1955 Australian Grand Prix

  1955 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Formula Libre race
Date	10 October 1955
Location	Port Wakefield, South Australia
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.09 km (1.3 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 167.3 km (104 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Stan Jones	Maybach II Special
Fastest lap
Driver	Jack Brabham Reg Hunt	Cooper-Bristol Maserati
Time	1'03
Podium
First	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Bristol
Second	Reg Hunt	Maserati
Third	Doug Whiteford	Talbot-Lago

The 1955 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Port Wakefield circuit, in South Australia on 10 October 1955. The race had 22 starters. The race was held over 80 laps of the 2.09 km (1.3 mi) circuit.

It was the twentieth Australian Grand Prix and the first to be held on a purpose built motor racing circuit after the previous 19 were held on closed streets or country roads, or on airfields modified for the purpose. Future World Champion Jack Brabham won his first Australian Grand Prix in a streamlined Cooper-Bristol that Brabham, then recently joined the Cooper team, had assembled himself and sent to Australia. It was the first time a rear-engined car had won the AGP, although this was seen as an upset win and a rear-engined car would not win again until 1960.

Classification

Results as follows.^[1]

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps	Time
1	6	Jack Brabham	Cooper T40 / Bristol 2.0L	80	1h 26m 44.43s
2	5	Reg Hunt	Maserati A6GCM / Maserati 2.5L	80	1h 26m 47.54s
3	3	Doug Whiteford	Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L	80	1h 26m 48.92s
4	10	Kevin Neal	Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0L	78
5	12	Murray Trenberth	Vincent Special / Vincent 1.0L	76
6	16	Keith Rilstone	Rilstone Special / Vincent 1.0L	75
7	14	Bill Craig	Alta / Holden 2.4L	75
8	2	Eldred Norman	Eclipse Zephyr / Ford s/c 2.3L	75
9	20	Bill Wilcox	Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.4L	74
10	17	Greg McEwin	Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L	71
11	30	Jack Johnson	MG TC Special / MG 1.3L	69
12	7	Charlie Whatmore	Jaguar Special / Jaguar 3.4L	68
13	27	Bob Burnet-Read	MG K3 / MG 1.1L	67
14	29	Steve Tillet	MG TC / MG 1.4L	66
15	21	C.N. Norris	AC Ace / AC 2.0L	64
Ret	35	John Cummins	Bugatti Type 37 / Holden 2.2L
Ret	8	Tom Hawkes	Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0L
Ret	18	Clem Smith	Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L
Ret	4	Stan Jones	Maybach II Special / Maybach 3.8L
Ret	9	Stan Coffey	Cooper T20 / Bristol 2.0L
Ret	26	Bruce Walton	Walton / JAP 0.5L
Ret	25	Murray Rainey	Cooper Mk.IX / Norton 0.5L
Ret	23	Bill Patterson	Cooper Mk.V / JAP 0.5L

Notes

• Pole position: Stan Jones
• Fastest lap: Jack Brabham/Reg Hunt - 1'03

References