Father and son Jones ... and 60 years of Albert Park
03/19/2013
On the occasion of the F1 Grand Prix, the Australians also celebrated 60 years of "Albert Park".
In 1953, a car race was held for the first time in Melbourne's Albert Park. Alan Jones - F1 World Champion in 1980 - was already there as a 7-year-old boy. However, he had anything but motorsport on his mind. Together with his two friends, the sons of Reg Hunt and Bib Stillwell, he rented a boat and enjoyed himself on the lake. But the reason he was there was his father Stan Jones, who was competing in that first Australian Grand Prix in a Maybach Mark l Special. Alan naturally returned from his boating fun just in time for the start of the race.
Unfortunately, his father retired on the 56th lap with clutch damage while leading the race. Nevertheless, he drove the fastest lap of the race in the Maybach Special in 2:03 minutes, which corresponded to an average speed of 147.2 km/h.
The 1085 kg Maybach Special was built on a steel ladder frame in 1947/48 as one of the first racing cars in Australia after the war. It was powered by a 4.3 liter six-cylinder engine.
As was customary at the time, this car was assembled from various components. The Maybach engine arrived in Australia from Africa in a military vehicle. Repco's Charlie Dean bought the 6-cylinder for 40 pounds and built it into a suitable chassis. A Fiat gearbox and a Lancia rear axle were added, four wheels from Studebaker and the whole thing was finally covered with an aluminum body. The Maybach Mark l Special was finished.
Its first race outing took place at the Australian Grand Prix in Pt. Cook in 1948. Stan Jones bought the Maybach in 1951 and the Maybach, now driven by Dean and Repco, won the New Zealand GP in 1954 with Stan Jones at the wheel before the chassis broke in two at the Southport race, again in Australia.
