1948 Australian Grand Prix
# 1948 Australian Grand Prix

The 1948 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Point Cook Aerodrome, a Royal Australian Air Force base at Point Cook, just outside Melbourne in Victoria, Australia on Australia Day, 26 January 1948. It was staged over 42 laps of a 3.85 kilometre circuit utilizing the runways and service roads of the base. The total race distance was 162 kilometres. The race was organised by the Light Car Club of Australia and was sanctioned by the Australian Automobile Association.

The race was the thirteenth Australian Grand Prix and the first not to be held on a public road circuit. It was staged as a handicap event with the first car starting 18 minutes before the last. Conditions were oppressive, with the temperature topping 100 °F (38 °C) by mid-morning, along with hot winds buffeting the exposed pits on the start/finish straight. The overpowering heat, plus the bumpy concrete-slab surface of the runways, took a heavy toll on the competing cars. As well as mechanical retirements, several drivers had to retire due to heat exhaustion.

Prominent motorcycle racer Frank Pratt won the race driving a BMW 328. Alf Najar finished second driving an MG TB Special with Dick Bland placed third in a George Reed constructed Ford V8 special. Bland was also awarded the prize for setting the fastest time.

## Classification

Results as follows.

| Pos | No. | Driver | Car / Engine | Entrant | Laps | Time |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 28 | Frank Pratt | BMW 328 / BMW 2.0L | LF Pratt | 42 | 1h 33m 52s |
| 2 | 31 | Alf Najar | MG TB Special / MG 1.3L | A Najar | 42 | 1h 34m 35s |
| 3 | 11 | Dick Bland | G Reed Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L | R Bland | 42 | 1h 35m 19s |
| 4 | 12 | Granton Harrison | Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L | G Harrison | 42 | 1h 35m 58s |
| 5 | 26 | Dennis Curran | Willys Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.9L | D Curran | 42 | 1h 36m 05s |
| 6 | 30 | John Barraclough | MG NE / MG 1.3L | J Barraclough | 42 | 1h 37m 02s |
| 7 | 27 | Bill Ford | Hudson Special / Hudson 3.5L | WD Ford | 42 | 1h 38m 00s |
| 8 | 3 | John Crouch | Delahaye 135 / Delahaye 3.6L | J Crouch | 42 | 1h 39m 00s |
| 9 | 10 | Alec Mildren | Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L | AG Mildren | 42 | 1h 40m 22s |
| 10 | 22 | Ron Head | Riley Imp / Riley 1.1L | R Head | 42 | 1h 42m 13s |
| NC | 35 | Bill Patterson | MG TC / MG 1.3L | GW Patterson | ? | |
| NC | 23 | Jim Skinner | Ballot 8 / Ford 3.6L | J Skinner | ? | |
| NC | 41 | Cec Warren | Morgan / Matchless 0.4L | CR Warren | ? | |
| NC | 19 | Arthur Chick | Bugatti Type 37 / Bugatti 2.3L | A Chick | ? | |
| Ret | 4 | Doug Whiteford | Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.2L | D Whiteford | 34 | |
| Ret | 5 | Hope Bartlett | Dixon Riley / Riley 1.8L | H Bartlett | 32 | |
| Ret | 2 | Alf Barrett | Alfa Romeo Monza / Alfa Romeo 2.4L | H Bartlett | 22 | |
| Ret | 6 | Lex Davison | Mercedes-Benz 38/250 / Mercedes-Benz 7.4L | AN Davison | 17 | |
| Ret | 38 | Tom Sulman | Singer Special / Singer 1.0L | T Sulman | 16 | |
| Ret | 20 | Jim Gullan | Ballot / Oldsmobile 3.9L | J Gullan | 15 | |
| Ret | 16 | Rug Nutt | Cadillac Special / Cadillac | AC Cooper | 14 | |
| Ret | 14 | Charlie Dean | Maybach I / Maybach 4.3L | HC Dean | 12 | |
| Ret | 21 | John Nind | MG TB Special / MG 1.3L | J Nind | 10 | |
| Ret | 18 | Tom Luxton | Nuttbug Bugatti Type 40 / Ford 3.6L | J McEwan | 7 | |
| Ret | 1 | Tony Gaze | Alta / Alta 2.0L | FAO Gaze | 5 | |
| Ret | 7 | Norm Andrews | Stewand / Lea-Francis 3.5L | N Andrews | 0 | |
