33rd
Historic Winton
29-31 May 2009, Winton Motor Raceway
The
2009 Historic Winton, the 33rd running of this event was staged to
honour the memory of the Late Lou Molina. One of my fond childhood
memories of Lou in competition was seeing him with his Bugatti Brescia.
So
to honour Lou's memory I joined a group of Bugatti owners on the Friday
of the event for a leisurely drive from central Melbourne to the event
in regional Victoria. Team Bugatti comprised of Neil Murdoch, Adam
Berryman and Andrew Cannon, and me in my equally priceless! MGB GT.
Each of the cars in our group has a significant history.
The
Murdoch Brescia is a one owner car - been in the Murdoch family since
new, and could possibly be the only one owner Bug in the world. This
car has recently been restored to a symphatic condition under Neil's
guidance. Although I mentioned earlier that I had joined a Bugatti
drive, Adam Berryman did not bring his 37A as it is currently undergoing
an engine freshen up, so Adam chose to bring his MG K3 from 1933.
The
K2's significance lies in its chassis number 002, which took part
in that year's Mille Miglia. Andrew Cannon chose to bring his Bugatti
37A, which has a unique history on both sides of the world. This car
won the Duke and Duchess of York Trophy at Brooklands, was driven
by one of the famous lady Bugatti drivers in the late 20's, and also
Dick Seaman. The car was later fitted with a Ballamy independent front
suspension, and remains the only Bugatti in the world to have such
a component.
The
day started for Andrew and I at his Melbourne laneway office for a
cup of tea. We met up with Neil and Adam at Whittelsea where from
here we drove in convoy to the Flowerdale Hotel. This section of the
drive was simply awe-inspiring as we were driving through many devastated
areas of the February bushfires. It was interesting to see re-growth
already well advanced.
The
four of us parked along the front of the hotel and went in for a typical
pub lunch. The cars attracted some interest from patrons, who fortunately
were given a couple of spare weekend passes by Cannon.
We
hit the road again, this time with a driver swap as Berryman and Cannon
swapped cars - unfortunately for me (probably fortunate for Neil)
was that we did not swap cars. Maybe next time. On our journey towards
our destinations we stopped at the iconic Tatong Pub. After consuming
an ale or two here we made our departure as the sun began to set.
A
fabulous day to commence what was to be undoubtedly the best Historic
Winton yet.
Berryman
and Cannon were both competing in the J & K races - for pre-war
racing cars. Both were further back and not in contention, however,
some spectators commented on how Cannon managed to stay in the car
as he enthusiastically egged the Bugatti on around the corners by
leaning out the car. The action up the front was quite fearsome between
Graeme Raper (Ford Monoskate) and Jim "Stumpy" Russell (Ford
V8 Special), although Stumpy didn't quite have the power to hold on
to the Raper car. John Payne (MG J2), Rod McMullin (Ford V8 Indy Special)
and Mark Woodberry (Dodge Special) all tussled for the last podium
place.
Group
S races for the weekend were an eye opener with the emergence of the
Tony Karanfilovski and his Alfetta GTV on the front row alongside
the Porsche 911 of Terry Lawler. The corner layout of the Winton track
definitely attracts cars like the Alfetta to the pointy end of the
field. Lawler and Karanfilovski had a race long battle in all scratch
races, while Brian Weston (MG Midget) held on to third with little
competition. Peter Jackson (Austin Healey 3000) held off constant
battle from the Porsche 911 of John Asbhy.
Jervis
Ward made an awful start to the first Group Nb race from the front
row, falling back to about 10th place by the first corner, hence leaving
Henry Draper(Mini Cooper S) all on his lonesome. The hard charging
Ward soon made up for his poor start and was battling with Draper
for the lead by the final lap, but was piped by Draper at the post.
It
was good to see the 1934 MG L-Type of Warwick Anderson completing
it’s first full weekend of racing without too many dramas. This
is thanks mainly to changing compression ratios and pistons in the
Offenhauser engine to allow for normal petrol as opposed to alcohol.
The car completed approx. 45 laps over the three days with Warwick
in regularity on Sunday only and Greg Smith racing in the J &
K class for the three days.
The
weekend was topped off by glorious weather with record crowds –
which in fact eclipsed the V8 Supercar crowds two weeks beforehand.
This further strengthens the interest in the historic racing movement
in recent times.
Numerous
photos available in the Gallery -
click here
