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New era begins for Muscle Car Masters

The Australian Muscle Car Masters has a new slot on the motor racing calendar for 2016: the last weekend in October.

The nation’s most successful retro motorsport event had been run at Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) on the Father’s Day weekend in September for the past 10 years. In an announcement today from the joint-venture partners, the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club Ltd and nextmedia Pty Ltd (publishers of Australian Muscle Car magazine), the 2016 event will be run on the weekend of October 29-30.

By popular demand, this date change will successfully separate the Australian Muscle Car Masters from the venue’s round of the 2016 V8 Supercars championship. Both meetings have been run in close proximity for the last three years, including twice on consecutive weekends.

The move to late October will be welcomed by competitors, officials and motorsport enthusiasts and is expected to boost crowd attendance at both events.

The date change will be especially popular with those previously unable to attend ‘the Masters’ due to Father’s Day family commitments.

The full line-up of race categories and new on-and-off-track activities will be announced early in 2016.

The ultra-popular Pit Straight Car Club Corral and Featured Muscle Marques display and parade will have twin focuses in 2016. Ford’s contribution to Australia’s performance heritage will be celebrated in the month the company winds up manufacturing in this country. Meanwhile, Brock Commodore owners will be encouraged to attend to mark the 10th anniversary of Peter Brock’s passing and 30 years since the launch of the VL Group A.

 

MotorWorld coming to SMSP in November 2016

OFFICIAL RELEASE 20/10/15: The New South Wales Government has thrown its full support behind MotorWorld to develop one of the highlights on Sydney’s growing events calendar. Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events and Minister for Sport announced today that the NSW Government, through its major events agency Destination NSW, will proudly support MotorWorld Sydney for the next three years.

With the financial and marketing support of Destination NSW, MotorWorld Sydney will become a major annual festival with national and international reach, attracting tens of thousands of car and motorbike enthusiasts over five days, with plenty of entertainment for the whole family.

Sydney Motorsport Park at Eastern Creek offers the perfect venue with the recently renovated facilities of international standard. 100 pit spaces and two circuits provide excellent test drive opportunities for punters on track, together with a challenging 4WD arena and easy access to suburban roads. Ideal facilities for the Track Drive, Dirt Drive and Street Drive formats which will allow thousands of potential buyers to get behind the wheel and test their dream car.

A launch event to the automotive industry and motoring media to be held at Motorsport Park on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, will enable the organisers of MotorWorld Sydney to showcase how this new event concept will provide the participants with more benefits and greater returns than conventional motor shows or single brand activations.

Kris Willand, Managing Director of MotorWorld Sydney, says, “Many international markets are looking to re-invent the traditional motor show which has lost its appeal in many places. So we have developed a unique event format that will change the way the public experiences the automotive industry.”

Kris adds that “Young and old are looking to engage with the car brands beyond the impersonal online shopping experience or the daunting  showroom visit, they are looking to be entertained and educated on their retail journey. MotorWorld Sydney will become synonymous with great all round entertainment delivered by the automotive industry of Australia.”

Event Wrap – 2015 Muscle Car Masters

The Annual “Muscle Car Master” carnival rolled into town at Sydney Motorsport Park on Fathers Day weekend September 4 – 6. It was a wonderful weekend of celebration of all that is exceptional about Australian motorsport combining the best of both Australian and US motoring muscle. Evergreen celebrity drivers such as Bob Holden, Jim Richards, John Bowe, Glenn Seton, ( Happy Birthday, Glenn – who turned 50 this week), Charlie O’Brien, Andrew Mediecke, Leo Tobin and Rusty French got behind the wheels of  various brands of muscle cars and over the weekend reminded us all why we love these heritage marques.

Our past racing legends were oh so generous with their time and spent countless hours over the course of the weekend signing autographs, posing for photographs and chatting extensively, between racing commitments, with hundreds of fans many of whom recounted and relived exploits of these giants of Australian racing with blow-by-blow accounts of their favourite racing moments.

As well stellar examples of original and restored classic metal including 50 of the best examples of heritage vehicles (30 of which are original cars) that graced our race tracks in decades gone by. Each and every one of the shiny concourse prepared cars played a significant part in the fabric of our rich Australian racing history.  These cars carried our hopes and dreams as we watched our race suited gladiatorial heroes do battle in their brightly coloured liveries. Commonplace throughout our magnificent history these steeds had colloquial names which easily rolled off our tongues…names such as “XU-1, A9X, ‘Cuda, Charger, GTHO, ‘Stang as well as a myriad of letters meaningful to the motoring initiated such as VL, VS, VH and VK.

The headline feature category over the weekend is always the Touring Car Masters race series. This field is littered with racing masters, and 26 sensationally prepared hotted up V8 muscle cars. It was a surprise to see John Bowe in a Torana this weekend, especially as his most notable (and usual) ride was also running around in the field: Mustang Sally. This weekend she was in the capable hands on Neil Crompton. Although, one has to wonder how Bowe and Mustang Sally felt when Crompton got caught up in a mid field “nose to tail debacle which in fairness was not of his own doing. As it turned out Seton nudged Mediecke who spun 360 degrees right in the middle of the exit from turn two, and in the ensuing melee and bottleneck Compton had his front and rear crumpled. The carnage was not limited to him alone as some five cars all came back around the track sporting various assorted crumpled fenders and grills. The immediate resulting carnage at turn two looked like an untidy second hand car lot with cars pointing in all directions and those drivers trying to avoid the mess were mounting the ripple strips dodging and weaving through the infield to get some clear space to literally escape the blockage. In racing, John Bowe was sensational with three clear race wins in his personally race prepared Wilson Security Torana. This weekend brought John Bowe a double milestone. Firstly he celebrated his 200th career race win on Saturday and on Sunday competed in his 1000th career race event.  Congratulations John.

Almost equal favourite racing category over the weekend was the mighty Trans AM Sports Sedans category. Featuring more legends of Australian motorsport driving 5 Litre+ American muscle cars made popular in the 60’s and 70’s. With teeth rattling power plants, the field of Mustangs, Firebirds, Camaro’s, GTO’s and even a Plymouth Barracuda growled and fiercely fought for supremacy around the Eastern Creek GP circuit. Seventeen cars from Qld and four from New Zealand rounded out the field for this tribute series second appearance at MCM. Charlie O’Brien (Firebird) drove gangbusters all weekend and took all three race wins. Crowd pleaser Glenn Allingham got the crowd roaring with his wheel spinning “drifting” style of driving. Plenty of smoke and noise: What more could you want at MCM 2015?

The crowd was spoilt for merchandise choice as the semitrailers with TCM, Holden and other memorabilia were a part of the whole fantastic vibe. It was great to see the grandstand almost full and the rooftop above the pits was crammed with spectators cheering their heroes and enjoying all the racing that was on offer. This year there were three separate Heritage Hot Laps which meant their was ample time to see all your favourite cars of yesteryear. As well, a parade lap for the many car clubs that attended with their exquisitely prepared privateer vehicles was a marvelous sight with over a hundred cars. Featuring AC Cobras, classic Mustangs, Chargers, Corvettes, HSV Holdens, it was great to perve on some beautiful metal and chrome.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

 

 

CLASSICS GET A BETTER RUN WITH CONDITIONAL REGISTRATION TRIAL

Thursday, 3 September 2015 – Minister for Roads Duncan Gay today announced club vehicles would be on the road again and more often under a new conditional registration scheme trial.

“I encourage you to register with a club for the trial if you have a little beauty tucked away in your garage, so you can bring her out into the sunshine and feel the freedom of the road more often,” Mr Gay said.

Original and non-original classic vehicles are currently restricted to club events and maintenance.

Under the two year log-book based trial, owners of over 30 year old vehicles that meet the safety requirements of full registration or the current Historical Vehicle Scheme will be able to opt-in via participating clubs for 60 days of general use each registration year.

“The current Historic Conditional Registration scheme remains unchanged as an option for enthusiasts but, this Government recognised that owners of conditionally registered vehicles had limited use – which was just restricting these mechanical pieces of art,” Mr Gay said.

“We’ve incorporated safe, sensible additions in consultation with the community and stakeholders so owners and the wider community can revel in these vehicles’ unique beauty more often.”

This NSW Liberals & Nationals initiative will bring NSW into line with several other states while boosting opportunities in the automotive aftermarket industry which contributes $11 billion to the Australian economy and employs 30,000.

The 60-day Classic Vehicle Log-book trial is coming soon. To opt-in to the scheme contact one of the several hundred NSW enthusiast clubs or visit www.rms.nsw.gov.au.

Please note: the incumbent HCRS will not change.  This is an additional scheme.

Event Wrap: 2015 CAMS Supersprint Round 5

Round 5 of the CAMS Supersprint  run on August 9th at Sydney Motorsport Park was a very cold affair. Even when the temps started to climb, a chilly breeze kept the jackets and beanies on and engines and tyres took longer to attain optimum driving temperatures.

One hundred and twenty-one competitors took to the track and were rewarded with five sessions on track and it was great to see some new cars come along and enjoy the fun.

But wait! Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Robert Kolimackovski? Yes…after a two year hiatus our former back to back State Champion has returned bringing his mothballed Walkinshaw Commodore back to join us in Supersprint. Family commitments have kept him away and when asked how he felt about being back he said: “I am so excited. My whole family is coming out this morning to see me.“

Recuperating from heart surgery last year, Kerry Redfern (President of Manly-Warringah Car Club) has now had final word from his doctor that he will unfortunately not be allowed to return to competitive motorsport. This has come as a real blow to him, as he had spent 16 months with longtime “sprinter” Bob Muir in building their joint project, a pristine red Honda Civic, and he has never had an opportunity to drive it in a competitive environment. Kerry said “…I’ll still be part of supersprint and our car club, and I guess I’ll have to be content with the convivial and spirited friendly torment that my car club mates heap upon me.”

Carl Seaver’s Datsun 240Z transformed from its “desert dueller” outback dust buster mode and took on a more streamlined look for black top racing. Carl is an avid supporter of the Royal Flying Doctor Outback Car Trek, a trek that covers 6000kms over 12 days and raises over $1.4mil for charity. Today his car was stripped of its bull bar and full undercar stone tray and dirt tyres as these were replaced by officially sanctioned track equipment. Once Carl renewed his fire extinguisher he was given the thumbs up by our great group of official scrutineers to proceed on track.

Alan Nolan brought his Nola Chev 5Ltr out for a run around. Not a usual supersprinter, Alan has recently brought the big Formula 5000 out of retirement after 13 years, and is using every opportunity to prepare it for the Spring HSRCA meeting at Wakefield in September.

In racing, Andrie Tan was the fastest car of the day when he turned the tables on his arch rival Marek Tomaszewski and took back his Type 5 record with an amazing time of 1.25.628 in his Radical Supersport. Not to be outdone completely, Marek also put in a Class 5C record beating run of 1.25.705 in his Stohr, just under 8 hundredths of a second behind Andrie. Jason Wright was the fastest closed wheeler of the day in his green WRX Time Attack car, which he calls The Hulk, with a time of 1.32.141.

There were only two other records broken yesterday. Preston Peiris took back the Class 1C Record in his Mazda MPS3 from Michael Miller, which was only set at the last round, with a fabulous Type 1 time of 1.52.557 while Craig Donnell broke his own Class 2D Record in his supercharged Holden Clubsport with a time of 1.44.519.

The MX5 Club took out the Club Championship honours yesterday scoring 546 points, which brings their overall tally up to 2,937 points putting them well ahead of ARDC who are running second with 2,007 points. The HSV/HDT Owners Club are firmly holding 3rd place down with 1,236 points.

Text and photographs by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

Thanks to Bob Welsh for his contribution of statistics.

 

NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

The mid-winter round of the NSW Motor Race Championships for 2015 arrived back at Sydney Motorsport Park in direct contrast to the bleak, freezing conditions the state has been beset by over recent weeks. The weekend brought forth predominately sunshine-filled days and much warmer temperatures; ideal conditions for drivers comfort. Only around 160 entries came out for the weekend however, with the Production Sports category headlining the weekends event schedule with a one-hour , two driver enduro race. In fairness, some of the regular state competitors were otherwise engaged assisting in this major event.

The Production Sport enduro brought out some glamourous metal. No less than four Audi R8 LMS vehicles with their coloured headlights beaming their no-nonsense “get-out-of-my-way” message, mixing it with a large cadre of Porsche GT3 Cup smartly liveried beasts loudly purring in amongst the vast field. Rounding out the eye-candy were a Gallardo, GT40, E-type Jag, Elise/Exige’s, Monaro, MX-5 and a Commodore. The day surely went to Andrew McPherson (Porsche GT3R) who started second on the grid after qualifying. Constantly pushing Rod Salmon’s Audi Andrew’s team took race one as well as the enduro, with his co-driver Brad Shiels winning the second “driver B” race. Clean sweep! Rod Salmon and Neale Muston placed second and third respectively.

Listed as a competitor in the program, perennial “owner” of this category second places this year, Birol Cetin did not line up for racing this weekend. This allowed Steve Lacey to take a lock on one notch up the podium from his usual third spot. Grant Doulman did what he does best, and stayed out front for all three races with as much as a one minute lead during race two. Chris Jackson and Anthony Macready split the third places.

Formula Vee gave us all a bit of a nervous time. Race one had only just begun when six cars got all tangled up at turn two ( where else) leaving fibreglass debris of nose cones and torn away bits of race car on the track. This caused a 40 minute delay as CXC racing identity Matthew Bode (Stinger 010) was cut free from his car after a heavy t-boning of Gary Hook ( Jacer F2K4). Amazingly Hook’s car was driveable and went on to compete in the following races. As a precaution Bode was very gingerly extricated and fortunately whilst not taking part in any further racing, was walking around the pits the following day. Recovery was very busy with the Manitou, a tow truck and a flatbed all needed to clean up the tangled mess of non-working vehicles after the incident. Race one was ultimately abandoned. Dylan Thomas (CXC Racing) and Michael Kinsella (KE Power) shared the remaining race wins, whilst Tim Brook converted an ordinary qualifying result, starting from tenth on the grid, to finish race one and two with a couple of second place podiums. Ever-consistent Simon Pace rounded out the placings with a pair of thirds. Simon’s son Aaron is a debutante this year, under his dad’s watchful and encouraging eye. Aaron is showing excellent signs of talent after a short time in competition. Starting eighth after qualifying Aaron finished with a fifth and sixth place.

Improved Prod O2L is all in the hands of Graham Watts. From early Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon, his smooth driving style and excellently prepared Nissan Silvia purrs out the front of this category. Consistently lapping at 1:40/41’s, Graham kept a 30sec advantage on the field. Closest to him all day was John McKenzie, but in doing so John flaunted the new rules that prohibits drivers from drifting wide on turns like #5 and #15. If all four wheels cross the yellow lines, then a time penalty is awarded for each time this occurs. This has been judged to give a driver a “slingshot” advantage over other drivers. Whilst McKenzie got within 15sec of Watts, it came at a cost of 60sec’s worth of penalties. Paul White ( Mazda RX7) finished with a second and third place, sharing that distinction with Michael Posa ( RX3) in the reverse order.

Jason Grimmond from Queensland experienced SMSP for the first time, coming to Sydney combining a family holiday with getting some mid year track time. Jason said when asked what brought him to Sydney for this event ”…there are long gaps between events in Qld mid year, and I’m working on a new suspension setup, so this event gives me a chance to put some new thoughts into action.” He also commented that “….this is a big track. The corners are huge. Just when you think you through them, they keep on going.” Sam Maio was wanting to work on his understeer problem on Saturday evening, but this was put on the backburner as he ended up spending much of the night rebuilding his gearbox after problems on Saturday. He was back in his garage very early on Sunday morning tinkering with his setup to correct the understeer.

The NSW Motor Race Championships return to SMSP on Sept 26/27th.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au