A History of Australian Speedway

The Australian Grand Prix is the second oldest Grand Prix still being regularly conducted. Only the French Grand Prix is older. Never before has the full story of these early Australian motor races been told. This book relates stories of the men and women who were part of these spectacles as well as describing the cars they raced. John Blanden has endeavoured to capture the atmosphere that existed at the time and in doing so, perhaps the descriptions of the actual races may appear to have become rather incidental! What is important is that the stories of these races, the people and the cars have now been brought together in one book. A mention should be made of the 1928 and 1936 events. Neither of these were strictly Australian Grand Prix, although in later years they have somehow assumed that title. The 1928 event was described in the programme and general publicity as the '100 Mile Road Race' while on 26 December 1936, as part of the South Australian Centenary celebrations, an event was conducted at Victor Harbour using the title 'South Australian Centenary Grand Prix'. For many years even the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport incorrectly recorded the Victor Harbour race as being held in 1937. Blanden elected to include both of these events in this book due in part to their modern acceptance as Australian Grand Prix, but more importantly because they represented the highest form of open wheel motor racing at that time. In researching the material for this book, an amazing number of magazines were found to exist during the period and these often provided detailed race reports and commentaries. Many of the participants from the earlier events have since died and others have memories which have faded with the years, so a number of facts or incidents will no doubt be subject to controversy. Where there is a conflict of opinion, both versions have been recorded and it is left to the reader to decide which is correct. With a super selection of photographs illustrating a varied selection of entrants from Austin, Bugatti, Alvis, Lombard, MG and tabulated race results, the book offers excellent reference.