1954 Australian Grand Prix

  1954 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Formula Libre race
Date	7 November 1954
Location	Southport, Queensland
Course	Temporary road circuit 9.17 km (5.7 mi)
Distance	27 laps, 247.6 km (153.9 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Fastest lap
Driver	Dick Cobden	Ferrari
Time	3'52
Podium
First	Lex Davison	HWM-Jaguar
Second	Curley Brydon	MG Special
Third	Ken Richardson	Ford Special

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 nine kilometre circuit. 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 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 his chassis failed. It would be the last race for the Mk.II Maybach special, Charlie Dean's enthusiastic team rebuilding it as the Maybach III.

Classification

Lex Davison (HWM Jaguar) contesting the 1954 Australian Grand Prix

Results as follows.^[2]

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps	Time
1	77	Lex Davison	HWM F2 / Jaguar 3.4L	27	1h 50m 18s
2	43	Curley Brydon	MG TC Special / MG s/c 1.3L	26
3	9	Ken Richardson	Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.9L	25
4	8	Eldred Norman	Triumph TR2 / Standard s/c 2.0L	24
5	31	David Griffiths	Triumph TR2 / Standard 2.0L	24
6	29	Frank Tobin	Rizzo Riley Special / Riley 1.5L	23
7	4	Charlie Whatmore	Jaguar Special / Jaguar 3.4L	23
8	46	Stan Coffey	Cooper T20 / Bristol 2.0L	23
9	10	Owen Bailey	MG Holden Special / Holden 2.4L	23
10	2	Charlie Swinburne	Cooper Mk.IV / Norton 0.5L	23
11	21	Bill Pitt	Jaguar XK120 Special / Jaguar 3.4L	22
12	1	Fred Zambucka	Maserati 8CM / Maserati 3.0L	22
Ret	16	Snow Sefton	Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.2L	21
Ret	14	Noel Barnes	MG TC Special / MG 1.3L	19
Ret	92	Doug Whiteford	Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.4L	17
Ret	79	Arthur Griffiths	Wylie Javelin / Jowett s/c 1.5L	15
Ret	87	Stan Jones	Maybach Special Mk.II / Maybach 4.3L	13
Ret	15	John McKinney	MG TC Special / MG 1.3L	11
Ret	74	Ian Mountain	Peugeot Special / Peugeot 1.5L	11
Ret	49	Dick Cobden	Ferrari 125 / Ferrari s/c 2.0L	10
Ret	3	Wal Anderson	Holden Special / Holden 2.3L	9
Ret	56	Jack Murray	Allard J2 / Cadillac 5.3L	8
Ret		Gerald Downing	Riley Imp Special / Riley	8
Ret	78	Rex Taylor	Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L	6
Ret	37	Holt Brinnie	MG TD Special / MG 1.4L	6
Ret	20	Gordon Grieg	Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L	4
Ret	86	Bill Wilcox	Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L	3
Ret	6	Jack Brabham	Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0L	1

• Fastest lap: Dick Cobden (Ferrari), 3:52s, 88.45 mph, 142.3 kph ^[2]

References

External links

• 60,000 at Southport motor race, The Courier Mail, Monday, November 8, 1954, as archived at trove.nla.gov.au
• XIX Australian Grand Prix 1954, www.formula2.net

Coordinates: 27°58′02″S 153°24′51″E / 27.9673°S 153.4141°E / -27.9673; 153.4141