2011
Historic Sandown - 4-6 November
Above
photo: The winners of the Historic Racing Australia
Group M & O race,No. 8 is Richard Carter's Elfin Mono, No. 53
is Laurie Bennett's Elfin 600B, and No.22 is the Elfin 600B of Andrew
Goldie.
The
twentieth Historic Sandown came with much expectation to deliver a
great event, and it did, entering its second decade as a historic
meeting in style.
Some
368 entries, with 32 Group C & A touring cars (the real mccoy
cars from the mid-80s to early-90s) who were to take part in the feature
15 lap race Sunday afternoon.
In
the lead up to this race, which started in a rolling start (practice
for the support races at the 2012 F1 AGP), David Holc driving his
ex. Gibbs GIO sponsors red Walkinshaw Commodore took the first two
race wins in dominant form. Troy Kelly was leading the 15 lap race
during the compulsory pit stop segment, however, a fast charging Holc
came up after losing the first place during his stop to take the win
from Kelly, and Norm Mogg in third – all in Walkinshaw Commodores.
In
the prize presentation, VHRR President Ian Tate & Vic-President
Noel Robson (also Chairman of the Historic Sandown committee) announced
the Driver of the Meeting award, which understandably went to David
Holc.
The
M & O grid put on some great racing, with regular front-runners
Laurie Bennett (Elfin 600B) and Richard Carter (Elfin Mono) having
to work for their positions over the weekend as Peter Strauss rolled
up his sleeves & took off the wings on the BT31 Repco Brabham
so he could join them, along with Andrew Golde from WA. Goldie has
recently purchased Richard Carter’s old drive, the Elfin 600B
and had no track time in this car prior to the Sandown event, although
is an experienced Formula Ford competitor.
Above
photo: Prize presentation for the Historic Racing Australia
sponsored Group M & O race Sunday afternoon. L-R - 2nd
place Laurie Bennett, announcer Don Kinsey AM, VHRR event Chairman
Noel Robson, Richard Carter & Andrew Goldie.
The
other recent Strauss acquisition, the ex. Davison Brabham BT11A was
to be driven by Jamie Larner, but no wheels prevented this, which
was the same for Norm Falkner who was to debut his newly restored
Elfin Mono. From the ACT, Peter Barclay also joined the front-runners
throughout the weekend in his Brabham BT21C.
Carter
won the Saturday race from Bennett & Strauss, however, it was
Strauss who turned the tables and took his maiden race win in the
BT31 on Sunday morning ahead of Bennett & Goldie with Carter retiring
on lap 4 with a suspected bent valve, notwithstanding the fact he
set fastest lap, just half a second shy of the Group O lap record,
which has stood since 2002 by Les Wright.
Carter
started from the back of the grid in the feature afternoon Bib Stillwell
Trophy race (coincidently sponsored by historicracing.com.au), stormed
through the field and on lap 4 smashed the aforementioned Les Wright
2002 lap record by 2 seconds, lapping a 1:15.82, and took the race
win by .4 seconds from Bennett (whose fastest lap equalled the previous
record), and Goldie rounding out the podium.
Above
photo: Paul Zazryn's Lola T332 F5000.
The
Bib Stillwell Trophy is for first Group M Racing home, and was taken
by the ex. Salvadori Cooper T53 Climax of Don Thallon, with wife Janette
accepting the trophy as Don was car-changing into the Corvette.
In
the pits he calculated that Kim Shearn’s recent overseas experience
in tghe Lotus 20/22 has proved well as he is no .47 second faster
this year, then in 2010 in the Lotus 18.
With
the introduction of the FFc class into Formula Ford this year we have
seen a big influx of entrants at meetings, and at Sandown a standalone
field of 31 cars hit the track. Mark Samson threw a new name into
the mix, but is one known to the Vic State Series in recent past.
He had entered his Van Dieman RF89 and took pole position after qualifying.
Jonathan Miles (Fb Reynard 82), however, took all three race wins,
but not without fierce driving from Samson, James Corzier (Fa Royale)
and Bo Jameson (Fb Reynard). Samson set a lap record for Fc at 1:22.35
& Crozier set a new Fa record pipping off Nick McDonald’s
time set in 2007 by less than a tenth with a 1:22.54 in the final
race.
Perry
Spiridis had trouble during qualifying and was on the fourth row,
not a usual place for the De Tomaso Pantera GTS. He quickly made up
for this, and led from the second lap in the first event, where he
stayed for all three races. The battle was on, however, behind him
with the Shelby GT 350s of Ian Ross and George Nittis keen to fill
the podium, but not without stiff competition from the second De Tomaso
Pantera of Ross Jackson, and with the exception of the first race,
the Corvette Stingray of Paul Blackie. At times the Shelby/De Tomaso
battles were side-by-side over the top of the old Rothmans Rise heading
into the esses.
After
putting on a solid front of field performance at the August Winton
Festival of Speed event, the third Shelby, the Group T car of Chad
Parish was narrowly in the top 10 during the weekend. Mark O’Neill
was the most solid of the MGs in the field across the weekend, event
with the sunroof closed!, and Jeff Thomas continues to improve in
the ex. Brian Potts Datsun 260Z.
The
historic touring car fields were grouped into Group Nb & Group
Nc for the weekend, as opposed to the over and under 3litre classes
of the 2010 event. In the Group Nb field Bill Trengrove was the man
to beat in his Ford Mustang, and in fact, the Mustang was the car
of choice for the front runners with the top 3 in the first, top 6
in the second & top 5 in the third being Ford Mustang entrants.
The
battle of the weekend in this class must go to the two front cars
of Trengrove and Andrew Cannon who drove away from the rest in the
first two races and hard a close fought battle, which on one occasion
got a bit too close on the main straight. Trangrove developed some
electrical issues and started from the back of the grid in the final
race. Cannon was not set to wait for him though, and romped away from
Andy Clempson & Alan Shearer, but in the 8 laps it was only a
matter of time before Trengrove fought his way through all but one
car in the field, but needed another lap or two as he finished 3 seconds
behind Cannon, with Cannon taking his first Group Nb win since 1995
at Eastern Creek.
Darryl
Hansen was too good in the Group Nc races, taking all thee in his
Fastback Mustang, ahead of the Trans-Am Mustang of Frazer Ross. The
minor placings were taken by the Mustangs of Leo Tobin in the first
& Harry Bargwanna in the second two.
A
lot of great positives thus far in the review of the 20th Historic
Sandown, but there is one big concern loaming that was shown in the
pre-war, early post-war races for Groups J, K & L. There were
less than 20 entries. The cars represented, however, were of very
good quality. Whilst not at the pointy end of the field a weekend
long battle for the Group J class ensued between the Bugatti T35C
of George Hetrel & the Riley Brooklands of Ron Brownrigg, with
the Riley quicker on the day.
Up
the front Dick Willis brought the Mildren Cooper and played around
a bit as his car had far superior speed than the rest of the field,
having a dice with the Elva Courier of Ian McDonald. Sam Dymond fought
hard in the Lola Mk1 to hold off Stumpy Russell (Ford V8) and the
Cooper Bobtail of Nick Daunt, but Daunt, however, took the final spot
on the podium in the final event. Tony Osborne debuted in the Simca
Special, as he is still sourcing a replacement engine for the Riley
9.
The
writer didn’t see much of the Group P, Q, R & F5000 racing
for the weekend due to pit crewing commitments for father Simon in
the MG races, but did hold his breath when Bryan Sala stalled the
Matich A53 on the start of the Sunday morning race. Still, no one
can get close it seems to the 2003 lap record set by Roger Williams
from NZ at 1:08.33 – the tp runners were all about 4 seconds
off.
Darcy
Russell (Lola T330) had the most successful weekend of all taking
both Sunday race wins, firstly from Paul Zazryn (Lola T332) and Rob
Tweedie (Elfin MS7), then Tweedie & Tony Floreani (Elfin MR5).
Above
photo: The Division One regularity cars get ready for action in the
marshalling area. L-R: Tom ffrench - Morgan Plus 4, Trevor Montgomery
- Alfa Romeo 6C, Simon Rogers - MGB Roadster & Michael Ban - Sunbeam
Alpine.
The
regularity events put on another great display of rare exotica, particularly
in Division 1 (the not so fast cars) where the quickest was the most
regular in the final, with Ray Delaney driving the Clive Smith owned
Maserati 250F CM. There were two further cars from the Clive Smith
stable, the Alfa 8C Monza replica, and the Austin Healey 100S. The
100S was joined by two others from SA of the Tonys – Parkinson
& Jarvis. The L-Type MG of Warwick Anderson was back on track
after a re-build of the Offenhauser engine by Greg Smith due to an
unresolvable oil leak at the rear of the engine, however, we only
got to see the Offy twice during the weekend due to Warwick’s
auctioneering commitments.
As
Historic Sandown moves into its third decade it may now be time to
reflect on focusing on where the meeting is moving, particularly what
its marketing potential is. Should it forget its past and drop the
early classes, or perhaps re-group and put some effort into retaining
a race meeting catering for the total mix of historic categories.
I certainly hope they go with the latter. It would be a shame to lose
the J, K & L cars from this event.
