Precious historical artefacts of the 1949 Australian Grand Prix, including the winner’s trophy and three competing cars from that race, will return to the place of their past glory at the 29th running of the Historic Leyburn Sprints on 23-24 August.
Leyburn hosted the AGP that year, with this year’s running of the renowned Lebyrn Sprints to celebrate that momentous occasion.
The silver trophy won by driver John Crouch on 18 September 1949 will take pride of place throughout the weekend after having been lost for more than 20 years.
The three grand prix cars are a 1939 MG TB Special raced by John Nind, the 1939 GK Ford Special driven by Ross Gray and 1946 MG TC Special driven by Dick Cobden. None completed the gruelling 150-mile (240 kilometre) event on a disused wartime airfield just outside of town, while Crouch won in his French-built Delahaye 135S.
The grand prix trophy and historic racers will be among many attractions at the Sprints, which commemorates the running of the grand prix and recently was awarded Queensland Motorsport Event of the Year for a second time by Motorsport Australia.
While the Sprints will see around 220 historic, classic and performance cars race the clock around the closed streets of Leyburn, off-track highlights will include appearances by VIP guest drivers, racing car displays, a show-and-shine, vintage caravan display at a dedicated new site, charity auction, fun-run and market stalls.
The trophy’s return to Leyburn follows a long search by organisers.
“John Crouch visited the Sprints with the trophy in 2002, but he died just two years later and we lost track of it,” Sprints President Tricia Chant explained.
“In an effort to re-discover the history of the 1949 grand prix, we had meanwhile traced John’s winning Delahaye to a California museum and found some of his surviving family.
“Then earlier this year we were able to contact a relative of John’s late third wife June. This gentleman now owns the trophy and we’re delighted he has agreed to bring it to the Sprints.
“There could not be a more symbolic or precious relic of the 1949 Australian Grand Prix than the long-lost winner’s trophy and we’re enormously excited and grateful that it will be back among us.
“The three grand prix cars also will be a fascinating attraction for Sprints visitors of all ages. We expect to see them in action 76 years after they contested the most famous event in the history of Leyburn, a little Southern Downs town of 350 residents that grows to 18,000 on one weekend a year.”
The 1939 MG is a regular Leyburn competitor in the hands of collector Colin Schiller. It completed 20 of the scheduled 50 laps before retiring with a blown engine. It has a priceless grand prix history, having contested Australia’s premier motor race in 1948 (Point Cook, Vic.), 1949, 1950 (Nurioopta, SA), 1952 (Bathurst, NSW) and 1953 (Melbourne, Vic.).
The 1946 MG lasted only six laps before clutch failure. In following years it passed through several more owners and contested the grand prix again in 1952 and 1954 (Southport, Qld) before being purchased in 1966 by the father of current owner Evan Redman. It remains in active competition in New South Wales, during its lifetime having received numerous mechanical upgrades and traditional “square-rigger” MG bodywork to replace its original “red cigar” single-seater shell.
The 1939 GK Ford Special is returning to Leyburn for the first time since 1949 and has not been seen in public anywhere for 22 years. It will be an emotional time for owner Chris Hughes, who rebuilt the car with his late father Eddie after finding it abandoned in a paddock. It survived only four laps in the grand prix with driver-builder Ross Gray before ignition failure forced it out.
Spectator tickets for the Historic Leyburn Sprints can be bought on-line now at www.historicleyburnsprints.com.au. Adult entry is $30 a day or $40 for the weekend, with accompanied children under 14 admitted free. Street parking is free outside the precinct and competition will start at 8am on Saturday and Sunday.
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