Australian Grand Prix question

Fun question he I'm watching On The Beach (1959). Near the end Fred
Astaire's character screws a plate onto his Ferrari that says Light Car Club
of Australia Australian Grand Prix Winner Phillip Island 1964.

Were they holding Grand Prix races in Aus in '59 ? 'Light Car Club' seems
an odd title, what's it mean?

I'm also curious about the car race shown in the film, which shows several
violent wrecks with apparently real cars. Anyone know more about the
filming of these scenes?

rms

rms wrote:
> Fun question he I'm watching On The Beach (1959). Near the end Fred
> Astaire's character screws a plate onto his Ferrari that says Light Car Club
> of Australia Australian Grand Prix Winner Phillip Island 1964.
>
> Were they holding Grand Prix races in Aus in '59 ? 'Light Car Club' seems
> an odd title, what's it mean?
>
> I'm also curious about the car race shown in the film, which shows several
> violent wrecks with apparently real cars. Anyone know more about the
> filming of these scenes?
>
> rms
>

Don't know all the answers, but I can shed some light.

There was indeed a Light Car Club and there still are some dotted around
the country. Here's one:
http://www.blcc.com.au/

The Australian Grand Prix was run for years before it became an
international FIA event. It was run at Albert Park at the existing site
in the opposite direction for a time, I believe. 1980 world champ Alan
Jones' father Stan was a winner at one time... he may have won more, not
sure.

Cheers, Glenn

On Wed, 04 May 2005 02:01:38 GMT, "rms" >
wrote:

>Fun question he I'm watching On The Beach (1959). Near the end Fred
>Astaire's character screws a plate onto his Ferrari that says Light Car Club
>of Australia Australian Grand Prix Winner Phillip Island 1964.
>
>Were they holding Grand Prix races in Aus in '59 ? 'Light Car Club' seems
>an odd title, what's it mean?
>
>I'm also curious about the car race shown in the film, which shows several
>violent wrecks with apparently real cars. Anyone know more about the
>filming of these scenes?
>
>rms
>
>

A race does not have to be part of the F1 world championship to be
called a Grand Prix. The term has generally been used through history
to describe a race as being the premier race for the country
concerned. The Aust Grand Prix was first run in 1928 at Phillip
Island. The circuit consisted of dirt public roads and was rectangular
in shape. The Light Car Club of Victoria helped organise the Event.

There were 49 Australian Grand prix events prior to it becoming part
of the F1 circus in 1985 and it was run at various race tracks over
the years (including Bathurst). It was not unusual for F1 divers to
compete in the Aust Grand Prix as it was held in the F1 off season.
During the 60's was part of the Tasman series and many teams would
ship their cars and drivers to Aust to compete in the series.

Some past F1 winners of the Aust GP were
Jack Brabham 1955, 1963, 1964
Stirling Moss 1956
Bruce McLaren 1965
Graham Hill 1966
Jackie Stewart 1967
Jim Clark 1968
Chris Amon 1969
Alan Jones 1980
Roberto Moreno 1981, 1983, 1984
Alain Prost 1982

As you can see the Aust Grand Prix has a long and rich history.

Australia is credited with holding the second longest-running Grand Prix
event...second only to the longevity of the French Grand Prix.

The "Light Car Club" was (maybe still is) a legitimate club and catered to
what were considered to be "light" cars, i.e., sports versions of various
marques, usually two-seaters.

Some of the "race" was filmed at the original Phillip Island road circuit
but the majority of it was shot in the USA!

Go here for an interesting insight into the filming of the race
...............
http://delarue.net/beach.htm#filming

(The entire site has some great stuff on the movie)

Regards,
Bruce.

"rms" > wrote in message
...
> Fun question he I'm watching On The Beach (1959). Near the end Fred
> Astaire's character screws a plate onto his Ferrari that says Light Car
Club
> of Australia Australian Grand Prix Winner Phillip Island 1964.
>
> Were they holding Grand Prix races in Aus in '59 ? 'Light Car Club' seems
> an odd title, what's it mean?
>
> I'm also curious about the car race shown in the film, which shows several
> violent wrecks with apparently real cars. Anyone know more about the
> filming of these scenes?
>
> rms
>
>

On Wed, 04 May 2005 02:59:18 GMT, Glenn Andressen
> wrote:

>
>There was indeed a Light Car Club and there still are some dotted around
>the country. Here's one:
>http://www.blcc.com.au/
>
>The Australian Grand Prix was run for years before it became an
>international FIA event. It was run at Albert Park at the existing site
>in the opposite direction for a time, I believe. 1980 world champ Alan
>Jones' father Stan was a winner at one time... he may have won more, not
>sure.
>
>Cheers, Glenn
>

It was run at Albert Part in 1953 and 1956. They did run in the
opposite direction and while the layout for the current circuit is
different they do use many parts of the original circuit. Stirling
Moss won it there in 1956 in a Maserati 250F.

Stan Jones won in 1959 at Longford, Tasmania also in a Maserati 250F.

Allan Jones won in 1980 at Calder, Victoria by more than a lap in his
William FW07B. The local cars, mainly formula 5000, were very much
outclassed by his F1 car.

jrs wrote:
>
> Allan Jones won in 1980 at Calder, Victoria by more than a lap in his
> William FW07B. The local cars, mainly formula 5000, were very much
> outclassed by his F1 car.
>

I was at one of those Calder races. If I remember, Costanzo I think it
was, was the Australian champ in the F5000 category. Is that right?

On Wed, 04 May 2005 05:45:37 GMT, Glenn Andressen
> wrote:

>jrs wrote:
>>
>> Allan Jones won in 1980 at Calder, Victoria by more than a lap in his
>> William FW07B. The local cars, mainly formula 5000, were very much
>> outclassed by his F1 car.
>>
>
>I was at one of those Calder races. If I remember, Costanzo I think it
>was, was the Australian champ in the F5000 category. Is that right?

From memory I'm pretty sure he was but I don't have any info on what
year it was. I did see him race at Oran Park a few times.

All my info on the Aust GP comes from the book "Australian Grand Prix
The 50-race history". It covers all the races up to and including the
1985 F1 race. Unfortunately it's been out of print for quite a while
now, it was published in 1986.

I'm showing my age here but my first Aust GP was in 1967 at Warwick
Farm.

Jeff

"rms" > wrote in message
...
> Fun question he I'm watching On The Beach (1959). Near the end Fred
> Astaire's character screws a plate onto his Ferrari that says Light Car
Club
> of Australia Australian Grand Prix Winner Phillip Island 1964.
>
> Were they holding Grand Prix races in Aus in '59 ? 'Light Car Club' seems
> an odd title, what's it mean?
>
> I'm also curious about the car race shown in the film, which shows several
> violent wrecks with apparently real cars. Anyone know more about the
> filming of these scenes?

Hi-

For future reference, this site http://glibs.ssmmdd.co.uk/ is a fantastic,
free F1 database.


--
TigBits
(o)Y(o)

The 1949 Australian GP was held near where I live. It wasn't a
championship race but from memory the Aus races in the early 50s were
part of the championship.

No...the Australian GP's were never part of the World Championship until
Adelaide arrived on the scene (1984?).

Prior to that, the closest that we Down Underians ever came to seeing GP
cars and drivers was the Tasman Cup series......my most treasured memories
of motor racing hark back to Warwick Farm between 1963 and 1968.

Bruce.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> The 1949 Australian GP was held near where I live. It wasn't a
> championship race but from memory the Aus races in the early 50s were
> part of the championship.
>