McLarens, Touring Cars & More at the Phillip Island Classic

Arguably Australia’s best historic motorsport event is held every year by the Victorian Historic Racing Register at one of the most beautiful tracks in the country.  Just like last year, my aim was to focus on a handful of cars and tell the stories of their owners and racing history.

During the months before, a handful of special race cars would be announced to be making the trek to Phillip Island, and I knew I would have to feature a few of these.  Additionally, I knew there were a few entrants that I saw last year I wanted to interview as well, but of course, you never know what you’re going to find tucked away at an event like this.

After looking around the paddock, I narrowed down nine cars I wanted to spotlight during the two days I had at this year’s Phillip Island Classic.

10 F5000s would make the journey over trek New Zealand, 4 of those being McLarens.  I’m always drawn to a green racecar and STP sponsorship, so Frank Karl’s McLaren M10B-400 18S is the first cab off the rank.  

First raced by Mike Walker in 1970 competing in the Guards European F5000 Championship, it was raced by multiple drivers the following season, then was sent to South Africa in 1972 where it was raced by Mike Domingo.  The series in South Africa came to an end in 1975, leading to the car being stripped for parts.

All that was left was the tub, when a man called Duncan Fox brought what was left of the car to New Zealand.  Frank Karl bought the project in 2004, and after many years of working on the car, he began racing it in 2015.

Engine and gearbox you just have to hunt around [for]… we’ve put a new block into it, shortly after the last time I was here it developed a water leak, the water jacket was leaking into the combustion chamber. The gearbox we found in Australia and the rest of it in actual fact was Duncan, he manufactured all of it. He’s a very clever man.” - Frank Karl

Describing what this car is like to drive, Frank chuckles at the thought:

It’s exhilarating. It’s not a particularly difficult car to drive but it is hard work, especially for us old guys. But no, it’s quite stable, you know your own limits.  Still enjoying it!” - Frank Karl

The whole New Zealand McLaren group had one goal for the Phillip Island festival weekend:

“To finish. [To] come away from the end [of the weekend] without any breakages because… all the McLarens are going to Albert Park for fast demonstration laps.” - Frank Karl

One of the most eye-catching cars of this year’s Phillip Island Classic was the big winged McLaren M10A-300 owned by Tony Roberts and originally based of the F1 McLaren M7A. The 5-litre Chevrolet engine puts out 540 horsepower, and oil is fed via a dry sump connected to a Weaver pump that holds 8 litres of oil.

This is chassis number 9, built by Trojan it was sent to the U.S in July of 1969 to be first owned by Bob Esseks. Its first outing was at Road America with Sam Posey at the wheel.  Unfortunately, this M10A was crashed in 1970, meaning it has one of the shorter careers. The car was totally restored, and Tony Roberts bought the car from the USA in 2014.

We’ve done quite a lot to it since then. We changed motors… typical American it had a six litre aluminium motor in it.. which was completely outside the regulations.” - Tony Roberts

The previous owners had also added a lot of extras to the car that added weight, so Tony has gotten rid of all that.  The car now weighs 700kg, but the high rear wing alone weighs 13kg.

Another McLaren I was itching to see on track was the Can-Am M8B-1, but unfortunately it roared to life during the two days I wasn’t there.

That M8B that’s there, that’s really special. There’s only two of them in the world. That one was Denny Hulme’s car… and that is the most successful car that McLaren has ever built.”     - Tony Roberts

Other than the beautiful fleet of F5000 cars, and the two angry McLaren Can-Am’s, four 1990’s Supertourers were brought over from New Zealand with this 1995 Ford Mondeo being the odd one out among the BMW’s.

German Super Touring team ‘Wolf’ were one of three teams to run the Ford Mondeo during the 1995 championship.  The team didn’t do so well in DTM Class 2 even with experienced driver Claudia Hurtgen (who still races today) at the wheel.  Their best result was 14th, with the unreliable car, but what the Rouse and Wolf teams did with the drivetrain is what’s most notable.

The car was built as a 4WD car, it's still got a diff carrier in the rear.  So, Rouse (Touring Car Team) tried to build 4WD Mondeos and couldn’t make them work, Rouse tried front drive, rear drive, four drive, and went to front, and I think Wolf did the same thing...  I think because of the extra weight of the drivetrain, and weight is the enemy in racing.” - Scott O’Donnell 

Scott isn’t sure what happened to this Wolf Mondeo after the 1995 season, but he found the car in a shed in Italy and has had the car since 2017 (mind you, Scott has four Supertouring Mondeos so I’m sure he was out looking for it).  ​

The car was very complete and ran, and the body condition you see it in is how he found it.  Scott did have to give it some “love and attention” however, including refreshing the drivetrain.

I think what happened to a lot of these cars, they all went and became hill climb cars in Europe. And when we got it, it sat very high.” - Scott O’Donnell

Years before the Wolf Mondeo was even a thought in German Touring car racing, there were the Mercedes Benz 190Es, including this DTM racer prepared by Helmet Marko’s team - RSM Marko - that competed in the 1986 Bathurst 1000 when Bob Jane purchased the car.

The Bob Jane T-Marts team entered two 190Es, this one was driven by Denny Hulme and Franz Klammer who finished 9th overall.  The other 190E was slightly more modified and was to be driven by Andrew Miedecke and Jorg Van Ommen, but it crashed on the first lap of the race.

The pair of 190E’s would be later purchased by racing driver Phil Ward, who notably brought the 190E in question to a class victory at the 1990 Bathurst 1000 with John Goss as co-driver.

The pair of 190E’s were later sold and sent over to the U.S but were barely used.  Meon Nehrybecki (owner of the 1989 Group A Toyota Supra) found the cars at a Mercedes dealer in 2012.  Andrew Miedecke has restored the car cosmetically back to 1986 Bathurst colours, as James Ward (son of Phil Ward) has completed all the mechanical work.  

Since the cars journey to the U.S, this year’s Phillip Island Classic would be its first race meeting.  ​

It was pretty scary in the first session, it was all over the place. The springs were totally wrong, so we’ve got what we think is a setup that will change the handling characteristics.  It’s not that fast, only 270hp and 1100kg… but it’s a ball to drive.” - Andrew Miedecke

Both Scott O’Donnell’s Wolf Mondeo and Andrew Miedecke’s 190E would be put into the Group A category during the Phillip Island Classic and wouldn’t be the only Group A car I’d dive into.  Colin Bond’s 1988 Ford RS500 Sierra is a popular sight wherever it goes.  In the Historic Group A category, you have to nominate a race meeting that your car will appear as, meaning this Ford RS500 Sierra is in its 1988 Bathurst 1000 specifications.

Colin Bond raced a Ford Sierra in 1987, yet this was the first RS500 Sierra that he built, with the second car now being owned by Jonathon Webb and his family.  2016 Bathurst Winner Jonathon Webb was also here at Phillip Island in the full red Caltex coloured RS500 Sierra.

The car competed from 1988 to 1992 in ATCC Group A, before Colin Bond sold the car to one of his sponsors, where the car competed in Sports Sedans.  During its time in Sports Sedans, the Cosworth engine was removed, and a Buick engine was mid-mounted in the car.  A collector bought the car with aspirations to restore it he found the Sierra in a shed, but that never materialised.  So, after an extra 15 years collecting dust, current owner Chris Stillwell bought the car.

What we started with was a bit tragic, [now] the car is a really genuine representation of what it was like at Bathurst in ‘88.” - Chris Stillwell

Chris’ aim was to restore and retain the authenticity from multiple seasons of Group A competition.  After four years of work with assistance, the result is a 500ph historic Bathurst 1000 competitor.  You might be wondering how one goes about restoring a car to exact race specifications, well Chris has to thank Colin Bond and others for that.

We were very lucky that we had the last of the DJR Sierras we were racing while we were restoring this.  Colin came down to the shop one day… and went through and said, ‘Yeah my car was exactly the same as Dick’s so copy that’ or, roll bars for example he said, ‘no we didn’t do that, we did it this way’.  Colin was really generous with his time.” - Chris Stillwell

Colour photographs taken inside and out from a motoring magazine who completed a road test with this Colin Bond Sierra, also helped in the restorations.  As others found out about the restoration of the car, parts that had been owned by collectors were also bought back.

I’m a Ford guy, I’ve raced Mk1 Cortinas, Mk1 Ford Escorts, and it’s interesting when you get in the [RS500 Sierra], you immediately know that it’s a Ford product because of the [engine] vibrations its got… The immediate reaction when I first drove this car was ‘Yeah it’s a small Ford’, it’s amazing.” - Chris Stillwell

The Group A field is always strong at the Phillip Island Classic, but this year, a special collection of V8 Supercars would also hit the track.  I’m a sucker for anything in Castrol colours, so from the bunch of modern nostalgia, this beautiful Ford Falcon AU, raced by Tony Longhurst was always going to be my favourite.

Two-time Bathurst champion Tony Longhurst competed in chassis LR0199 in 19 rounds of the V8 Supercars championship between 1999 and 2001.  The car was used in all 13 championship rounds of the 1999 season, with Adam Macrow joining in as co-driver for Bathurst and the Queensland 500. 

The car was then sold to Alan Heath, who drove the car in 4 rounds of the 2000 season and at Adelaide and Bathurst in 2001, whilst also using the car to compete in the 2001 Konica Series (now known as Super2).

After its racing career, it would be owned by multiple private owners, who restored the car from the ground up, keeping all the original parts.  This is where current owner Paul Smith enters the picture, purchasing the AU Falcon when it came up for auction in 2021.

One car that has caught my eye before, both at last year’s Phillip Island Classic and at the Rob Roy Revival was Joe Calleja’s 1965 Chevrolet Corvette with a mighty 7-litre V8 making all the right noises.

As most Corvettes do, it began its racing career competing in the U.S.A however it was then shipped across the Atlantic.  The big red Corvette raced across Europe including Portugal and Belgium and was owned by Jason Robinson (the English Rugby Union Captain at the time) who contracted Australia’s own Peter Brock to drive the car at Goodwood in 2005.

Joe Calleja bought the car in 2010 in race ready condition and has also raced the car at Goodwood and additionally at Laguna Seca.  During the Covid pandemic, Joe used the time to completely rebuild the car, which is now when I should mention that the 7-litre monster under the bonnet isn’t the original motor, rather bolted in by Joe and his team.

It has got disc [brakes] at the front.  They came out with discs in ‘65 so that’s a plus, but you know, there a difficult sixty-year-old car to drive. Great car to drive, a lot of fun.” - Joe Calleja

Last year, my favourite car was an Indycar, and this year is no different.  This Lola T8600 is the car that Al Unser Jr drove for Domino’s Pizza Team Shierson during the 1986 season, powered by the dominant V8 Cosworth powerplant.

Al Unser drove in that year's thrilling Indianapolis 500, leading six laps to finish 5th. During that year, 'Little Al' scored three podiums (Long Beach - 2nd, Quebec - 2nd & Portland - 3rd) as well as a win at the final round at Miami on his way to 4th in the championship standings.

It’s amazing, it’s got so much power, it’s sensational.” - Jason Clements

At seasons end, team owner Doug Shierson would put the Lola in his private collection.  Doug would pass away in 2004, and the car would be owned twice and used for the occasional club series event, before Graham Mein from NSW purchased the car in 2009.  Jason Clements has been the man behind the wheel ever since, but unfortunately only managed two laps at this year’s Phillip Island Classic.

Unfortunately, we’ve had a turbo fail on us this weekend, that’s why it’s in the trailer, but we’ll get it fixed and go again.” - Jason Clements

2024 would mark the 50th anniversary of the L34 Torana, and there were plenty of road going versions parked up around the Phillip Island circuit during the race weekend.  Rodney Hatfield and his L34 Torana are common sights at VHRR events, so I knew I had to feature his car for the anniversary.

This is the second Dustings Holden Dealership car after the first was written off at Bathurst.  It was raced in 1976 before being sold to Ian Mitchell who raced it for approximately 12 months.  The car was then sold as a road car, changing hands a couple of times before heading to Tasmania where Ian Johnson would set up the car for the Targa Rally before unveiling its history.

It was all yellow then, [Ian Johnson] rubbed the paintwork and found out it was three different colours.  One of the blokes over there sussed it out and found out it was Dustings.” - Rodney Hatfield

Rodney bought the car back in 2002 and has simply maintained the car, refreshing the motor every 250 hours, although parts are becoming tricky to find.

Another special L34 Torana would be in attendance, just not on track; the 1976 Bathurst winner driven by Bob Morris and John Fitzpatrick on display during all four days of the Phillip Island Classic.  

​​It was a nail-biting finish to the1976 edition of 'The Great Race', with John Fitzpatrick nursing the smoking Rod Hodgson backed Torana SLR/5000 to the finish as Colin Bond in another L34 closed in, but to no avail.

To end Friday, a group of colourful Aussie touring cars and others would drive from the track to Cowes for the yearly car show, with the L34 Torana being the main theme.  

I'm not sure there's anything cooler than purpose-built racecars driving through the streets among normal traffic.

There were still plenty of cars I wish I could have gone in depth about; the Gold Star winning Matich A 50, the Benson & Hedges sponsored E30 M3, a Group A Toyota Supra MK2 and quite a few Datsuns.  I could have planned it all out, but there was always going to be something else that caught my eye.  That’s why I’ll keep coming back.

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