MOTORSPORT: Great driver-constructor Matich dead
Frank Matich won big races and wide acclaim in sports car and open-wheeler racing against the bestOne of the greatest figures in Australian motor racing history, Frank Matich (pictured at right in 1971), has died, aged 80.
Matich was a superb race driver from the late 1950s until the mid-1970s and a brilliant constructor of sports and open-wheeler cars.
The cars for which he will be most remembered are his SR4 sports car and the A50 Formula 5000 single-seater in which he scored the second of his Australian Grand Prix victories in 1971.
During the days of the old Tasman Series through New Zealand and eastern Australia each summer Matich was held in the highest regard by his international competitors, including world champions Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and fellow Australian, the late Jack Brabham.
Many of Matich’s contemporaries lamented that he never tackled Formula One seriously as he had the driving and mechanical skills to succeed as Brabham and New Zealander Bruce McLaren did on the world stage.
Matich briefly ventured to America in the days of the massively popular CanAm sports car series with his Sydney-built machinery, again earning huge respect.
In the 40 years since his retirement from motorsport Matich had been an industrious and inventive businessman.
History will remember him as among the top 10 figures in the history of the sport in Australia.
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