The 1954 New Zealand Grand Prix was a motor race held at the Ardmore Circuit on 9 January 1954. This was the first New Zealand Grand Prix since 1950 and the second overall. This was also the first New Zealand Grand Prix to be held at the Ardmore Circuit, a venue that would be used for the Grand Prix until 1962.
The Grand Prix was won by Australian Stan Jones, driving the Maybach Special in a spectacular drive over Britain's Ken Wharton and fellow Australian, Tony Gaze. The result came in the midst of controversy after Horace Gould claimed to have finished ahead of Jones. Subsequent investigations and protests culminated in Gould being classified fourth.
Race report
Despite looming rain clouds overhead, 70,000 spectators descended upon the Ardmore Circuit to witness Auckland's first hosting of the New Zealand Grand Prix marquee event. This would also be the first time the event would be held to international standards, and as such, a handful of international drivers made their way over to the nation to compete. The event was run to Formula Libre rules. Thus, the entrants were an array of different types of cars.
In the first day of practice, some of the faster cars were spinning out regularly at the west end of the circuit. A last-minute modification to the track layout was made before race day to compensate for this and lap times were brought down significantly. Peter Whitehead set the pace early on with Stan Jones regularly joining him at the top of the timesheets in his Maybach. However, on the second day of practice, Jones' encountered engine troubles and was forced to scour the city of Auckland to find replacement parts to allow him to race. Working around the clock to complete the job, Jones' car was finally repaired a matter of hours before the start of the race.
Whitehead shot away into an early lead but the sheer power of Ken Wharton's BRM led to the two Briton's exchanging the lead. Tony Gaze and Ron Roycroft came into the pits at the end of the first lap but were quick to venture back out onto the track. On lap 13, the first major calamity of the race occurred when Whitehead spun his Ferrari, clouted a marker drum and stalled. The marshals assisted him back into the race, but would soon retire from the race altogether when his clutch completely disintegrated and threw components into the cockpit which resulted in Whitehead receiving a cut above his eye.
When Wharton pitted on lap 45, Jones would briefly assume the lead. The indomitable BRM would soon scythe back past him within five laps. However, Wharton's car soon began to omit smoke under brakes. Pitting again to diagnose the issue, it was determined that the lead to his front brake discs had fractured. The front leads were sealed off by the mechanics and Wharton was left to complete the race with only his rear brakes. Jones was now leading the race but Wharton, having worked his way back into second place, began to eat into his lead again. As the laps whittled down, Wharton drew closer and closer. Ultimately, Jones held on to take a valiant win after initial fears he may not have been able to race at all owing to car troubles. A disappointed Wharton came home in second with Gaze rounding out the top three in what was a good day for the Australian drivers. However, controversy was soon to follow.[1]
Horace Gould would claim to have had completed 101 laps and that he had finished first, ahead of Jones. When Gould's protest was entered and upheld by the stewards (moving Gould from fourth to second), Wharton and Gaze subsequently protested against Gould, which led to an investigation as to where Gould had actually finished. It was discovered that while Gould did indeed complete 101 laps, his finishing time for 100 laps (race distance) still left him classified as being in fourth. Gould withdrew any further complaint and the original result remained.
