This will be the 80th time the Australian GP has been held and the 32nd time the race has been part of the world Formula One championship.

There was no race in 1936 and no races between 1940 and 1946 due to the second World War.

So where and when did it all begin?

Back in 1928 the Victorian Light Car Club decided to conduct a “100 miles road race” at Phillip Island.

In those days the island could not be accessed by road, as it is now, so all entries had to be shipped across to the island.

It was certainly not the motor racing mecca it is today.

The rectangular gravel course had two main straights and two short straights joined by four, 90-degree corners.

The Commonwealth Oil Refineries (COR) kindly donated used oil to be sprayed on the corners to cut down the dust.

To measure the length, the resourceful club treasurer WH Scott took a horse and dray on a slow lap of the circuit with one wheel fitted with a device to strike a bolt on the frame with each turn. 

Scott then counted the number of times it struck the bolt and multiplied the number by the exact diameter of the wheel.

The answer was 6.569 miles or 10.6 kilometres.

There were four classes for the cars with class A up to 750cc, class B 750cc to 1100cc, class C 1100cc to 1500cc and class D 1500cc up to 2000cc.

The race regulations called for two, 16-lap races with the class B and D cars starting at 11am and the class A and C cars at 3pm, with the winner determined by the fastest race time over the 16 laps.

There were 26 entries but only 17 starters over the four classes, and the line up consisted of Aston Martin, Austin 7, Alvis, Bugatti, Morris Cowley, Seneschal, Metallurgique and DFP.

The race was scheduled for Monday March 26, but heavy rain intervened causing the races to be postponed to March 31.

The crowds had flocked to the circuit for the Monday, which was a public holiday, so to appease them a number of smaller events were run with a half-mile speed trial the first of these.

Jack Day recorded the fastest time of 84 m/h (134 km/h) in his type 37 Bugatti, and later in the day when the track had dried out there were some consolation three-lap races run.

On the following Saturday, an estimated 5000 spectators turned up for what was ultimately deemed to be our first Australian GP although at the time it was termed the “100 miles Road Race”.

 It carried prize money of 100 pounds for the winner.

John McCutcheon in the Morris Cowley was the fastest in the first race for class B and D cars with a time of one hour fifty minutes for the 16 laps.

In the second race, Arthur Terdich in his type 40 Bugatti and Jack Day in his type 37 Bugatti were clearly the fastest, but Day went off the circuit on the second lap.

Terdich then had fuel feed issues which bought him to a complete standstill on the circuit.

He hitched a ride back to the pits and returned with cans of fuel only to find the car was missing.

The riding mechanic had got the car going and bought it back to the pits to be refuelled, but so much time had been lost Terdich would have to ultimately settle for fourth-fastest time.

Meanwhile Captain Arthur Waite was pressing on in his works supercharged Austin 7 after making a pit stop for fuel, oil and water. 

At the end of the 16-lap race the captain had recorded the fastest race time of one hour and forty-seven minutes.

Second-fastest from race one was McCutcheon with third place going to Cyril Dickason in the four-seater Austin 12 a further four minutes back.

So Arthur Waite, who had raced in Europe and at Brooklands in England before moving back to Adelaide, made motor racing history by winning the first ever race that was ultimately called the Australian GP.