1951 Australian Grand Prix

The 1951 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held at a street circuit in Narrogin, Western Australia on 5 March 1951. The race was held over 24 laps of the 7.1 km circuit for a race distance of 170 km.

It was the sixteenth Australian Grand Prix and the last to feature a handicap start which saw the slower cars starting ahead of the faster cars according to handicap allowance. The first car over the line was the MG TC special of South Australian Steve Tillett. The Australian Grand Prix title was however to be awarded to the driver setting the fastest outright time, regardless of handicap. The title was won by Warwick Pratley driving a George Reed built Flathead Ford V8 powered racing car. It would be the last Australian Grand Prix victory by an Australian built car until Frank Matich won the 1971 race at the wheel of a Matich A50. Pratley started the race ten minutes and thirty seconds behind the first car to start the race, the Morgan of Colin Uphill. Pratley won the race by 96 seconds over the Delahaye of Dick Bland. Both Tillett and Pratley were awarded Commonwealth Jubilee Trophies for their victories in what was effectively two races in one.

Classification

Results as follows.

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	H'cap Pos	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
18	Australia Warwick Pratley	George Reed Special / Ford 4.0L	24	1h 39m 15s	3
9	Australia Dick Bland	Delahaye 135 / Delahaye 3.6L	24	1h 40m 41s	8
34	Australia Steve Tillett	MG TC / MG 1.3L	24	1h 43m 30s	1
15	Australia Barry Ranford	Chrysler 6 Special / Chrysler 2.9L	24	1h 47m 03s	7
37	Australia Bill Hayes	MG TC / MG 1.3L	24	1h 47m 36s	2
33	Australia Sid Taylor	TS Dodge Special / Dodge 3.6L	24	1h 49m 18s	5
41	Australia Ron Kennedy	MG TC / MG 1.3L	24	1h 50m 21s	4
30	Australia Peter McKenna	BMW 328 / BMW 2.0L	24	1h 51m 05s	9
44	Australia Colin Uphill	Morgan 4/4 / Coventry Climax 1.2L	24	1h 55m 48s	6
17	Australia Syd Negus	Plymouth 6 Special / Plymouth 3.3L	24	2h 03m 6s	10
32	Australia Jack Nelson	Ford 10 Special / Ford s/c 1.2L	23
16	Australia George Reed	George Reed Monoskate / Ford 4.0L	22
1	UK Colin Murray	Maserati 6C / Maserati 1.5L	19
19	Australia Harold Smith	Smith Special /	14
12	Australia Vin Maloney	MG TC / MG 1.3L	11
24	Australia Ron Denney	Targa Florio Ballot / Ford 3.6L	9
10	Australia Eldred Norman	Double Ford V8 Special / Ford 7.8L	7
	Australia Andy Brown	MG TC / MG s/c 1.3L	6
26	Australia Des Page	Ranford Chrysler 6 Special / Chrysler	5
7	Australia Keith Martin	Cooper Mk.IV / JAP 1.0L	5
25	Australia Bob Brown	Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 / Ford 4.0L	3
4	Australia John Crouch	Cooper Mk.V / JAP 1.1L	3
38	Australia Noel Aldous	MG TC / MG 1.3L	2
42	Australia Claude LaMotte	Fidget Fiat 500 / Ford 1.2L	2
27	Australia John Cummins	Ballot / Oldsmobile 3.9L	2
40	Australia A. Dry	MG TC / MG 1.3L	1
36	Australia Bob Brown	MG TC / MG 1.3L	1
20	Australia Dennis Curran	Ford V8 Special / Ford 4.0L	1