1938 Australian Grand Prix

  1938 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Formula Libre handicap race
Date	18 April 1938
Location	Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	6.12 km (3.84 mi)
Distance	40 laps, 244.8 km (153.6 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Podium
First	Peter Whitehead	ERA
Second	Les Burrows	Terraplane Special
Third	Alan Crago	MG

The 1938 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at Mount Panorama Circuit on 18 April 1938. The race had 30 starters. The race was held over 40 laps of the six kilometre circuit for at 241 kilometres.

It was the tenth Australian Grand Prix and the first to be held in New South Wales. This meeting was essentially a revival of the Australian Grand Prix title which had not been used since April 1935. The track utilised was the newly completed Mount Panorama Circuit, a dirt surface tourist drive which climbed the slope of Mount Panorama in the Bald Hills to the south of the city of Bathurst. The Grand Prix was used as a headline for the debut race meeting at the rural New South Wales venue. With a circuit length of just over 3.8 miles it was the shortest circuit to host the Australian Grand Prix to this time.

The revived format was much the same used previously at Phillip Island, handicap start, with the slowest cars start first and faster cars starting at intervals according to their predicted pace. The meeting was enlivened by two visiting British drivers, Peter Whitehead and Alan Sinclair who had brought with them supercharged Grand Prix racing machinery, respectively an ERA and an Alta.

While Sinclair was unable to start the race, Whitehead did and it was quickly realised that his position as the scratch handicap competitor was too generous and by races end had driven through the field. The only driver who had offered any resistance was Les Burrows driving a 1933 Terraplane-based racing car. However Burrows slowed near the end, his engine reducing in power sufficiently to allow Whitehead to sweep by to take victory despite Burrows starting the race 15 minutes earlier.

Classification

Results as follows.^[1]

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps	Time
1	1	Peter Whitehead	ERA B Type / ERA s/c 1.5L	40	2h 46m 50s
2	22	Les Burrows	Terraplane Special / Terraplane 2.6L	40	2h 48m 21s
3	31	Alan Crago	MG TA / MG 1.3L	40	2h 29m 20s
4	3	Tom Peters	Bugatti Type 37A / Ford s/c 2.9L	40	2h 50m 19s
5	32	John Crouch	MG TA / MG 1.3L	40	2h 51m 38s
6	17	Jack Phillips	Ford Special / Ford 3.6L	40	2h 52m 28s
7	20	Charles Whatmore	Ford Special / Ford 3.6L	40	2h 52m 56s
8	39	Ron Uffindell	Austin 7 Special / Austin 0.7L	40	2h 55m 07s
9	37	Les Murphy	MG PB / MG 0.8L	40	3h 02m 40s
10	15	George Bonser	Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L	40	2h 56m 47s
11	18	Bob Lea-Wright	Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L	40	2h 58m 01s
12	38	Colin Anderson	Morris Cowley / Morris 1.7L	40	2h 57m 47s
13	19	D. Kerr	Ford Special / Ford 3.6L	40	2h 59m 59s
14	16	Harry Beith	Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L	40	3h 05m 19s
15	12	George Martin	BMW 328 / BMW 2.0L	40
16	14	Barney Dentry	Riley Special / Riley 1.1L	40
Ret	21	Paul Burton	Alvis / Alvis s/c 1.5L
Ret	26	Reg Seville	Singer / Singer 1.5L
Ret	30	Jack Boughton	Morgan 4/4 / Coventry Climax 1.1L
Ret	5	Jim Fagan	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L
Ret	36	John Pike	Singer 9 / Singer 1.0L
Ret	35	Arthur Beasley	Singer 9 / Singer 1.0L
Ret	23	Fred Foss	Ford Special / Ford 3.6L
Ret	33	R. Kerr	MG TA / MG 1.3L
Ret	9	Tim Joshua	Frazer Nash / Meadows 1.5L
Ret	24	C. Williamson	Chrysler Special / Chrysler 4.2L
Ret	11	George Reed	Ford Special / Ford 3.6L
Ret	2	Frank Kleinig	Kleinig-Hudson 8 Special / Hudson 4.2L	5
Ret	25	Alf Barrett	Lombard AL3 / Lombard 1.2L	3
Ret	34	George Thame	Riley Nine Imp / Riley 1.1L	3
DNS	8	Wally James	Frazer Nash / Ford 2.9L
DNS	4	Colin Dunne	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L
DNS	6	Lyster Jackson	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L
DNS	7	Alan Sinclair	Alta / Alta s/c 1.1L
DNS	10	John Barraclough	Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS / Alfa Romeo s/c 1.8L
DNS	27	John Sherwood	MG NE / MG 1.3L
DNS	28	John Summers	MG Magna / MG 1.1L
DNS	29	C. Frederick	MG Magnette Special / MG 1.3L

References

1. Medley, John (1986). "1952". In Howard, Graham. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 92–103. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.