Who are the top 10 Australasian racing drivers of today and all time?

[motorsportnerd]

Watching the Australian Grand Prix and having a browse of Jack Brabham's autobiography got me thinking about who are the best drivers from Australasia both currently and in the past.
I'd be interested to hear the views of others. I thought any list should be Australasian since so many Kiwi drivers have high profiles in Australia. And I thought the current drivers list should include non residents like Mark Webber. I've excluded rally drivers, speedway drivers, motorcycle racers and drag racers and just thought about circuit racers. Otherwise, Mick Doohan, Possum Borne, Gary Rush and Victor Bray would have to rate highly and a top 10 list of circuit racers is hard enough. Both lists would be totally subjective of course, since some of us will hate certain drivers and not rate them.

My list for the top 10 Australasian drivers of all time would be
1. Jack Brabham
2. Alan Jones
3. Bruce McLaren
4. Denis Hulme
5. Peter Brock
6. Alan Moffat
7. Mark Webber
8. Bob Jane
9. Jim Richards
10. Larry Perkins.

My list for the top 10 current Australasian drivers would be
1. Mark Webber
2. Scott Dixon
3. Marcus Ambrose
4. Craig Lowndes
5. Ryan Briscoe
6. James Courtney
7. Greg Murphy
8. Mark Skaife
9. David Brabham
10. Jim Richards.

[henk4]

Forgot Chris Amon??

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by henk4

Forgot Chris Amon??

Yep, I did. And no doubt others...

[henk4]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

Yep, I did. And no doubt others...

Will you revise your list accordingly?

[Spastik_Roach]

Aaron Slight is considering going into V8 Supercars...

But I think your list pretty much totally right. Although Paul Radisch should feature IMHO...

[ace]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

Yep, I did. And no doubt others...

Dick Jonson

[Falcon500]

Well as afar as touring cars go i would have to vote jim richards as the top...as much as im not afan youd find it hard not to admit he was defintly the greatest in the late 80s early 90s..
my list of touring car drivers goes
1. Jim richards
2. Dick jonhson (for all his touring car wins and immense desication)
3. Ian Gehoagen
3. Bob Jane
4. Peter Brock
5. Mark Skaife
6. Allan Moffat
7. "Stomin" Norman Beechy
8. Craig lowndes
9. Glenn Seton
10. Colin Bond (who was both rally and touring car champion)
This is what i think i would be willing to change...any opions edditions?

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by henk4

Will you revise your list accordingly?

No I'll leave it as it is. I could replace Larry Perkins with Amon, but won't. After all I did leave out Paul Radicish, Norm Beechey, Dick Johnson, the Geohagen brothers, Colin Bond, etc, as well. All top drivers, but I'll stick with the top ten I listed.

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by ace

Dick Jonson

I hadn't forgotten about Johnson. He was a top driver, but I had to draw a line somewhere. The number 10 choice was the hardest and I chose Perkins due to both his Bathurst wins, the fact that he made F1 and he is/was a top engineer to boot. If I was listing a top 20, or if I just listed the top Australian drivers, then Johnson would be on my list.

[motorsportnerd]

I like Falc's idea of having a list of the top 10 Australian touring car drivers as well. But rather than trying to come up with one definitive list, how about each person lists who they think should be the top 10.
I'd largely agree with Falc's top 10 list for touring car drivers, though I'd change the order and put Brock at number 1, followed by Moffat, Jane, Richards, Perkins, Johnson, Lowndes, Skaife, Geohagen, Radisich (remember he won two World Touring car challenges...).

So, lets have everyones top 10 for a) all time best Australasian drivers b) current Australasian circuit drivers across all catagories and c) all time Australasian touring car drivers.

[Falcon500]

Well i dint rate borck terribly highly because of his 3 championship wins...im rateing more of consistancy here...while he did achieve more then some of the others above him he still rated himself against the likes of jane and the raceing geohagen brothers.
And on the note of radasich i would of rather mention mr franzovic who won a titel here (rember im talking local achievements radasich ios a fine driver but hasnt done so well in our caitgory)
and its is very hard to mix historic figures with more current ones...
and sorry if im not maeking much snese im off work for a few days im haveing my unwind drinks... if you want to talk about the subject take it slowly please

[henk4]

Originally Posted by motorsportnerd

No I'll leave it as it is. I could replace Larry Perkins with Amon, but won't. After all I did leave out Paul Radicish, Norm Beechey, Dick Johnson, the Geohagen brothers, Colin Bond, etc, as well. All top drivers, but I'll stick with the top ten I listed.

I find it almost an insult to Amon to compare him with the drivers you mention. I'm only familiar with Paul Radisich, who did the British Touring Car Championships some years ago, the others you mention are completely unknown. Larry Parkins for me is a famous US guitar player, but that is purely coincidental.
Amon certainly belongs in the top 5, level with McLaren.

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by henk4

I find it almost an insult to Amon to compare him with the drivers you mention. I'm only familiar with Paul Radisich, who did the British Touring Car Championships some years ago, the others you mention are completely unknown. Larry Parkins for me is a famous US guitar player, but that is purely coincidental.
Amon certainly belongs in the top 5, level with McLaren.

Fair enought. I rated McLaren at number 3 simply because of his achievements as an engineer as well as a driver. I completely forgot about Amon and if I did the list again would put him in the top 5. After all he won Le Mans and is regarded as the best driver never to win a formula one race. Since I forgot about him, the best way is for me to make it a top 11 list and put Amon at number 5 and drop every one down one place.

I'm sure they'll be others who will mention guys like Mike Thackwell and David Brabham, both of whom made it to F1. But, Amon aside, I'll stick with my top 10. Let's have everyone else's.

[henk4]

OK, btw, Amon also made it as F1 constructor, albeit not very succesfull. Apart from living on his farm he is currently engaged in designing front suspension for Toyota non-racing cars.

[motorsportnerd]

Originally Posted by henk4

OK, btw, Amon also made it as F1 constructor, albeit not very succesfull. Apart from living on his farm he is currently engaged in designing front suspension for Toyota non-racing cars.

Yes, about 76/77 from memory. And an Amon developed NZ assembled Toyota Corona won the NZ Car of the Year back in '92. That car was regarded as being light years ahead of the equivilent Japanese car in its handling/ride compromise. The Japanese factory engineers hold Amon in very high regard as a tester/engineer, and he was involved in the development of the suspension on the current Australian Toyota Camry.