Bartlett honoured in S5000 Heritage Series

The S5000 Heritage Series is a 10-week roll-out of classic concept liveries celebrating heroes of Formula 5000 racing from the 1970s and 1980s.

Following tributes to Garrie Cooper and Frank Matich, the latest driver to be honoured is the versatile Bartlett.

Proof of Bartlett's ability in both touring cars and open-wheelers is that he was the first driver to win both the Gold Star (1968 and 1969) and the Bathurst 1000 (with John Goss in 1974).

His remarkable CV includes being on the grid for the inaugural Australian Touring Car Championship race at Gnoos Blas in 1960, racing some of the world's best drivers in the Tasman Series, a Macau Grand Prix win in 1969 and a brief USAC stint in 1970.

Bartlett made his first foray into Formula 5000 in the one-off Mildren Chevrolet – as reimagined above – at the Australian Grand Prix in 1970.

He was a front-runner in the category throughout the 1970s, moving first to a McLaren M10B and then on to a Lola T300 and T400. He finished second in the Gold Star in 1971, 1972 and 1974, the latter despite being badly injured in a crash at Pukekohe.

Bartlett then campaigned a Brabham BT43, the only Brabham Formula 5000 car, to third in the Gold Star in 1978 before being badly injured for a second time in a crash at Sandown in 1979.

That spelled the end of Bartlett's open-wheeler career, and the start of his stint in the famous Channel Nine Camaro in the ATCC.