1954 Australian Grand Prix

April 2021 December 2011 CUST Formula Libre race Australian Australia Southport Road Circuit, Southport, Queensland 7 November 1954 Temporary road circuit 5.7 9.17 27 153.9 247.6 Sunny Rex Taylor Talbot-Lago Dick Cobden Ferrari 3'52 AUS Lex Davison AUS HWM-Jaguar Curley Brydon AUS MG Special Ken Richardson AUS Ford Special The 1954 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Southport Road CircuitOfficial Souvenir Programme, 19th Australian Grand Prix, Southport Road Circuit, Queensland, 7 November 1954 near Southport in Queensland, Australia on 7 November 1954. The race was held over 27 laps of the 5.7 mile (9.17 kilometre) circuit, a total distance of 153.9 miles (247.6 km). It was the nineteenth Australian Grand Prix and the second to be held in Queensland. With no suitable permanent circuit available, a course was mapped out on roads in sparsely settled coastal land 2.5 km south west of Southport,Howard Graham Graham Howard The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix 1986 R & T Publishing Gordon, NSW 0-9588464-0-5 192–204 1954 and just to the north of later circuits, Surfers Paradise Raceway and the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit. The Grand Prix race meeting was organised by the Queensland Motor Sporting Club and the Toowoomba Auto Club in conjunction with the Southport Rotary Club. The race, which was open to Racing and Stripped Sports Cars, had 28 starters. The race was won by Lex Davison, later to become the most successful driver in the history of the Australian Grand Prix. It was Davison's first win in the Grand Prix having finished in the top three as far back as 1947. Davison drove a Formula 2 HWM re-engined with a 3.4 litre Jaguar engine. Davison finished a lap clear of Curley Brydon's MG TC special and two laps ahead of third placed Ken Richardson in a Ford based special. The gaps were caused by attrition amongst the fastest drivers. Jack Brabham was out on the second lap with a broken engine in his Cooper; Rex Taylor was black flagged for receiving outside assistance after spinning his Lago-Talbot; Dick Cobden retired his Ferrari after a spin and Stan Jones crashed heavily while leading after the chassis of his Maybach Special failed. It would be the last race for Maybach Mk.II, with Charlie Dean's team rebuilding it as Maybach Mk.III.John B.Blanden, Historic Racing Cars in Australia, pages 229 & 230 Classification thumb|Race winner Lex Davison (HWM Jaguar) contesting the 1954 Australian Grand Prix thumb|Stan Jones (Maybach Special) led for 13 laps prior to crashing out of the race. thumb|Dick Cobden (Ferrari 125) set the fastest lap of the race but did not finish. Results as follows. Pos No. Driver Car Entrant Laps Time / Remarks 1 77 Australia Lex Davison HWM F2 / Jaguar 3.4L A.N. Davison 27 1h 50m 18s 2 43 Australia Curley Brydon MG TC Special / MG s/c 1.3L H. Brydon 26 3 9 Australia Ken Richardson Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.9L K.B. Richardson 25 4 8 Australia Eldred Norman Triumph TR2 / Standard s/c 2.0L E. deB. Norman 24 5 31 Australia David Griffiths Triumph TR2 / Standard 2.0L D. P. Griffiths 24 6 29 Australia Frank Tobin Rizzo Riley Special / Riley 1.5L Frank Tobin 23 7 4 Australia Charlie Whatmore Jaguar Special / Jaguar 3.4L Chas. Whatmore 23 8 46 Australia Stan Coffey Cooper T20 / Bristol 2.0LCoffey's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Dowidat Spanner Special S.F. Coffey 23 9 10 Australia Owen Bailey MG Holden Special / Holden 2.4L O. Bailey 23 10 2 Australia Charlie Swinburne Cooper Mk.IV / Norton 0.5L C. Swinburne 23 11 21 Australia Bill Pitt Jaguar XK120 Special / Jaguar 3.4L J. C. Anderson 22 12 1 NZL Fred Zambucka Maserati 8CM / Maserati 3.0L F. Zambucka 22 Ret 16 Australia Snow Sefton Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.2LSefton's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Mercury Special Snow Sefton 21 Black flag Ret 14 Australia Noel Barnes MG TC Special / MG 1.3L N. F. Barnes 19 Overheating Ret 92 Australia Doug Whiteford Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.4L D. Whiteford 17 Blocked jet Ret 79 Australia Arthur Griffiths Wylie Javelin / Jowett s/c 1.5L A. Griffiths 15 Head gasket Ret 87 Australia Stan Jones Maybach Special Mk.II / Maybach 4.3L S.J. Jones 13 Crashed Ret 15 Australia John McKinney MG TC Special / MG 1.3L J. McKinney 11 Fire Ret 74 Australia Ian Mountain Peugeot Special / Peugeot 1.5L I. Mountain 11 Overheating Ret 49 Australia Dick Cobden Ferrari 125 / Ferrari s/c 2.0L R. Cobden 10 Crashed Ret 3 Australia Wal Anderson Holden Special / Holden 2.3L W. S. Anderson 9 Seized oil pump Ret 56 Australia Jack Murray Allard J2 / Cadillac 5.3LMurray's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Cadillac Allard J.E. Murray 8 Ret 23 Australia Gerald Downing Riley Imp Special / Riley G. J. Downing 8 Overheating Ret 78 Australia Rex Taylor Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L R. Taylor 6 Black flag Ret 37 Australia Holt BinnieThe driver is listed as both Binnie and Brinnie in "The Official 50-race history". The name in the Official Souvenir Programme is "H. Binnie". MG TD Special / MG 1.4L Martin Motors 6 Ret 20 Australia Gordon GreigHoward uses both Grieg and Greig. The Official Souvenir Programme uses Greig Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L G. Greig 4 Valve Ret 86 Australia Bill Wilcox Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L W. Wilcox 3 Ret 6 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0LBrabham's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Redex Special Jack Brabham 1 Engine DNSAustralian Grand Prix, Australian Motor Sports, November 1954, pages 228 to 235 28 Australia Frank Kleinig Hudson Special F. Kleinig - Battery DNS 12 Australia Alec Mildren Riley Special A. G. Mildren - Oil cooler Pole position: Rex Taylor (Allocated by the race organisers prior to the event) Winner's average speed: 83.7 mph (134.7 km/h) Fastest lap: Dick Cobden (Ferrari), 3:52s, 88.45 mph, 142.3 km/h Attendance: More than 60,00060,000 at Southport motor race, The Courier Mail, Monday, 8 November 1954, as archived at trove.nla.gov.au References External links Advertisement, Australian Motor Sports, October 1954, page 11, as saved at photobucket.com Australian Grand Prix 1953 Australian Grand Prix 1954 1955 Australian Grand Prix -27.9673 153.4141 type:event_region:AU-QLD title Grand Prix Category:Australian Grand Prix Category:Sports competitions on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australian Grand Prix