31st HRCC All Historic August 9/10 2008 - Morgan Park by Manuel Pena

Saturday August 9 dawned cold and crisp on the Granite Belt with frost on those cars left uncovered – as I arrived into Warwick, I saw Trevor Bassett’s black Ferrari cautiously coming out of a side street covered in ice!!  

As it turned out, our qualifying session was not until around 11:00, so there was plenty of time for the track to warm up, the dust to get blown off and for us to settle in and get ready. 

Earlier in the week, the program indicated that the Group Sa cars would be running with Groups J, K and L, leaving Sb, Sc and the sole invited Group O Datsun of Jason Lea to run together. As the entire group was made up of only 25 cars, I figured that we would be better off with the Sa cars in our group, not only to bolster our field, but because as Group S cars, I felt we should be racing together considering we had not exceeded track density. A quick call to Brian Weston (el presidente, GSRA) confirmed my thoughts. That was quickly followed by an exchange of emails and phone calls to our own el presidente Mike Gehde, who after some gentle persuasion agreed to “see what he could do” …I thought his influential position may help, however he quickly reminded me we weren’t in some tiny South American country where these sorts of things happen!! Mike contacted Barry Nixon-Smith, the event secretary who kindly agreed to make the changes possible at this late stage. A big thank you to both of them. 

Qualifying saw a field of 24 take to the track, with a number of interstate racers which is always welcome. Among them were Tony Karanfilonski in his very quick Alfetta and Geoff Pike in his equally quick MGB. Michael Byrne in the Lotus Seven S4 who had made the trip previously put his car on pole with a 1:12.14 ahead of Jason Lea in his Grp O Datsun followed by Trevor Bassett, Tony K with an impressive 1:13.58 in the Alfetta followed Geoff Pike and Queensland regular Norm Singleton in the very nice Fiat Abarth 124. Another new comer, Peter McNamara in the Batmobile BMW 3.0 CSL was next with Phillip Simmie, Barry wise and myself rounding out the top 10. Personally, it was a PB for me and a great starting spot. To indicate how close things were, 2nd, 3^rd and 4^th were separated by half a second while 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th were less than 3/10ths apart, great stuff. 

Race 1 saw a potentially nasty incident at the start, when Dennis Best in his Lenham Lemans braked late into turn one and gave Paul Young’s 1750 Alfa a nudge from behind who in turn was pushed into the path of Andrew Gibson’s TR3A resulting in an unavoidable shunt. Byrne’s Lotus raced away to an easy win, followed seven seconds back by a very close battle between Bassett’s Ferrari and Tony K’s Alfetta. An equal distance back was Peter McNamara, Geoff Pike, Norm Singleton, Phillip Simmie and Barry Wise, all with an almost one second gap to each other. Again a similar distance back was my battle with Geoff Byrne’s TR6 who kept me well and truly looking at my mirrors most of the weekend. The race also saw Jason Lea’s Datsun given a sixty second penalty for jumping the start. The only non finisher was Paul Young’s 1750 following the tangle with Andrew’s TR3A who approached him rather hot under the collar understandably after the race, however, Paul was a passenger and the there was nothing he could do  to avoid it. A mixture of exuberance and bad luck, I know it’s racing, but there’s always another opportunity to pass, so if in doubt, I say err in the side of caution!! 

With Qualifying and one race for Saturday, Sunday was looking busy with three races and four for those quick enough to qualify within the 130% of the quicker M, O, Q and R sports cars for the 12 lap Queensland Tourist Trophy. Most of the Group S guys chose sit that one out with only Geoff Pike(16^th), Norm Singleton(18^th) and Barry Wise(DNF – spun oil filter) opting to run. Considering we had another 10 lapper only three races later probably the main reason. 

Following Saturdays race one incident, all racers made it to the grid on Sunday for the second race with the top three from the first race again in the same order, some notable exceptions were Jason Lea up to 5^th (from 18^th), Kevin Smeaton’s TVR 5000M up to 9^th (from 11^th) and Paul Young’s GTV 1750 up to 15^th (from 24^th). The Sa cars were able to mix it with some of the slower Sb cars which was fantastic with Richard Line’s MGA leading the charge from Andrew Gibson (TR3A) and a host of others including locals Ian Rogers (MGB), Steve Purdy (Midget), Ken Wasley (MGB GT) and visitors Hamish Mclennan (MGB) and Bruce Mansell (Lotus Elite). I’m sure Queenslanders Carson and Cuthbert were pleased as punch to be mixing it up with the visitors. This race unfortunately saw David Goodwin’s MGA parked sideways into the tyre wall on the exit of the last turn coming into the straight when on an absolute blinder. From my seat, I kept Barry Wise well within reach for a change with Geoff Byrne’s TR6 looking closer than ever on the rear view mirror, great fun, thanks Geoff for the close racing. 

The third race saw the field down to 23 starters, with Trevor Bassett turning his Ferrari around and ending up 10^th behind myself and Paul Young. Michael Byrne made it a clean sweep for 3 from 3 with a second to Tony K’s Alfetta, Jason Lea’s Datsun(Group O) third, followed the BMW CSL of Peter McNamara and the improving TVR 5000M of Kevin Smeaton in 5^th. Geoff Pike made it a clean sweep of Sb with Richard line taking out Sa. 

The last race was a handicap, which is always fun in my opinion. For this race we had 16 starters, again Steven Purdy won (Steve also won the handicap race at the May HRCC meeting) from Peter McNamara’s BMW and Hamish Mclennan MGB. I resumed my battle with Dennis Best where it left off in Bathurst and Tony K’s Alfetta found an electrical glitch somewhere on the track, parking it on the left hander coming up from Siberia. 

I had a great weekend apart from the failed alternator and blown head gasket which saw me try a few things before realizing what it was, can’t say it slowed me down as the 1750 Alfa was flying all weekend, giving me some of my best results even if it meant topping up the water between races, fortunately, it wasn’t an oil in water or the other way around situation. Thanks to my good friend and arch enemy on the track, Paul Young for a lend of his spare alternator and to all the other boys who offered advice in the quest to establish the problem.

There was some close racing, some close moments, but above all, a great time was had by all I believe, aside to a couple of unfortunate incidents. To the guys from the South, thanks for coming, we always look forward to seeing you. 

For the best pics of the weekend, go to digitalrealism.com.au and get in touch with Darin who has a special offer on if you order a CD of images of your car. 

See you on the track,

Manuel 

HSRCA Oran Park GP June 2008 - Pictorial by Patrich Ilufi

Many thanks to Patrich Ilufi for generously providing these photos  These are available by contacting Patrich at info@srphoto.com.au . 

Hot racing despite winter weather at FoSC’s Winter meeting

Colin Wilson-Brown
Many thanks to Patrich Ilufi for generously providing these photos  These are available by contacting Patrich at info@srphoto.com.au . 

I have heard Oran Park GP described as the best ‘technical’ circuit in Australia. Not being technically minded, I don’t know what the hell that means, but I do know that it’s got some great twisty bits and that it will be sorely missed when it’s gone. 

Once again FoSC organized a brilliant Winter meeting there. We had four Group S races plus another mixed bag event. 29 laps of racing and 12 laps of qualifying. Fantastic!

The weather predictions were ominous but the meeting stayed dry, even though cold and windy – particularly on Saturday. 

The large number of Group S entries necessitated separating Sc (starters) from Sa/Sb (28 starters, plus a mixed dozen including Na). Not everyone likes this (particularly the Sc Alfas) but it is impossible to please everyone. There are other options (two divisions based on lap times, or an engine capacity split) and competitors should feel free to share opinions/requests with Charles Jardine (FoSC) and Brian Weston (GSRA). 

In Sb, FoSC President, Geoff Pike, put his MGB on pole, but was unable to capitalize on this when, after 3 laps, a broken prop shaft started eating its way into his car. Fortunately he was able to stop before it started to eat him. This left Spud Spruyt (MGB) and Geoff Williams (Morgan +8) to battle for the lead, with Spud winning and Geoff finishing 2^nd in all four races. In race 1 they were followed from a respectful distance by Ryan Curnick in his lovely Porsche 911E, closely followed by Brian Weston (Midget) and Denis Elborn (Morgan +8).

In race 2, Roger Ealand (Marcos) came from the back of the grid (after a 1 minute penalty for jumping the start in race 1) to finish 3^rd, setting the fastest lap along the way. Ryan Curnick was a lonely 4^th and Denis Elborn 5^th having had to work hard to keep out Colin Wilson-Brown (Alfa), Steve Shepard (MGB), Brian Weston and Stephen Dunne-Contant (MGB). In race 3, Elborn was a non-starter with gearbox problems and the Marcos barely left the start-line before retiring, leaving Curnick to finish 3^rd ahead of Wilson-Brown and Weston. The final race had only 24 starters and the first four were Spruyt, Williams, Weston and Pike (recovered with a prop shaft borrowed from Greg King’s car, which is still in intensive care after the Eastern Creek accident).

 I didn’t see the Sa cars apart from a few I lapped but Colin Goldsmith (Austin Healey) came home 1^st in three races and Richard Line (MGA) was 1^st in the other. 

I was able to watch the hotly contested Sc races. Barely a chamois leather separated the Porsche 911s of Terry Lawlor, Bill Pye, Geoff Morgan and Brad Tilley (guest driving Bob Fraser’s car in the first three races). Lawlor and Pye shared the honours with two victories each.

The 240Zs put in a similar battle with class wins to Peter Hall (2), James Flett and Don Mackay, with Chris Gray in the hunt too. Tony Karanfilovski’s 2-litre Alfetta GTV provided great entertainment for the spectators, finishing 6^th outright and ahead of all the Datsuns in the first race. Over-exuberance held him back in later races but he still had four class wins and to lap in 1.22 is an eye-opener for the Dattos and the other Alfas who had their own battles further back. Great racing.

There is another opportunity to race on the GP circuit with HSRCA on 28/29^th June, although family commitments will unfortunately keep me away.

Colin Wilson-Brown

HRCC No Frills - Morgan Park May 2008

This time of the year is always good up on the Granite Belt, the weather is usually clear and crisp as it was this week end. Unfortunately, our category was well down in numbers with no visitors taking part, however, it was encouraging to welcome two new members to the class. I’ll take this opportunity to welcome Stephen Purdy in his ’68 Sb Midget and Ken Walsey in ’69 Sb MGB GT, I’m sure it is only a matter or time before they join the ranks of the GSRA.  

Taking into account that of the eleven runners, two were Group O invites and something like four or five were MIAs, plus two yet to debut new cars, we are on the up! On a good day we could see as many as fifteen S cars which is the largest number we have had in Queensland for some time.

 The meeting is general was great as always and enjoyed by those attending, our qualifying session saw no surprises and the order for the start was Jason Lea in the Group O Datsun from Trevor Bassett’s Ferrari and Norm Singletons Fiat Abarth – These two separated by a couple of tenths – Next was the author followed a second further back by Paul Young (GTV 1750) and Ian Rogers’ MGB, again these two separated by half a second, great effort by Ian to sneak up on Paul. Paul’s one second gap to my Alfa proved to be the furthest away he would be all weekend. Paul Cuthbert Birdcage Bug Eye welcomed the competition from newcomer Ken Walsey, qualifying less than a second ahead.

The ensuing races were fairly predictable, with qualifying setting the order of results considering there were no incidents and everyone got off to good starts.  

The biggest excitement of the weekend was the handicap race which saw newcomer Stephen Purdy take out the event from Paul Young and Jason Lea. With Morgan Park’s tight and twisty nature, there was plenty of action throughout and plenty of excitement for all considering there was not much passing in the other races.  

The last race saw the results a little different with Big Ferrari having not one, but two offs during the relentless pursuit of Jason Lea’s Grp O Datsun. This enabled me to post my best result of the weekend with a third following Jason Lea and Norm Singleton’s very quick Abarth, giving me a clean sweep of Grp Sb. Special mention to Paul Young who applied plenty of pleasure all weekend and kept me well and truly on my toes, particularly the last race when I had intermittent trouble with second gear and were it not for the checkered flag when it came, the result may have been different. 

Well done to all, specially the new guys, I’m sure we will all be back in August when we look forward to welcoming some of our southern counterparts to Morgan Park, mark August 8 – 10 in you calendars, free practice for Southern visitors on Friday etc etc. For those of you that haven’t been, just ask the boys that made the effort last year, I’m certain they all enjoyed themselves. On matters closer, quite a few of the boys are heading down to the FoSC meeting at Oran Park next week to join the action there. 

The attached photograph of the starting lap heading up towards the bridge is courtesy of Darin Mandy from Digital Realism, check out the pics on www.digitalrealism.com.au . Thanks Darin.

 See you on the track

Manuel Pena

Winton - May 2008

to check out these and other videos.

Mount Panorama - Festival of Sporting Cars - Bathurst - Easter 2008

Sermon on the Mount 

Mount Panorama is to motor racers what Mount Everest is to climbers. Dramatic, challenging, unforgiving, scary and incredibly fast. Can Spa or even “the Ring” be better than this?

Thanks to the vision and huge endeavours of Geoff Pike, Charles Jardine, Dave Nichols and Peter Whitten, 500 of us “would-be Peter Brocks” raced at Bathurst over Easter. 

CAMS was sceptical that a bunch of amateurs could pull this off, but success exceeded all expectations. We wondered if this would be so, as we waited hours for Mercedes Benz to clear the paddock on Thursday (the event could not have taken place without Mercedes). Friday familiarization was so slow and we didn’t learn much, but it was good to have a cautious drive round behind a pace car. The rain came on Friday afternoon and only the brave ventured out.

Saturday dawned clear and that’s how it stayed all weekend. And the organization was faultless. Hats off to Charles Jardine (Event Director), Ian Mayberry (Clerk of Course) and their huge team of officials and volunteers.  My Alfa 1750GTV could have been eligible in previous years at Bathurst in Group N, but I had been put off by stories of red flags and races behind the pace car. There were no such problems at the Festival of sporting Cars. As promised I had 6 laps of qualifying and 5 races. The races were kept short – mostly only 3 laps but 3 laps at Bathurst is the equivalent of 5 or 6 at most circuits. 

The number of Group S entries and large speed differential necessitated separating Sa/Sb from Sc – even with grids of 50+. My car is Sb so this meant I was able to run in the top 10, whereas most of the Alfas are Sc and had to run in the middle of the Sc pack, but they still had great racing. I will leave someone else to report on Sc. 

In Group Sa/Sb qualifying, Spud Spruyt was in a class of his own - apart from a Group M Bolwell that ran with us. Spud was 6 seconds ahead of the Morgan Plus 8s of Stuart Littlemore and Geoff Williams and the MGBs of Geoff Pike, Paul Bower and Greg King. Then came 11 cars on 3.07. Fortunately for me I was the first of this group which was comprised mostly of MGBs (Kent Brown, Darren Hodgson. Steve Shepard, Robert Haywood and Ken Price) but also Rob Hackett’s Alfa, the Midgets of  Brian Weston and Robert Rochlin, and Steve Dunn’s Ferrari 308GTB having it’s first run in Group S. Close racing was on the cards -  and so it turned out.

Race 1. Lap 1. I arrived at Hell corner to be confronted with Stuart Littlemore’s orange (at least it’s easy to see) spinning Morgan. It was off to the right but coming backwards towards the track. Fortunately it stopped a metre before the track – otherwise an accident could have involved many cars. Phew! Spud Spruyt (MGB) chased the Bolwell and won Group S by a mile. Geoff Williams’ Morgan just beat Geoff Pike’s MGB for 2^nd. The rest of the Top 10 were Bower, King, Rowntree, Wilson-Brown, Haywood, Shepard and Hackett. Next home was the first Sa car – the Austin Healey 100/4 of Damian Moloney, a long way ahead of Brian Caldersmith (Lotus Elite) and Bob Thomas in his newly acquired Sunbeam Alpine. 

Race 2. With Geoff Williams a non-starter and Rob Rowntree forgetting it was a fill-up grid, I started from 6^th. However…..as the flag came down and my revs rose, I saw my gear lever drop into neutral. Was that a hand from above for skipping church? I recovered pretty quickly but not before creating chaos for the cars behind, of which 10 passed me. I believe the marshals were very quick with the yellow flags which may have avoided an accident. Thank you. The Top 6 were unchanged, while I had the first of several enjoyable battles with Brian Weston. Col Goldsmith (Austin Healey 3000) won Sa from Caldesmith and Thomas. 

Race 3. Spud Spuyt won again by the proverbial country mile and in the process was the only Sb competitor to get under 2.50 (I only just cracked 3 minutes). A wash leather could have covered the next 4 MGBs (Bower, Rowntree, Pike and King). And then came Shepard, Hackett, Haywood, Wilson-Brown and Denis Elborn (Morgan Plus 8). First Sa car was Goldsmith again. Stuart Littlemore sadly provided more drama (this time not of his own making) when the Morgan’s engine let go on the aptly named Conrod Straight. Closely following Steve Smith (Alfa GTV) and Brian Weston had to guess where the Morgan was in the cloud of smoke. Fortunately they guessed right. A scary moment! Goldsmith, Caldersmith and Thomas were the first 3 in Sa again.

Race 4. Guess who won? That’s right – Spud again. Congratulations on a great weekend Spud. Rowntree and King followed him home. Then came Elborn, Shepard, Weston, Wilson-Brown, Steve Smith, Haywood and Steve Dunn’s Ferrari. Goldsmith was again 1^st in Sa from the Elites of Caldersmith and Mansell. 

All Sa/Sb competitors heeded the warnings about driver standards and I am not aware of any accidents in those four races. Well done guys.

More important than the results was the thrill for everyone to race at Bathurst. The noisy pack squeezing into the Cutting, attempting to keep to the right line over the top of the mountain, the heart in the mouth leap over Skyline, the slippery dip ride down through the Dipper, the Esses and Forest Elbow, the flat chat run down Conrod with it’s blind hump and foot to the floor kink before Caltex Chase, the bump on Mountain Straight where the more powerful cars break traction……..is there anywhere more exciting than this? I know what I’m planning to do next Easter. Thanks again to FoSC. 

Colin Wilson-Brown

Phillip Island 2008

2007 Sandown Historics                          

Sandown Swansong? by Richard Batchelor

Whenever I visit Sandown I wonder how long we will be privileged to use this exciting race track.  Once located on the fringe of Melbourne, Sandown now is virtually an inner suburb of a metropolis measuring over 100 kilometres from east to west.  Its land value must be astronomical.  With AVESCO insisting on costly upgrades, increasingly stringent noise regulations (to placate those people who bought land and houses next to the track!) and the recent departure of Sandown’s energetic promoter Jon Davison, the track’s future is under a cloud.  We all hope rumours of its demise will prove unfounded but the history of tracks in similar city locations, such as Amaroo and Oran Park, suggests otherwise  

After his patchy debut in the new de Tomaso Pantera GTS at the AMRS Winton historics in October, former Marque Sports Porsche ace Perry Spiridis was wondering if his long absence from the track had dulled his skills.  However at the Sandown Historics, conducted in glorious weather on November 10-11, Perry demonstrated an emphatic return to form. 

Qualifying commenced at nine on Saturday morning.  Whereas most competitors used their full quota of eight laps, Perry did a blindingly quick lap of 1:23.7355 on his second timed lap, then parked the silver Pantera after only one more lap.  Perry’s qualifying time was over three seconds faster than Micheal Byrne’s outstanding 1:26.8018 in the diminutive Lotus Seven S4, with Ross Jackson third fastest in his yellow Pantera in 1:27.3714.  They were followed by the 2.7 litre Porsches of Phil Verwoert and Stan Adler, George Nittis in the Shelby GT350 and Group Sc lap record holder Paul Sabine in the 7 litre Corvette.  Further back, popular American Steve Schuler was making the ground shake in his thundering 1958 drum-braked Corvette, recording a fine 1:31.2760 to secure 14^th place on the grid.

Unfortunately Paul Blackie’s superb new 7 litre Corvette had been withdrawn after Friday’s practice, his first drive in the just-completed car.  After lapping in a promising 1:29, the car ran out of brakes but will be a potential front runner when sorted. 

A field of 36 faced the starter in Race One on Saturday afternoon and, with his three second qualifying buffer, it was no surprise to see Spiridis take the chequered flag first from Ross Jackson’s Pantera (both cars fettled by Mark Johnson of Cobra Motorsports).  Micheal Byrne was an outstanding third in his 1.58 litre, and frankly unaerodynamic, Lotus, with Sabine next in the 7 litre Corvette, followed by Bryan Taylor, Phil Verwoert and Stan Adler in their Porsches, and James Flett from NSW in his rapid Datsun 260Z. 

Further back in the field the writer made a goose of himself by spinning in heavy traffic in turn one, and only skilled driving by the following competitors enabled the BMW to emerge unscathed (apologies – and thanks - to all concerned!) 

Race 2 on Sunday morning saw an interesting car back in position 38 on the grid – Ian Ross’s formidable Shelby GT350.  By turn two Ian had already made up about 14 places.  He had been absent from qualifying, and was certainly making up for lost time, but shortly afterwards the Shelby went off song, and was a DNF. 

The Pantera duo of Spiridis and Jackson again dominated, with Stan Adler driving a blinder of a race in his new silver Carrera 2.7 (which also had made its debut at Winton) to finish third, ahead of Byrne, Verwoert, Nittis, Sabine, Flett and Colin Fulton in yet another de Tomaso ‘pants-tearer.’ 

Apart from Byrne’s giant-killing performance in his Lotus, and the usual V8 baiting by the Porsches, another small car to punch above its weight was Phil Baskett’s 2.0 litre Alfa Romeo GTV, which was lapping close to the 1:30 mark and humbling many larger engined cars.  The four cylinder MGBs of New South Welshmen Geoff Pike and Peter Whitten also impressed – in fact every MGB in the field was extremely quick!  Damian Maloney’s innocent looking Austin Healey 100/4 was another wolf in sheep’s clothing. 

The final race on the Sunday, an eight lapper, was marred by a couple of laps behind the safety car in order to recover a car which unfortunately had made contact with the wall.  There was a one lap sprint to the finish, led again by Perry Spiridis.  Behind him there was a change in the pecking order, with Paul Sabine hauling the Corvette into second place and recording the fastest Group S race lap of the weekend in 1:26.4067.  Sabine was followed by the consistent Jackson, Byrne, Adler, Verwoert, Nittis, Ross, Flett and another flock of Stuttgart’s finest, driven by Mark Johnson (not the aforementioned Pantera fettler), Nicholas Taylor and Roly Newman.

Richard Batchelor

Videos from Winton Historics - October 2007

Festival of Sports Cars - Oran Park GP July 2007

Group S Mix ‘n Matches  -  Shaken not Stirred??

By Rick Marks 

Not sure what I took away from OPGP apart from a damaged Elva and an empty roll of (borrowed) tenacious tape! 

Nevertheless, FoSC did put on a good meeting with five races for all categories over the weekend as promised. As we have said previously, Group S in the main would settle for four races if we could actually get more dedicated Group S races. Due to large number of Group S entries (53) and a track density of 40 cars, Sa and some some Sb entrants were relegated to two Div 2 “Legends and Larrikins” events, which was an S/N combo, as well as the three traditional Mix ‘n Match events which none of us really like – especially with Mazda MX5’s in wings and slicks configuration. 

It was a little disappointing at the outset to note that some of our Group N bretheren must have selective amnesia when it comes to inserting their best times on entry forms. A string of 1.30 times listed for Div 2 cars that do 1.26’s and 1.27’s meant that no Group S car could realistically “stick it too them”. Having said that, I managed a personal best of 1.28.1 in Race 1 – but that was the good news! 

It was unfortunate also that the two Sb/Sc GSRA Challenge races were immediately before the “Legends and Larrikins” so there was no opportunity for us to watch the main event. The GSRA will no doubt keep this in mind when next discussing event scheduling with FoSC. 

As always, my report on the races can only be from where I sat and that was P8 on the grid for Race 1. Kevin George in the MGB V8 was next Group S car on P13, with Damien Maloney (AH 100/4) on P15, Andre Breit (Datsun) on P16, with Geoff Byrne (TR6), John Young (MGA) and Richard Rose (MGA) in P19, 20 and 21 respectively. I got up to sixth but was then stuck behind two of the Group Nb EH Holdens which were quicker on the straight but holding me up around the back of the circuit. All was going well until Lap 4 when the car just didn’t turn left at Suttons and proceeded directly into the gravel and then the tyre wall at a fair old tilt. When I got out of the car, John Dowsett in the A90 was parked further down the track so I put two and two together while surveying the Elva’s cracked and broken fibreglass. Watched the rest of the race from the wall (which I hate) and as the yellows were out there was little action from where I stood. First in Group S was George in 9^th followed by Maloney, Byrne, Breit, Young and Rose. 

With help from Richard Rose and some borrowed race tape, we patched up the old girl to the satisfaction of the scrutineers and was ready for “Legends and Larrikins” Race 2. Thinking I was going to be relegated to back of grid, I was prepared for some hot laps albeit a tad tentative given the excursion in Race 1. However, I was directed to P15.  From here, this turned out to be a cracker of a race. The car felt fine thus confirming the damage was purely cosmetic. At the end of Lap 1 I was up to 10^th hotly pursued by George in the MGB V8 and Hughes in a Cortina GT. The MG and the Elva had a great dice over the next few laps swapping places in different areas of the track where the cars were performing better – all the time giving each other room which was great. 

The MG with V8 power eventually got the better of me fair and square and the pesky Cortina was getting a bit out of shape behind me so not wishing to be caught out yet again, I let it by and settled for 10^th outright - first in Sa. Next Group S car was Maloney followed by Byrne, Breit, Young and Rose. 

On Sunday, I was scheduled to compete in two Mix ‘n Match races plus a “FoSC and Famous” event which is another Charlieism for Mix ‘n Match. As I needed to leave early, I sought approval to compete in the “Deerstalker Cup” and forego one of the Mix ‘n Match events. I started back of grid in this event and fortunately missed the big blow up arriving at Turn 1 with smoke everywhere. The race was red flagged to permit the clean up to take place. The re-start was on original grid so back to the tail end for me in 23^rd position. While unable to catch the MGB V8 of George who finished 7^th, I was happy with 9^th overall. In this race there were several other Group S competitors, McKay in the 240Z came in second, with Wise (Alfa) 5^th and Miles (MG Midget) 6^th. John Young got the better of Andre Breit in this event coming 14^th and 15^th respectively separated by a slim margin. 

The first Mix ‘n Match Sports & Touring Div 2 was a bit of a mismatch. With the cars at the pointy end doing better than Div 1 times (Torana XU-1 1.20.9) and lots of action going on it was difficult to keep up. I gave away several places through lack of concentration and poor driving on my behalf finishing an unimpressive 21^st. Had a good dice with Damien Maloney in the big Healey for a while until Steve DC split us in the MGB. Bob Thomas had a great run in his MGB finishing first Sb car while James Flett in the 260Z played with the big boys upfront finishing 3^rd outright. 

Around lunchtime the heavens opened and it poured liquid gold for a short time. Felt sorry for the Regularity guys who were out in the middle of the heavy downpour as were our Group S colleagues in the “Spaghetti and Chips” event for Alfas (plus Harry Brittain’s sole Lancia) and MGs. 12 Alfas and 9 MGs started the race in which an early spin by Brett Morse in the blue MGB saw Brown’s Alfa take the lead. Despite a long time off the track Morse climbed back to second ahead of Colin Wilson Brown’s Alfa. Geoff Pike’s axle and rear right hand wheel parted company with the rest of the car in spectacular fashion on Lap 4. Further back John Young splashed around the circuit in his MGA ahead of Richard Rose in his similar car, their cross-ply Hoosiers proving challenging in the conditions. 

At this stage a few of us thought about pulling the pin but persevered for the “FoSC and Famous” event. This was on a wet track but the rain had stopped with only light intermittent showers. Nevertheless, the track was slippery and not much fun at all. I take my hat off to the rain meisters with Jason Lea first Group S car home in his 280Z in 3^rd outright. Another great effort by Damien Maloney in the Healey to finish eighth outright and first Sa car home. Dennis Best had a nasty excursion out of Turn 2 climbing the bridge embankment. Thankfully, neither the car nor Dennis was hurt and as I note that he turned up to compete in the final Mix ‘n Match 2 race! 

FoSC do put on a very good relaxed meeting and we are all looking forward to Bathurst - hence we in Group S are continuing our very strong support. We do need to sort out the number of dedicated Group S races as too many Mix ‘n Matches are becoming the norm not the exception. I am sure that the continuing discussions between GSRA and FoSC will ensure our preferences are met for their next event at Wakefield Park in October. 

See you at HSRCA Eastern Creek in September and good luck to those competing at Morgan Park.  

Rick Marks

Videos from Winton Historics - May 2007

HSRCA Historic Races - Eastern Creek - April 2007 (Photo Report)

Festival of Sports Cars - Oran Park - February 2007 (Photo Report)

Many thanks to Patrich Ilufi and Darren Hodgson for generously providing these photos. Please support them.

Winton Wonderland – From the Drivers Seat

Winton Wonderland – From the Drivers Seat 

Can you really get too much of a good thing? After last weekend at Winton, I don’t think so. Good weather, good cars, good racing and good company. The Australian Historic Motor Racing Festival was indeed a good thing!

Sa/Sb/Sc were all together for three scratch races over the weekend. Having last raced at Winton in 1989 (short circuit) but watching the V8’s and Brutes on telly many times I didn’t see the need to practice on Friday and headed straight into Saturday qualifying! I had cross-entered in Regularity, which was the first qualifying session of the weekend, but was red flagged due to a severe oil spill. We were re-started and this was a good warm up for the Group S qualifying session. Out of 26 starters, the usual suspects were up front – Verwoert in the Porsche, Ross in the Shelby, Byrne in the Lotus, Hooper in the Corvette, Morse in the MGB and Daines in the TR6. The two Sa Elva’s of yours truly and Ian McDonald qualified in 19^th & 20^th with Greg Prunster in the Sprite back on P25. For some reason Rowland in the Healey 3000 did not practice and started rear of grid in Race One. 

Unfortunately, McDonald in the Elva succumbed to brake problems and did not start any Group S race was disappointing. Geoff Byrne in the TR6 had some rear axle gremlins and also DNS’d in Race 1. Rowland got a blinder from the back of grid and quickly made his way up the field to finish 13^th and first Sa car home. Up the pointy end, Ross had a lose in the Shelby and could only get back up to 15^th. Verwoert took out the race followed by Byrne in the Lotus, Morse capitalising on Ross’ misfortune for a great 3^rd , Hooper 4^th and Dains 5^th. Further back in the field Rutledge (TR6) and myself had a race long dice for 17^th and 18^th respectively with less than 1/10^th of a second between us at the line.  

Race 2 on Sunday morning was a copy of the previous race for the first five places with Sellers in the Marcos taking 6^th in front of Ross who had brought the Shelby through from 15^th to 7^th. Whitten and Pike followed in 8^th and 9^th places. Unfortunately Greg King’s MGB had succumbed to clutch failure in the MG race on Saturday and did not start Race 2. Geoff Pike had broken an axle in the MGB on Saturday but this was repaired for Sunday only to have a clutch failure prior to Race 3. Brian Weston was consistent back in 11^th place and Rutledge and myself again battled for 13^th and 14^th with Rutledge taking the advantage again (just). Geoff Byrne had solved his axle/hub issues and climbed from rear of grid to 15^th. 

Race 3 was the final 10 lap event for Group S. Unfortunately, some of the cars had succumbed to problems from other events (MG/Healey) and did not start and others succumbed in the race – notably Sellers’ Marcos (brakes), Whitten’s MGB (clutch) and Rowland’s Healey (head gasket). For some reason Hooper in the Corvette pulled off on the warm up lap and did not start. Nevertheless, after a great race Verwoert took three from three to win from Byrne (Lotus), Morse (MGB), Ross (Shelby) and Dains (TR6). Nittis in the green Shelby finished a creditable 6^th. Brian Weston had fixed his coil problems to come in 9^th with Rutledge and myself 10^th and 11^th respectively although with a few seconds gap this time due to the grass tracking I had to do during the event to avoid a spinning Gibb (MGB). Greg Prunster finished all events entered in the mighty Sprite including three Healey races. 

Group S was well represented in the MG & Healey races with the final combined event expanded to include the two remaining fit TR6’s of Dains and Byrne starting from back of grid. Morse had a brilliant drive in MGB to finish 4^th behind some very big V8 guns, with Weston in the Midget in 6^th and Dains getting thru to finish 8^th capping off a great weekend for these three guys. 

Without wishing to blow my own trumpet I managed to finish first overall in the three Regularity events only losing 15 points from 150. Those who were aware of my malaise from suspected food poisoning over the weekend would agree that I was indeed “Regular”!!!! To cap off a very big weekend, I was allowed a start in the final K & L race and came third in the Elva with a progressively failing clutch – that’s my excuse…

As I said at the start, can you really get too much of a good thing – I still don’t think so. Well done Winton and the AHMRF. As big Arnie says “I’ll be back”.

 Rick Marks

HSRCA at Wakefield Park, 9-10 September 2006 

Story by the Goulburn District & GSRA Advocate. All photographs courtesy of Patrich Ilufi - SR Photos

What a day at Wakefield; a cloudless blue sky with no wind and the temperature nudging into the low 20’s – it was Thursday 31st August and perfect to sun oneself and check all systems go for the upcoming spring HSRCA.  Nine days later at 9 am, it was a different story as 30 Group Sb/Sc cars plus one invited Group O Sports rolled onto a cold, windy track for qualifying. Before two laps had gone by, several drivers concluded that the grass must be much warmer and backed into the Wakefield turf to find some heat for their tyres. After a lengthy qualifying session in which David Withers managed to rack up 15 practice laps, Sb/Sc retired to the pits and handed over qualifying to the 10 Group Sa entrants, who where running with 17 Group J, K and L cars plus the invited Group Sb MGB of Hamish MacLennan.  The Sc field lacked the usual Alfosi cast (some reportedly sipping a lager at Goodwood) and some Dato regulars, but nine Porsche fronted up for the meeting. Interstaters included Michael Byrne in the Lotus Super 7 and Phil Verwoert (Porsche). The BMC Spridgets of Avis Fowler, Bruce Miles and Denis Best, (including Denis’ rare Lenham Le Mans) boosted the Group Sb small car representation which has been on the wane of late. Group Sa comprised most of the usual HSRCA stalwarts running in their Sa period British sports cars. Regrettably, noises emanating from the gearbox saw Brett Morse park the front running MGB after qualifying well, although Andre Breit was added to the grid after finally coaxing the recalcitrant Datsun 1600 Sports into life. After lunch, rain had dampened the track and Sb/Sc got the race meeting program under way in what looked like drying conditions. But before two laps had passed, rain had set in and the grass assumed a magnetic attraction for many over the demanding 10 lap journey. Sunday morning saw Race 2 start in wet conditions with the rainmasters making hay until a drying line emerged over the last few laps of the 12 lap event. Sunday afternoon saw the final 10 lap race conducted in cold and windy “two sets of socks” conditions, but on a dry track. Race 3 featured a ten lap battle between Bill Pye and John Smith for the lead, and reputedly, saw many good dices right throughout the field - although this scribe confesses to seeing not much more than the back end of a Porsche for all ten laps. In Group Sa, Rick Marks Elva lost oil pressure mid-weekend and there was much activity in the garage of Les Schwebel’s Turner. Andrew Gibson’s TR-3 seemed to have a strong weekend while the Dyer, Young and Rose MGA’s kept on truckin’. HSRCA Registrar Geoff Morse seemed happy with the Sunbeam Alpine’s demeanour, and Greg Prunster kept the Bugeye on the track between bouts of duty as a dummy grid official. All in all, the HSRCA ran an excellent weekend’s racing with the longer duration 10 and 12 lap races receiving much favourable comment from Group S competitors. While the HSRCA cannot take responsibility for the weather, most competitors would have welcomed the fact that their excursions only went so far as the Wakefield Park grass and not the more unforgiving walls at Oran Park. As for the weather, you should have been there on the 31st August.  Report supplied by the Goulburn District & GSRA Advocate	Bob Wootton - Lotus 7 S4
	Brian Weston  MG Midget
	John Young (MGA) hotly pursued by Geoff Morse (Sunbeam Alpine)
	Denis Elborn - Morgan Plus 8
Andrew Gibson - Triumph TR3	Howard Fletcher - Datsun 2000 Sports
George Nittis - Shelby American	Greg Prunster - Bugeye
Mike Dyer - MGA	Bill Pye - Porsche Carrera

Oran Park GP - MG Racing Festival of Sports Cars  2006

Oran Park GP - HSRCA June 2006From the Driver’s (and Spectator’s) Seat

All British Race Meeting at Wakefield Park - 25th June 2006

Peter Whitten, Laurie Sellers, Tony Dains, Geoff Byrne, Andrew Gibson and Bruce Miles were all seen at the All British Race Meeting at Wakefield Park. Colin Goldsmith was there but without the Bugeye – he was seen in a four door car that defies elegant description.

Liaising over arrangements for this non CAMS meeting had proved difficult with Wakefield Park now organizing their events from somewhere in Queensland rather than through Judy Ellacott at Narellan. Although eight cars qualified for a “Group N and Invited” class start, a similar number of Group S did not. 

The meeting had strong support from the Triumph clubs and they had negotiated a Triumph class start. There was the usual MG/AH grudge match, one or two other class starts and a maximum field of Combined All-British. Included were several cars which must have been carrying a British road map to navigate around Tokyo. 

Although the day proved sunny with no wind, the cold track early in the day caused many to try to warm their tires in the sand. And in the first MG/Healey race Bruce Miles decided to spice things up by blowing an MG Midget oil line on lap one in Turn nine, so that when the leading six cars arrived second time around in close company, all six departed left and right. Needless to say the oil flags came out on lap three! 

Oil lines must have been in the air as later in the day Peter Whitten blew an oil line off the start line in the second Combined All British race. Both MG’s survived the day with only a profuse and unwelcome rust proofing. 

As the day proceeded competitors were seeded by lap time into a final series of divisional races; but by 3.40 pm, with two practice sessions of around seven laps each, then four races totaling 26 laps - and the car still in one piece - we uncharacteristically gave the final divisional session a miss and headed for the trailer. 

As a one day event which includes entry into two different race categories, a $200 entry fee, a $50 per paddock carport space (or $100 per paddock or pit lane garage space), Wakefield Park conducted an efficient program and coped well with the number of red flags. It represents a reasonable value for money meeting. 

It would be nice to keep this one day event in the Group S calendar as they offer plenty of racing laps and a one day meeting allows considerable savings in accommodation expenses. 

As to a Group S class start: I much prefer to see Group S cars race together at least 50% of the time at non-historic race meetings. That is why we have gone to the expense of buying and maintaining a conforming Group S car - and what other view would you expect of an Office Bearer of the GSRA? 

So next year we need to decide whether we wish to have a Group S start, and establish with the new organizers how many Group S entries they require to guarantee us a Group S class start - and then front up. 

Brian Weston

Mallala, Historic Race Meeting, Easter 2006 – a Competitor’s Perspective

 Mallala Motorsport Park, as it is now known, first opened in 1961 for the Australian Grand Prix (AGP) on October 9th.  My Dad and I were there to see a clean sweep for Cooper Climax cars, Lex Davison winning from Bib Stilwell, David McKay and Bill Paterson.  In fifth place was the first front-engined car, Murray Trenberth’s Holden-engined Alta. 

Over the next few years Dad and I would regularly travel 60km north of Adelaide to Mallala to see the heroes of the day – the Neptune Racing team of Norm Beechey, Peter Manton and Jim McKeown and their arch rivals, names like Bob Jane, Alan Moffat, Tubby Ritter and our local favourite who now owns the circuit, Clem Smith.  I vividly remember having a close look at Clem Smith’s R series (or was it an “S”) Valiant in the dirt covered pits with a cavernous hole in the side of the slant six! 

Forty five years later I had the opportunity to race my own period MGB there at the Sporting Car Club of South Australia (SCCSA) annual Nation Historic Race Meeting at Easter. 

I can easily remember the Mallala layout (although the northern hairpin at Bosch corner was shortened by 0.4 mile in 1964) but it is certainly a different perspective when you actually drive on the circuit.  My first “live” encounter was an open practice on Good Friday.  We were seeded into 3 groups, open slow, closed slow and racing cars.  I thought a 1:33 was possible and accordingly slotted into the open slow class.  Just after driving onto the tarmac the rain started pelting on my helmet, the wipers kept the outside of the screen dry but not the inside and other cars made it nearly impossible to see!  Later in the day the weather improved and I finally managed a 1:32 or thereabouts; it’s a very technical little circuit of 2.6km overall length.

Unfortunately Group S was not well supported and our race numbers on Saturday and Sunday were disappointingly small.  This was further exacerbated when Bob Wooton from Sydney ran the bearings in his “B” early on Saturday to be closely followed by Rodney Gibb (a local from Virginia just down the road) who did the same thing to his “B” motor that had only been finished days before.  I know how they feel!  Subsequently Group S was added to the rear of the Group N field with the agreement of all competitors and this made for some spirited racing.

There was a mixture of scratch and handicap races, a total of five in all for the weekend, and I managed to win one and achieve four second places as well.  Had to borrow a box from Mum for the silverware!  One of the handicaps was a very close fought affair at the finish line with 3 cars nearly abreast – John Davies from WA in a 100/4 winning, the nose of my MGB at his windscreen pillar on the nearside a tenth of a second behind and on the other side of John was Peter Hall (SA) in his 260Z 3/100 sec behind yours truly. 

It was a very happy, convivial, friendly and well organized race meeting and the SCCSA are to be congratulated.  A lot of effort has gone into setting up Mallala since it reopened in 1983 (after closing 1971) and the facilities are great with excellent garages, hard standing, green lawns etc.  They are a long way from what I recall in the 60’s.  Glen Dix, a name synonymous with motorsport in Australia was always busy helping with garage allocations, selling fuel and generally answering questions. 

On Easter Monday Virginia and I headed for Collingrove Hillclimb some 8km towards Mt pleasant from Angaston in the Barossa valley.  We overnighted at Nuriootpa at a motel in the main street which once formed part of the Nuriootpa racing circuit that was used for the AGP in 1950.  

The weather forecast was not good but thanks to very smart work by the organizers we all achieved 3 runs before lunch – and then the rain came!  Only one competitor wanted to continue at that point so the meeting was called off and the presentations held partly in the open under umbrellas and partly sheltered by the Scrutineering Bay.  I managed to bring home a copy of The Sound and the Fury, 100 years of Motor Sport in Australia by Bill Tuckey, which was the first place prize in each group.  My times improved for each run and for those interested the best was 40.21 sec. 

The REALLY nice thing for the weekend was that I drove the car onto the trailer for the journey westward, onto the trailer for the return trip and drove it off again in Canberra with plenty of oil pressure!  My thanks to Ian Stewart (a MGCC Canberra member) of BERCO at Mitchell for all his work and assistance after the FoSC meeting at Oran Park when a piston decided to part company with itself at the oil control ring.  This happening may be the subject of a further story!

Collingrove is in a beautiful rural setting and not a lot different from 1958 when, like Mallala, I made my first sojourn there.  Also like Mallala it is quite a technical hill that definitely takes some learning.  And again congratulations to the SCCSA for making Collingrove, and indeed the whole weekend, so enjoyable.  Virginia and I are certainly looking forward to returning next year and I can only but recommend it to others.  The drawback of course is the distance to be travelled.  There is still not much to see on the Hay Plains but if you rest overnight at somewhere like Tooleybuc and stop in for the world’s greatest Vanilla Slice at Ouyen, the time seems to pass quickly enough. 

Kent Brown

Gp Sb MGB No 15 (at Mallala and Collingrove)

Webmaster's Note: Kent, Bob, Rodney and Peter are all GSRA members.

Eastern Creek Photo Essay

HSRCA March Eastern Creek – From the Drivers Seat 

To use an oldie but goodie from Dick Johnson, at Eastern Creek recently I was “busier than a one armed paperhanger in Beirut”.

Electing not to run the Saturday afternoon 25 lapper for various reasons (but that’s another story!), I had cross-entered the Elva Courier for both the J,K,L,Sa,Na and Invited Group M event and Regularity event. This gave me double the laps for the weekend, which hopefully translated into valuable experience in a new (48 year old) car. I will, however, confine this report to the actual Group Sa events. 

Mixing Sa with Group J, K & L and Na is really not a bad fit. However, there are differing schools of thought amongst Sa competitors and the recent GSRA questionnaire asks this very question – where does Sa fit? Should it be with Lb or Na or should Group S be purely divisional ie. Sa with slower Sb and quicker Sb with Sc? 

Colin Golsmith in his Bugeye Sprite - pic Patrich Ilufi

Anyhow, at Eastern Creek we were second practice session on Saturday and my view was that the track was slippery no doubt due to the overnight rain and coolish conditions. I found the Elva a tad skittish (which is unusual) but managed a 2.05 first time out, which put me 12th on the grid for Race 1. Tony Caldersmith in his Elva Courier did a 2.01 for fourth fastest with only Barry Bates in the Lotus 15, John Medley in the Nota FJ and Greg Neal in the Plymouth Special quicker than him. Other Sa competitors were Geoff Morse in the Alpine and Andrew Gibson (TR3) in 10th and 11th respectively (time of 2.04), Brian Caldersmith (Elite) 14th and the remaining Sa guys in various positions spread amongst the J,K & L guys. Mike Dyer was having his first run in the ex Laurie Sellers (and Ed Holly) MGA now owned by Graham Hill – you work it out! 

I am afraid my version of the race was pretty much seeing the back of a certain white Elva Courier. Tony lost a few spots off the line to the “grey Holden” brigade and I managed to get by Gibson and Morse to catch Tony and stick to him like glue for the rest of the race. Dubois in the Anglia and Medley in the Nota FJ were initially in front of me but eventually DNF’d so the two Elva’s came in 7th and 8th overall (1st and 2nd in Sa) with Caldersmith retaining the upper hand to the finish line where the margin was a mere 2/10th of a second. (Our fastest laps were also very close with Tony achieving a 2.00.15 and myself a 2.00.18). Gibson came in 9th overall (3rd in Sa) with Mike Dyer in the white with red sides MGA right behind. The race was won by Greg Neal in the big Plymouth Special (Group K) with Paul Armstrong (Jewitt Holden) and Mick Arnold (Sharp Holden) in 2nd and 3rd place overall. 

Our next event on Sunday morning was a handicap race and I started in a group that included six or seven cars. I started out of position 27 and managed a fairly good start. Unfortunately, on Lap 1 the Sharp Holden of Mick Arnold spun right in front of me and hit the wall quite hard at Turn 5. After that, I just put my head down and went for it. Came 6th overall with Col Goldsmith (Sprite) just ahead in 5th – we were first and second in Group Sa. Mike Dyer and Geoff Morse were behind me by a couple of seconds. I don’t really like handicaps but this was an exception and found it most enjoyable as I got more accustomed to what the Elva can (and can’t) do at Eastern Creek.

Our feature race on Sunday afternoon was a fiasco from the start. Our positions on the dummy grid looked odd as soon as we were directed to them. This was a scratch race with starting positions supposedly being the finishing order from our first scratch race on Saturday. Unfortunately, the grid positions had been taken from the finishing order of the handicap race and no amount of gesticulation or frustrated comments by the competitors could get it changed. This was a potentially dangerous situation as some of the quicker cars that had not managed to get through the traffic in the handicap race were starting well back and we knew all would eventually converge at Turn 2!!! 

Mike Dyer MGA - pic Patrich Ilufi

Fortuitously, all survived the infamous Turn 2 with a little bit of pushing, shoving and jostling for position. On Lap 2, Geoff Morse received a nudge at Turn 1 that sent him off the track at very high speed and off the dial. (Geoff says these J,K,L guys play too rough compared to us well mannered Sa people!). Once composed and back on track, he managed a 2.02 in the old Alpine to get back in touch. I reckon that after 22 years of racing the Alpine now has more bog in it than metal and that’s why it is going so well!! This was after his “you beaut” roller rockers had busted on Saturday and were replaced by standard rockers – who needs ‘em? 

After getting up to second place for half a lap or so, Barry Bates in the Lotus 15 got by me, followed by Armstrong (Jewitt Holden) and then Medley (Nota FJ). I finished fourth (1st Sa) behind this trio with Henry Walker in the Nalla Holden closing fast for fifth place. Andrew Gibson (TR3) was next Sa car in 8th, Paul Savoy in the stunning silver Porsche 356 in 9th and Tony Caldersmith (Elva) in 10th. Mike Dyer (MGA) came in 13th with Bruce Mansell in the Elite in 14th with Morsey, Reg Darwell (Alpine) and Colin Goldsmith (Sprite) in 15th, 16th and 17th. Richard Rose (MGA) and Mike Gunnell (Healey 3000) were a tad further back but finished well. 

The ramifications of the incorrect gridding of the feature race ie. primarily safety and, less importantly, trophy presentations and pointscore have been discussed with HSRCA and the error has been well noted. This is due to be discussed at the next Registrar’s Meeting to implement procedures to ensure that it is not repeated. The organisers have a great deal to do at these meetings and while the entries were a bit lower than anticipated I think it ran very smoothly. 

I watched all the Sb/Sc races including the 25 lapper and enjoyed them very much. I am sure these will be reported in detail elsewhere.

Rick Marks

Phillip Island Historics, 11-12 February 2006, by Rick Marks

I have been a spectator and Group S groupie at the Phillip Island Historic Racing for the past three years and each year say "I will run at the event next year" - the time finally had come to put my credit card where my mouth was. The Elva Courier, which had performed admirably at Wakefield in November was duly entered, prepped, locked and loaded.

Having not entered the Friday practice sessions for varying reasons (but that’s another story), my first "in car" sight of the full circuit, other than on TV or on our Playstation 2, was on Saturday morning for qualifying. Our Sb/Sc buddies had a very wet practice and Col Goldsmith and I were patting each other on the back saying how clever we were to run in Group Sa. Our group, combined with some fabulous Lb sports and racing cars from here and overseas (Lister Jag, Maserati 250F, Allards, Kurtis 500, Coopers, Lotus XV etc) was third last qualifying session and the track would, of course, be dry by then. Right? WRONG….

My initial stage fright at this whole daunting PI experience was capped off first by light spots of rain, followed by heavier, bigger spots and then the whole nine yards! Bruce Mansell in the Elite, beside me on the dummy grid, turned and said "Thank heavens for a closed car" while I struggled to find the hidden umbrella in the open topped Elva – shades of Wakefield Park last November.

There is good and bad news about a wet qualifying session when you are a track virgin. The good news is that everyone else is having their own problems keeping their car on the track while my problem was not knowing the track at all AND keeping the car on the track as well. Therefore, my incompetence was fairly well hidden. The bad news is that some of the quicker Lb cars mentioned above did not qualify further up the grid where they belong and VHRR don’t run progressive grids. That meant a pretty mixed bag for the first scratch race on Saturday afternoon which would be the same for the feature race on Sunday.

Despite all this, I qualified 18^th out of 35 cars, fellow NSW punters Bruce Mansell (Elite) on 23^rd and Col Goldsmith (Sprite) on 32^nd. Rob Rowland in the Sa Healey 3000 had a blinder and was on pole. Steve Schuler in the ex Thallon Corvette qualified 21st while the Victorian big Healeys of Pike and Kent were on 11^th and 15^th respectively. It’s not too often that two Allard J2’s, a Kurtis 500 Indy Car, a Cooper Climax, Cooper Bristol plus a Corvette and Elfin GTS all start behind a PI novice in an Elva Courier!

Start of race 1 saw the Giddings Maserati 250F stall on the line. Barry Bates in the Lotus XV was in front of me but got baulked by the stalled Maser and I got a good run up the inside of him. Was a tad tentative around