Doug Whiteford won the first Australian Grand Prix held at Albert Park in his Talbot Lago T26C 70 years ago today, November 21, 1953.
He won the Formula Libre race from Curley Brydon’s MG TC Spl and Andy Brown’s MG K3. 40 starters took on the challenge, racing in the opposite direction to today on a course that goes around the lake but is a bit different to the original.
I’d forgotten the anniversary. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation celebrated the occasion back in March during the F1 weekend. My mate, Auto Action publisher Bruce Williams called before to say they were going to post online the article I wrote back then for the pre-AGP Auto Action, see here: https://autoaction.com.au/2023/11/21/australian-grand-prix-at-albert-park-70-years-young-2
That front row above is Lex Davison in his ex-Moss F2 HWM, then fitted with a Jaguar C-Type spec 3.4-litre XK-six at left, Stan Jones’ Maybach 1 4.3-litre and Whiteford’s 4.5-litre Talbot-Lago at right.
The bolter early was Stan Jones in Maybach 1, he led till the halfway mark but retired after completing 58 of the 64 lap, 250 mile journey. Whiteford lost a tyre off the rim with 10 laps to run, but he was close to his pit, and had a huge lead so the 30 second stop to change the wheel wasn’t a problem.
Whiteford looking modestly chuffed with his win. He took the same car to AGP victory at Mount Panorama, Bathurst the year before, and won at Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley aboard his famous Ford V8 Ute based special, Black Bess, in 1950.
Dicer Doug was a formidable, aggressive driver who was also a master-mechanic. His preparation and presentation skills were legendary, so too his mechanical sympathy. He was the complete package.
See here: https://primotipo.com/2019/03/16/1953-australian-grand-prix-albert-park/ here: https://primotipo.com/2022/05/04/doug-whiteford-talbot-lago-t26c-take-3/ and here: https://primotipo.com/2022/11/19/maybach-1-take-3-or-4/
Credits…
Auto Action, The Age, Spencer Wills
Finito…
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