The Australian Racing Drivers Club

For members and guests

Ian Hansen

Ferrari Racing Days Sydney hailed a success

For three days, Sydney has been awash with a sea of red as the first ever Ferrari Racing Days to be held in Australia commanded the attention of the city. Thousands of people travelled from across the country to experience the three-day festival, held at the iconic Sydney Motorsport Park, the home of motor sport in Sydney.

Saturday morning however marked the true foray into the festivities, as a cavalcade of 150 Ferrari’s travelled en masse from Glebe Island, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge onto the Sydney Motorsport Park. Marking the official kick off to Australia’s first Ferrari Racing Days, the largest gathering of Ferrari’s in Australia ever, the cavalcade totaled an impressive $70 million worth of new and classic Ferrari’s.

On-track, visitors saw Max Blancardi take the top podium spot on Saturday and Sunday for the Pirelli Pro classification, while Philippe Prette took the honours in the Pirelli classification for experienced drivers and David Tjiptobiantoro took first place in the Coppa Shell race for newcomers for both races.

While the first-ever leg of the Ferrari Asia Pacific Challenge was a key highlight of the weekend, one of the stand out moments was when the Ferrari F1 car took to the track with F1 test driver Marc Gene behind the wheel. Gene commanded the full attention of thousands when he reached over 300km/h on a flying lap.

Throughout the weekend visitors on-site were treated to the full ‘Festival of Ferrari’ with five showroom spaces in full operation, with Ferrari fans taking in the Supercar Chronicles and Classiche displays, featuring the stunning LaFerrari and the $5 Million 166MM. The kids were buzzing as they experienced an array of Ferrari opportunities including the ‘Podium Finish’ picture stand in the F1 Kids Zone and a chance to get behind the virtual wheel, with the F1 simulators kept busy all weekend.

 

PCRA Round 2 Event Wrap, April 6 2014

Sunday April 6th was Round 2 of the PCRA (NSW) annual motorcycle championships. Sydney Motorsport Park hosted this round on the South Circuit, utilising the new 800mtr track addition with it sweeping bends and undulating elevations. It truly is a spectacular addition to the circuit, and provided excitement and many challenges for the riders.
Early on in the morning session the weather was coolish but mainly cloudy with sunny breaks. It looked like a great day of dry racing. This unfortunately was shortlived, as by 10:30am it was sporadically raining, which built to a steady downpour by mid afternoon.
The healthy field of 96 entrants got underway on time, and the morning session saw some very quick times. In the New Era 125cc class, Leanne Nelson and Edward Marsden shared the two race wins, both on Honda 125’s. Marsden had an exceptional run in race two, as the weather closed in he created a new lap record of 1:19:94.

In the Motorlites/Superlites 80-200cc Tyler Bradford and Anthony Marsden each took a race win, both of them breaking lap records with Bradford holding on for a second place in the second race and bettering his earlier lap record as well. A good effort and valuable points towards his championship aspirations.

Wade Lewis in the Pre-Modern F2 class on a CBR600 set a lap record in his first race win ( 1:13:66) and went on in awful weather conditions to better it by 2.3sec with a 1:11:32 in his second race win. Incredible!!

Troy Galvin rode his ZXR750 to back to back race wins in the P6 750cc races. Sitting in fifth place in the championship, after two 5th places in Round 1, these wins will catapault him up the rankings. No lap record, but 2 sec in front of his nearest competitor, gave him some nice breathing space on a slippery track. Troy’s plan was obviously to set a pace out front, and let the field make its mistakes trying to chase him down. It worked a treat for him.
Bob Garner in the P4 350-500cc class, won all three of his races, in the only category to complete all three of its scheduled races.

This was due to the fact that as the afternoon wore on the rain bucketed down bringing strong gusting winds with it and at one stage was so strong that it actually blew a bike over.

The event continued and at the height of the storm one rider was heard to exclaim ”…oh yeah, that’d be right, its my race!” By 4pm however, the track had water streaming across itand race organizers called a riders briefing. When the conditions were explained to the assembled riders a vote was taken and the meeting was officially ended after race 15.

– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

The 2014 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed

The ninth Annual Barry Sheene Festival of Speed was held at Sydney Motorsport Park on March 21st-23rd. Three sensational days of motorcycle racing were held under cloudy but dry skies, albeit at times very warm temperatures.
Featuring both International and Australian motorcycling stars, both old and new, who all came together to celebrate a life cut short, and to honour Barry Sheene’s memory and his love of motorcycling in the spirit of fun, friendship and rivalry. Just the way Barry enjoyed his beloved sport.
A healthy cohort of international riders, teams and personalities were in attendance. Scout Fletcher (NZ) joined Maria Costello (UK) as they came to battle with our very own Leanne Nelson, who edged the other two ladies back into third and fourth place respectively in the P6 125cc class. Leanne saw off the other two ladies challenge with the second highest points score for the weekend with 114 points. Congratulations to Jason Dunn taking first with 119 pts.
The Kiwi’s brought over a large contingent to contest Leg #1 of the Trans Tasman Challenge, with high hopes of retaining their hold on the TTChallenge Cup. For the first time racing in Australia two of Japans’s leading domestic racers Yugi Terada and Tomiki Adachi are riding in the P5 Unlimited class.
As expected some spirited racing dogfights were eagerly awaited, none more anticipated than the contest between Cameron Donald and Mike Dibb on their 1100cc machines. With nary a tyre diameter between them all day, they swapped race wins over the weekend, until finally Dibb (119 pts) took a 3-2 race win lead, edging out Donald (116 pts), with Mizzi (87 pts) and Japans’ Adachi ( 71pts) rounding out the 30 field.
In Formula 2 Sidecar racing, Beare Boys Racing (Aus) combo of Dwight and Noel Beare, were simply unbeatable, taking a clean sweep of both the Australian F2 three race series, as well as the two Trans Tasman races. Noel was excited saying “… this is the best result we could hope for and gives us the confidence we need to fair well at our upcoming assault on the Isle of Man TT F2 sidecar race meeting in May/June.”
A very good crowd attended the BSFoS three-day race meeting and gave strong encouragement to the 250 racing entrants. One of the drawcards on the program for the crowd, was the three-lap Parade on Sunday, available for spectators to ride their bikes around the 3.9km circuit, an honour that few have the opportunity to do, especially in the company of such international luminaries as Phil Read who led the parade.
– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Ricciardo smashes lap record at Top Gear Festival Sydney

Saturday 8 March 2014, SYDNEY: Formula One™ star Daniel Ricciardo didn’t disappoint the crowds at the first day of Top Gear Festival Sydney when he smashed the previous lap record from the 2013 Festival on his first attempt.

An annual crowd favorite, the young Australian driver made plenty of new fans today, including Top Gear’s presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May, when he blitzed the lap record attempt. In the beautiful Sydney sunshine, Top Gear Festival host Jeremy Clarkson, was almost lost for words, but not quite: “That was almost unbelievable. You climbed into a car you don’t know, tyres you don’t understand, on a track you’ve never been to and took a couple of milliseconds off the lap record. That was an astonishing time!” A beaming Ricciardo clocked up 1:13:08 beating Mark Webber’s previous record of 1:13:6060 and was heard to ask “What was it?” as he climbed out of his Infiniti Red Bull Racing car.

Clarkson and May proceeded to ask Ricciardo about his win and the upcoming Formula One season, to which Ricciardo responded, “It’s great to get the lap record on the first day and give the crowd a good show. It’s awesome to be back in Australia.” “Feeding off the adrenaline from the Top Gear Festival Sydney, I’m really looking forward to racing in front of the home crowd in Melbourne next weekend,” Daniel said. Ricciardo will see if he can improve upon his own time again tomorrow, so fans should get out to Sydney Motorsport Park to see Perth-born Daniel, our new Formula One Aussie hope, in action.

A colourful event- 2014 Color Me Rad 5K

The inaugural Color Me RAD 5K was a huge 5km colour fun run event held on Sunday Feb 23rd, under cloudy but dry skies, and with pleasant temperatures greeting the 4500 enthusiastic entrants.
The event’s premise was to enjoy a walk or run around the Sydney Motorsport Park GP circuit and to end up covered in as many colours of paint powder as possible.
As well as the fun and friendship the event engendered, there was a serious side to it: in excess of $12,000 was raised for the Australian Cancer Research Fund. A conspicuous army of volunteers, all smartly dressed and well organized, from the RRT ( Rapid Response Team) helped to marshal the thousands of runners.
Many of the crowd were dressed in predominately white clothing; ensuring that the liberal application of cornflour mixed food colouring powder would turn their pristine garments into a riot of colour. The concept for the “festival of colour” comes from the ancient HOLI festival in India.
To start the days festivities, and to get the crowd warmed up, a rousing 20 minutes of ZUMBA music and movement got everyone in the mood. Stirringly led by Brad “Bear” Mader, the ebullient race controller/ compere held the crowd like putty in his hands.
By now, the crowd were revved up and straining at the start line to get underway, and “Bear” showered the first wave of over a thousand runners with dozens of exploding colour bombs. Near pandemonium erupted when finally the start order was given, and the crowd surged forward.
Two subsequent waves of runners were staged and let go, to make their way around the track. At regular intervals around the track, “colour stations” were set up, ensuring that as runners went past, they were showered with liberal handfuls of colour: Orange, Purple, Blue, Pink and Green. Upon reaching the finish line more colour bombs were thrown into the moshpit of screaming rainbow coloured youth dancing to the twin D.J’s . It was a enormously successful event.
The run is suitable for all ages, and is a very fun way to get out and enjoy some healthy exercise. There were babies in strollers, little kids, teenagers, mums and dads, and many “older folk” – even a walking stick or two could be seen on the track. This event is planned to run in many major cities in Australia during 2014.
– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Formula One legends line up for Sydney Retro Speedfest

THE ROAR of legendary Formula One cars will once again echo around Sydney Motorsport Park, as a dozen examples of the spectacular racers from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s take to the track for the inaugural Sydney Retro Speedfest on May 3 -4. With only around 20 examples in Australia, there will arguably never be a better time to see these amazing machines in action. The F1 cars will be trackside for display, hot laps and will also be racing over the weekend of the Speedfest, which promises close classic competition and fantastic off-track entertainment for fans of all ages.

One of the main attractions will be the Williams FW07, driven by Alan Jones to victory in the 1980 Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship, and also took out the Constructors’ Championship. The 3.0-litre Cosworth Ford-engined machine will be driven by Victorian owner Paul Faulkner in its NSW debut. Another car driven by Jones in 1985 and now owned by Ian Ross is the turbo-engined Beatrice Lola Hart; one of the last used by the World Champ on the international scene before he embarked on his touring car career. A significant inclusion will be the Repco-Brabham BT24 used by Sir Jack Brabham to secure second place in the 1967 World Drivers’ Championship behind team-mate Denny Hulme. A winner of the French and Canadian Grands Prix, the BT24 played a big part in taking the Brabham-Tauranac team to a second consecutive F1 Constructor’s Title.

Current Race Director of V8 Supercars, Tim Schenken, also had his hand in F1 racing history as a factory driver with the Surtees Formula 1 team in 1972. His car, the Surtees TS9B, will be driven at Sydney Retro Speedfest by John Gale, who has enjoyed success on the track since acquiring the stunning racecar in 2009. Also featured will be the fearsome Benetton B186 driven by Gerhard Berger in six Grands Prix in 1986. Powered by a turbocharged BMW engine which reportedly produced 1500 horsepower on full boost, current owner Les Wright will opt for a more conservative boost delivering a mere 800 horses… Other legendary marques include Arrows, Ferrari, March, Spirit-Honda and Tyrrell. The Retro Speedfest will showcase a feast of racing, with the best of classic touring cars, historic sedans, production sports cars, open-wheel and pedigree sports racers, and formula fords and vees, with 28 races including trophy feature races over the two-day weekend.

Early-bird ticket pricing is now available: call the ARDC office on (02) 9672 1000 to secure your place in Motorsport history!