2009
Lobethal Grand Carnival
In 1938 the Adelaide
Hills township of Lobethal closed 8 miles of public roads to stage
the South Australian Grand Prix. In 2008 - 70 years after this race
it was recreated by a team of enthusiasts lead by Tony Parkinson with
the inaugural Lobethal Grand Carnival.
Another important
milestone in the history of Lobethal was celebrated on the weekend
of 3 & 4 October with the 70th anniversary of the 1939 Australian
Grand Prix. Grands Prix races in those days were predomiently run
as handicap events. The quickests cars started off scratch with the
slower minutes behind.
The winner of the
1939 Australian Grand Prix was Alan Tomlinson driving an MG TA supercharged
Special.
The organisers
have done their best to get the cars, and the surviving drivers to
the event. Alan Tomlinson, now 93 flew in from his home in New York
to be Patron, and will also drive a recently completed recreation
of his winning TA.
Other prominent
cars that have travelled to the event include no less than two P3
Alfa Romeo's - both ex Nouvolari & a 1936 Dalahaye T-135.
Charles (historicracing.com.au
founder) made the trip from Melbourne with Warwick Anderson, Alf Barrett
and John Penfold. This party holds a significant part in the history
of the 1939 AGP. Warwick's father, Colin started the race alongside
Alan Tominson in his Frazer Nash single-seater (one of 3 built) -
he ritred with supercharger failure. While Alf Barrett's father, Alf
Snr started near the top of the field in his Alfa Romeo Monza. Warwick
has brought two cars to this year's re-enactment. He will drive his
1934 MG L-Type "Offy" with Alf driving his Jaguar XK140
Drophead Coupe.
The event is staged
as a demonstration as the 8 mile road is not only patchy in areas,
but the costs associated with creating a proper street circuit are
too excessive. The logistical side of the event was still immense
with more than 300 volunteers and co-ordination with local and state
Government, Police and other bodies all pulling together to ensure
the publics safety, but also to manage the 5 hour road closure in
Lobethal and surrounding townships.
Action kicked off
Saturday afternoon with the 100 or so entrants divided into 5 "Packets"
and competing in two sessions on both Saturday and Sunday.
There were no accidents,
but their were casualties of mechanical problems, including the Tomlinson
MG TA, which had supercharger "icing up" problems. There
were many overheating issues with both the Klenig Husdon Special and
George Hetrel's Bugatti T35C.
Ross Kelly brought
his two-seat MG NB from Queensland and ran well until the diff broke
in Sunday's first session and the Hard Luck award for the weekend
went to the 1921 Alfa Romeo G1.
This rarely seen
Alfa is the sole surviving of 57 built and was a barn find about 30
years ago. The Hard Luck award was granted to the G1 as they had two
tyre blow outs, one on each day. The crew didn't attend the Sunday
evening post-event ceremony as they were driving the car back to Hahndorf
- they say things come in 3's, the tyre blew again two streets from
their hotel in Hahndorf!
As mentioned, the
event was capped off with a post event function in the Main St hall.
Numerous awards were given for Best Presented cars in different categories,
appreciation trophies to the overseas entrants & Alan Tomlinson
then presented the organisers with a replica of the 1939 AGP trophy,
which will be on permenant display at the Sporting Car Club of SA's
clubrooms.
An auuction was
held to help raise funds for future events. Warwick Anderson (a Melbourne
Auctioneer) conducted the auction with the 150-odd strong crowd who
dug deep for the two items. The first, a large canvas of the winning
1939AGP MG TA turning a bend at Lobethal (painted by well known motoring
artists Gay Dutton) achieved $2,600 while a billy cart replica of
the TA sold for $2,000
The Lobethal Grand
Carnival weekend was filled with memories of the heroic achievements
of those who competed in the 1939 AGP - the average speed of the Tomlinson
MG TA around the 14 km street circuit was 90 miles per hour in a race
that saw many accidents including bent light poles!
