1953 Australian Grand Prix

The 1953 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre [1] motor race held at Albert Park Street Circuit, Victoria on 21 November 1953. The race, which had 40 starters, was held over 64 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a total of 322 kilometres. It was organised by the Light Car Club of Australia and Army Southern Command.[2]

1953 Australian Grand Prix
Formula Libre race
Race details
Date 21 November 1953
Location Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 5.03 km (3.125 mi)
Distance 64 laps, 321.92 km (250 mi)
Weather Sunny
Fastest lap
Driver Stan Jones Maybach Special
Time 2'03
Podium
First
Talbot-Lago
Second
  • Curley Brydon
 MG Special
Third
  • Andy Brown
 MG
The start of the 1953 Australian Grand Prix. Davison (#3 HWM), Jones (#2 Maybach) and Whiteford (#1 Talbot-Lago)
The 9th placed Wylie Javelin of Ken & Arthur Wylie, pictured in 2015
The 12th placed BWA of Alf Barrett and Julian Barrett, pictured in 2015
The Maybach Special Mk.1, in which Stan Jones set fastest lap of the race, pictured in 2000

It was the eighteenth Australian Grand Prix. While much of the Grand Prix's history to this point had taken place on public road or street circuits, this was the first time it had been held on a circuit in a major population centre. The circuit was laid out on public roads surrounding the Albert Park Lake in inner Melbourne.

The race was won by Doug Whiteford, his third and final Australian Grand Prix victory, equalling the feat achieved by Bill Thompson in the 1930s. It was also the largest margin of victory in the race's history, Whiteford winning by six laps for a margin of 30 kilometres.

Classification

Results as follows.[3]

Pos No. Driver Car / Engine Entrant [2] Laps [4] Time
1 1 Doug Whiteford Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L D. Whiteford 64 2h 24m 50s
2 26 Curley Brydon MG TC Special / MG s/c 1.3L H. Brydon 58
3 22 Andy Brown MG K3 / MG 1.1L A.G. Brown 57
4 23 Les Murphy MG Q / MG 0.7L L.P. Murphy 57
5 30 Lou Molina MM Special / Holden 2.3L L. Molina 56
6 32 Jim Leach Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L C.R. Dickason 56
7 7 Frank Kleinig Kleinig-Hudson 8 Special / Hudson 4.4L F. Kleinig 56
8 38 Stuart Charge Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L L.J. Gray 55
9 19 Ken Wylie
Arthur Wylie		 Wylie Javelin / Jowett s/c 1.5L A.J. Wylie 55
10 16 Reg Hunt Allard J2 / Cadillac 4.4L R.H. Hunt 55
11 33 Bib Stillwell Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L B.S. Stillwell 54
12 17 Alf Barrett [5]
Julian Barrett [5]		 BWA Special / Frazer Nash 1.5L J. Barrett 53
13 40 Neil Charge MG TC Special / MG 1.3L N. and S. Charge 52
14 35 Frank Lobb Jaguar XK120 / Jaguar 3.4L F. Lobb 51
15 9 Ted McKinnon Maserati 6C / Maserati 1.5L E.D. McKinnon 50
16 42 John Nind MG TB Special / MG 1.3L J.P. Nind 45
17 60 Bill Patterson Cooper Mk.V / JAP 0.5L Ecurie Australie 43
18 31 Syd Negus Plymouth Special / Plymouth 3.1L S.A. Negus 39
Ret 2 Stan Jones Maybach Special Mk.1 / Maybach 4.3L Ecurie Australie 58
Ret 34 John Calvert Jaguar XK120 / Jaguar 3.4L J. Calvert 52
Ret 28 Les O'Donaghue Ballot / Oldsmobile 3.9L L.F. O'Donoghue 48
Ret 6 Peter Vennermark
Cec Warren [6]		 Maserati 4CL / Maserati 1.5L C. Warren 41
Ret 65 Harry Thompson
Wal Gillespie [7]		 HRG Special H. Thompson 39
Ret 15 Bill Wilcox Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.3L W. Wilcox 37
Ret 55 [2] Ron Phillips Allard K2 / Ford 4.4L J.H. Phillips 34
Ret 57 [2] Haig Hurst Allard K2 / Ford 4.4L H.W. Hurst 29
Ret 25 Phillip Catlin Bugatti T51A / Bugatti 1.5L P.C. Catlin 23
Ret 27 Phil Harrison Dodge Special / Dodge 4.0L P.G. Harrison 22
Ret 64 Silvio Masolla [8] HRG Special / HRG 1.5L S. Massola 19
Ret 10 W.H. Hayes Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.4L W.H. Hayes 17
Ret 11 Ted Gray Alta / Ford 4.3L E. Gray 13
Ret 18 Don McDonald Austin A40 Special / Austin 1.3L Weir and Male Motors 13
Ret 24 Reg Nutt Talbot-Darracq / Talbot 1.5L R.J. Nutt 11
Ret 37 Peter McKenna BMW 328 / BMW 2.0L P. McKenna 11
Ret 39 Jack O'Dea MG Special / MG 1.3L J.H. O'Dea 8
Ret [9] 45 Gordon Greig Cooper Mk.IV / JAP G. Greig 8
Ret 56 [2] Vin Maloney MG TC Special / MG 1.3L V. Moloney 5
Ret 20 Jim Gullan MG K3 / MG 1.1L J. Gullan 3
Ret 12 Arthur Chick Bugatti T37 / Bugatti 2.0L A.E. Chick 3
Ret 3 Lex Davison HWM F2 / Jaguar 3.4L Ecurie Australie 1
DNS [10] 5 Jack Brabham Cooper / Bristol 2.0L J.A. Brabham -

Notes

References
  1. Racing into history, A look back at the 1953 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Australian Grand Prix Corporation, 2013, page 6
  2. Official Souvenir Programme, XVIIIth Australian Grand Prix
  3. Howard, Graham (1986). "1953". In Howard, Graham (ed.). The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 182–191. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
  4. Australian Grand Prix 1953 - Laps Completed, The official history of the Australian Grand Prix - 80 Races
  5. Alf Barrett: ‘The Maestro’: Alfa Romeo 8C2300 Monza, primotipo.com Retrieved 21 November 2015
  6. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix page 189 states that Peter Vennermark drove Warren's car at the start and page 190 states that Vennermark handed over to Warren during the race.
  7. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix page 189 states that Thompson and Gillespie both drove car 65.
  8. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix uses both Messola and Massolla. The Official Programme uses Massola.
  9. Gordon Greig is listed as a DNS in the Entry List on page 191 of in The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix, but is also listed under Retirements on the same page. Greig is shown on the Laps Completed chart in The official history of the Australian Grand Prix - 80 Races
  10. Brabham is mentioned as a non-starter (due to mechanical problems in practice) on page 186 of The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix.
  11. Official Programme, Sandown, 9 February 1964, page 23
Preceded by
1952 Australian Grand Prix		 Australian Grand Prix
1953		 Succeeded by
1954 Australian Grand Prix
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