The Australian Racing Drivers Club

For members and guests

Ian Hansen

Event Wrap: HSRCA Summer Historics

An enormous festival of exquisitely preserved historic cars graced the Sydney Motorsport Park GP circuit over the Nov 23-24 weekend, with a mixed bag of weather conditions thrown in.

A lengthy rain squall on Saturday gave competitors a wet track to negotiate throughout the morning, however it dried out for the afternoon, and finally blue sky and warm conditions prevailed on Sunday for a fantastic conclusion to another wonderful year of historic and classic racing for the HSRCA.
Featuring an extremely healthy entrant list of over 230 open wheel and tin top racers, with beautifully restored cars including a 1951 Cooper Norton Mk V, 1954 Porsche 356B and a 1962 Elphin.

Family cooperation was at its best over the weekend, as we watched Jim Catt assisting his son James to get one of their two family racing Porsches prepared for their joint run in Sb/Sc class, and Rod Hunwick ably assisting son Clay to prepare both of their family Corvettes. Clay had a busy day running the 1965 Corvette in four Regularity events, as well as a gruelling campaign in the Sb/Sc class, which was filled with adventure for him. His weekend started with a fuel clogging issue due to the foam inner of his fuel cell blocking the fuel supply, leaving him with a significant loss of power, and an eventual DNF in race one. Coming back hard on Sunday morning, from a rear of grid start, Clay worked hard to climb up from 29th place to a seventh-place finish.

In race three, his hard work ethic saw an unfortunate side clash with David Withers (Porsche 911) on turn 15, which saw both cars retire prematurely with flat tire and side panel damage. In race four, Hunwick came out hard again, and place a determined fifth spot. Unfortunately, Withers was unable to resume his place in the field in race four.

George Nittis’ thundering Shelby Mustang was consistent all day, but unfortunately a cadre of nimble but awesomely powered Porsches kept him from achieving a top three finish. The Porsches of Morgan (#41), Adler(#9) and Eames (#67) monopolised the podium.
– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Ricciardo returns home for Top Gear Festival Sydney

14, NOVEMBER 2013, SYDNEY – Formula One star Daniel Ricciardo and the world championship winning ‘Infiniti Red Bull Racing’ Formula One team are set to take to the track for the first time together in Australia at Top Gear Festival Sydney in March 2014.

Ricciardo, who was recently confirmed as taking over the hot-seat from Mark Webber for the 2014 F1 season, will attend the Festival for the first time and will be involved in a series of Top Gear style challenges in the RB7, as well as having the chance to set the new lap record at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Webber currently holds the record, having shaved an impressive six seconds off the previous record at Sydney Motorsport Park with a cracking time of 1:13.6060 at the 2013 Top Gear Festival Sydney.

Ricciardo, who will be behind the wheel of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing car for the first time in front of an Aussie crowd, is looking forward to taking part in the event.

“I can’t wait to be on home soil next year for Top Gear Festival Sydney. Only a select few Australians have raced in Formula One and I’m proud to be flying the flag now for Australia.” said Ricciardo.

“The Festival weekend is going to be an adrenaline-loaded few days. From all reports, Mark put on quite a show earlier this year so it’s great to be given the opportunity to be a part of the 2014 Festival and I’m really looking forward to taking on the challenges set by the Top Gear boys!”

With Formula One technical regulations set to change to smaller turbo-charged engines from 2014, it will be the last chance for fans to experience the thrill of the naturally-aspirated V8 engine live on track in Sydney. The Infiniti Red Bull Racing RB7 is one of the most dominant Formula One cars of modern times and the same car Webber broke the record with earlier this year. Fans keen to relive the excitement of this year’s festival can tune into Channel 9 on Thursday 21 November for a Top Gear Special filmed at Top Gear Festival Sydney. As well as a multitude of madcap motoring synonymous with Top Gear the programme includes some exclusive footage of Clarkson and May’s unorthodox pep talk prior to Webber setting the lap record.

Tickets for next year’s Festival are now on sale and fans are encouraged to buy early to join the tens of thousands of fans who are expected to attend. Jeremy Clarkson and James May are all set to join the stars and cars as they host the 2014 edition. They’ll be taking on Australian Top Gear presenters Shane Jacobson and Steve Pizzati in a series of challenges including the extremely popular Car Football and The Stig will be taking some of the rarest supercars the country has ever seen for some impressive power laps. Jeremy Clarkson said, “I’m very much looking forward to the Top Gear Festival in Sydney next March. On the downside, I’m afraid I’m bringing the pedantic spaniel James May with me. On the plus side, Daniel Ricciardo is going to have a crack at the lap record in a Red Bull F1 car and that should be very excellent indeed.”

New to the line-up in 2014 is the highly anticipated first round of the Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup. The Porsche series primarily uses the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 997) car and will be the headline racing category at the event. Proudly supported by the NSW Government, through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW, Top Gear Festival Sydney will once again be a key event on the NSW Calendar.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events, George Souris, said, “It is fantastic to see The Infiniti Red Bull Racing team are returning for a second year to the Festival, this time with Daniel Ricciardo behind the wheel.” “I encourage racing fans to purchase their tickets to the Sydney-exclusive 2014 Top Gear Festival to be held over the weekend of Weekend of 8-9 March, 2014 at Sydney Motorsport Park.”

The event will be held across the weekend of the 8-9 March, from 8:30am till 6:00pm each day, at Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek.

Tickets available now from Ticketek – 132 849 –

In Australia, Top Gear can be seen on BBC Knowledge, first on Foxtel with brand new episodes coming in early 2014, and then on the Nine Network and Go! About Top Gear Festival Sydney 2014 Offering a variation on more traditional motor shows the Top Gear Festival Sydney brings the spirit of the UK TV programme to life, allowing fans to immerse themselves in their passion for Top Gear and motoring in general.

Transforming Sydney Motorsport Park into the ultimate outdoor motoring spectacular, Top Gear Festival Sydney is taking place on 8-9 March, 2014 and will once again feature a host of never seen before action and stunts. Following a highly successful inaugural event in 2013, which attracted over 40,000 motoring enthusiasts over two days, the 2014 event will be attended by Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and The Stig, along with some of their legendary racing mates and celebrity friends, live in non-stop racing action.

TOP GEAR FESTIVAL SYDNEY BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Top Gear Festival Sydney will see the best of the best put to the test, where anything with an engine will be pushed to its limits.

DATE: 8 – 9 March, 2014, 8:30am – 6:00pm each day

LOCATION: Sydney Motorsport Park, Ferris Road, Eastern Creek

TICKETS: Tickets available now from Ticketek – 132 849 – –

NSW Motor Race Championships Rd 7, Nov 9-10 2013

The final round of the 2013 NSW Motor Race Championships was held at Sydney Motor Sport Park on November 9-10.
Over 150 competitors from the nine categories braved a mixed bag of weather conditions over the weekend, with Saturday’s hot and dry conditions changing to wet and windy for the Sunday. This affected team driving strategies, as well as tyre selection and of course the lap times, as driving rain and winds on Sunday, turned the track into a virtual skating rink.
The Superkarts had the worst of it, with their qualifying session and all three of their races being held on Sunday. Being open and so close to the ground, race organizers allowed them to wear rain covers over their driving suits for their races due to the conditions.
However, this didn’t help these powerful lightweight karts stay on the track, as the rain got heavier, the spinning ballet got worse, with karts sometimes two at a time facing the wrong way on turn two.
Robinson Transport had reason to be joyous on Sunday, as one of their newest recruits in the Formula R class, Rodney Brincat, qualified for the front row of the grid for race 2 on Sunday. Rod has only been in this car for part of the 2013 season. His fastest lap time was only 2.5sec off the fastest in his class. Warwick Robinson liked the wet conditions, posting two second place finishes to Garnet Pattersons win in all three races.
Calamity came to John McKenzie’s Lakewood Electrics team in Impoved Prod O2L, as a broken brake caliper saw John with no brakes coming into turn two on race one on Saturday. Repairs completed by Sunday morning, John was relegated to starting from the back of the grid. McKenzie said: I’ll wont be holding back, and we’ll see how far through the field I can get”.
McKenzie had sliced his way through the field of seventeen cars up into fifth place by lap six, until he aquaplaned out of turn one and through the gravel pits impacting heavily into a tyre wall. Bob Brewer took command of this category with a first, second and third place result.
Wayne Healey’s weekend didn’t get off the ground, as his HQ was shunted heavily on turn one, race one, lap one bringing his campaign to a close even before his engine had reached temperature. He was bitterly disappointed, but said he will be back.
After a spin at turn four, Rob Rowes’ Mondial M89S picked up an orange witches hat in his grill, and drove the whole race with it stuck firmly in place. It was returned to track marshalls at the end of the race.
– Words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Event Wrap- Porsche Club NSW

The fifth and final PCNSW club driving event for 2013 had 45 enthusiastic members battling it out for club honours on the SMSP North Circuit.

Patrick Garvan ‘s 994 Turbo was extraordinarily quick, with the days fastest lap of 1:03 with Paul McKinnon at the wheel, and a 1:07 for Patrick .

Sean Buchanan found out the hard way just how fast Paul was when he was unceremoniously passed and left breathing exhaust fumes, eventually recording a 1:07 himself.

Richard Perini (GT3 RSR) and Bruce Hibbard (GT2), both seasoned campaigners in competitive racing, rounded out the second and third places in the event.

Vivienne MacMahon, who regularly finds herself featuring in the top 10, brought home an impressive 1:08, and Tom McGann’s 1:12 in the 944 s2 continues to eclipse his car owner/benefactor Chris Stannard’s time of 1:13 sec.

PCNSW Club President Paul Dortkamp (928S), himself a regular racing competitor, said: “We are a sporting car club to our core, and many of our 840 members relish the opportunity to regularly get their cars out on the SMSP track. As an active club we run upwards of 5 club motorkhanas and 5 supersprint events annually.”

Unfortunately for Paul, his track time was cut short on Saturday as a timing belt tension puller bolt failed, leaving him garage bound.

– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Event Wrap: CAMS NSW Supersprint Championships Rnd 8

Round 8 of the CAMS NSW Supersprint Championships was sponsored by the Mini Car Club NSW. It was run at Sydney Motorsport Park on Oct 26th, utilising the South Circuit ,including the newly built 800m track extension. For many of the full field of 90 competitors, it was a wonderful opportunity to drive the new track layout.

The overall fastest lap time was taken by Marek Tomaszewski (Stohr DSR) with a 0:530, closely followed by Duncan Forrest (Stohr WF1) with a 0:538, and Allan Bugh (PRB Clubman) rounded out the top three with a 0:59.

Fastest tin top was Allan Marin (VK Commodore) posting a time of 1:01 sec.

Early in the day Roger Beard wondered why his Clubman was a bit sluggish and upon returning to the pits found his inlet manifold dust cover stocking firmly ensconced inside an inlet tube. Once that was removed the car returned to its expected performance, bringing Roger a fourth place and a quick time of 0:59 sec.

As this was the final round of the 2013 Supersprint Championships, club championship honours went to ARDC with 1097 points, ever so slightly ahead of MX5 on 1090 points, with NSWRRC on 478 points and Manly Warringah on 471 points.

– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Wayne Gardner honoured at Sydney Motorsport Park

OCTOBER 22, 2013: SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK’S iconic Grand Prix circuit will now be known as the ‘Gardner GP Circuit’, honouring Australia’s first winner of the 500cc Motorcycle World Championships and iconic MotoGP legend, Wayne Gardner.

Gardner’s success in MotoGP and his World Championship win in 1987 saw a resurgence in the popularity of motorbike racing and motorsport in general, and was instrumental in the NSW Government building the Eastern Creek circuit as a home for future Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Eastern Creek International Raceway was born in November 10, 1990. Since then, the GP circuit has hosted major international events such as the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, the Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercars, the A1GP, Top Gear Festival Sydney and World Time Attack Challenge. In 2012, a rebrand and rebuild of the raceway, now Sydney Motorsport Park (SMSP), saw track upgrades that enabled the original GP circuit to be run in its original 3.7km configuration, or be expanded to incorporate a new 800m section of track, named The ‘Brabham Circuit’ after Australian motorsport legend Sir Jack Brabham.

The design also offers the ability to split the tracks into two circuits that can race concurrently: the North Circuit, named Druitt, and the South, named Amaroo, after two of the past home circuits of the 61-year-old race club. The renaming of the original GP circuit was held until Gardner returned to Australia from his new base in Spain, where his teenage sons Remy and Luca of Team Gardner Racing are successfully campaigning in the Moto3 and CMV championships.

Gardner and his sons visited SMSP yesterday, and honoured with the official circuit naming in a presentation by the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club (ARDC), operators of the track since 1996. “We are thrilled to have Wayne Gardner and his sons here for this announcement,” said ARDC CEO Glenn Matthews.

“Through the process of finding a new name for the GP circuit, it was universally agreed by the Board and the Circuit Naming Committee that our original circuit should be named after the man whose success brought new life into Australian motorsport in 1987, and ultimately led to the construction of the GP circuit.”

Gardner and his sons also drove a ceremonial lap of theGardner GP circuit, along with members of the ARDC Board and 15 ARDC Bike Members. “This is a complete surprise, and I am honoured and delighted that such a great track is now going to be known as the Gardner GP Circuit,” said Gardner at the presentation. “We are coming back [from Spain, where Team Gardner Racing is now based] in Christmas, and I cannot wait to take a bike – and a car – around this circuit again at speed,” he enthused.

For further information, please contact Samantha Stevens on samantha.stevens@ardc.com.au or (02) 9672 1000.