Stirling Moss leads the 1956 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in his works Maser 250F…
The dark, gloomy, wet weather shot could be in Europe. Stirling won the 80 lap, 250 mile race held on 2 December 1956 by a lap from teammate Jean Behra, Peter Whitehead’s Ferrari 555 Super Squalo, Reg Hunt’s Maserati 250F and Stan Jones’ similar car.
The excitement of this post Melbourne Olympic Games race meeting run over two weekends I covered in an article about the Australian Tourist Trophy which Moss also won the week before, in another works Maser, this time a 300S, click here to read it;
This short article is pictorial in nature, I rather like the justaposition between his win in the conventional, state of the art 250F in 1956 and victory two years later in the 1958 Melbourne Grand Prix. On that occasion Stirling was in a paradigm shifting, mid-engined Cooper, a T45 Climax. He took the first modern era, mid-engined GP win on January 19, 1958 in a Cooper T43 Climax at the Buenos Aires circuit in Argentina.
Stirling won that 32 lap, 100 mile Albert Park, Melbourne GP race run in super hot conditions on 30 November 1958…
Behind him was Jack Brabham’s similar Cooper T45 Climax 2.2 FPF- Doug Whiteford’s Maser 300S and Bib Stillwell’s Maser 250F were third and fourth.
The race was a Formula Libre event attended by over 70,000 spectators. Brabham led away at the start but Moss soon passed him and moved steadily away keeping a strong lead despite easing in the final laps given his cars water temperature, which was off the Smiths clock!
Melbourne GP start, Jack gets the jump in the centre from Moss on the left, both in Cooper T45’s and Stan Jones Maserati 250F.
Stirling’s car was fitted with an Alf Francis built Coventry Climax FPF, 4 cylinder DOHC, two valve, Weber carbed engine of 2051cc, it was a ‘screamer’ with trick cams and crank. Jack’s T45 toted a 2.2 litre FPF, revised Ersa five-speed ‘box and double wishbone rear suspension.
The two new-fangled Cooper T45’s were the class of the field, Moss and Jack took a heat apiece. The natural order of things in Australia changed very rapidly, just like everywhere else, albeit the last Australian Grand Prix won by a front-engine car was Stan Jones’ win at Longford several months after the Albert Park meeting, on 2 March 1959.
Brabham was still on the rise as a driver, he raced in F2 in 1958 (and in the F2 class of some GP’s) but took fourth in the Monaco classic, sixth in the French, seventh in the Portuguese and eighth in the Dutch GP at Zandvoort-all in works F1 Cooper T45’s. His time was shortly to come of course, in 1959 and 1960.
Sadly, the 30 November 1958 Albert Park race was the last race meeting until the modern Albert Park era
That commenced with the first of the F1 Grands Prix in 1996, or more precisely with some historic events in the years before which ‘softened up the public’ to the concept. The use of the park for motor racing became enmeshed in 1950s Victorian State politics, the net result was the end of racing for nearly forty years.
Barry Green observed in his book, ‘Glory Days’, ‘In many ways that final meeting represented a changing of the guard. The two nimble, little rear-engined cars had blitzed the field, underscoring the fact that the writing was on the wall for the big, front engined cars’.
‘So too, the days of the wealthy sporting amateur, of racing for a silver cup and the fun of it all. Professionalism had arrived- to see that, one had to look no further than the darkening sky over Albert Park; to a hovering helicopter, about to pluck Stirling Moss from the crowd and whisk him off to Essendon Airport and connections to the Bahamas for the Nassau Speed Week’.
Checkout this fantastic BP film, supporters of Moss’ attendance at the event, of the 1958 Melbourne GP meeting…
Etcetera: 1956 AGP/ATT weekends, November/December…
With Reg Hunt at left and Ken Wharton, right, before the start of the Australian Tourist Trophy- Moss’ winning Maserati 300S at right- and en-route to victory below.
Jean Behra grabs a quick drag whilst Moss deals with a fan.
And below corrects a delicate slide on the fast, demanding Albert Park road course- Maserati 250F.
Victory shot on soggy race day- wonderful, rare photograph.
Bibliography…
‘Glory Days-Albert Park 1953-8’ Barry Green
Credits…
stirlingmoss.com, LAT, Fairfax Media, Graham Rhodes, Simon Landrigan, Robert Jones, Australian Motor Heritage Foundation via Brian Caldersmith, Janet Russell Collection, JA Dennison
Tailpiece…
And what a fine tail it is too. Moss, Maser 250F and mechanic in more recent times. “I won’t remember your number, text-me,” is the gist of the conversation.
Finito…
primotipo... 