The 1954 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Southport Road Circuit[1] 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).[2] 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,[2] 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.[1] The race, which was open to Racing and Stripped Sports Cars,[1] 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.[3]
Classification
Results as follows.[2]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Car | Entrant[1] | Laps | Time / Remarks [2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 |  Lex Davison
|
HWM F2 / Jaguar 3.4L | A.N. Davison | 27 | 1h 50m 18s |
| 2 | 43 | Curley Brydon
|
MG TC Special / MG s/c 1.3L | H. Brydon | 26 | |
| 3 | 9 | Ken Richardson
|
Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.9L | K.B. Richardson | 25 | |
| 4 | 8 | Eldred Norman
|
Triumph TR2 / Standard s/c 2.0L | E. deB. Norman | 24 | |
| 5 | 31 | David Griffiths
|
Triumph TR2 / Standard 2.0L | D. P. Griffiths | 24 | |
| 6 | 29 | Frank Tobin
|
Rizzo Riley Special / Riley 1.5L | Frank Tobin | 23 | |
| 7 | 4 | Charlie Whatmore
|
Jaguar Special / Jaguar 3.4L | Chas. Whatmore | 23 | |
| 8 | 46 | Stan Coffey
|
Cooper T20 / Bristol 2.0L[4] | S.F. Coffey | 23 | |
| 9 | 10 | Owen Bailey
|
MG Holden Special / Holden 2.4L | O. Bailey | 23 | |
| 10 | 2 | Charlie Swinburne
|
Cooper Mk.IV / Norton 0.5L | C. Swinburne | 23 | |
| 11 | 21 | Bill Pitt
|
Jaguar XK120 Special / Jaguar 3.4L | J. C. Anderson | 22 | |
| 12 | 1 |  Fred Zambucka
|
Maserati 8CM / Maserati 3.0L | F. Zambucka | 22 | |
| Ret | 16 | Snow Sefton
|
Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.2L[5] | Snow Sefton | 21 | Black flag |
| Ret | 14 | Noel Barnes
|
MG TC Special / MG 1.3L | N. F. Barnes | 19 | Overheating |
| Ret | 92 | Doug Whiteford
|
Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.4L | D. Whiteford | 17 | Blocked jet |
| Ret | 79 | Arthur Griffiths
|
Wylie Javelin / Jowett s/c 1.5L | A. Griffiths | 15 | Head gasket |
| Ret | 87 | Stan Jones
|
Maybach Special Mk.II / Maybach 4.3L | S.J. Jones | 13 | Crashed |
| Ret | 15 | John McKinney
|
MG TC Special / MG 1.3L | J. McKinney | 11 | Fire |
| Ret | 74 | Ian Mountain
|
Peugeot Special / Peugeot 1.5L | I. Mountain | 11 | Overheating |
| Ret | 49 | Dick Cobden
|
Ferrari 125 / Ferrari s/c 2.0L | R. Cobden | 10 | Crashed |
| Ret | 3 | Wal Anderson
|
Holden Special / Holden 2.3L | W. S. Anderson | 9 | Seized oil pump |
| Ret | 56 | Jack Murray
|
Allard J2 / Cadillac 5.3L[6] | J.E. Murray | 8 | |
| Ret | 23 | Gerald Downing
|
Riley Imp Special / Riley | G. J. Downing | 8 | Overheating |
| Ret | 78 | Rex Taylor
|
Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L | R. Taylor | 6 | Black flag |
| Ret | 37 | Holt Binnie [7]
|
MG TD Special / MG 1.4L | Martin Motors | 6 | |
| Ret | 20 | Gordon Greig[8]
|
Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L | G. Greig | 4 | Valve |
| Ret | 86 | Bill Wilcox
|
Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L | W. Wilcox | 3 | |
| Ret | 6 | Jack Brabham
|
Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0L[9] | Jack Brabham | 1 | Engine |
| DNS [10] | 28 [1] | Frank Kleinig [10]
|
Hudson Special [10] | F. Kleinig [1] | - | Battery [10] |
| DNS [2] | 12 [2] | Alec Mildren[2]
|
Riley Special [2] | A. G. Mildren [1] | - | Oil cooler [2] |
- Pole position: Rex Taylor[1] (Allocated by the race organisers prior to the event)[2]
- Winner's average speed: 83.7 mph (134.7 km/h)[2]
- Fastest lap: Dick Cobden (Ferrari), 3:52s, 88.45 mph, 142.3 km/h[2]
- Attendance: More than 60,000[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Official Souvenir Programme, 19th Australian Grand Prix, Southport Road Circuit, Queensland, 7 November 1954
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Howard, Graham (1986). "1954". In Howard, Graham (ed.). The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 192–204. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
- ^ John B.Blanden, Historic Racing Cars in Australia, pages 229 & 230
- ^ Coffey's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Dowidat Spanner Special
- ^ Sefton's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Mercury Special
- ^ Murray's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Cadillac Allard
- ^ The driver is listed as both Binnie and Brinnie in "The Official 50-race history". The name in the Official Souvenir Programme is "H. Binnie".
- ^ Howard uses both Grieg and Greig. The Official Souvenir Programme uses Greig
- ^ Brabham's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Redex Special
- ^ a b c d Australian Grand Prix, Australian Motor Sports, November 1954, pages 228 to 235
- ^ 60,000 at Southport motor race, The Courier Mail, Monday, 8 November 1954, as archived at trove.nla.gov.au
