1947 Australian Grand Prix

The 1947 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Mount Panorama Circuit on 6 October 1947. The race had 24 starters. The race was held over 38 laps of the six kilometre circuit for at 241 kilometres.

It was the twelfth Australian Grand Prix and the first race to have been held after the conclusion of World War II. Racing in Australia resumed in 1946, but it took until 1947 for a group, in this case the Australian Sporting Car Club, to take on the running of the Grand Prix. Police opposition to racing at Mount Panorama led to the postponement of the race from Easter to October.^[1]

The race, a handicap event as was the tradition in the immediate post-war period, was won by Bill Murray racing his MG TC. Murray took the lead on the last lap of the race after a tyre failure on Ray Mitchell's Jeep/Ford Special caused the race leader to slow dramatically. Mitchell limped home for fourth position. Future Grand Prix stars also passed Mitchell, second was taken by Dick Bland in his Mercury Special. Bland would claim two more podiums over the four years but a win would be elusive. Third was taken by Lex Davison driving a mammoth Mercedes-Benz SSK. Davison would go on to become the Grand Prix's most prolific winner, even though his career would be cut short by his death at Sandown in 1965, Davison would win the race four times. Davison also completed the race in the shortest time, a prelude to the future of the race over the next decade and a half.

Classification

Results as follows.^[2]

References