1959 Australian Grand Prix Explained

Type:CUST
Description:Race 3 of 12 in 1959 Australian Drivers' Championship
Grand Prix:Australian
Country:Australia
Location:Longford Circuit, Longford, Tasmania
Date:2 March
Year:1959
Course:Temporary road circuit
Course Mi:4.501
Course Km:7.242
Distance Laps:25
Distance Mi:110
Distance Km:175
Weather:Sunny
Pole Driver:Stan Jones
Pole Country:AUS
Pole Team:Maserati
Fast Driver:Arnold Glass
Fast Team:Maserati
Fast Time:2'27
Fast Country:AUS
First Driver:Stan Jones
First Country:AUS
First Team:Maserati
Second Driver:Len Lukey
Second Country:AUS
Second Team:Cooper-Climax
Third Driver:Arnold Glass
Third Country:AUS
Third Team:Maserati

The 1959 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race[1] held at the Longford Circuit in Tasmania, Australia on 2 March 1959.

The race, which had 13 starters, was the twenty fourth Australian Grand Prix and the third race of the 1959 Australian Drivers' Championship. Stan Jones won his only AGP, breaking through after years of trying with the Maybach series of specials to win in his Maserati 250F, in what would be the last Australian Grand Prix victory for a front-engined car.

The grid for the Grand Prix was determined by race times set in two qualifying races on the Saturday prior to the main race. The first heat was won by Doug Whiteford from Arnold Glass and Bill Patterson. The second heat was won by Jones in a race time almost 20 seconds shorter than Whiteford's, giving him the pole position, from Len Lukey and Alec Mildren.

Classification

Results as follows.[2]

PosNo.DriverCarEntrant[3] LapsTime
11 Stan JonesMaserati 250F / Maserati 2.5LStan Jones Motors Pty Ltd251h 11m 44s
25 Len LukeyCooper T45 / Climax FPE 2.0LLukey Mufflers Pty Ltd251h 11m 46s
37 Arnold GlassMaserati 250F / Maserati 2.5LCapitol Motors251h 13m 21s
44 Alec MildrenCooper T43 / Climax FPF 2.0LAG Mildren Pty Ltd251h 13m 50s
56 Alan JackCooper T39 / Climax FPE 1.5LA Jack21
614 Lyn ArcherCooper T39 / Climax 1.1LEcurie van Diemen20
Ret74 Max StephensCooper T40 / Bristol 2.0LMax Stephens' Palm Grove Car Centre18
Ret56 Ron PhillipsCooper T33[4] / Jaguar 3.8LJ & R Phillips13
Ret19 John RoxburghCooper T41 / Climax 1.5LKingsbridge Service13
Ret60 Austin MillerMiller Special / Climax FWB 1.5LVictorian Amateur Drivers Club Inc8
Ret3 Ted GrayTornado Mk.II / Chevrolet 4.6LLou Abrahams4
Ret44 John LanyonMG TC Special / MG 1.3L S/c[5] Victorian Amateur Drivers Club Inc0
Ret26 Doug WhitefordMaserati 300S / Maserati 3.0LDoug Whiteford0
DNS75 Bill PattersonCooper T43 / Climax FPF 1.8LBill Patterson Motors Pty Ltd
DNQ55 John YoulWylie Javelin / Jowett 1.5L S/cJohn C Youl

Notes

Stan Jones – fastest heat time of 17m 18s[6]

Arnold Glass – 2'27 (97.01 mph, 156.09 km/h),[2] new record[6]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Official Yearbook of Motor Sport in Australia – 1959, published by authority of CAMS, The Australian Grand Prix – page 43
  2. Book: Howard . Graham . Graham . Howard . The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. 1986 . R & T Publishing . Gordon, NSW . 0-9588464-0-5 . 248–255 . 1959.
  3. Souvenir Programme, Australian Grand Prix, Longford Circuit, (1959), page 29
  4. John B Blanden, Cooper Type 33 Jaguar, Historic Racing Cars in Australia, 1979, page 128
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20121003060835/http://members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw/images/results/races59.htm 1959 Gold Star Races, dandsshaw, as archived at web.archive.org
  6. 1959 Australian Grand Prix, Australian Motors Sports, March 1959, pages 98 to 101, page 118 & page 126
  7. 1959 Australian Grand Prix, Australian Motor Sport Review 1958–59, pages 86 & 87