1958 Australian Grand Prix

1958 Australian Grand Prix
Race 7 of 9 in 1958 Australian Drivers' Championship
Race details
Date 6 October 1958
Location Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales
Course Temporary road circuit
Course length 6.12 km (3.84 miles)
Distance 30 laps, 183.6 km (115.1 miles)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
  • Australia Ted Gray
 Tornado-Chevrolet
Fastest lap
Driver Australia Ted Gray Tornado-Chevrolet
Time 2:45.4[1][2]
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
  • Australia Ern Seeliger
 Maybach-Chevrolet
Third
  • Australia Tom Hawkes
 Cooper-Holden
Lex Davison won the race driving a Ferrari similar to that pictured above
The WM Special was driven to 10th place in the 1958 Australian Grand Prix by its builder, Jack Myer

The 1958 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race for Formula Libre racing cars,[3] held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on 6 October 1958. The race had 26 starters. It was the first Australian Grand Prix to specifically exclude sports cars from the entry.[4]

The race was the 23rd Australian Grand Prix[5] and the seventh race of the 1958 Australian Drivers' Championship.[6]

The race was won by Lex Davison driving a Ferrari. It was his third Australian Grand Prix win, equalling the record held jointly by Bill Thompson and Doug Whiteford.[5]

  1. ^ John Medley, Bathurst - Cradle of Australian Motor Racing, page 230
  2. ^ The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix page 246 gives the fastest lap as 2:25.5 and Bathurst - Cradle of Australian Motor Racing, page 230 quotes 2:45.4. The race report in Australian Motor Sports Review 1958-59 page 45 does not mention the fastest lap. The Official Programme, Bathurst 100, 30 March 1959 credits the Mt. Panorama lap record as 2:44.4 for Stan Jones (Maserati), which discredits the 2:25.5 claim.
  3. ^ Peter Wherret, Motor Sport, The Sydney Morning Herald, Monday, 21 July 1958, page 9
  4. ^ Howard, Graham (1986). "1958". In Howard, Graham (ed.). The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. p. 238. ISBN 0-9588464-0-5.
  5. ^ a b The Australian Grand Prix, Official Year Book of Motor Sport In Australia, 1959, Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, page 43
  6. ^ "The CAMS Gold Star - 1958, as archived at web.archive.org". Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2016.