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1937 Australian Grand Prix

Field	Value
Type	CUST
Description	handicap race
Grand Prix	Australian
Country	Australia
Location	Port Elliot-Victor Harbor Circuit
near Victor Harbor, South Australia
Date	26 December
Year	1936
Course	Temporary road circuit
Course_mi	7.8
Course_km	12.55
Distance_laps	32
Distance_mi	240 .
Distance_km	386.16
Weather	Sunny
Fast_Driver	Tom Peters
Fast_Team	Bugatti
Fast_Time	5:47
Fast_Country	AUS
First_Driver	Les Murphy
First_Country	AUS
First_Team	MG
Second_Driver	Tim Joshua
Second_Country	AUS
Second_Team	MG
Third_Driver	Bob Lea-Wright
Third_Country	AUS
Third_Team	Terraplane Special

near Victor Harbor, South Australia The 1937 Australian Grand Prix is a name which has been applied retrospectively to the 1936 South Australian Centenary Grand Prix, a motor race held on the Port Elliot-Victor Harbor road circuit in South Australia on Boxing Day, 26 December 1936.

The 1935 Australian Grand Prix had been held at Phillip Island in April and no succeeding event had been planned. Eventually the Australian Grand Prix would be revived in April 1938 at Bathurst. The stature of 1936 South Australian Centenary Grand Prix, the largest such race held in the three-year gap, saw it later renamed and redated to become the 1937 Australian Grand Prix.

The race was the first road race for cars to be held in South Australia, with special amendments to the Road Traffic Act required to allow the roads to be closed for that purpose. It was open to factory built and catalogued racing cars and sports cars, irrespective of engine capacity, however other entries not meeting that description were also considered.

The race was won by pre-race favourite Les Murphy, driving a MG P-type off a handicap of 40 minutes. He finished over ten minutes clear of Tim Joshua driving a similar car with Bob Lea-Wright third in a Terraplane-based special. Fifth placed finisher Ossie Cranston, driving a Ford V8-based special

Classification

The Hudson Special driven by of Frank Kleinig retired from the race after five laps.

1936 South Australian Centenary Grand Prix plaque, located at Lions Information Bay, Adelaide Road, Victor Harbor, South Australia.

Results as follows.

Pos	No.	Driver	Car / Engine	Entrant	Laps
29	Australia Les Murphy	MG P-type / MG 0.8L	L. Murphy	32	3h 57m 36s
32	Australia Tim Joshua	MG P-type / MG 0.8L	A. I. Barrett	32	4h 7m 40s
19	Australia Bob Lea-Wright	Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L	R. A. Lea-Wright	32	4h 9m 20s
20	Australia Alec Poole	Oldsmobile Special / Oldsmobile	A. E. Poole	32	4h 10m 29s
15	Australia Barney Dentry	Riley Special / Riley 1.1L	G. B. Dentry	32	4h 12m 32s
6	Australia Ossie Cranston	Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L	O. S. Cranston	32	4h 15m 47s
35	Australia Ron Uffindell	Austin 7 Special / Austin 0.7L	R. S. Uffindell	32	4h 19m 19s
27	Australia John Summers	MG L Magna / MG 1.1L	J. Summers	32	4h 22m 18s
18	Australia Harry Beith	Terraplane Special / Terraplane 3.5L	H. J. Beith	32	4h 24m 01s
23	Australia John Dutton	MG C / MG 0.8L	J. H. Dutton	32	4h 24m 03s
9	Australia Arthur Terdich	Bugatti Type 37A / Bugatti s/c 1.5L	A. J. Terdich	32	4h 26m 15s
26	Australia George Martin	AC 16/80 / AC 2.0L	R. H. Wilkinson	32	4h 30m 43s
4	Australia Lyster Jackson	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L	L. Jackson	29
33	Australia Jack McDonald	Amilcar	J. McDonald	28
22	Australia Alf Barrett	Lombard AL3 / Lombard 1.2L	A. I. Barrett	25
31	Australia Colin Anderson	Morris Cowley Special / Morris 1.5L	A. I. Barrett	23
17	Australia Jack Phillips	Ford V8 Special / Ford 3.6L	J. K. Phillips	21
3	UK Lord William Waleran	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L	J. Snow	20
30	Australia Jim Gullan	Wolseley Hornet / Wolseley 1.3L	J. Gullan	17
25	Australia Henry Abbott	Austin 7 / Austin s/c 0.7L	H. Abbott	11
1	Australia Jim Fagan	MG K3 / MG s/c 1.1L	J. H. Fagan	10
34	Australia Eric Winter	Vauxhall 14/40 Special / Vauxhall 2.3L	E. M. Winter	10
21	Australia Hylton Dale	Bugatti Type 37A / Bugatti s/c 1.5L	Hylton Dale	9
2	Australia Tom Peters	Bugatti Type 37A / Bugatti s/c 1.5L	T. M. Peters	7
12	New Zealand George Smith	Austin 7 Special / Austin	G. C. Smith	7
12A	Australia Les Burrows	Hudson Special / Hudson	L. Burrows	7
7	Australia Frank Kleinig	Hudson Special/ Hudson	W. A. McIntyre	5
14	Australia Bill Bullen	Alvis / Alvis s/c 1.5L	B. McN. Clark	-
10	New Zealand C. Nagrom	Miller	C. Nagrom	-
10	New Zealand George Martin	Alfa Romeo 1750 Sports	G. C. Martin	-

The entries of McDonald, Anderson and Abbott were "flagged off", having exceeded the time limit rule.

Notes

Winner's average speed: 68.5 mph

References

Front cover, Official Programme, SA Centenary Grand Prix, 26 and 29 December 1936
John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 129
"Recognition" of the race as an Australian Grand Prix had occurred prior to the running of the 1948 Australian Grand Prix as a list of AGP winners published on page 11 of the Programme for that race includes an entry for "1937 – Victor Harbour – L Murphy".
John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 132
John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 147
off a handicap of 5 minutes, completed the race in the fastest actual running time of 3 hours 20 minutes and 17 seconds.John B Blanden, A History of the Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 148
(1986). "The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix". R & T Publishing.
John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, pages 132 & 143
John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 134
[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/15584810 Speedster Murphy Collects Another Grand Prix, The Referee, Thursday December 31 1936, Page 19, as archived at trove.nla.gov.au]
John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 138
John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, page 136
Barry Lake, on page 106 of his book "Half a Century of Speed", explains that Burrows was allocated No. 13 but raced with No. 12A
John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, pages 132 & 137
John B Blanden, A History of Australian Grand Prix 1928–1939, pages 148 to 150

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