1947 Australian Grand Prix

  1947 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Formula Libre handicap race
Date	6 October 1947
Location	Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales
Course	Temporary road circuit
Course length	6.12 km (3.84 mi)
Distance	38 laps, 241.35 km (150 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Podium
First	Bill Murray	MG
Second	Dick Bland	Mercury Special
Third	Lex Davison	Mercedes-Benz

The 1947 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on 6 October 1947. The race, which had 22 starters, was held over 38 laps of the six kilometre circuit, for a total race distance of 241 kilometres.

It was the twelfth Australian Grand Prix and the first race to have been held after the conclusion of World War II. Racing in Australia resumed in 1946, but it took until 1947 for a group, in this case the Australian Sporting Car Club, to take on the running of the Grand Prix. Police opposition to racing at Mount Panorama led to the postponement of the race from Easter to October.^[1]

The race, a handicap event as was the tradition in the immediate post-war period, was won by Bill Murray racing his MG TC. Murray took the lead on the last lap of the race after a tyre failure on Ray Mitchell's Jeep/Ford Special caused the race leader to slow dramatically. Mitchell limped home for fourth position. Future Grand Prix stars also passed Mitchell, second was taken by Dick Bland in his Mercury Special. Bland would claim two more podiums over the four years but a win would be elusive. Third was taken by Lex Davison driving a 7.6 litre Mercedes-Benz SSK 38/250.^[2] Davison would go on to become the Grand Prix's most prolific winner, even though his career would be cut short by his death at Sandown in 1965, Davison would win the race four times. Davison also completed the race in the shortest time, a prelude to the future of the race over the next decade and a half.

Classification

Results as follows.^[3]

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps	Time
1	21	Bill Murray	MG TC / MG 1.3L	38	2h 39m 46s
2	7	Dick Bland	Mercury Special / Mercury 3.7L	38	2h 40m 22s
3	5	Lex Davison	Mercedes-Benz SSK 38/250 / Mercedes-Benz 7.6L	38	2h 40m 33s
4	11	Ray Mitchell	Jeep/Ford Special / Ford 3.6L	38	2h 41m 09s
5	23	Tom Sulman	Sulman Singer Special / Singer 1.0L	38	2h 41m 48s
6	15	Alf Najar	MG TB Special / MG 1.3L	38	2h 41m 37s
7	12	Harry Monday	Mercury Special / Mercury 3.9L	38	2h 41m 59s
8	17	John Barraclough	MG NE / MG 1.3L	38	2h 42m 10s
9	13	Dougal MacLachlan	MG TA Special / MG 1.4L	38	2h 43m 55s
10		Les Burrows	MG J2 / MG 0.8L	38	2h 44m 37s
11	19	Ron Ward	MG TB / MG 1.3L	38	2h 45m 37s
12		Bruce Myers	Riley Imp / Riley 1.1L	38	2h 46m 01s
13	18	Bill Nunn	MG TB / MG 1.3L	38	2h 47m 55s
14	22	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	MG TC / MG 1.3L	38	2h 48m 28s
Ret	1	Alf Barrett	Alfa Romeo Monza / Alfa Romeo 2.4L
Ret	9	Jack Murray	Bugatti Type 39 / Ford 3.6L	29
Ret	2	Frank Kleinig	Kleinig-Hudson 8 Special / Hudson 4.2L	27
Ret	20	George Pearse	MG TB / MG 1.3L	23
Ret		Len Phillips	Austin 7 / Austin 0.8L	21
Ret	3	Hope Bartlett	Dixon / Riley 1.8L
Ret	4	Ron Ewing	Buick Special / Buick 3.8L
Ret	16	Walter Mathison	Jaguar SS100 / Standard 2.7L
DNS	8	Alec Mildren	Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L
DNS		Dennis Curran	Mercury Special / Mercury 3.9L
DNS		Ken Tubman	MG K3 / MG 1.3L
DNS		Len Golding	MG NE / MG 1.1L

References

1. Medley, John (1986). "1947". In Howard, Graham. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
2. Stefan Bartholomaeus, Mercedes-Benz in Australian motorsport Retrieved from www.speedcafe.com on 20 September 2012
3. Medley, John (1986). "1947". In Howard, Graham. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 116–124. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.