Southport

The Queensland government passed new legislation to allow racing on public roads in July 1954 so that year’s Australian Grand prix could be held on a new course a couple of miles inland from Surfers Paradise. The Queensland Motor Sport Club chose 5.698 miles of narrow roads through the sparsely populated coastal scrubland for the course, which were sealed with bitumen in preparation. Two no overtaking zones had to be applied due to a narrow bridge and causeway and it was very bumpy with blind jumps adding challenge. Race leader Stan Jones crashed his Maybach MkII into the trees without injury, so Lex Davison (HWM-Jaguar) scored his first of four Australian GP victories. There had been pre-race speculation that Southport would become a regular fixture of the motorsport calendar but only two more meetings were held here – the Australian Tourist Trophy for motorcycles and Queensland GP in 1955.