1932 Australian Grand Prix

The 1932 Australian Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia on 14 March 1932.^[1] It was the fifth Australian Grand Prix and the fifth to be held at Phillip Island.^[1]

The race was organized by the Light Car Club of Australia, formerly known as the Victorian Light Car Club, and was limited to cars having an engine with a piston displacement of 2000cc or less.^[1] It was the first Australian Grand Prix to be decided on a straight handicap basis,^[2] with the winner being the first car to complete the 31 laps.^[1] The two "scratch" competitors had to concede starts ranging up to 29 minutes, equating to an advantage of four laps.^[3] The previous practice of cars contesting four classes was discontinued.^[1] Weather conditions were reported to be "ideal".^[3]

The race, in which there were 18 starters,^[3] was won by Bill Thompson driving a Bugatti.^[1] Thompson was also awarded the Herald Trophy for recording the fastest time of the race.^[1]

Classification

Race winner Bill Thompson (Bugatti Type 37A) contesting the 1932 Australian Grand Prix

Pos [4]	No. [1]	Driver [4]	Entrant [1]	Car [1]	Handicap [1]	Laps [4]	Handicap time [4]	Actual time [4]
1	1	Bill Thompson	Woolworth Tyre Co	Bugatti Type 37A s/c	Scratch	31	3h 15m 11s	2h 40m 11s
2	12	Geoff Disher	G Disher	Salmson	16 min	31	3h 19m 11s	3h 00m 07s
3	5	Cyril Dickason	Austin Distributors P/L	Austin 7 Ulster	8 min	31	3h 24m 28s	2h 57m 28s
4	9	Mert Wreford	M Wreford	Bugatti Brescia	15 min	31	3h 28m 51s	3h 08m 51s
5	3	Carl Junker	C Junker	Bugatti Type 39	4 min	31	3h 34m 27s	3h 03m 27s
6	22	Bill Northam	J Wall	Austin 7 s/c	29 min	31	3h 36m 24s	3h 30m 24s
7	20	Les Jennings	L Jennings	Morris Cowley	26 min	31	3h 39m 31s	3h 30m 31s
8	18	Clarrie May	Austin Distributors P/L	Austin 7 s/c	26 min	31	3h 40m 36s	3h 31m 36s
9	14	Bill Williamson	W Johnson	Riley	18 min	31	3h 58m 07s	3h 41m 07s
10	4	Barney Dentry	G Dentry	Riley Ulster	6 min	31	4h 11m 55s	3h 41m 55s
Ret	16	Graham Tucker	Rhodes Motor Co. P/L	Triumph s/c	20 min	16
Ret	7	Harold Drake Richmond [1]	H Drake Richmond	Bugatti Type 37	10 min	?
Ret	2	Arthur Terdich	AJ Terdich	Bugatti Type 37A s/c	Scratch	8
Ret	15	Alan Chamberlain	A Chamberlain	Chamberlain Special	19 min	4
Ret	11	Ken Hopkins	K Hopkins	Bugatti Brescia [2]	15 min	3+
Ret	6	Bill Lowe	WH Lowe	Lombard AL3 [5]	10 min	3+
Ret	19	Ken McKinney	K McKinney	Austin 7	26 min	2
Ret	8	Albert Edwards	A Edwards	Alvis FWD s/c	10 min	1
DNS (#) [2]	21	Jack Sidebottom [1]	J Sidebottom	Singer [2]	28 min	-
DNS (##) [2]	17	Compton Jones [1]	HC Jones	Austin 12	23 min	-

(#) Sidebottom's Singer was excluded at scrutineering.^[2]

(##) The Austin 12 of Compton Jones was withdrawn after its engine suffered a piston failure during practice.^[2]

Notes

• Race distance: 31 laps, 206 miles, 321.8 km ^[2]
• Race time limit: Four and a quarter hours ^[1]
• Fastest time: Bill Thompson – 2h 40m 11s (76.27 mph) ^[1]
• Fastest lap: Bill Thompson – 4m 49.4s (82 mph) ^[1]

References

1. John Blanden, The 1932 Australian Grand Prix, A History Of Australian Grand Prix 1928-39, pages 75 to 90
2. The official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix, 1986, pages 52 to 59
3. W Thompson's great drive, The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Wednesday 23 March 1932, page 2, via trove.nla.gov.au
4. 1932 Australian Grand Prix, www.formula1results.co.za, as archived at web.archive.org on 4 June 2015
5. John B Blanden, Historic Racing Cars in Australia, 1979, page 191