Australia’s first Grand Prix was a low key affair won by an Australian in a British car

Although Victoria and South Australia have long argued over who holds the Australian Grand Prix, Victoria was the first state to run the event

Arthur Waite in his Austin leads the first Australian Grand Prix (known as 100 Miles Road Race) on Victoria’s Phillip Island course on March 31, 1928.

There is much that fuels the cross border rivalry between South Australia and Victoria. They have bickered over the origins of Australian football, the location of the AFL grand final and they still debate the state border drawn up in the mid-1800s.

But in recent decades Melbourne’s alleged theft of the country’s premier motorsport event, the Australian Grand Prix, has added to the rivalry.

At Melbourne’s Albert Park last weekend the race celebrated its 90th year. Although for petrol heads of a certain age the Victorian circuit is all they’ve ever known because Albert Park has only been home to the race since 1995.

A stampy commemoratingArthur Waite’s Austin 7 and a Bugatti Type 40 tourer in action at Phillip Island during the 1928 Australian Grand Prix.

Apart from the two city circuits, the race has been held at no less than 21 tracks in its 90 years. The first was 90 years ago today, on Phillip Island, but it was then known as the 100 Miles Road Race. Run by the Victorian Light Car Club, the event was originally set down for March 26, but torrential rain caused it to be postponed until March 31.

The circuit couldn’t have been more different from today’s sponsor-clad millionaires’ playground. There were no safety barriers back then to separate spectators from their heroes who hurtled round the rectangular dirt track, whipping up a cloud of dust at every corner.

S.C. Cox in his Bugatti was favoured to win, but a piston seized in his engine and ended his race. Another Bugatti driver, A.J. Terdich, nearly died when his car spun off the track at Hell’s Corner. He was saved by some strategically placed hay bales.

British cars ended up dominating the race, which was won by Adelaide-born Gallipoli veteran Captain Arthur Waite. Wounded during World War I, Waite had been in hospital in England when he met Irene Austin, daughter of the British car designer and maker Herbert Austin. After the war Waite married Irene and stayed in England working for his father-in-law making and selling cars, but also driving them, winning races across Europe.

Waite had been sent to Australia to set up Austin Distributors Australia, selling the British cars to the former colonials. The best way to sell them was to drive them and win races. When he heard about the Phillip Island race he wired England to send him their best car. He drove a supercharged Austin 7, a car he had helped develop.

The race was run on the island for eight years before moving to Victor Harbour in South Australia, then the Mount Panorama circuit near Bathurst and the Lobethal Circuit, again in SA.

Following the war the race returned to Bathurst before alternating between states.

The 1960s brought a golden age
for motor racing in Australia with what became known as the Tasman Series. Racers on the European circuit were restricted by 1.5-litre engines, making the 2.5-litre cars in Australia an irresistible attraction.

Long before the Australian Grand Prix became a permanent fixture on the World Championship calendar, all the greats of the sports spent their winters racing Down Under and battled it out in the country’s Grand Prix.

Following the eventual demise of the Tasman Series the race moved to Calder Park, Melbourne, where it spent the first half of the 1980s. With its move to Adelaide in 1985 it was promoted to the Formula One World Championship.

From its early days in the South Australian capital it became a favourite with fans and drivers alike. The city circuit was fast, technical and tended to produce races of pure attrition.

Hundreds of thousands turned out each year to see many of the all-time great personalities of the sport do battle on the track. Perhaps the greatest of them all, Ayrton Senna, gave many displays of his brilliance on the Adelaide circuit. His 1993 race was one of the most poignant in living memory. It was the last time Senna and his bitter rival Alain Prost would race together — with the pair’s embrace on the podium splashed across newspapers around the world. It was also the final time Senna would stand on the top step of the podium before his untimely death the following year.

Williams-Renault driver Alain Prost (left) and rival Ayrton Senna of McLaren-Ford on the podium after the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.

Drivers loved Adelaide, especially given it was the final race of the season. There were barbecues on every street corner and lavish parties throughout town. There were fears the Albert Park track would not produce the same drama. But that idea was put to bed on just the third corner of the 1996 race when Martin Brundle’s car flipped through the air and into the barriers.

Ever since, the race has been a magnet for drama, controversy and edge-of-your seat racing.

In 1998 there was outrage when race leader Michael Coulthard pulled over with two laps remaining to let team mate Mika Hakkinen take the win. Tragedy struck in 2001 when marshal Graham Beveridge was killed by a stray wheel from Jacques Villeneuve’s car. And who can forget the heroic 2002 debut ride from Aussie Mark Webber who took fifth place in his underpowered Minardi.

No matter where or when the event has been held, motorsport has been all the richer for the Australian Grand Prix — and long may that continue.