1957 Australian Grand Prix

The AGP was next scheduled for WA in 1956, but that was the year of the Melbourne Olympic Games, so WA and Victoria swapped dates and the 1957 race was held in Western Australia. This time there was no doubts as to venue – it had to be Caversham. At just over 2 miles (3.2 km) per lap it was large enough to hold quite a large field, and the entry list, though shorter than in 1951, was much more impressive:

Stan Jones	VIC	Maserati 250F
Lex Davison	VIC	Ferrari 625
Jack Brabham	NSW	Cooper Climax
Bill Patterson	NSW	Cooper Climax
Jack Myers	NSW	WM Cooper
Alec Mildren	ACT	Cooper Bristol
Tom Sulman	VIC	Aston Martin DB3S
Tom Hawkes	VIC	Cooper Bristol
Len Lukey	VIC	Cooper Bristol
Ron Phillips	VIC	Austin Healey 100S
Derek Jolly	SA	Decca Special
Sydney Anderson	WA	Alta
Syd Negus	WA	Plymouth Special
Mick Geneve	WA	Ballot V8

John Walker	WA	Byfield MG
Aub Melrose	WA	Austin Healey
Merv Dudley	WA	Morgan
Peter Bond	WA	Bondley
Aub Badger	WA	BM Holden
Dave van Dal	WA	Bugatti Type 57
Noel Aldous	WA	Austin Healey
Ted Kinnear	WA	Austin Healey
Fred Coxon	WA	Holden Special
Vin Smith	WA	Peugeot Special
Tony Carboni	WA	Double V8
Barry Ranford Jnr	WA	Morgan Plus Four
George Wakelin	WA	Special

As can be seen, this was a Formula Libre race – anything goes – and a local driver was most unlikely to win. From the West Australian angle the burning question was: who would be the first local home?

The race was conducted over three heats. Heat 1 featured 11 cars: Brabham, Patterson, Lukey, Phillips, Jolly, Anderson, Taylor, Melrose, Bond, Kinnear and Ranford. The race length was 20 laps, and Patterson got the jump as the flag fell. Brabham was close behind, and the future World Champion passed Patterson and set a very hot pace right to the finish, with the rest of the field strung out behind.

Heat 2 had 13 starters: Jones, Davison, Myers, Mildren, Sulman, Van Dal, Hawkes, Negus, Walker, Dudley, Badger, Coxon and Wakelin. Stan Jones jumped into an immediate lead and raced away from the pack, leaving them to scrap over second place. At one stage Lex Davison edged to within half a lap of Jones, but couldn't maintain the gap, and far behind Alec Mildren was in third place. It was a procession.

Heat 3 was the final, and saw the entire entry (except Bill Patterson, who had stripped a timing gear) on the Start line. Davison leapt away to an early lead, but lost it to Jones by Lap 2, while Brabham held third. The two leaders drew steadily away from Brabham, but on lap 28 Davison pulled into the pits to cool down (it was a scorching day) and Stan Jones consolidated his lead.

This pit stop was the beginning of the confusing problems that beset the offical lap scorers later in the race. Davison was quickly back into the track and by lap 45 he had gained ground on Jones, who appeared to be tiring. After a 20-second pit stop Jones rejoined the race and promptly spun his car. Jones was soon lapped by Davison, who extended his lead on the track until the flag dropped on the 70th lap.

Confusion set in when Stan Jones was formally declared the winner. Timing officials had scored Davison one lap behind Jones, so it was a tired but elated Jones who accepted the winner's laurels. Some time later, a lap score recount was conducted and embarrassed officials discovered that not only had Lex Davison also covered the full 70 laps, but had been ahead of Jones on the road when the flag fell. Davison was now declared the winner and Stan Jones, somewhat bewildered, was relegated to second.

The controversy continues. Exactly who won the 1957 Australian Grand Prix is unclear. John Cummins, a Victorian driver who had lived in Perth in the early 1950s and was entered to co-drive his friend Dave van Dal's Bugatti, is adamant that Stan Jones did indeed win the race. The Bugatti was a non-starter and he spent the afternoon lap-scoring. He scored Jones one lap ahead of Davison at the finish, a score which disagreed with the official lap charts prepared by the officials in the tower. [Note: it has now been settled beyond doubt that the official result was the correct one. See The Official 50-race History of the Australian Grand Prix , R&T Publishing, 1986.]

A feature of the weekend's racing was the Sedan car race. Len Lukey brought his famous Customline and Bob Holden had his fast Peugeot, and they were out to show the locals how it was done. An exciting race ensued. Sydney Anderson in his hot Holden fought a tigerish race with Lukey, but the V8 had the power. Anderson dared not make an error and Bob Holden was only inches behind him all the way to the finish.
A 40-lap sports car race was also on the card, immediately before the Grand Prix, and Derek Jolly impressed the crowd by racing in that event, refuelling, and then contesting the gruelling 70-lap Grand Prix in century heat.

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Images from Ken Devine
Text by Terry Walker