1939 Australian Grand Prix


The 1939 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held on the Lobethal Circuit in South Australia, Australia on 2 January 1939. The race was staged over 17 laps of the 14 kilometre circuit, the longest ever used for the Grand Prix, for a race distance of 241 kilometres. The Grand Prix meeting was organised by Lobethal Carnivals Ltd. and the Sporting Car Club of South Australia.
The race was the eleventh Australian Grand Prix and the second since the 1938 revival of the event. The Lobethal Circuit comprised three country roads in a roughly triangular formation, passing through the town of Lobethal and the nearby village of Charleston. The advantage of using these country roads was that, for the first time, the Grand Prix was held on a bitumen sealed surface instead of on dirt roads. The race utilised a handicap start with the slowest cars starting first and the fastest cars last, the winner being the first to complete the stipulated number of laps. Trophies were awarded for the first three places with prize money paid to the first seven finishers. Prize money and a trophy were also awarded for Fastest Time.
The race was won by relatively unknown Western Australian racer Allan Tomlinson driving a supercharged MG T. Bob Lea-Wright's Terraplane Special finished in second position ahead of Jack Phillips' Ford Special. The winning car's average speed was the fastest of any Australian Grand Prix prior to 1956, with Tomlinson averaging 84.00 mph. The fastest actual time over the race distance was recorded by Jack Saywell driving an Alfa Romeo.
The entry of J O'Dea crashed at the Gumeracha turn late in the race and driver Vern Leech was killed almost instantaneously.
Later in 1939, Australia would declare war on the AXIS powers. As World War II enveloped Australia, motor racing wound down and would not resume until the mid-1940s. The Australian Grand Prix itself would be revived in 1947.

Classification

Results as follows.
PosNo.DriverCar / EngineEntrantHandicapLapsTime
112 Allan TomlinsonMG TA / MG s/c 1.3LAG Tomlinson11m 30s172h 00m 27s
219 Bob Lea-WrightTerraplane Special / TerraplaneRA Lea-Wright17m 00s172h 02m 31s
315 Jack PhillipsFord Special / Ford 3.6LJK Phillips12m 45s172h 02m 46s
43 John SnowDelahaye 135 3.6LJF Snow4m 15s172h 04m 11s
517 Les BurrowsHudson Special / HudsonL Burrows12m 45s172h 04m 38s
61 Jack SaywellAlfa Romeo P3 / Alfa Romeo 2.9LJ SaywellScratch172h 06m 48s
76 John CrouchAlfa Romeo 8C 2300 Le Mans / Alfa Romeo s/c 2.4LJF Crouch5m 00s172h 08m 33s
82 Alf BarrettAlfa Romeo 8C 2300 / Alfa Romeo s/c 2.4LAI Barrett2m 50s172h 09m 11s
920 Raymond CurlewisMG TB / MG 1.3LRF Curlewis21m 00s172h 09m 57s
Ret23 Robert Manser
Lyster Jackson
MG N / MG 1.3LRW Manser21m 00s14
Ret26 Vern LeechMG P / MG 0.8LJ O'Dea21m 00s14
Ret24 Russell BowesMG N / MG 1.3LRN Bowes21m 00s10
Ret25 Jim BoughtonMorgan 4/4 / Coventry Climax 1.1LJS Boughton21m 00s10
Ret13 Tim JoshuaFrazer Nash / Meadows 1.5LCM Joshua11m 30s7
Ret31 J WilsonMG L / MG 1.1LJW Wilson21m 00s7
Ret16 Clifford Downing
Alan Sinclair
Riley Brooklands / 1.5LCRE Downing12m 45s5
Ret4 Frank KleinigKleinig-Hudson 8 Special / Hudson 4.2LF Kleinig4m 15s3
DNS7 Alan SinclairSunbeam SpecialAG Sinclair8m 30s-
DNS10 Colin DunneMG K3 / MG s/c 1.1LCA Dunne10m 00s-
DNS11 Jim GullanBallotJ Gullan10m 00s-
DNS21 John SummersMG N / MG 1.3LJF Summers21m 00s-