1956 Australian Grand Prix

  1956 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Formula Libre race [1]
Date	2 December 1956
Location	Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	5.03 km (3.125 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 402.25 km (250 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Stirling Moss	Officine Alfieri Maserati
Fastest lap
Driver	Stirling Moss	Officine Alfieri Maserati
Time	1'52.2
Podium
First	Stirling Moss	Officine Alfieri Maserati
Second	Jean Behra	Officine Alfieri Maserati
Third	Peter Whitehead	Scuderia Ambrosiana

The 1956 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race for Formula Libre cars held at Albert Park Street Circuit, in Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1956. The race, which had 22 starters, was held over 80 laps of the five kilometre circuit, the longest of all the Australian Grands Prix at 402 kilometres. It attracted a crowd of over 120,000 spectators.^[2]

The race was the twenty first Australian Grand Prix and the second to be held on a street circuit situated around the Albert Park Lake, the current location of the race. It had been moved to the end of the year, and the rotational system which shifted the race from state to state was suspended to allow the AGP to capitalise on the publicity generated around the 1956 Olympic Games which were being held in Melbourne. With the presence of the works Officine Alfieri Maserati racing team, bringing with them Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and a fleet of 250F, and fellow European based racers Ken Wharton, Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell, the race became the most important motor racing event held in Australia's history to that point.

Moss and Behra dominated the two week festival which began the previous weekend with the Australian Tourist Trophy sports car race in which the duo placed first and second, each driving a Maserati 300S. In the Grand Prix the two were again dominant, but Moss was a class above Behra coming close to lapping his team mate. The two Scuderia Ambrosiana entered Ferraris of Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell were not a serious threat but Whitehead did have the measure of the local drivers with the 1938 Australian Grand Prix winner finishing two laps clear of the first of the Australians, Maserati 250F driver Reg Hunt. Parnell finished sixth, behind another domestic Maserati 250F driven by Stan Jones. Both finished on the same lap as Hunt, while Lex Davison's older sports car engined Ferrari 625 was another two laps distant. Doug Whiteford’s Talbot-Lago was the first non-Italian car home in eighth place. With defending champion Jack Brabham absent the best of the Cooper sourced machinery was Len Lukey's much modified Cooper-Bristol in ninth. Wharton's European-based Maserati 250F failed to reach the finishing line.

Moss’s fastest lap of 1:52.2 (100.25 mph) was a new lap record for the Albert Park Circuit.^[3]

Classification

A Maserati 250F similar to that in which Stirling Moss won the 1956 Australian Grand Prix

The Talbot-Lago T26C driven to 8th place by Doug Whiteford. The car is pictured in 2010

Pos [4]	No. [4]	Driver [4]	Car	Entrant	Laps [4]	Time [4]
1	7	Stirling Moss	Maserati 250F / Maserati 2.5L [5]	Officine Alfieri Maserati [5]	80	2h 36m 15.4s
2	1	Jean Behra	Maserati 250F / Maserati 2.5L [5]	Officine Alfieri Maserati [5]	80	2h 38m 27.4s
3	3	Peter Whitehead	Ferrari 555 F1 / Ferrari 3.4L	Scuderia Ambrosiana [6]	79
4	5	Reg Hunt	Maserati 250F / Maserati 2.5L		77
5	8	Stan Jones	Maserati 250F / Maserati 2.5L		77
6	2	Reg Parnell	Ferrari 555 F1 / Ferrari 3.4L	Scuderia Ambrosiana [6]	77
7	9	Lex Davison	Ferrari 625 F1 / Ferrari 3.0L		75
8	11	Doug Whiteford	Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L		72
9	25	Len Lukey	Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.0L		70
10	19	Julian Barrett	Alta GP-2 / Alta S/C 1.5L		70
11	18	Tom Clark	HWM / Alta 2.0L		66
12	23	Jack Myers	Cooper T20 / Holden 2.4L		66
Ret	6	Kevin Neal	Maserati A6GCM / Maserati 2.5L		68
Ret	20	Bill Willcox	Alta / Alta 2.0L		39
Ret	26	Bill Craig	Alta / Holden 2.4L		26
Ret	24	Alec Mildren	Cooper T20 / Bristol 2.0L		21
Ret	4	Ken Wharton	Maserati 250F / Maserati 2.5L	Ecurie du Puy [6]	19
Ret	16	Ted Gray	Tornado II / Ford 4.5L		15
Ret	22	Reg Smith	Cooper T40 / Bristol 2.0L		13
Ret	28	Harry McLaughlin	Ford V8 Special 4.3L		6
Ret	17	Tom Hawkes	Cooper T23 / Holden 2.3L		5
Ret	12	Owen Bailey	Talbot-Lago T26C / Talbot-Lago 4.5L		0

References

1. FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix preview, www.cams.com.au Retrieved on 5 May 2015
2. Bill Tuckey, The Book of Australian Motor Racing, 1965, page 67
3. Jim Shepherd, A History of Australian Motor Sport, 1980, page 29
4. Howard, Graham (1986). "1956". In Howard, Graham. The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 218–226. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
5. Australia and New Zealand's Role in Maserati's 100 Year History, www.ferrarimaseratisydney.com.au Retrieved 5 May 2015
6. Moss hurtles to victory in Olympic GP, Wheels (magazine), January 1957, pages 62-63 & 89