Hello ! ...Welcome to my Aussie Road Racing site... a site created for you to enjoy those early days of Australian Road racing of which I was a part in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a motor racing mechanic and an avid fan of this great sport.. This site will contain photos from my collection and those of my friends and associates. I hope you enjoy reliving a lot of the memories of your youth as I have......
Thank you to John Medley & Peter Schell for helping with some IDs....Brian.
What a great photo with which to open this collection . Stan Jones of Victoria, ( father of 1980 F1 World Champ. Alan Jones ) left, with mechanic Charlie Dean and the famous Maybach 2. Stan Jones won the 1959 Australian Grand Prix at Longford , Tasmania in a 250F Maserati.
The Ray Wamsley GP Alfa Romeo P3...before it was restored to the original configuration this car had several engines including GMC, Alvis and Corvette. Behind the wheel in this 1950s pic is midget Speedcar driver Tony Burke.
The great Reg Hunt of Victoria and one of his many factory race cars, an A6GCM Maserati
The Len Lukey Cooper Bristol backed into the Pit counter at Bathurst.
The HWM Jaguar had many owners. Victorian , Lex Davison won the 1954 Australian Grand Prix at Southport . Qld in this car.
The battered nose of the Jack Robinson XK120 Jaguar Special # 20.
A warm up lap minus helmets !
Maybe Doug Whiteford in the T26C Talbot Lago,
( Lago Talbot )Jones in the 250 F ? Doug Whiteford won the 1952 AGP at Bathurst and the 1953 AGP at Albert Park in the Talbot Lago ( generally called Lago Talbot or affectionately named 'Large Tablet ').
Clive Adams in a Prad. (ex Bill Clark HRG) , Jack Neal in a Maserati 4C and Jim Johnston in the MG Special ?
The famous ex Louis Chiron, French GP T26C Talbot Lago of Doug Whiteford, Ralph Snodgrass, Arnold Glass and Barry Collerson. A car they could not sell at 1200 Australian pounds in the 1960s eventually sold in Europe in the 1980s for 380,000 British pounds, ( $ 931,000 Aud ).
What would it be worth today ?
( Car by Talbot - engine by Anthony F. Lago)
Harry Monday in his Ford SV V8 Special
On the dummy grid, Pit straight , Bathurst in the 1950s, the famous mountain in the background.
Doug Chivas in the rebodied Lotus 6.
Paul Samuels in the little Berkeley sports.
Paul England in the Australian built, REPCO Holden powered AUSCA sports.
Veteran Aussie racer, Tom Sulman in the fabulous BRG coloured DB3S Aston Martin sports. What an exhaust note this car had !. Tom sadly lost his life in 1970 on Con Rod straight at the Mt Panorama circuit, Bathurst . He was driving a Lotus Eleven Sports.
The exotic Ferrari coupe of Nino Saccilotto
Sam Miller in his green and cream Austin Healey 100s complete with aerodynamic head rest.
Thanks to the late Rob Smart for sharing his memories with us via these great ( mostly Box Brownie ) pics.
It's these little collections in people's cupboards and shoe boxes that will take the history of Australian motor racing on into the future via the net. If you have a collection of good quality early photos that you would like to share on this site please email on email address below. I don't need originals just good quality jpeg scans about 500 pixels wide at 75dpi will do.
I am always open to informed corrections of captions of car / driver identification.
Above: Stan in action in The Maybach . The Maybach engine was out of a WWII German Scout car .
After you have had a look at the pages of ' Aussie Road Racing ' you might like to sign the Guest Book and give me your comments etc.
Go on to page two of Aussie Road Racing..
A great collection from top photographer
John Stanley..click on Page 2.
THE Late ROB SMART COLLECTION.
This page was last updated: September 26, 2024
This website was created and is maintained by Brian Darby
A page for those odd one or two photos that crop up from time to time. Click on the heading.
In what may be a first for an Aussie Road Racing website - in conjunction with my good friend, Glenn Munro, I'd like to present this historic and fascinating Video Clip from the old Mt Druitt circuit west of Sydney. A very young Jack Brabham is seen racing his first road racing car, footage shot in 1953. Just click on the Mt Druitt heading above - this will take you to the video clip page - turn your sound on - wait for the download ( 2.6 MB) and sit back and enjoy this 1 min 5 second clip of road racing in 1953.
I've put a few of my favourite sounds on the site.
Do you like sounds ? See what you think.
From Bill Hinte: Just to let you know that Maybach III had a Maybach engine as it's original power plant. Charlie Dean, together with others at Repco built a unique fuel injection system for this engine, I also believe that it had a larger capacity than the base engine? In this installation the engine was tilted over to give a lower engine cover & of course lower the centre of gravity. the Chevy was installed after I believe a major blow-up, when it was decided that the Maybach had reached the limit of development. Cheers Bill.
A great new website on the famous Australian Buckle Sports Car of the 1950s. Website by Bob Williamson.
The complete history of this fabulous car.
Click on the Buckle badge
The Oily Rag
The official journal of the HSRCA
Historic Sports and Racing Car Association of NSW Inc.
Issues of this magazine can only be
obtained with membership of the HSRCA .
Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3) s/n 5002
For the fascinating history of this P3 click on the link below,
P3 s/n 5002 as it is today restored in Europe last sold for millions of $$$
NOW - you can click on the HSRCA logo and go to their website.
If you also like Speedway - click here
If you also enjoy vintage Speedway you may enjoy my other sites
Brian
To see some of my history in Australian motorsport and the Automotive trade & motor racing memorabilia For Sale
log onto :
NEW PAGES for the sales of my Motor Racing Memorabilia & Odds & Ends collected over many years - time to let it go now - click on the heading above for page one - then you can go on to pages 2 , 3, 4 & 5 ... Brian
( 4.9.21) Brian,
Maybach III actually had a smaller version of the engine – 3.8l. 240bhp. (Phil Irving Biography, p.459). Earlier engine was 4.3l.
Cheers, Bob King.
NOW ! with F1 magazines For Sale - Page 5
BRABHAM - Hard Cover - 340 pages
$ 25 + P&P.
ALLAN MOFFAT - Hard Cover - 432 pages
$ 25 + P&P.-
BATHURST - Cradle of Australian Motor Racing
Hard cover - rare & out of print - copy as new - sensible offers considered.
I have a service where I can sell you full A4 scans of vintage Motor Racing programmes - I have a variety of circuits and dates available - Parramatta Park - Mt Druitt - Bathurst - Gnoo Blas - obviously not all meetings but a few choices . A full scan is $ 25 printed & posted ( in Australia ) .. contact me if interested - email bdarby@bigpond.com..... Brian .