1961 Australian Grand Prix

The 1961 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race[1] held at the newly completed Mallala Race Circuit in South Australia on 9 October 1961. The race, which was Round 5 of the 1961 Australian Drivers' Championship, had 17 starters.[2]

1961 Australian Grand Prix
Race 5 of 5 in 1961 Australian Drivers' Championship
Race details
Date 9 October 1961
Location Mallala Race Circuit, Mallala, South Australia
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.38 km (2.1 mi)
Distance 50 laps, 168.95 km (105 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
Cooper-Climax
Time 1'42.0
Fastest lap
Drivers Bill Patterson Cooper-Climax
Fastest lap Lex Davison Cooper-Climax
Time 1'44
Podium
First
Cooper-Climax
Second
  • Bib Stillwell
 Cooper-Climax
Third
Cooper-Climax

The race was the twenty sixth Australian Grand Prix and would be the last to be held in South Australia until the first Formula One World Championship Australian Grand Prix was staged at the new Adelaide Parklands Circuit in 1985. Lex Davison won his fourth and final AGP setting a record for wins that still stands today, having only been equalled by Michael Schumacher. David McKay actually crossed the finish line first but had been assigned a one-minute penalty, for a jumped start, which relegated him to third position behind Davison and Bib Stillwell.[3]

Davison's Australian Grand Prix victory would be the last for a domestically-based Australian until Frank Matich won the 1970 AGP at Warwick Farm in Sydney driving a McLaren M10B Formula 5000 car, although British-based Australian Jack Brabham had won the AGP in both 1963 and 1964.

The Ricardian which was driven by John Newmarch in the 1961 Australian Grand Prix. The car is pictured at Mallala in 2012

Classification

Results as follows.[4]

PosNo.DriverEntrant [2]Car / EngineLapsTime
1 4 Lex Davison B.S. Stillwell Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.2L 50 1h 29m 01s
2 6 Bib Stillwell B.S. Stillwell Cooper T55 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L 50 1h 29m 42s
3 14 David McKay Scuderia Veloce Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L 50 1h 30m 05s
4 9 Bill Patterson Bill Patterson Motors P/L Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L 48
5 15 Murray Trenberth M Trenberth Alta / Holden 2.5L 46
6 20 Eddie Clay E Clay Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.2L 45
7 26 Alan Jack Briefield Motors Cooper T39 / Coventry Climax FWB 1.5L [5] 48
8 45 Trevor Ellis T Ellis Austin 8 Special / Austin Supercharged 0.9L [5] 38
9 16 Mel McEwin M McEwin Tornado Mk II / Chevrolet 4.6L [2] 35 [2]
10 60 Peter Wilkinson P Wilkinson Elfin Steamliner [2] / Ford 1.2L 35 [2]
Ret 5 John Youl Scuderia Veloce Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L 46 Exhaustion
Ret 8 Keith Rilstone K Rilstone Zephyr Special / Ford 2.3L 33 [2]
Ret 19 Doug Whiteford Bill Patterson Motors P/L Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L 30 [2] Engine
Ret 11 John Ampt J Ampt Cooper T38 / Jaguar 3.8L 25 [2]
Ret 30 John Newmarch J Bruggeman Ricardian / Holden 2.4L 14 [2]
Ret 56 Helene Bittner H Bittner Vitesse / Ford 100E 1.2L 1 [2] Gearbox [5]
Ret 3 Laurie Whitehead L Whitehead Ausper T2 / Ford 1.0L [5] 0
DNS 2 Stan Jones Stan Jones Motors Pty Ltd Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L Engine
DNS 29 Garrie Cooper Elfin Sports Cars Elfin Formula Junior / Ford 1.1L [2] Gearbox
DNS 44 Dud Dansie Bakewell Bridge Motors BBM rotary valve special / Holden - Dunstan Rotary Valve

Notes

References
  1. The Australian Grand Prix, 1961 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, page 52
  2. 1961 Gold Star Races, members.optusnet.com.au/dandsshaw Archived 1 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 14 March 2013
  3. McKay, Peter (3 January 2005). "Dashing enthusiast of motor sport". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  4. Howard, Graham (1986). "1961". In Howard, Graham (ed.). The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 268–275. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
  5. 1961 Australian Grand Prix, www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved on 14 march 2013
Preceded by
1960 Australian Grand Prix		 Australian Grand Prix
1961		 Succeeded by
1962 Australian Grand Prix
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