1954 Australian Grand Prix

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 mile (9.7 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.

1954 Australian Grand Prix
Formula Libre race
Race details
Date 7 November 1954
Location Southport Road Circuit,
Southport, Queensland
Course Temporary road circuit
Course length 9.17 km (5.7 mi)
Distance 27 laps, 247.6 km (153.9 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
  • Rex Taylor
 Talbot-Lago
Fastest lap
Driver Dick Cobden Ferrari
Time 3'52
Podium
First
HWM-Jaguar
Second
  • Curley Brydon
 MG Special
Third
  • Ken Richardson
 Ford Special

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 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 Entrant [1] Laps Time
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 [3] 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 [4] Snow Sefton 21
Ret 14 Noel Barnes MG TC Special / MG 1.3L N. F. Barnes 19
Ret 92 Doug Whiteford Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.4L D. Whiteford 17
Ret 79 Arthur Griffiths Wylie Javelin / Jowett s/c 1.5L A. Griffiths 15
Ret 87 Stan Jones Maybach Special Mk.II / Maybach 4.3L S.J. Jones 13
Ret 15 John McKinney MG TC Special / MG 1.3L J. McKinney 11
Ret 74 Ian Mountain Peugeot Special / Peugeot 1.5L I. Mountain 11
Ret 49 Dick Cobden Ferrari 125 / Ferrari s/c 2.0L R. Cobden 10
Ret 3 Wal Anderson Holden Special / Holden 2.3L W. S. Anderson 9
Ret 56 Jack Murray Allard J2 / Cadillac 5.3L [5] J.E. Murray 8
Ret 23 Gerald Downing Riley Imp Special / Riley G. J. Downing 8
Ret 78 Rex Taylor Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L R. Taylor 6
Ret 37 Holt Brinnie MG TD Special / MG 1.4L Martin Motors 6
Ret 20 Gordon Greig [6] Austin-Healey 100 / Austin-Healey 2.7L G. Greig 4
Ret 86 Bill Wilcox Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L W. Wilcox 3
Ret 6 Jack Brabham Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0L [7] Jack Brabham 1
  • 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 [8]
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References
  1. Official Souvenir Programme, 19th Australian Grand Prix, Southport Road Circuit, Queensland, 7 November 1954
  2. 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.
  3. Coffey's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Dowidat Spanner Special
  4. Sefton's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Mercury Special
  5. Murray's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Cadillac Allard
  6. Howard uses both Grieg and Greig. The Official Souvenir Programme uses Greig
  7. Brabham's car is listed in the Official Souvenir Programme as a Redex Special
  8. 60,000 at Southport motor race, The Courier Mail, Monday, 8 November 1954, as archived at trove.nla.gov.au
Preceded by
1953 Australian Grand Prix		 Australian Grand Prix
1954		 Succeeded by
1955 Australian Grand Prix

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