The Australian Racing Drivers Club

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Major Events

TOURING CAR SHOOTOUT AT SYDNEY CLASSIC SPEEDFEST

The Heritage Touring Cars series is set to return to Sydney Motorsport Park this Queen’s Birthday long weekend, June 10-11, for the Sydney Classic Speed Festival, bringing with it a glorious collection of golden era muscle.

The Heritage Touring Cars entry list is stacked with iconic race cars, with historic Australian Touring Cars from Group C, contested between 1973 and 1984, and Group A, which ran from 1985 to ’92.

Sure to be leading the charge are a set of Group A’s technological marvels, including one of Nissan’s highly-developed Skyline GT-Rs and a pair of turbocharged Ford Sierra RS500s.

Tony Alford will be aboard the 1991 Sandown 500-winning GIO GT-R and working hard to fend off Carey McMahon, who’ll pilot the ex-Tony Longhurst 1990 Benson & Hedges Ford Sierra. This car was the last Sierra built by Frank Gardner, Jim Stone and the Benson & Hedges team and the only one built entirely at home in Australia.

The second Sierra will be driven by Terry Lawlor and is a legendary machine from Dick Johnson’s stable. The 1990 Shell Sierra is the last of six built by Dick Johnson Racing and competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship until 1992. It recently joined the Heritage Touring Cars series at Bathurst, where Chris Stillwell went three-for-three and set a new lap record.

Six Group A BMWs will compete over the weekend, including David Towe in the ex-Jim Richards/Tony Longhurst JPS BMW M3, Harri Jones in another ex-Jim Richards JPS M3 and Duncan MacKellar in an ex-Anthony Reid M3. Rick Allen’s ex-Tony Longhurst/Johnny Cecotto Benson & Hedges BMW M3 will return to the Heritage Touring Cars series after its debut earlier this year, while Kyle Alford will pilot one of the Mobil Team cars from Bathurst in 1998. David Harris will break out something a little different, competing in his Group A 325i.

David Gardner’s ex-Alf Barbagallo VN Commodore is an interesting car and one to watch. It is one of just a few VN Commodores that were built for Group A competition in Australia.

Fans of many-cylindered muscle should keep an eye out for Garry Willmington’s Jaguar XJ-S. The 5.3-litre V12 is something you need to hear opened up at full race pace!

On the other end of the cubic capacity spectrum will be the ex-Mark Skaife Gibson Motorsport Peter Jackson Nissan Gazzelle run by Brian Henderson and the Bob Holden Motors Toyota Corolla Sprinter of David Paterson.

The Sydney Classic Speed Festival will see the second outing of Craig Foster’s ex-Toyota Team Australia AE86 Toyota Corolla Coupe, after the pair dominated the class at Phillip Island earlier this year. This was the last factory-built Toyota Racing Development TTA AE86 to come across from Japan and it competed from 1986 through to 1989, when John Smith helped Toyota secure a manufacturer’s championship.

Dean How’s ex-Allan Grice/Jim Richards JPS Team BMW 635CSi will debut after 30 years off the track and will show the younger Group A BMWs a thing or two. One of three Group 2 635CSis that Werginz Motorsport in Austria built and raced in Europe, it was brought into Australia by Frank Gardner and Allan Grice. Grice competed in the ’81 James Hardie 1000 in the car and the following year it would be driven at Bathurst by Denny Hulme and Stephen Brook.

Keeping with the European theme, but moving to muscle from a Swedish marque, and you have the Volvo 242GT of Peter Woods. The car ran in the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000, driven by Spencer Martin and David McKay.

And, finally, returning home for some classic Australian muscle, the weekend’s competition will see series-regular Frank Binding once again unleash the awesome Army Reserve XD Falcon Group C on Sydney Motorsport Park. The car was originally bought by Bob Muir, who built it up with running gear from an ex-Colin Bond Falcon XC Touring Car and ran it in 1980 and 1981.

Heritage Touring Cars will be one of eight race categories featured through the weekend’s racing on June 11 – 12, amid a prestigious line-up of Formula 5000s, Historic Touring Cars, Group S Production Sports Cars, Historic Sports Racing Cars, Holden HQs, Modern Regularity (-1992), and Formula Ford celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

There will be new and exciting race formats including scratch, handicap and also split-grid starts; and Car Club displays, and Sydney’s newest Concourse event, which should attract hundreds of the best display vehicles Sydney has ever seen!

Head over to www.heritagetouringcars.com.au for more from the Heritage Touring Cars series, or more information on the Sydney Classic Speedfest or to buy tickets in advance and save, head to speedfestival.com.au or call the ARDC on (02) 9672 1000.

DAVID VS GOLIATH AT SYDNEY CLASSIC SPEED FESTIVAL

From the halcyon days of Australian Motorsport come the legends of Group N: a category that began 35 years ago as an entry-level tin-top race category, and has evolved into a popular retro racing showcase of might versus lightness and handling against horsepower.

Set to star at Sydney Motorsport Park this Queen’s Birthday long weekend in the inaugural SYDNEY CLASSIC SPEED FESTIVAL, these Historic Touring Cars have always drawn a crowd, both for their close racing, and for the memories they inspire for enthusiasts and competitors alike.

Made all the more famous by racing legends such as Brock, Moffat, Johnson, Beechey, Geoghegan and Bond, nothing ensnares the senses like the cars once tacked to the walls of teenage bedrooms – and still hang from the garage and pool room walls today!

Makes and marques such as the Ford Falcon GT, Galaxie and Mustang, Chrysler Valiant, Holden Torana and EH, Chevrolet Camaro and Nova mix it up with the smaller but more nimble Mini Cooper S, Ford Cortina, Escort and Capri, Mazda RX2, Datsun 1600, and even the Jaguar Mk2 and BMW 2002, producing those ‘mini vs might’ battles that both spectators and drivers love.

The Group N Historic Touring Cars will be one of eight race categories featured through the weekend’s racing on June 11 – 12, amid a prestigious line-up of Formula 5000s, Heritage Touring Cars, Group S Production Sports Cars, Historic Sports Racing Cars, Holden HQs, Modern Regularity (-1992), and Formula Ford celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

There will be new and exciting race formats including scratch, handicap and also split-grid starts; and Car Club displays, and Sydney’s newest Concourse event, which should attract hundreds of the best display vehicles Sydney has ever seen!

For more information or to buy tickets in advance and save, head to speedfestival.com.au or call the ARDC on (02) 9672 1000.

SYDNEY 6 HOUR TEAMS UP WITH MUSCLE CAR MASTERS 2017!

EVENT RELEASE: A 6-hour endurance race for Production Touring, Production Sports Cars, and Improved Production Cars will be featured within the 2017 Muscle Car Masters event.

To be contested across two, three hour segments, the 6 Hours of Sydney will be promoted by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) and held for the first time between 27-29 October, with a view to establishing a long-term future as a marquee race for the Sydney circuit.

The unique ‘split’ format starts with the first half of the race on Saturday afternoon, running into the early twilight before halting on the grid for the evening.

The event will combine challenging motor racing with a friendly social environment that is competitor and family friendly, and includes a Saturday night ‘pit party’ BBQ for competitors, officials and fans alike.

Racing continues early on Sunday morning for a further three hours of competition until the 6 hours are complete.

A full race program and other Muscle Car Masters activities will be included in an event program that will focus on maximising on-track action.

Join the Party!

www.6hoursofsydney.com.au

Event Wrap: NSW Motor Race Championships Rnd 3

Returning to Sydney Motorsport Park for Rd3 of the NSW Motor Race Championships, competitors were forced to pull out their winter woollies and umbrellas for day one of racing. Rain, wind and cool temperatures spoke to the fact that we are entering the winter racing season, after pleasant but unseasonally warm weather lasted through to the end of autumn.

This dramatic weather change tested race craft thinking and teams preparedness was being challenged. As well, qualifying and first races were run before the track dried out, which gave incentive to competitors to get clear of leading cars as water spray was an inhibitor to good lap times and poor visibility was a very real concern to reaction times. Several cars didn’t make it through this period. Peter Boylan (car #28) suffered a weekend ending heavy impact, so hard in fact that the door popped off on his Porsche 911. Lucky Peter always carries a spare (Porsche, that is!).

The early qualifying categories were affected the worst, especially the lightweight Formula Vee’s with Pearce, Porter and Pace all skating and losing the racing line in this session. Formula Vee Championship leader Ryan Reynolds had a start to the weekend he’d rather forget. After throwing an oil filter in qualifying and being relegated to the back of the grid, his engine blew up in race one. Working from well behind the eight-ball, frenetic activity in his garage and help from a bunch of people, Ryan recovered in magnificent style with a win and a second in races two and three.

Without the pressure of Reynolds in the first race, Dylan Thomas was able to take an aggressive race line and led from start to finish to keep his c’ship points ticking over. Not so easy pickings for him once Reynolds returned, and Thomas had to settle for a second and a third.

After winning rookie-of-the-year Aaron Pace had a splendid weekend. The young man got a “new” car over the summer, (ex- Darren Williams Jacer) and it seems to be paying off. Seasoned veteran and top-field competitor (and Dad) Simon Pace, said: “…its a bittersweet day for me. I’m so proud of Aaron, he’s driving so well, but he’s just beaten me for the very first time.” In fact, by the end of the weekend, Aaron had beaten his Dad in all four outings. Simon beamed with pride as he introduced his youngest son, and soon to be Formula Vee racing rookie, Daniel. Watch that name, as it seems that the Pace family is creating a formidable Formula Vee racing dynasty. In other Vee racing, Jason Thorne was clipped in race two and completely lost his nose cone, causing all sorts of aerodynamic issues for him to contend with.

Following a heady call-up to be the “Am” in the Pro-Am Carrera Cup two driver format, partnering with Nick McBride ( 2nd place on Championship ladder) several weeks ago, a busy Dylan Thomas also competed in Production Touring. This wasn’t quite as happy an excursion for him. Being used to being up the front of a field, Dylan had to be content with an 8th place start on the grid. Race one was forgettable as a valve stem let go and that ended up DNF. Following a couple of mid field finishes in races one and two, he finally exerted enough competitive pressure on the weekend dominant trio of Oosthuizen, Skinner and Symes (who between them owned eight of the nine available podium places) to take the final weekend top podium spot.

Superkarts had a four race meeting and got their first race done in a down pour. Open karts give you no respite from the onslaught of weather hurled at you, and with several recent Australian Kart champions vying to relive their past glory, it made for an exciting spectacle. These pocket rockets, elevated off the bitumen only by 4 inch diameter tyres scarily scream down main straight at over 225 kph. So you can imagine that losing one of your tyres would be a rather hair-raising experience.

This is exactly what happened to race one leader Ilya (Illy) Harpas. Coming into turn 16 on the very last lap, John Dunn moved across Harpas’ race line causing him to execute a fast “tank slapper”. Colloquially named, (Definition: Wobble, shimmy, tank-slapper, speed wobble are all words and phrases used to describe a quick oscillation of primarily just the steerable wheel(s) of a vehicle) for the action required to “get the hell out of the way” of a possible coming together of vehicles. Unfortunately his avoidance manouevre caused him to make contact with a curb throwing his tiny lightweight kart up and coming down hard resulted in it throwing a shoe. Now this would be fair cause for an “all-up” lift and return to the pits on the back of Rescue One, but no, these fella’s don’t give up so easily. As Harpas hit the deck he was still pointing forward. With incredible presence of mind, Illy jammed on the throttle and with two good steering wheels in the front he drove that sloppy jalopy all the way to the chequered flag with only three wheels for a second place finish. True professional or simply crazy? You be the judge…

Reigning Kart champ Russell Jamieson showed why he is the incumbent No. 1. With classy runs netting two wins and a second, he kept Pecoraro and McIveen in his mirrors all weekend. Harpas made a strong claim as he pushed Jamieson back down the podium with two strong wins and his amazing second place. It should be said that if the wheel incident hadn’t happened only 700m from the finish line he would have had a third victory and been the debutante of the ball with even more reason to celebrate. Stay watching this young Illy Harpas.

Sports Sedans is like a motorised version of the Big Bash League. Big American cars, big engines, big speed and big sound! Following his season ending major accident late last year, Birol Cetin brought Billy’s Camaro v2.0 out and gave it a big kick in the guts. The weekend leader board bolted Cetins name up there in first place and left it there. That’s the way it ended. How it all unfolded was another story altogether. Laceys run of bad luck continued from 2015. Looking good and his Camaro ostensibly running well with good power and handling, Lacey fought Cetin throughout the whole race, the twin yellow Camaro’s side by side. Twice with passing opportunities thwarted due to parked cars on the side of his favourite overtaking spot, just out of turn 14 under the corporate hill bridge. Third time lucky and Lacey took Cetin and was enjoying the last lap lead up through turn 17. The ground commentator over the loudspeakers nearly barfed a lung he shouted so loud trying to egg Laceys slowing car down as it became apparent that there was a serious problem with the #1 car. Cetin sailed on by to reclaim his lead and the glory while McCready ran down the 16 second gap to the front runners as Lacey glided slowly with only momentum down the agonizing distance from turn 18 to cross the finish line, only to unceremoniously pull up alongside the pit lane track marshall’s cage suffering a broken axle. His inspired drive had gotten him enough of a buffer on the rest of the field for him to still claim third as a consolation prize, a far cry from the result he must have seen in his minds eye as he rounded that last bend before the sickening sound and no go under him.

Production Sports had their first Enduro of the season, with a Driver A and B race late on Sunday. A ding dong stoush between Matt Turnbulls Lamborghini and a gang of ten Porsches. Eventually the Porsches just outlasted the Lamborghini as it retired with gearbox issues, and Neale Mustons’ relentless pounding out the laps as he fended off fierce racing stalwart Geoff Morgans’ new 991 Cup car. After an hour race only 27 seconds split the single driver pair with the Cook/Meyer team one minute back. Young Andy Harris from Mittagong experienced massive disappointment as his newly purchased Mazda MX3 dropped a metre wide pool of oil from a blown engine under his stationary car. He’d been rotating in the top third of the field doing a good job in his first enduro.

HQ’s again featured the Baxter-Osborn show As reported before, these two guys are so evenly matched that again this weekends race finish times were as little as three-one hundredths of a second apart. With these two having locked up the two top spots, Molle shared third with King. Newcomer to HQ, but a regular around the local racing fraternity, Scott Walker acquitted himself admirably with a 4th place start off the grid, and a 4th place finish in race one.

In these difficult financial times for the racing industry, it was wonderful news to hear that Joe Lenthall (Improved Production O2L ) had secured sponsorship from MOTHERS care care products, who’s logos were emblazoned in huge white letters all over his red RX7 this weekend.

Last year John McKenzie Improved Prod O2L was in a quandry as to how to lighten his cars weight. His Commodore had plenty of straightline power, but was carrying to much weight to be nimble enough to dance through the turns and maximise his power advantage. It seems this year John has found, if not all, surely a part of the answer, as his front grid qualifying and two seconds and a third place have given his championship aspirations an excellent boost. Hounded by the fire breathing twin RX7’s of the Ingram brothers sandwiching McKenzie at almost every turn, it was like a “red rose between two thorns”. Graeme Watts didn’t have it all his own way, but did get a pair of convincing wins.

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

 

MotorWorld Sydney: A motoring festival for everyone

Australia’s biggest driving experience, MotorWorld Sydney, will be a unique motoring festival designed to appeal to everyone.

The festival, which will run from December 1 – 4, will be suited to car enthusiasts and people looking to make their next car purchase, as well as those keen to take the family out for a day of fun and entertainment.

The event will be a Mega Test Fest, offering visitors the chance to test drive cars on track, road or off-road, making it the most engaging way for people to compare brands and models.

Managing Director of MotorWorld Sydney Kris Willand said today’s vehicle buyers wanted to be informed and entertained.

“Our main target will be families and our focus will be on giving them a chance to test drive vehicles on the street, track or off-road circuits,” he said.

With dedicated ‘zones’ in place across the Sydney Motorsport Park venue, visitors can enjoy everything from expert driving demonstrations and the latest car technology in action to on-track entertainment, product innovations and exotic automotive brands, all in one setting.

The automotive Aftermarket Zone will feature products including car parts, accessories, tools and equipment.

Additionally, the Lifestyle Zone will showcase a selection of leisure products that are ‘connected to the car’. This will include boating, camping, fishing, cycling, surfing, sailing and other outdoor activities to encourage the driver to enjoy the outdoors. It’s a perfect opportunity for mums to plan their next family holiday or for outdoorsy types to find inspiration in new products and activities.

A special ‘Ladies Day’ hosted by Mamamia publisher Mia Freedman will incorporate driving and educational experiences, as well as a range of lifestyle topics designed exclusively for women.

With 65% of women now responsible for car purchases, it made sense to create a motoring festival that is inclusive of women.

A Family Zone will be available for all members of the family to enjoy, including children.

“A quality entertainment and educational program will ensure all members of the family have a great day out,” Mr Willand said.

This includes families with young children as a child-minding centre, run by professional child carers, will give parents the chance to focus on exhibitors and their buying activities uninterrupted.

Porsche Rennsport Festival 2016

After a three year break, the single brand Porsche Rennsport Festival returned to Sydney Motorsport Park in spectacular style. It must be said that the atmosphere of the event in 2016 was more lively, with a wide range of fan activities ranging from the usual Show n’ Shine, exhibits of non-racing Porsche historics (including an original Porsche tractor), memorabilia outlets and classy sit-down food and bar facilities. A most clever and really practical participation activity was the Kids Driving School. Booking the kids in for early driver and road rules training in a fun and interactive fashion parents were able to partake of the many festival stalls and race viewing while the kids had a great time “driving” mini Porsches. The obligatory face painting was also provided. I must say I have never reported on an event that was this family-friendly.

Sam Curtis, CEO of Porsche Australia was delighted with the active participation by the consumer public. Gazing across the top of the pit building to an almost capacity filled car park up on the hill, Sam said “….its a much better event than we put on last time. SMSP is a great fit for us, and we are thrilled with the level of support we have been given to make this a huge success”. Sam was obviously having a great time too, as during the few minutes we chatted Shane van Gisbergen stole 15 places in the first Carrera Cup GT3 race and we were both excitedly grinning from ear to ear watching an incredible demonstration of race-craft.

In conditions closely emulating those of three years ago, the festival started under early wet and grey conditions however both days turned on bright blue skies with fluffy white clouds for the majority of racing. Over 5000 people enjoyed all that was on offer. As well as the festival having many quality off-track attractions, the calibre of racing on-track was also outstanding and electrifying. With many of the best drivers in the country piloting multi millions of dollars of the highest race tech machinery. With a list of elite names like Percat, Caruso, van Gisbergen, Tander, Wall, Slade, Reynolds and Richards participating, it was a no-brainer that the crowd was going to be entertained. Obviously these guys got leave passes from V8SC or just couldn’t resist the allure of driving entirely different race cars than they usually drive, certainly added to the grand spectacle of the two Pro-Am Carrera Cup enduro races.

The weekend racing was spread across six categories. Firstly two Regularity divisions, novice and experienced. Regularity One fostered a wide spread of winners in this category with Doug Barbour (1976 911) pleased with his first and second places around his nominated time of 1:53. Terry Dickens (2010 GT3) enjoyed two first places in Regularity Two driving closest to his nominated time of 2:10.

I have decided to coin a word to describe a Group S and N Historic race. BROUHAHA!! Meaning “a noisy and over-excited reaction to something”. I mean this in the nicest possible way, Watching some of these guys on the grid, they’ve got the twitchiest throttle feet. In both race three and four, Seabrook and Adler broke before the lights. Adler broke so early in race three, he was 100 mtrs down the track before the others cleared the start line. And that was from the second row of the grid. For that he earned himself a 30 second penalty. Wayne Seabrook (1976 911) dominated with all three race wins with Richard Watts (1976 911) two seconds and a third while Stan Adler (1975 911) took home to Victoria two thirds and a second.

Scott Taylor (2013 997 GT3) holds the kingship of this category, taking home all the lollies in Porsche Sports Cars over the weekend. With his pals Indiran Padayachee (2011 GT3) and Anthony Skinner (2009 GT3 Cup) they owned the podium in the exact same positions for all three races.

Porsche GT3 Cup lived up to its expected hype with young guns Jaxon Evans and Hamish Hardeman duelling up the pointy end of the pack. It was a coming of age as young Jaxon took out his first GT3 Cup Challenge victory as he held Hardeman out of the top spot in all three races, albeit in a nail biting finish in race three. Hardeman clearly had the best of Evans for the majority of that race but a little run wide on turn two allowed a quick thinking Evans to go shallow and steal the lead holding onto the last three laps to claim three wins and his inaugural Challenge win. Evans stated” …he ( Hardeman) made me work for it. Its great that we can race hard and fair against each other.” Hardeman is showing great promise in this his first full season in the GT3 Cup car. Third place for the weekend went to Porsche junior Jake Klarich.

Carrera Cup race one on Saturday was no less exciting. David Wall grabbed the early lead from the second row off the grid. At the same time Percat shot from fourth to second. Van Gisbergen started from 20th after a penalty from qualifying saw him moved 4 positions backwards. Notwithstanding, as we have seen from him in V8Sc racing, undaunted he proceeded to carve through the field including pushing Percat and Davison wide at turn 15 in a daring display of his awesome driving ability. After twelve laps and only 20 minutes elapsed of the one-hour race SVG was nipping at the heels of second place. After a solid drive by Challenge driver Geoff Emery, he handed the wheel over to pro driver Matt Campbell, who placed well within the top ten. Campbell brought the car home for race one win.

Race two and Emery wins the start but soon moves backwards through the field as the quicker Pros move on by. Campbell commented after the race: “Geoff (Emery) was smart enough to know who was quicker in the field and to let them on by. He positioned the car in a really good place for me.” As soon as the window for driver exchange opened, Emery hauled the car in for Campbell to jump in. Richards had the fastest lap with a 1:31.7 jumping Slade to take third spot. SVG once again had a heap of work to do, jumping into the car in 16th. He spent the next 18 laps working his way up to a credible finish in fourth place. Abela and Camillieri touched coming out of turn three and a coordinated spinning ballet unfolded as each plowed down through the grassy verges on opposite sides towards turn four in unison. Unfortunately only Camillieri continued on. As soon as McBride jumped in after Dylan Thomas’ solid drive, he worked up six places to ultimately finish in second. Following the two races the leader board in Carrera Cup has Campbell ( 1st) followed by McBride (2nd) and Davison ( 3rd).

The “Urban Cowboy “ Magnus Walker came from the USA for the Rennsport event. Renowned international Porsche enthusiast, reputably owner of over 50 Porsche 911’s , replete in jeans, leather jacket and long dreadlocks, Magnus enthralled the crowd and kindly gave of his time, knowledge and enthusiasm for the marque, chatting and signing autographs until the long lines had dwindled.

A spectacular and fun event, Rennsport featured over 450 cars, 200 of which graced the track in racing, and countless priceless racing and road going examples where on display in the PorscheStrasse. These included two original LeMans winning examples as well as rare specimens such as a 1989 911 Speedster. This second running of Porsche Rennsport Festival bettered the first one in all ways said CEO Sam Curtis. “ There were more Porsches on track, more Porsches on display, more activities for the public and as a result more Porsche fans attended. Porsche is a special brand in so far as its appeal extends through the age range. Whether its modern or historic race cars, road cars like the GT3 RS or open top cars like the original 356 Cabriolet, there is always a Porsche to admire.”

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au