydney Motorsport Park finale’. 

Brown’s career spanned most of the spectacular 1970s era of Formula 5000, twice winning the Rothmans International Series (1977, 78), which replaced the Tasman series after 1975, as well as wins in the 1975 New Zealand Grand Prix and the 1977 Australian Grand Prix.

Incidentally, that race was held at Oran Park Raceway, not far from Sydney Motorsport Park. 

He drove firstly for a team set up by his Sydney neighbour Pat Burke and then (from 1976) for the famous Belgian-owned Racing Team VDS, with its familiar dark red with blue/white stripe livery.

Like several his colleagues at the time, Warwick was lucky to have escaped from a massive crash.

While racing at the old Surfers Paradise track in 1973, a deflating left rear tyre through the circuit’s flat-out Turn 1 sent Brown’s Lola T300 off the road and sent it catapulting over a grass bank, landing upside down in a drain that was fortunately drained of water by a summer drought.

After his retirement from competition in 1979, Brown qualified as a pilot and until relatively recently was still flying private jets for corporate clients and for Médecins sans frontières – flying injured or ill Australians home.

He will be on hand at Sydney Motorsport Park to present the Warwick Brown Cup to the round winner on Sunday, May 2.

Brown has been a huge S5000 fan since the category was first mooted.

“I’m privileged to firstly still be around, and secondly able to be there to see S5000 again in the flesh and to present the trophy,” said Brown.

“S5000 is the absolute modern equivalent of what we were doing back in the 70s and will increasingly attract and develop the cream of Australia’s young motor racing stars.

“The cars are a little safer than our day, fortunately, but present the same sight and sound and open-wheeler challenge.. love it!”

Tickets are now on sale for the Sydney Motorsport Park Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships event, which doubles as the deciding round of the 2021 VHT S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship season.

The winner of the championship will become the 59^th driver to be awarded the Motorsport Australia Gold Star award.

With 130 points up for grabs across qualifying and the three races in Sydney, six drivers remain in mathematical contention for the coveted award.

Action from Sydney will be broadcast live and free on the screens of Seven on 1-2 May.