The 1950 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre

Formula Libre

Formula Libre is a form of automobile racing allowing a wide variety of types, ages and makes of purpose-built racing cars to compete "head to head". This can make for some interesting matchups, and provides the opportunity for some compelling driving performances against superior machinery...

 motor race held at a street circuit in Nuriootpa

Nuriootpa, South Australia

Nuriootpa is the major commercial centre in the Barossa Valley in South Australia, about an hour's drive north of the capital, Adelaide, and 77 kilometres by rail...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 on January 2, 1950. The race was held over 34 laps of the 7.0 kilometre circuit for a race distance of 164 kilometres.

It was the fifteenth Australian Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix

The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...

 and featured a handicap

Handicapping

Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which the advantage is calculated...

 start which saw the slowest cars starting ahead of the faster cars at timed intervals. The declared winner was the driver with the fastest elapsed time over the course of the race, however placings were not recognised at the time. Results published initially, were only handicap results.

Doug Whiteford

Doug Whiteford

Doug Whiteford was an Australian racing driver.Whiteford was best known as a competitor in the Australian Grand Prix which he won three times in four years. He was fondly remember for his Talbot-Lago T26 Formula One car which he used to win his second and third Grands Prix. His third win was at the...

 won his first Australian Grand Prix as the fastest driver over the distance of the race, completing the race distance three minutes faster than nearest rival, Alfa Romeo driver Rupert Steele. Whiteford was driving the Ford/Mercury V8 powered special known as 'Black Bess'. Third fastest in elapsed time, Jim Gullan was also the handicap winner, driving an Oldsmobile powered Ballot.

Classification

Results as follows.

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	H'cap Pos
1	5	Doug Whiteford Doug Whiteford Doug Whiteford was an Australian racing driver.Whiteford was best known as a competitor in the Australian Grand Prix which he won three times in four years. He was fondly remember for his Talbot-Lago T26 Formula One car which he used to win his second and third Grands Prix. His third win was at the...	Black Bess Ford V8 Special / Ford Ford Flathead engine The Ford flathead V8 was a V8 engine of the flathead type, designed by the Ford Motor Company and built by Ford and various licensees...  4.2L	34	1h 24m 53s	3
2	6	Rupert Steele	Alfa Romeo 8C Alfa Romeo 8C -1935 Monoposto 8C 35 Type C:Eight 3.8 litre versions, sharing no castings with the earlier blocks, were individually built for racing in five months, most being used in the Alfa Romeo Monoposto 8C 35 Type C, as raced by Scuderia Ferrari. The 3.8 produced at 5500 rpm, and had from...  / Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo in motorsport During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private...  2.3L	34	1h 27m 51s	8
3	21	Jim Gullan	Ballot Ballot (automobile) Ballot was a French automobile manufacturer who made cars between 1921 and 1932.The Ballot brothers, Edouard and Maurice, founded their company in 1905. Before World War I they manufactured automobile and marine engines. The company was re-founded as Etablissements Ballot SA in 1910.Edouard...  / Oldsmobile Oldsmobile Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...  3.9L	34	1h 29m 23s	1
4	30	David Harvey	MG TC Special / MG 1.3L	34	1h 33m 49s	2
5	22	Bill Willcox	Dodge Dodge Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....  Special / Dodge Dodge Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....  4.1L	34	1h 34m 11s	7
6	32	Steve Tillett	MG TC Special / MG 1.3L	34	1h 34m 37s	6
7	33	Ron Kennedy	MG TC / MG 1.3L	34	1h 34m 41s	5
8	35	Don Cant	MG TC / MG 1.3L	34	1h 35m 05s	4
9	27	Howard Keil	HRG HRG Engineering Company HRG Engineering Company also known as HRG, was a British car manufacturer based in Tolworth, Surrey. Founded in 1936 by Major Edward Halford, Guy Robins and Henry Ronald Godfrey, it took its name from the first letter of their surnames....  Special / HRG 1.5L	34	1h 35m 57s	9
10	26	Norman Steele	HRG HRG Engineering Company HRG Engineering Company also known as HRG, was a British car manufacturer based in Tolworth, Surrey. Founded in 1936 by Major Edward Halford, Guy Robins and Henry Ronald Godfrey, it took its name from the first letter of their surnames....  Special / HRG 1.5L	34	1h 36m 08s	10
11	19	Granton Harrison	Phillips V8 Special / Ford Ford Flathead engine The Ford flathead V8 was a V8 engine of the flathead type, designed by the Ford Motor Company and built by Ford and various licensees...  3.9L	34	1h 37m 39s	12
12	29	Vin Maloney	MG TC Special / MG 1.3L	34	1h 40m 14s	11
13	38	R. Vinall	MG NA MG N-Type The MG N-type Magnette was produced by the MG Car company from October 1934 to 1936. The car was developed from the K-Type and L-Type but had a new chassis that broke away in design from the simple ladder type used on the earlier cars of the 1930s being wider at the rear than the front and with the...  / MG 1.3L	34	1h 46m 42s	13
Ret	30	Peter McKenna	BMW 328 BMW 328 The BMW 328 is a sports car made by BMW between 1936 and 1940, with the body design credited to Peter Szymanowski, who became BMW chief of design after World War II ....  / BMW BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...  2.0L	33
Ret	34	D. Douglas	MG TC / MG 1.3L	32
Ret	20	Dennis Curran	Curran Ford V8 Special / Ford Ford Flathead engine The Ford flathead V8 was a V8 engine of the flathead type, designed by the Ford Motor Company and built by Ford and various licensees...  4.0L	30
Ret	16	Ken Tubman	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L	28
Ret	31	Ken Jackson	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L	25
Ret	40	Phill Harrison	MG P / Vauxhall Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...  1.4L	21
Ret	24	Bob Brown	Alfa Romeo Tipo B Alfa Romeo P3 The Alfa Romeo P3, P3 monoposto or Tipo B was a classic Grand Prix car designed by Vittorio Jano, one of the Alfa Romeo 8C models. The P3 was first genuine single-seat Grand Prix racing car and Alfa Romeo's second monoposto after Tipo A monoposto . It was based on the earlier successful Alfa Romeo P2...  / Ford Ford Flathead engine The Ford flathead V8 was a V8 engine of the flathead type, designed by the Ford Motor Company and built by Ford and various licensees...  4.0L	21
Ret	3	Charlie Dean	Maybach Special Mk.1 / Maybach Maybach Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH until 1912.Today, the ultra-luxury car brand is owned by...  4.2L	21
Ret	23	L. Robinson	Bugatti / Dodge	15
Ret	11	Peter Denman	Hudson Special / Hudson Hudson Motor Car Company The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was dropped.- Company strategy...	13
Ret	36	E. Truman	MG TC / MG 1.3L	11
Ret	17	Bill Patterson Bill Patterson (racing driver) Gerard William Riggall "Bill" Patterson was an Australian motor racing driver, race team owner and businessman....	MG TC / MG s/c 1.3L	6
Ret	39	Max Galt	MG NA / MG 1.3L	4
Ret	4	Eldred Norman	Double Ford V8 Special / Ford Ford Flathead engine The Ford flathead V8 was a V8 engine of the flathead type, designed by the Ford Motor Company and built by Ford and various licensees...  7.8L	2
Ret	15	Otto Stone	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L	1
Ret	2	Lex Davison Lex Davison Alexander Nicholas Davison was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 and 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1957...	Alfa Romeo Tipo B Alfa Romeo P3 The Alfa Romeo P3, P3 monoposto or Tipo B was a classic Grand Prix car designed by Vittorio Jano, one of the Alfa Romeo 8C models. The P3 was first genuine single-seat Grand Prix racing car and Alfa Romeo's second monoposto after Tipo A monoposto . It was based on the earlier successful Alfa Romeo P2...  / Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo in motorsport During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private...  3.0L	1

External links

• The Nuriootpa “Grand Prix” circuit