1950 Australian Grand Prix
# 1950 Australian Grand Prix

The 1950 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Nuriootpa Road Circuit in South Australia on 2 January 1950. It was organised by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia, promoted by the Barossa Valley Vintage Festival Association and staged over 34 laps of the 4.8-kilometre circuit for a race distance of 163 kilometres. The race, which is recognized by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as the fifteenth Australian Grand Prix, was a Formula Libre race.

The race utilised a handicap start with cars commencing progressively, slowest through to fastest, at timed intervals. The declared winner of the Grand Prix however, was the driver with the fastest elapsed race time, regardless of handicap. All other official awards were based on the handicap results, with an additional trophy awarded to the handicap winner and prize money paid for the first nine handicap places. Doug Whiteford, driving a Ford V8 Special, known as 'Black Bess', won his first Australian Grand Prix, completing the race distance almost three minutes faster than Rupert Steele, driving an Alfa Romeo. Jim Gullan, driving an Oldsmobile-powered Ballot Special recorded the third fastest race time and was also the official handicap winner.

## Classification

| Pos | No. | Driver | Car / Engine | Entrant | Laps | Time | H'cap Pos | H'cap start |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 5 | Doug Whiteford | Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.2L | D Whiteford | 34 | 1h 24m 53s | 5 | 1m 45s |
| 2 | 6 | Rupert Steele | Alfa Romeo 8C / Alfa Romeo 2.3L | PJR Steele | 34 | 1h 27m 51s | 9 | 1m 45s |
| 3 | 21 | Jim Gullan | Ballot Special / Oldsmobile 3.9L | J Gullan | 34 | 1h 29m 23s | 1 | 7m 45s |
| 4 | 30 | David Harvey | MG TC Special / MG 1.3L | DG Harvey | 34 | 1h 33m 49s | 2 | 11m 00s |
| 5 | 22 | Bill Willcox | Dodge Special / Dodge 4.1L | WH Wilcox | 34 | 1h 34m 11s | 10 | 8m 20s |
| 6 | 32 | Steve Tillett | MG TC Special / MG 1.3L | SD Tillett | 34 | 1h 34m 37s | 6 | 11m 50s |
| 7 | 33 | Ron Kennedy | MG TC / MG 1.3L | RJ Kennedy | 34 | 1h 34m 41s | 3 | 11m 30s |
| 8 | 35 | Don Cant | MG TC / MG 1.3L | DP Cant | 34 | 1h 35m 05s | 4 | 11m 55s |
| 9 | 27 | Howard Keil | HRG Special / HRG 1.5L | FAO Gaze | 34 | 1h 35m 57s | 8 | 9m 40s |
| 10 | 26 | Norman Steele | HRG Special / HRG 1.5L | NC Steele | 34 | 1h 36m 08s | 7 | 9m 40s |
| 11 | 19 | Granton Harrison | Phillips V8 Special / Ford 3.9L | GT Harrison | 34 | 1h 37m 39s | 11 | 7m 45s |
| 12 | 29 | Vin Maloney | MG TC Special / MG 1.3L | VA Maloney | 34 | 1h 40m 14s | 12 | 10m 40s |
| 13 | 38 | R. Vinall | MG NA / MG 1.3L | RK Vinall | 34 | 1h 46m 42s | 13 | 13m 00s |
| Ret | 25 | Peter McKenna | BMW 328 / BMW 2.0L | Peter McKenna | 33 | | | 9m 05s |
| Ret | 34 | D. Douglas | MG TC / MG 1.3L | AP Douglas | 32 | | | 11m 55s |
| Ret | 20 | Dennis Curran | Curran Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L | DE Curran | 30 | | | 7m 45s |
| Ret | 16 | Ken Tubman | MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L | KV Tubman | 28 | | | 4m 50s |
| Ret | 31 | Ian Jackson | MG TC / MG 1.3L | IN Jackson | 25 | | | 11m 20s |
| Ret | 40 | Phil Harrison | MG P / Vauxhall 1.4L | P Harrison | 21 | | | 13m 00s |
| Ret | 24 | Bob Brown | Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 / Ford 4.0L | RS Brown | 21 | | | 9m 00s |
| Ret | 3 | Charlie Dean | Maybach Special Mk.1 / Maybach 4.2L | HC Dean | 21 | | | 0m 30s |
| Ret | 23 | L. Robinson | Bugatti / Dodge | LD Robinson | 15 | | | 8m 40s |
| Ret | 11 | Peter Damman | Hudson Special / Hudson | P Denman | 13 | | | 2m 50s |
| Ret | 36 | E. Truman | MG TC / MG 1.3L | EC Truman | 11 | | | 11m 55s |
| Ret | 17 | Bill Patterson | MG TC / MG s/c 1.3L | GW Patterson | 6 | | | 5m 05s |
| Ret | 39 | Max Galt | MG NA / MG 1.3L | M Galt | 4 | | | 13m 00s |
| Ret | 4 | Eldred Norman | Double Ford V8 Special / Ford 7.8L | E de B Norman | 2 | | | 1m 25s |
| Ret | 15 | Otto Stone | MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L | Otto Stone | 1 | | | 4m 50s |
| Ret | 2 | Lex Davison | Alfa Romeo Tipo B / Alfa Romeo 3.0L | AN Davison | 1 | | | 0m 30s |
| DNS | 1 | Tony Gaze | Alta | FAO Gaze | - | | | 0m 00s |
| DNS | 12 | Stan Jones | HRG | S Jones | - | | | 3m 25s |
| DNS | 14 | John Barraclough | MG K3 s/c | A.N. Davison | - | | | 4m 50s |

The above results rank all finishers based on actual race time, regardless of handicap. Officially, race results were based on handicap placings, with the exception of the actual Australian Grand Prix title itself, which was awarded to the driver setting the fastest race time.

It is not known if the cars of McKenna and Douglas actually retired from the race or were still running when the race time expired.

