Stan Jones’ Maserati 250F chasing Len Lukey’s Cooper T45 Climax 2-litre FPF through Tannery Corner during the March 1959 Australian Grand Prix at Longford.
Geoff Wiseman uploaded onto social-media this wonderful colour shot from a spot not often used by the pro-snappers. It is a decent walk from Longford village to Tannery. Isn’t it a beauty?
That’s the race for the lead folks – a battle of old vs new technology, thankfully for we Stan-Fans, the tough-nugget from Warrandyte prevailed- Jones it was from Lukey.
Check it out in this piece here; https://primotipo.com/2016/01/08/stan-jones-agp-longford-gold-star-series-1959/
The short straight leads to the quick left-hander onto Long Bridge.
This time I’ve cropped the shot a bit. I love the way the photographer has framed the action between the spectators, makes you feel kinda-like you were there.
Etcetera…
If I had known the Lukey/Jones shot was going to be posted when I was at Longford in January and March I would have taken a one from exactly the same locale, but I didn’t!
What I can offer are three shots of a planned, but not yet written, modern ‘drivers eye lap of Longford’.
The first above is about halfway along Tannery Straight – towards the corner above, our feature shots. That’s the old Tannery building on the left, these days a lovely home or accommodation.
Jones would have whistled through this flat-biccie right-kink – yes, there is a kink none of the published maps show – at about 160mph.
By this point he has been in top-gear for a long while, Pub Corner is way, way back behind us. Amongst its many tests, Longford had two, long, top-revs throttle openings. The Flying Mile on Pateena Road is the other.
The next one is very deep into the Tannery braking area.
The corner (right) would have been taken in second gear (of five), I’m guessing a corner speed of 50-60mph. He isn’t quite turning in yet, but would be finishing his final shift and having a glance in the mirror, perhaps, before initiating the turn.
The final one is immediately after exiting Tannery – the straight leads to the now non-existent Long Bridge .
The location of the farmers gate is about where Len Lukey is in our first shot. There is a stile to the right so you can easily enter the property and walk up 400-500 metres to the River Esk waters edge.
I don’t think Jones would approach the following left hander before Long Bridge in top, but mighty quick in fourth.
Credits…
Geoff Wiseman, Mark Bisset
Finito…
primotipo... 
Wonderful shot that one Mark, BTW if you need any more current Longford circuit road shots…I’ve got a few as well !
Thanks Mal,
Hope you are going well down there, my visits in January and March seem such a long time ago!
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Is that spectator on the inside of the corner standing on one of the post fences?