RACING INTO HISTORY - Australian Grand Prix

hill-climbs and a great deal more. After its Albert Park success this car went on tocompete at the 1954 Australian Grand Prix in Southport, Queensland, in the handsof Arthur Griffiths, retiring with a blown head gasket after distinguishing itselfin the first 15 laps of the race.MASERATI 4CLWhile the Maserati 4CL on display hereis not the one that raced in the inauguralAustralian Grand Prix at Albert Park,it is a supremely interesting car in itsown right. This is chassis no.1564 – thevery first of the 17 4CL’s built by thefamous Bologna firm just before WorldWar II. It belongs to American-basedIrish businessman Paddins Dowling, whoacquired it just over a year ago. “This is probably the most original of the 4CL’s,”he says. “Every body panel still has that #1564 stamped on it!” Built to do battlewith Alfa Romeo and ERA in the popular voiturette class of racing, the 4CL’s wereconstructed on a light-alloy ladder frame; they had a four-cylinder inline enginewith a front-mounted single-stage supercharger and a four-speed box. The car fromAlbert Park 1953 had been driven by the legendary Frenchman Raymond Sommerto beat the Alfas and win at St. Cloud near Paris in 1946. It came to these shoresin 1951 and found its way into the hands of Peter Vennermark; he and Melbourne’sCec Warren shared the drive when the car competed in the 1953 Australian GrandPrix after making its Down Under debut at Fisherman’s Bend the previous month.It endured a difficult race: Vennermark was suffering from heat blisters when hebrought the car in to change both a plug and the driver, then Warren had to takeevasive action when Gillespie’s car overturned and the Maser was out on lap 51.13Car: PATTERSON BRYDON MG TCDriver: Curley BrydonRace #: 26Position: 2“A TC with a pretty dress on it!”That’s how current owner RichardTownley describes his MG TC Special,the car that finished second in the 1953Australian Grand Prix. It was keen racer Bill Patterson’s second TC from thefamous English sports car manufacturer; it was built by Reg Nutt and DougWhiteford, and Bill asked Bob Baker to fit a special alloy racing body, adding aRootes supercharger to its 1.25-litre OHV pushrod four-cylinder inline engine. Itweighed 559 kilos and, with close-ratio gears for racing purposes, it pushed out 65kW at 6000 rpm and could nudge beyond 180 km/h. In 1950 it was sold to exfighterpilot ‘Curley’ Brydon. It posted a DNF in the 1952 Australian Grand Prixbefore enjoying its moment of glory at Albert Park: it was originally classifiedthird but elevated to second after a protest. It was entered in no fewer than fiveAustralian Grands Prix, but that top-three finish at Albert Park was by far its bestresult – it failed to finish three races and didn’t start in the other. This little carhas had eight owners in its long life. Richard, whose first competition event was asprint race in an MG TC road car at Fisherman’s Bend in the Sixties, acquired it in2000 and refurbished it, doing most of the work himself. He reckons it has donemore than 50 circuit race meetings, including 16 appearances at Bathurst between1950 and 1962.