1961 Australian Grand Prix
# 1961 Australian Grand Prix

The 1961 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held at the newly completed Mallala Race Circuit in South Australia on 9 October 1961. The race, which was Round 5 of the 1961 Australian Drivers' Championship, had 17 starters.

The race was the twenty sixth Australian Grand Prix and would be the last to be held in South Australia until the first Formula One World Championship Australian Grand Prix was staged at the new Adelaide Parklands Circuit in 1985. Lex Davison won his fourth and final AGP setting a record for wins that still stands today, having only been equalled by Michael Schumacher. David McKay actually crossed the finish line first but had been assigned a one-minute penalty, for a jumped start, which relegated him to third position behind Davison and Bib Stillwell.

Davison's Australian Grand Prix victory would be the last for a domestically based Australian until Frank Matich won the 1970 AGP at Warwick Farm in Sydney driving a McLaren M10B Formula 5000 car, although British-based Australian Jack Brabham had won the AGP in both 1963 and 1964.

## Classification

Results as follows.

| Pos | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car / Engine | Laps | Time |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Lex Davison | B.S. Stillwell | Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.2L | 50 | 1h 29m 01s |
| 2 | 6 | Bib Stillwell | B.S. Stillwell | Cooper T55 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | 50 | 1h 29m 42s |
| 3 | 14 | David McKay | Scuderia Veloce | Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | 50 | 1h 30m 05s |
| 4 | 9 | Bill Patterson | Bill Patterson Motors P/L | Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | 48 | |
| 5 | 15 | Murray Trenberth | M Trenberth | Alta / Holden 2.5L | 46 | |
| 6 | 20 | Eddie Clay | E Clay | Cooper T23 / Bristol 2.2L | 45 | |
| 7 | 26 | Alan Jack | Briefield Motors | Cooper T39 / Coventry Climax FWB 1.5L | 48 | |
| 8 | 45 | Trevor Ellis | T Ellis | Austin 8 Special / Austin Supercharged 0.9L | 38 | |
| 9 | 16 | Mel McEwin | M McEwin | Tornado Mk II / Chevrolet 4.6L | 35 | |
| 10 | 60 | Peter Wilkinson | P Wilkinson | Elfin Steamliner / Ford 1.2L | 35 | |
| Ret | 5 | John Youl | Scuderia Veloce | Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | 46 | Exhaustion |
| Ret | 8 | Keith Rilstone | K Rilstone | Zephyr Special / Ford 2.3L | 33 | |
| Ret | 19 | Doug Whiteford | Bill Patterson Motors P/L | Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | 30 | Engine |
| Ret | 11 | John Ampt | J Ampt | Cooper T38 / Jaguar 3.8L | 25 | |
| Ret | 30 | John Newmarch | J Bruggeman | Ricardian / Holden 2.4L | 14 | |
| Ret | 56 | Helene Bittner | H Bittner | Vitesse / Ford 100E 1.2L | 1 | Gearbox |
| Ret | 3 | Laurie Whitehead | L Whitehead | Ausper T2 / Ford 1.0L | 0 | |
| DNS | 2 | Stan Jones | Stan Jones Motors Pty Ltd | Cooper T51 / Coventry Climax FPF 2.5L | | Engine |
| DNS | 29 | Garrie Cooper | Elfin Sports Cars | Elfin Formula Junior / Ford 1.1L | | Gearbox |
| DNS | 44 | Dud Dansie | Bakewell Bridge Motors | BBM rotary valve special / Holden - Dunstan Rotary Valve | | |
