Even less people know of the important role he played in Australian motorsport history.

But for a small group of auto enthusiasts, he is a pioneer of racing who helped put Goulburn on the map in the early 20th century.

In 1927, Meredith, a sheep grazier from Windellama south of Goulburn, hand cranked his French made Bugatti Type 30 until the two litre in-line eight cylinder engine gave a mighty roar of life.

He donned his protective cloth helmet and he jumped in the driver seat ready to take on the dirt track of the old Goulburn Showground.

It was then that Meredith raced the oval circuit in a series of heats against seven other drivers, racing two at a time. He proved to be the fastest and won fifty pounds for first prize.

This was Australia’s first ever Grand Prix, and tomorrow will mark 88 years since Meredith claimed that first title all those years ago.

To commemorate the anniversary, the Golden Era Auto Racing Club of Australia has organised a fascinating array of bygone racing cars to take to Wakefield Park this weekend.

This includes a variety of previous Australian Grand Prix vehicles dating from the 1920s to the early 1960s.

“It’s always assumed that the 100 Mile Road Race on Phillip Island (Victoria) was the first Australian Grand Prix, but it’s just not true, that was a year later in 1928,” GEAR president Greg Snape told the Post.

“The one in Goulburn was a year earlier and was actually billed as the Australian Grand Prix as you can see on the advertisement from the Goulburn Post a few days before in 1927. Phillip Island changed their name to the Australian Grand Prix in 1929.”

Snape says the anniversary is worth celebrating. The array of vintage cars converging on Wakefield Park this weekend will give spectators a feel for what racing in the early 20th century would have been like.

“It’s good to know our history and where we have come from,” he said.

“We’ve got cars coming from all around NSW, Queensland and Victoria, all of whom are prior to 1965 and were models that previously raced at Grand Prix events.”

A total of 35 vehicles will take part, as well as 12 vintage motorcycles.

Secretary of GEAR Loraine Whitehouse said the highlight of the weekend will be a race called the Goulburn Bowl.

“It won’t be an actual race, but cars will be timed around the track to see who is the fastest,” Whitehouse said.

“We are expecting a Bugatti 37, a race car from the 1930s as well as Austin 7s from around that time also.”

Geoff Meredith died one year after he won the first Australian Grand Prix on the Isle of Man in England in 1928, from pneumonia. He was there in the pursuit of motorsport, as part of an Australian Motorcycle team.

This weekend his legacy will live on when the vintage race cars take to Wakefield Park.

Racing starts on both Saturday and Sunday at 9am. The Goulburn Grand Prix begins at 4.20pm Saturday afternoon. Entry for spectators is free.