1937 Australian Grand Prix

The 1937 Australian Grand Prix is a name which has been applied retrospectively to the 1936 South Australian Centenary Grand Prix, a motor race held on the Port Elliot-Victor Harbor road circuit in South Australia on Boxing Day, 26 December 1936.John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 129

The 1935 Australian Grand Prix had been held at Phillip Island in April and no succeeding event had been planned. Eventually the Australian Grand Prix would be revived in April 1938 at Bathurst. The stature of 1936 South Australian Centenary Grand Prix, the largest such race held in the three-year gap, saw it later renamed and redated to become the 1937 Australian Grand Prix."Recognition" of the race as an Australian Grand Prix had occurred prior to the running of the 1948 Australian Grand Prix as a list of AGP winners published on page 11 of the Programme for that race includes an entry for "1937 – Victor Harbour – L Murphy".

The race was the first road race for cars to be held in South Australia, with special amendments to the Road Traffic Act required to allow the roads to be closed for that purpose. A 7.8-mile (12.55 km) course was laid out specifically for the race on sealed public roads between the seaside towns of Port Elliot and Victor Harbor. It was only used for racing on this one occasion. The race, which had 27 starters, was held over 32 laps for a total distance of approximately 250 miles (400 kilometres). Like most major Australian motor races of the period, it featured a handicap start, with the slowest cars starting first and other cars starting at timed intervals according to their predicted performance. The race was organised by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia and promoted by Centenary Road Races Limited of Adelaide.Centenary Grand Prix – Regulations for SA Event, The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, 21 August 1936 page 7 As retrieved from trove.nla.gov.au on 12 March 2013. It was open to factory built and catalogued racing cars and sports cars, irrespective of engine capacity, however other entries not meeting that description were also considered.

The race was won by pre-race favourite Les Murphy, driving a MG P-type off a handicap of 40 minutes.John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 132 He finished over ten minutes clear of Tim Joshua driving a similar car with Bob Lea-Wright thirdJohn B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 147 in a Terraplane-based special. Fifth placed finisher Ossie Cranston, driving a Ford V8-based special off a handicap of 5 minutes, completed the race in the fastest actual running time of 3 hours 20 minutes and 17 seconds.John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 148

Classification

Results as follows. Pos No. Driver Car / Engine Entrant Laps Time 1 29 Les Murphy MG P-type / MG 0.8L L. Murphy 32 3h 57m 36s 2 32John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, pages 132 & 143 Tim Joshua MG P-type / MG 0.8L A. I. Barrett 32 4h 7m 40s 3 19 Bob Lea-Wright Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L R. A. Lea-Wright 32 4h 9m 20s 4 20 Alec Poole Oldsmobile Special / Oldsmobile A. E. Poole 32 4h 10m 29s 5 15 Barney Dentry Riley Special / Riley 1.1L G. B. Dentry 32 4h 12m 32s 6 6 Ossie Cranston Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L O. S. Cranston 32 4h 15m 47s 7 35 Ron Uffindell Austin 7 Special / Austin 0.7L R. S. Uffindell 32 4h 19m 19s 8 27 John Summers MG L Magna / MG 1.1L J. Summers 32 4h 22m 18s 9 18 Harry Beith Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L H. J. Beith 32 4h 24m 01s 10 23 John Dutton MG C / MG 0.8L J. H. Dutton 32 4h 24m 03s 11 9John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 134 Arthur Terdich Bugatti Type 37A / Bugatti s/c 1.5L A. J. TerdichSpeedster Murphy Collects Another Grand Prix, The Referee, Thursday December 31 1936, Page 19, as archived at trove.nla.gov.au 32 4h 26m 15s 12 26 George Martin AC 16/80 / AC 2.0L R. H. Wilkinson 32 4h 30m 43s Ret 4 Lyster Jackson MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L L. Jackson 29 NC 33 Jack McDonald John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 138 Amilcar J. McDonald 28 Ret 22 Alf Barrett Lombard AL3 / Lombard 1.2L A. I. Barrett 25 NC 31 Colin Anderson Morris Cowley Special / Morris 1.5L A. I. Barrett 23 Ret 17 Jack Phillips Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L J. K. Phillips 21 Ret 3 Lord William Waleran MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L J. Snow 20 Ret 30 Jim Gullan Wolseley Hornet / Wolseley 1.3L J. Gullan 17 NC 25John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 136 Henry Abbott Austin 7 / Austin s/c 0.7L H. Abbott 11 Ret 1 Jim Fagan MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L J. H. Fagan 10 Ret 34 Eric Winter Vauxhall 14/40 Special / Vauxhall 2.3L E. M. Winter 10 Ret 21 Hylton Dale Bugatti Type 37A / Bugatti s/c 1.5L Hylton Dale 9 Ret 2 Tom Peters Bugatti Type 37A / Bugatti s/c 1.5L T. M. Peters 7 Ret 12 George Smith Austin 7 Special / Austin G. C. Smith 7 Ret 12ABarry Lake, on page 106 of his book "Half a Century of Speed", explains that Burrows was allocated No. 13 but raced with No. 12A Les Burrows Hudson Special / Hudson L. Burrows 7 Ret 7 Frank Kleinig Hudson SpecialJohn B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, pages 132 & 137/ Hudson W. A. McIntyre 5 DNS 14 Bill Bullen Alvis / Alvis s/c 1.5L B. McN. Clark - DNS 10 C. Nagrom Miller C. Nagrom - DNS 10 George Martin Alfa Romeo 1750 Sports G. C. Martin -

The entries of McDonald, Anderson and Abbott were "flagged off",John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, pages 148 to 150 having exceeded the time limit rule.

Notes Winner's average speed:

References

1937 Australian Grand Prix

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