1950 Australian Grand Prix


The 1950 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Nuriootpa Road Circuit in South Australia on 2 January 1950. It was organised by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia, promoted by the Barossa Valley Vintage Festival Association and staged over 34 laps of the 7.0 kilometre circuit for a race distance of 164 kilometres. The race, which is recognized by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as the fifteenth Australian Grand Prix, was a Formula Libre race.
The race utilised a handicap start with cars commencing progressively, slowest through to fastest, at timed intervals. The declared winner of the Grand Prix however, was the driver with the fastest elapsed race time, regardless of handicap. All other official awards were based on the handicap results, with an additional trophy awarded to the handicap winner and prize money paid for the first nine handicap places. Doug Whiteford, driving a Ford V8 Special, known as 'Black Bess', won his first Australian Grand Prix, completing the race distance almost three minutes faster than Rupert Steele, driving an Alfa Romeo. Jim Gullan, driving an Oldsmobile-powered Ballot Special recorded the third fastest race time and was also the official handicap winner.

Classification

PosNo.DriverCarEntrantLapsTimeH'cap PosH'cap start
15 Doug WhitefordFord V8 Special / Ford 4.2LD Whiteford341h 24m 53s51m 45s
26 Rupert SteeleAlfa Romeo 8C / Alfa Romeo 2.3LPJR Steele341h 27m 51s91m 45s
321 Jim GullanBallot Special / Oldsmobile 3.9LJ Gullan341h 29m 23s17m 45s
430 David HarveyMG TC Special / MG 1.3LDG Harvey341h 33m 49s211m 00s
522 Bill WillcoxDodge Special / Dodge 4.1LWH Wilcox341h 34m 11s108m 20s
632 Steve TillettMG TC Special / MG 1.3LSD Tillett341h 34m 37s611m 50s
733 Ron KennedyMG TC / MG 1.3LRJ Kennedy341h 34m 41s311m 30s
835 Don CantMG TC / MG 1.3LDP Cant341h 35m 05s411m 55s
927 Howard KeilHRG Special / HRG 1.5LFAO Gaze341h 35m 57s89m 40s
1026 Norman SteeleHRG Special / HRG 1.5LNC Steele341h 36m 08s79m 40s
1119 Granton HarrisonPhillips V8 Special / Ford 3.9LGT Harrison341h 37m 39s117m 45s
1229 Vin MaloneyMG TC Special / MG 1.3LVA Maloney341h 40m 14s1210m 40s
1338 R. VinallMG NA / MG 1.3LRK Vinall341h 46m 42s1313m 00s
Ret25 Peter McKennaBMW 328 / BMW 2.0LPeter McKenna339m 05s
Ret34 D. DouglasMG TC / MG 1.3LAP Douglas3211m 55s
Ret20 Dennis CurranCurran Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0LDE Curran307m 45s
Ret16 Ken TubmanMG K3 / MG s/c 1.1LKV Tubman284m 50s
Ret31 Ian JacksonMG TC / MG 1.3LIN Jackson2511m 20s
Ret40 Phil HarrisonMG P / Vauxhall 1.4LP Harrison2113m 00s
Ret24 Bob BrownAlfa Romeo 6C 1750 / Ford 4.0LRS Brown219m 00s
Ret3 Charlie DeanMaybach Special Mk.1 / Maybach 4.2LHC Dean210m 30s
Ret23 L. RobinsonBugatti / DodgeLD Robinson158m 40s
Ret11 Peter DenmanHudson Special / HudsonP Denman132m 50s
Ret36 E. TrumanMG TC / MG 1.3LEC Truman1111m 55s
Ret17 Bill PattersonMG TC / MG s/c 1.3LGW Patterson65m 05s
Ret39 Max GaltMG NA / MG 1.3LM Galt413m 00s
Ret4 Eldred NormanDouble Ford V8 Special / Ford 7.8LE de B Norman21m 25s
Ret15 Otto StoneMG K3 / MG s/c 1.1LOtto Stone14m 50s
Ret2 Lex DavisonAlfa Romeo Tipo B / Alfa Romeo 3.0LAN Davison10m 30s
DNS1 Tony GazeAltaFAO Gaze-0m 00s
DNS12 Stan JonesHRGS Jones-3m 25s

The above results rank all finishers based on actual race time, regardless of handicap. Officially, race results were based on handicap placings, with the exception of the actual Australian Grand Prix title itself, which was awarded to the driver setting the fastest race time.
It is not known if the cars of McKenna and Douglas actually retired from the race or were still running when the race time expired.