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The 10th Muscle Car Masters

The 10th running of the Australian Muscle Car Masters was held on its usual Fathers Day weekend in weather reminiscent of the first MCM back in 2005. Saturday saw sporadic showers over the course of the day, and Sunday had longer breaks of dry weather but the showers were more intense.

The crowds were consistent with past years as many families, some even with strollers, came out to enjoy the wonderful spectacle of the “big banger” muscle cars of both Australian and American origins. Mustangs, Camaros, Pontiacs and Chevys matched it with Monaros and Commodores. Notably this year, John Bowe suited up and was seen driving the old Bob Jane Monaro of yesteryear fame.

There were plenty of great old restored cars on display including original Minis (not the current day re-incarnation) , a superb range of restored Mustangs, Pontiac GTO’s and V8 Commodores as well as a bustling trade show section under the grandstand. Trade displays included the massive semi-trailers with their branded logo wearables, offering all your favourite drivers look-alike gear.
Touring Car Masters had their custom t-shirts van, and Custom Karts had a wonderful display of very cool looking SuperKarts, They did a great job of giving advice to anyone who was interested in finding out how to get a grass roots start in motorsport, or just wanted to have a really fun time and enjoy the karting experience. The Telcalemet V8 race car simulator was a major attraction, and provided an exciting, and dry, simulation of the power and feel of a true V8 supercar experience. One customer was heard to say it wasn’t for the faint-hearted.
Over on the Figure 8 were the Historic Rally car demonstrations, in the capable hands of veteran rally drivers Neal Bates, Cody Crocker, Dave Thompson and Stewart Reid. Spending the day with these experienced chaps was Molly Taylor, the number one lady rally driver in the world. She was great to watch as she threw a big XY GTHO around the tight figure eight shaped track with consummate ease.

During the middle of the day, a one hour legends lunchtime autograph signing took place up in the Hinxman Room. With a line that was out the door it was a popular event and it was a great opportunity for fans to meet their racing hero’s of the past. It was a very special time for both kids and their dads as well. Names like Alan Grice, John Bowe, Jim Richards and and John Harvey were there in person giving of their time and offering friendly banter with both fans and their fellow driver alike. It was a wonderful session and the fans loved it.

Words by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

PCRA Round 5

Competitors awoke to a cold and foggy morning for Round 5 of the PCRA Champs. The fog took its time clearing, and when it eventually did, an hour of racing had been lost. Race organizers decided to shorten each race to three laps, in order to allow the 112 plus riders to try and get through the days program of one qualifying session and three full race events.
With the track having not dried out completely from the early morning fog, it was a slippery affair for the first group out; the sidecars. Running around on slicks, most of the field crept around like a cat on a hot tin roof. But fortune favours the brave and the team of Chris Pym/Matt McKinnon took pole from Eddie and Bronson Poucher followed by the pairing of Richard Hirst/Brendon Justice. Unfortunately Simon Reynolds (Suzuki 1000) dropped a cylinder through an electrical problem when a plug came off the coil, and started race one at the back of the field. Working hard through race one he eventually qualified in fourth spot. Race one went to Pym/McKinnon (JB 1000) with Raynor/Cummins (Shellbourne Honda) in second and Poucher/Poucher (Windle Suzuki) claiming third. Race two wasn’t any happier for the Reynolds team. Sitting on the second row of the grid, they were desperately trying to avoid a previous teams oil and sawdust residue on their starting position, however a stern bit of guidance from a grid marshall had them sitting right on top of the oil. Getting no traction off the starting grid left them with a pile of work to do, and 4 extra places to climb and only three laps in which to do it. Unfortunately they had to be satisfied with fifth. Race two podiums went sequentially to Pym/McKinnon, Alton/Bonney (Shellbourne Honda) and Raynor/Cummins.
Totally owning the Motorlites this round was Tyler Bradford ( Honda 150). Fighting off an army of 42 other competitors from qualifying through to race three late in the day, Tyler just reeled off 1:58/59’s all day. Regular as clockwork! Hot on his heels was Anthony Marsden (Honda RS85) who had a lock on second place for the day with 1 sec off the pace laps and breathing Bradford’s exhaust all up close and personal. Third was split evenly between Jack McGauley (Honda RS85) and Andrew Bennett (Honda 80) a further couple seconds behind.
Twenty riders gridded up for group 4 qualifying. This was comprised of 10 entries in the hotly contested P6 F750, 4 entries in Forgotten Era 750’s, 3 in Post Classic 750’s, 2 in Forgotten Era Unlimited and 1entry in Post Classic Unlimited. Qualifying saw the track dry but as the fog hadn’t long lifted and the sun hadn’t yet warmed the racing surface up, so a little restraint was still the order of the day. The seasoned Period 6 racer Rob Cole made a rare appearance at this event and topped the time sheet with a very slick1:48.5 on his GSX-R750. The front row of the grid featured four Suzuki GSX-R with John Mckenzie, Steve Anderson and Stuart Lomax keeping Cole company. In race one Rob Cole was in a class of his own with a blistering 1:45.7 pass crossing seven seconds ahead of second place Rick Kwok with John McKenzie looking over Kwok’s shoulder only seven tenths behind him. At the finish only three seconds covered second through to seventh place, the racing was that close. Even Steve Wood on his old Honda 1000, who despite being the only Unlimited Post Classic bike in the race, decided to mix it with the period 6 bikes all of which were running at 1:48 or better. It was an exciting day to be watching these talented riders push each other all the way to the line.
Wayne Gow took the win in Forgotten Era Unlimited on his immaculate Moto Guzzi 1000, Bruce Ireland (Yamaha 750) won the Forgotten Era 750 class and Paul Coughlan won the Post Classic 750 on his Norton Commando.
In race two, Rob Cole took the win (1:46.7) with Steve Anderson making a determined effort to chase Rob down shaving four seconds off the differential time from the previous race and making himself a much larger threat in Coles’ rear view mirror. Kwok was relegated to third a further three seconds back. The podium standing for the older classes remained the same as race one. Due to a couple lengthy delays, by the time race three came around for this group, the sun was setting low in the west. Cole once again proved too good for the field, and took the chequered by three seconds. Steve Anderson carefully held onto both second and his championship points lead with Dean Scott held out to third by three seconds.
Group 7
A field of 30 bikes in this grouping with 17 Pre-Modern F1 machines, 6 entered for Pre-Modern F2 and 7 takers for Period 6 Unlimited. The track was in excellent shape by the time qualifying got underway and Paul Grant Mitchell set the benchmark time on his F1 ZXR750 posting a 1:44.5 .Completing the front row was Rob Cole, Daniel Birch (F1 ZXR750) and Wade Lewis (F2 CBR600). No sooner had race one gotten underway that in the dogfight for turn two Daniel Birch low sided. As he was running to recover his bike to continue the race was red flagged. It seemed that on the start line a great deal of oil had been discovered which occurred when Stephen Ward’s Ducati 888 snapped a drive chain which subsequently whipped into his engine and smashed the casing After a quick mop up the race restarted with some high stakes dicing taking place between Paul Grant Mitchell who took the win, and Wade Lewis and Ryan Young ( F1 CBR900R) having to settle for second and third.
Race two had barely gotten underway when it too was red flagged. Unfortunately this time the red flag shown on the first lap was a result of Phil Lane crashing his F1 FZR750 on the very fast left hander around corporate hill. We wish Phil, who is widely known as the nicest guy in the paddock, a very speedy recovery . This resulted in a bit of a delay in racing. During the delay Paul Grant Mitchell was called before the Clerk of Course and Race Steward for reacting to the red flag in a manner not to their liking and was excluded from the meeting. With the restart underway it was Wade Lewis who took on the late afternoon diminishing light and held on for a race win. Closely followed by Ryan Young who bettered his previous placing by one spot and Daniel Birch making amends after his race one fall to take third. Rob Cole took the P6 honors and 4th outright for the second race in a row.
As usual there was great racing throughout the all the groups with many great dices. Due to numerous delays through the day group 5, 6 and 7 missed out on their third race but such is case with racing.
Words and pics by Rob Annesley

Festival of Sporting Cars August Round

For the second time in the past two months, FoSC returned to Sydney Motorsport Park on the South “Amaroo” circuit. A bumper ( sorry, no pun intended) 130 entrants braved the very cold 1 degree morning temperature under clear blue sunny skies. The days program included mid season rounds of the PRB Championship ( Rd 4), the Excel Campionship ( Rd 5) and the Historic Touring Cars Assoc Championship ( Rd 6).
As well two divisions of Regularity (A & B), racing in Historic and Invited Racing Cars , a Come and Try section and the ever popular “partners parade” during the lunch break were held. The “Come and Try” group attracted yet more newcomers, working their way through to progressing into full fledged racing under the one-on-one tutelage of the highly experienced Master Drivers team. One recent newcomer, April Hissey (Jaguar XJ6), has now graduated to Regularity competition.
Some new talent in Invited Race Cars not seen before were Ian Johnson’s ’64 Corvair, Bruce Grant’s ’70 Volvo 142 and Trevor Parrot’s ’98 Brooke.
Despite some delays in the early races, the very experienced FoSc race control team headed by John Finch brought the event back on time and successfully concluded the days program in daylight.
In PRB racing Stuart Shirvington (PRB Birkin S3) held a 2.5 second lead and converted it to a win in race one. Michael McCosker (PRB S2) held off a determined press by both James Dick (PRB Widebody) and Chris Barry (PRB Composite), with Dick just taking third by 5 tenths/second.
Race two was even tighter, with Shirvington being pushed by Stefan Versluis ( PRB Composite) all the way to again hold on for the win with only a 1.5 second lead. McCosker hung tough for the third spot.
Versluis was determined not to let Shirvington past in race three. Sitting close on each others heels, eventually Versluis hung onto a 3 tenths lead from Shirvington, with Barry only 5 tenths back for third. Excellent racing and fun to watch.
The Excel race series was spectacular. Watching 20 of the same little car go round making a huge racket is hilarious. Jigging ad jinxing back and forth, the swaying little beasts got under way off the start grid with an almighty roar. Speaking with Nathan Gotch before the race, he explained “…that with so many of these vehicles sold, they are very cheap to acquire, even cheaper to get spare parts for, making them the ideal lightweight, easy to build and fix, economical on the budget race car, and they can be extremely nimble and quick.” But did I say LOUD!
Race one saw Nathan and Nick Filipetto dodging and weaving, sometimes up on two wheels even in a straight line, and both crawling all over each other from lap to lap. Doing everything they could to manoeuvre and gain some advantage. Filipetto eventually got the better of Gotch in race one by only two tenths. That’s how close to they were. They were almost side by side across the finish line. 5 seconds back was Daniel Smith for third. That result obviously fired up Nathan and made him determined to reverse the result in race two. Leading all the way round, Nathan took the black and white with a gap of 2.5 seconds to Filipetto who had a 4 second lead on Smith. Race three was closer, and Gotch bettered Filipetto by a smaller margin and Nightingale was a further 7 seconds back for third.
In Historic Touring Car Association racing Wayne Rogerson clean sweeped all three races while John Wright grabbed two seconds and a third. Alan Mayne secured two thirds to add valuable points to his championship campaign. Matt Windsor drove a superb race three and was rewarded with a second place to push Wright back to third.
FoSC organisers were extremely happy with the event, and are looking forward to the final FoSC meeting at Sydney Motorsport Park on November 16th, when organisers will announce the 2015 FoSC 10th Anniversary calendar of events.
Words and Photos by Rob Annesley

 

PCRA Round 4

Round four of the PCRA Club Championships on July 19th got underway on a cold and windy winters day on the Gardiner GP circuit. Notwithstanding a southwester gusting up to 50kmh and the temperature struggling to make it to 15 degrees there was a full field and plenty of excellent racing.
Group 4 featured a competitor list of 22 bikes. Battling with the strong winds Chadd Slade took pole on his P6 ZXR750 with a 1:49.9. Making up the rest of the front row were John Mckenzie and Steve Anderson both on P6 GSXR750’s and Marcus De Caux on his Forgotten Era Yamaha TZ750. True to the grid order, Slade took the wins in both race one and two while Steve Anderson settled for second in both races and John Mckenzie and Rick Kwok each shared a third. In the older classes of this group Matthew Burton (Norton 500) and Bob Sayer (Norton Atlas 750) each grabbed a race win in the Post Classic 750, while Bruce Ireland (Yamaha 750) and Terry Mckinnon (Yamaha 750) shared the spoils in Forgotten Era 750. Wayne Gow (Moto Guzzi 1000) seized both race wins in the Forgotten Era Unlimited.
Several of the riders commented that despite finishing midfield it was some of the best racing in which they had been involved.
A field of 33 riders in Group 7 started the first race which was soon red flagged as Martin Ball high sided off his Suzuki at turn eleven. In gusty conditions Stephen Ward ( Suzuki 750) took both race wins, Wade Lewis (F2 Honda CBR600) both race seconds and Ryan Young (F1 Honda CBR900RR) and Daniel Birch (F1 Kawasaki ZXR750) each taking home a third. Murray Garlin took both the P6 Unlimited wins on his Yamaha FZR100 while Troy Galvin ( ZXR750) grabbed both seconds and Zoltan Petri had the thirds covered.
In the Motorlites, Jason Dunn (Honda RS85cr) led flag to flag to win both races, Tyler Bradford (BBE CRR150) was a little slow on the getaway but quickly took second and there he stayed, owning that position for both races. Anthony Marsden had a bunch of work to do in reclaiming third back from both Lawrence and Wilcox, but eventually secured it and took the bronze in both races. Lawrence ended up succumbing to overheating from a blown water pump seal but you cant keep a good man down, and Ken got it fixed and completed race two to his satisfaction.
Commuterlite Pro race one was the epitomy of what spectators love to see. Evenly matched Nick Wendan
(CBR125) swapped the lead with Jack Robinson ( CBR125) every lap for the entire race, with Nick eventually grabbing the win by the smallest of margins. Minding his own business ready to pounce if the opportunity presented, Ron Pulido locked in third. Race two was almost anti climactic. Both Robinson and Pulido made poor race starts, and virtually handed Nick a free pass to the chequered flag. Second to Robinson and third to Pulido.
The Commuterlite AM class brought more fingernail biting racing. A breakaway group including Jason Blanch (CBR125), Adam Cameron (CBR125), Oliver Higgins (CBR125), Nicholas Miller (CBR125), Ron Wenban (CBR125), and Andrew Martin (CBR125) all were so close that they were swapping the lead at every corner. This was edge of your seat stuff. Commuterlite AM at its very best. Fun and great racing. When the dust settled Adam Cameron took the black and white, Wenban second and Higgins third. Race two was a testament to clever patience, with Andrew Marting steadily climbing through the field to steal the win by two tenths from under Camerons nose. Third went again to Higgins.
Thanks as always to the people who made this event happen, the flaggies out in the arctic conditions, the bike pick up crew, the medics who were kept a bit busy, the race officials, the office staff, the timing team and all those that take care of countless ancillary tasks.
By Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au
Thanks to Jim Murphy and John McKenzie for their valuable assistance with the details of this event. Also thanks to Rick Krasitki for the use of his photos from the event.

 

Event Wrap: NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

Round 4 of the NSW Motor Race Championships returned to Sydney Motorsport Park with a mixed bag of conditions. Staring out dry on Saturday, a freakish storm cell with strong winds rolled through mid afternoon scattering tents and creating 15 minutes of havoc both on and off track. This left the afternoon sessions with a wet track with which to contend, though Sunday started cold and bleak, but the sun shone and thawed us all out for a great day of racing.

This round saw the Improved Production category take a mid-year break, and instead the round featured a one hour enduro by the Production Sports Racing Cars Association; a real treat to see many of these cars in their annual sojourn to SMSP.

Enduros are tough on both drivers and cars, and this race was no different with nearly a quarter of the field failing to go the distance. A marvellous effort by the Mawer/Lazaris (Lotus Exige GT3) team, starting from 12th on the grid and holding on to a half race lead in the closing stages to take the win. Not so lucky was Anthony Soole, who’s birthday was spoiled by a late in the race gearbox failure which saw him drift to a stop out of turn one and hand the Class B race win to Nick Cancion (Mazda MX5). Class C went to Rob Hay in another MX5, managing to hold off the McGann/Stannard (Porsche 944) pair who were only seconds behind during most of the race.
Formula Ford was a see-saw affair all weekend, with Hamish Hardeman (Mygale ST13) and Nick Rowe (Mygale SJ10A), swapping the honours in all three races. Hardeman took the race wins in race one and three and Rowe took home a first, second and third across the weekend, leaving Jacob Parsons (Spectrum 014) to be content with a second and two thirds.

Thundering Sports Sedans racing saw a determined Steve Lacey, who has suffered race ending steering problems over recent months, come out in a determined bid to get his championship aspirations back on track. He finished with two third place finishes in race one and two. Starting from fourth on the grid in race three, he took a very aggressive race line early in the race to first edge out Chris Jackson (Holden Calibra) and then a couple laps later he pushed Anthony Macready very wide to slip by and eventually hold on for second spot in his best finish in quite a while. Birol Cetin (Camaro) took two race wins and his consistency is holding him at the top of his class. Grant Doulman enjoyed a rare race win and a second place, before exiting early in race three.

The HQ racing was a family affair with the Heinrich brothers squaring off against each other. Grabbing four podiums between them they hogged the front end of the field for most of their events. Both Joel and Bruce had race wins and a third place each. They are a competitive pair, giving no quarter as they swapped a bit of paint with each other in race two at turn two.

Aaron Seton blitzed the field with three straight race wins in the Production Touring category in his EVO 10, and absolutely hammered it in race two to record a lap record pass of 1:42.72. Congratulations Aaron!

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

 

Event Wrap: CAMS Supersprint Round 4

Round Four of the CAMS Supersprint Championships was held at Sydney Motor Sport Park on July 20th on the 4.5km extended Brabham Circuit. This was the first time this year that the gigantic field of 99 entrants were treated to this very testing track layout. They enjoyed a great day weather wise, and every driver got the opportunity to complete four solid sessions.
As we have come to expect in recent times, Andre Tan in his Radical was the fastest car on the day with a time of 1.50.179 although Marek Tomaszewski was not that far behind in his Stohr with a very close time of 1.50.793. Andre broke the Type 5 Record and Class 5D Record while Marek broke the Class 5D Record. It should also be noted that Marek also bettered Andre’s old Type 5 record.
Richard Perini was the fastest tin top on the day in his Porsche RSR with a
time of 1.58.837 which broke both the Type 4 and Class 4C Records. Four Type Records were broken and 12 Class Records were broken.
Records broken or set on the day were:
TYPE RECORDS
Type 2 – Warwick Morris in his Porsche with a time of 2.05.547. Warwick also
broke the Class 2C Record. This is the 3rd Type Record that Warwick has
broken this year only missing out at Wakefield Park at Round 1.
Type 4 – Richard Perini in his Porsche RSR with a time of 1.58.837. This is
Richard’s 1st Type Record this year but 3rd Class 4C Record.
Type 5 – Andre Tan in his Radical with a time of 1.50.179. Like Warwick
Morris, Andre has broken 3 Type Records this year, just failing to better
his own Type 5 Record at SMSP North at Round 3.
Type 6 – Kim Tai in his Mitsubishi Evo with a time of 2.01.019. This is
Kim’s 2nd Type Record this year.
CLASS RECORDS
Class 1C – Preston Peiris in his Mazda MPS3 with a time of 2.21.661. Preston
has broken the Class 1C each time he has run this year.
Class 2C – Warwick Morris in his Porsche GT3 with a time of 2.05.547.
Warwick didn’t just break the record, he shattered it, taking a massive
7.583 seconds off the previous record.
Class 3A – Perennial record breaker Jason O’Meara broke his own Class 3A
Record by almost 2 seconds in his Honda Civic with a time of 2.14.980 Class
4A – Chris Muir in his Honda CRX with a time of 2.15.373. This is only the
2nd time out for Chris in this car but he has broken the Class 4A Record
both times that he has run.
Class 4B – David Lawler broke his own Class 4B Record in his Mazda MX5 by
7.401 seconds with a time of 2.18.361. It worth mentioning that both Ed Cory
and Anthony Crott ran in the 2.18s and were both 7 seconds under David’s
previous Class 4B Record. Sorry that you don’t make the record books but
great effort guys.
Class 4C – Richard Perini in his Porsche RSR with a time of 1.58.837.
Another shattered record. Richard took 8.166 seconds off the old Class 4C
Record.
Class 4D – Drew Hall broke the Class 4D Record in his Nissan GTRV R34 with a
time of 2.03.193 Class 5B – Chris Kostakis broke his own Class 5B Record in
his MNR Vortx with a time of 2.01.672. Chris has broken the Class 5B Record
at each of the 4 Championship Rounds this year.
Class 5C – Marek Tomaszewski in his Stohr with a great time of 1.50.793.
Marek broke his own Class 5C record by 2.372 seconds.
Class 5D – Andre Tan broke his own Class 5D Record in his Radical by 1.249
seconds with the fastest time of the day of 1.50.179 Class 6A – Blake Jones
broke the Class 6A Record by 5.876 seconds in his Mitsubish R-Colt with a
time of 2.17.470 Class 6D – Kim Tai smashed the Class 6D Record by just
under 11 seconds in his Mitsubishi Evo with a time of 2.01.019
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
The Mazda MX5 Club has broken away from ARDC in the Club Championship
scoring a massive 513 Club points at Round 4 to ARDC’s 361. MX5 Club lead the Club Championship on 1,739 points and are now 156 points ahead of ARDC on 1,583 points. Manly Warringah are coming third with 844 points.
Words and picture by Rob Annesley
Special thanks to Bob Welsh for specific competitor details