Western Port Cup

Phillip Island, 22 Nov 1959

Notes on the cars:

1. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-15-59] (Bill Patterson): Delivered to B Patterson less engine according to the Cooper Register. First raced by Bill Patterson at Port Wakefield in October 1960 where it was fitted with a 2-litre Climax engine. Raced by Patterson until crashed at Lakeside in 1961, after which Patterson raced an "ex-works" Cooper T51 that he had acquired earlier in the season. F2-15-59 was repaired and kept as a spare car being raced by Doug Whiteford on occasions. In 1962, the car was sold to Englishman John Brindley who raced it at Calder in April or May 1962. Brindley raced the car in minor events during 1962 until suffering a massive accident in a minor race at Sandown Park on 16 Sep 1962. The Autosportsman report on the race said "The car must be very nearly a complete write-off". The wreck sat in the yard behind Car World (Bulleen, Melbourne, Australia) the business in which Brindley was partners with Phil Trueman, for a couple of years. It was then passed on to Bill Patterson, and remained with him, still damaged, until it was acquired by Murray Richards from Patterson in 1988. Richards started to restore the car but this was incomplete when he died in early 2000. The car was still with Richards' sons in 2010.
2. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-16-59] (Noel Hall): Delivered to R Hall less engine according to the Cooper Register.
3. Cooper Mk I 'T41' [F2-3-56] (John Roxburgh): Jack Brabham was allocated the second Mk I which first appeared in his hands at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in Sep 1956. After a second race in October, Brabham took the car to New Zealand and Australia and, after an impressive run of results, sold it to Alex Mildren. It was later owned by Arthur Griffiths, John Roxburgh and Lyn Archer. This car now bears the chassis plate F2-P-56. (Sources: Cooper Cars, Nye; Historic Racing Cars in Australia, Blanden)
4. Miller Spl (Cooper T41) ['F2-2-56'] (Austin Miller): The fouth and final Mk 1 built for 1956 went to Ken Wharton and was then shipped out to New Zealand for the Internationals. Ater Wharton's death in a sports car race, the Mk 1 returned to the UK and was sold to Bill Whitehouse for the early 1957 races. When Whitehouse took delivery of his Mk II, the ex-Wharton Mk I went to Paul England, on holiday from Australia. England later sold the car to Austin Miller, another Aussie over in Europe and he shipped it back to Australia. It ran as the Miller Special for several seasons and remained in Australia with later owners. (Sources: Cooper Cars, Nye; Historic Racing Cars in Australia, Blanden)
5. Cooper Mk IV 'T51' [F2-20-59] (Stan Jones): Delivered to Stan Jones (Australia) according to the Cooper Register but with a note that it was transferred to R Stillwell.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

These results have been compiled by David McKinney from a wide rangle of sources, including his own magazine articles and books. The 1959-1963 results are complete but for the 1957 and 1958 seasons, the only cars currently shown in the results are the F1, Intercontinental and F2 cars that feature elsewhere on this site plus the major Australian specials.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.