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Doug Whiteford’s Talbot-Lago T26C #110007 and Eldred Norman’s Maserati 6CM #1542 await direction from officials before the start of Australia’s first F1 race, the 1951 Jubilee Woodside F1 race on Monday, October 8.

Whiteford won the 3 1/3 lap, 10-mile race from Stan Jones’ Maybach 1 and Norman. Ted Gray was fourth in the Alta Special s/c.

More on Whiteford’s T-L here: https://primotipo.com/2022/05/04/doug-whiteford-talbot-lago-t26c-take-3/ and Norman’s Maserati here:https://primotipo.com/2024/12/30/bathurst-1951/ . Maybach 1 here:https://primotipo.com/2024/01/15/maybach-1-technical-specifications/ There is about the Alta Spl here:https://primotipo.com/2023/07/15/alta-1100-special/

Whiteford and Jones are hard at it, leaving Riverview Corner at the end of Dugout Straight. If I ever did a book on Australian Motor Racing, this would be the cover shot!

Doug is the established ace, born in 1919; he raced pre-War and had, as mentioned earlier, just won the first of his three AGPs in 1950. Jones, born in 1923, started circuit racing in 1949 and had not long before bought Charlie Dean’s Maybach 1. The two Melburnians, both from modest circumstances, were hard men who slugged it out over the following decade.

The purpose of this piece is to publicise David Beaumont’s wonderful, free book about the motorcycle and car races run on the Woodside road circuit in the Adelaide Hills from 1946 to 1952.

Without further ado, here tis this magnificent comprehensive treatise on Woodside from start to finish: https://boonspace.online/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/WOODSIDE-Circuit-Details-v10-LR.pdf

Of Australia’s first F1 race, David wrote as follows, ‘The car events were held under the International Sporting Code of the F.I.A. and the General Competition Rules of the A.A.A were an integral part of the program.

AS EXPLAINED IN THE RACE DAY PROGRAM

FORMULA RACING: ‘Grand Prix racing in Europe is conducted under formulae which limit the engine size of the competing cars. The present formulae are: – Formula A (or 1) for genuine Grand Prix events which limits engine size to 1500cc supercharged and 4500cc un-supercharged. Formula B (or Il) which is a subsidiary formula for less important events and limits engine size to 500cc supercharged or 2000cc un-supercharged.’

It seems to me that it was at this October 1951 Woodside meeting that history was made in Australian Motor racing.

Event 5 – The Jubilee Woodside Formula II Race, and Event 6 – The Jubilee Woodside Formula I Race were conducted for only those cars compliant under the above FIA rules and so the first genuine Australian Formula I and Formula Il races took place here in Woodside. They were however non-championship races.’

Greg McEwin’s HRG rounds Camp Corner in 1951. David’s caption notes the ‘Nashos’ – National Service Army Trainees – in the background wearing their Slouch Hats.

Beaumont sourced the book from the South Australian Car Club’s archive generally and a good deal of it from Bob Burnett-Read’s photo album specifically. In terms of credits, David Beaumont is the main man, with BBR, The Advertiser, with some of my choices from the State Library of South Australia. Because in almost all cases the images weren’t of good commercial quality, they’ve had a minor tickle by courtesy of WordPress.

One for Bob King, what’s the chassis number of this Bugatti Brescia Bob? Bob Burnett-Read? Amongst David Woodside’s shots, could it be taking refuge in one of the local Woodside grand homes?

I’ve done a few articles about Brescia’s, start with this one:https://primotipo.com/2018/07/27/country-spin/

Ron Uffindell’s ex-Bira MG K3 #030 at Woodside in 1948.

David’s caption notes of this master mechanic and driver, ‘that Uffindell carried out the lowering of the body and radiator by about 2 inches. Uffindell was reputedly 5′ 5″. It’s been said that he carried out the changes not only to improve aerodynamics but also to enable him to have better vision over the long bonnet. The K3 continues to remain in Uffindell’s special body form to this day.’

Beaumont quotes Uffindell, ‘In the first race one the Wylie brothers baulked me badly, which enabled the other one to precede me over the line, and thus probably losing me the trophy as I finished only half a point down. In the next race, I really tried to do things, and I did to, but not as they were planned, I began by spinning on the first corner, and some laps later the brakes became so hot that they were useless. I found myself approaching a right-angle corner at about fifty without an escape road and with no brakes. I woke up in the ambulance having a nice trip to hospital where I was washed at 8.30 p.m and again at 1.30 a.m., a terrible shock to the system.’

‘When I recovered from the concussion, (or the washings), I started straightening out the K3, which although bent in a few places, was not too bad with only one thing broken, part of the blower casing had two legs for mounting on the front cross tube and as this was bent the legs had snapped off. Fortunately, the blower itself was O.K. and was as good as ever with new fabricated supports. When finished the car was returned to the Bowes family and then sold to Lex Davison [1949] who converted the brakes to hydraulic operation and put new liners in the drums…It had its faults, but in its day, it was a real motor car.’

More about the K3 here:https://primotipo.com/2019/06/07/ron-uffindell-mg-k3/

‘All of the attention is focused’ on Eldred Norman’s wild as wild can be Double Eight – twin Mercury Ford V8 powered special – while the car that set the lap record at the October 1949 meeting, Doug Whiteford’s Ford Ute V8 based special, Black Bess, to the left and below appears a bit ignored…D’you think the strapping bloke at left is Tony Gaze?

Black Bess won the 1950 Australian Grand Prix on the Nuriootpa road circuit about 70 km away, while Norman led the 1951 Australian Grand Prix at Narrogin, Western Australia, about 2525 km away before mechanical problems intervened allowing the more conventional Ford V8 Special – George Reed Special – raced by Warwick Pratley to take the win; it was the last AGP victory for an Australian Special.

And below, Whiteford and Norman hard at it during one of the ‘49 Woodside races.

Norman didn’t have a clue what to call his stunning car: he entered it as the Twin Mercury in 1948, Ford Mercury Special in ‘49, and Ford Special in 1951, its final Woodside appearance.

The shot above is of the car’s engines in 1948, Harry Neale raced it that year, in ‘Mk 1 spec’ as below. As was the case, as should be the case, the Double Eight was continually modified and tweaked throughout its long racing life, including post-Eldred in Western Australia.

Yep, they are truck wheels and tyres. Have you ever seen a more rear-based driving position on a road-racing car!? Harry Neale had great feel for the behaviour of the car down the back, but I’m not so sure about how fast the news travelled a few metres forward!

More on Eldred Norman here:https://primotipo.com/2024/10/09/collingrove-hillclimb/ I was looking around for my feature on the Double Eight to link, then remembered it was published in The Automobile. That shot above captured international readers on the first-spread!

Ken Wylie settles Jack Day’s Lombard AL3 Vauxhall during the 1950 meeting after the rail crossing on Riverview Road.

This isn’t the ex-Lowe AL3 now owned by the Murdoch family I drove for The Automobile late last year, but rather the other car, chassis number unknown, from memory. I’m away from Blanden at the moment, but I believe Jack Lawson fitted it with a Salmson twin-cam engine and sold it to an American punter three decades or so ago. A bit more here:https://primotipo.com/2026/03/02/lombard-al3/

Jack O’Dea in a spot of bother. I wonder if he caught the HRG? David Harvey awaits the outcome aboard his MG TC Spl during the Jubilee Woodside Formula 2 Race, River Bend, in 1951.

Credits…

David Beaumont-Sports Car Club of South Australia, State Library of South Australia, National Motor Museum_George Brooks Collection, Flickr, The Advertiser

Tailpiece…

Doug Whiteford on his way to victory in the 1951 Jubilee F1 race, rounding Western Gate Corner.

Finito…