Standouts from Winton's Festival of Speed

Each year, the UK's Goodwood Festival of Speed garners international attention as one of the biggest celebrations of both the auto industry and motorsport world.  In Victoria, the VHRR hold multiple historic meetings including, of sorts, Australia's own Festival of Speed.  You won't find the newest hypercars, or race winning Formula 1 legends, but rather plenty of Aussie raced touring cars, unique machines and side by side racing.

​​Teams, owners and their families would trailer their historic racecars - sometimes interstate - on the Friday, into country Victoria, arriving at Winton Motor Raceway.  Early arrivals would get the chance to practice on the 3km track before qualifying and racing began.  

Friday also gave those fans who were present a sneak peek at most of the competitors for this year's installment of country Victoria's take on the Festival of Speed, including a few that would only hit the track for practice.  I knew there was something not quite right underneath this mad Datsun 1600, and I was correct, with a turbocharged SR20 up front.

Graeme Stevenson's XD Falcon Tribute to the 1983 Bathurst entry of John English and Paul Gulson also caught my eye during practice.  A Ford Falcon with a blue and white livery makes for a perfect combination.  Graeme purchased a road going XD Falcon five years ago, planning to move beyond the Regularity class that he was currently in, driving his Allan Moffat 1979 Hardtop Replica.  Whilst in the building process, a new Tribute class would be formed, influencing Graeme's build.  The car is closest to a Group C car, however underneath, it's a bit more advanced.

The underpinnings of Graeme's XD are the 351ci Cleveland engine and four-speed gearbox, sending all the power to the nine-inch differential.  Covid-19 made the building process of the car difficult, luckily, Graeme had the car at home, giving him more time to work on all the fabrication and building of the engine.  Still, the car was only finished two days before the Festival of Speed began, and still needs some more work.  As he came off track, the oil pressure dropped, leaving Graeme to park the car for the weekend.

It needs a lot of setting up still yet.  But we've had issues with the oiling system, the oil pressure dropped away as I came off the track, and it started to shed bearings.  So rather than destroy the motor, I parked it for the weekend, and I'll pull it down and see what's going on inside the motor." - Graeme Stevenson

Speaking of Group C cars, I was able to get a closer look at the Berklee Exhaust Mazda RX7 that I've photographed before at the Phillip Island Classic.  It competed in the 1983 and 1984 ATCC seasons being driven by Ron Grose, David Grose and Chris Clearihan.  After the '84 season, the car was sold to Stephen Swain in Tasmania, and in the nineties, Wayne Smith purchased the RX-7 and used it to compete in Improved Production.  

​​The rotary touring car would be sold again in the 2000's to John Douglas who restored the car back to its Group C specifications and in this car, Douglas won the 2014 Group C Heritage Touring Car Championship.  Phillip Verwoert bought the car a year later before it was sold to current owner-driver Don Dimitradis in 2021.

Another Japanese Group C car was also both at the Phillip Island Classic and Winton Festival of Speed.  Before seeing it earlier this year, I had no idea that Nissan had made a Touring Car version of their small Pulsar Exa model.  Built by Nissan in 1983, it too competed in the 1983-84 ATCC seasons including the Sydney based AMSCAR championship, with Christine Gibson behind the wheel.  At the 1983 Bathurst 1000, Gibson was paired with Bob Miur and would only make it 14 laps before retiring.  She would be joined by Glenn Seton the following year but would unfortunately retire on lap 76.  After the 1984 season, the Exa was used in Sports Sedans and eventually, Fred Gibson bought the car back for his museum.

It was really made for a promotional exercise to bring on the turbo technology along with the Bluebirds."  - Justin Nilsson

Terry Ashwood bought the Gibson collection that included the Pulsar Exa,​ racing them and displaying them in his own museum near Bathurst until circa 2009, when the Exa was sold to current owner Justin Nilsson.  The car came in an "as raced" condition, with Justin deciding to put back the 1984 striped livery onto the Pulsar, as well as working on the 1.5 litre turbocharged engine.  Early on in Justin's ownership, the car has suffered gearbox issues, so Justin plans on getting a new one from Hollinger, who made the gearboxes during the Pulsar's time in ATCC, as it currently runs a standard gearbox.

It's something different... Front wheel drive, locked diff, big slicks, it's kind of hard [to drive], trying to get rid of the torque steer which [Nissan] did a good job at.  It's a different mindset to the bigger capacity cars." - Justin Nilsson

One touring car I knew I had to take a closer look at was the bold yellow Alfa Romeo GTV 6 now owned by Monza Motorsports.  Originally built by Luigi Racing in Belgium for Auto Delta (Alfa Romeo's racing department), it was victorious in its division in the 1983 European Touring Car Championship.  Alfa Romeo Australia would buy the GTV 6 for Colin Bond Racing to use in the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship with Alan Jones driving the car before returning to Formula 1 mid-season, with Colin Bond taking the wheel.  Alan Jones' skill made sure the Alfa Romeo was fighting among the heavyweights, including starting on the front row at Winton, and fourth on the power-hungry circuit of Sandown.

Enrico Zanrini who was the chief of Alfa Romeo in Australia, he said to Jones 'you get in that car, and you drive it, we don't care, drive as hard as you can'.  And he did, every time he come back in get a new gearbox or get a new tailshaft, he drove it hard, so he did very well in the car." - Hugh Harrison

With Gregg Hansford as co-driver, the pair drove the Alfa to 8th outright in the 1985 Bathurst 1000, victorious in their class.  1986 would be the second and final season for this GTV 6 in Australian Touring Car competition as new Group A rules made Colin Bond replace the GTV 6's with the Alfa Romeo 75 the following year​.  In 1988, Hugh Harrison purchased the car and used it to compete in Sports Sedans until 1992 when he painted it back to its original racing warpaint.  

In between the Alfa Romeo Australia ownership and Hugh Harrison's acquisition of the car, Frank Porter from Alfa City owned the car and changed the panels to fiberglass and the windows to plastic.​  During the Alfa's time in Sports Sedans, a 3.3 litre V6 ran up front but now, the original 2.5 litre V6 is back where it belongs along with the steel panels and glass.  Most recently, Valtteri Bottas drove the car at last year's Adelaide Festival of Motorsport, meaning two F1 race winners have now driven this Alfa Romeo GTV 6.  Oh, and it's a surprisingly quick little thing too!

It's awesome, a piece of Alfa History, or you know Group A racing history.  It's a lovely car to drive, being European they drive exceptionally well anyway, and you watch it around [Winton] the car qualified 10th out of 32 cars here today." - Hugh Harrison

Trevor Sheumack​'s BMW 318i Supertourer wasn't the only European touring car that had garnered attention prior to the event.  Another sedan spotted at the Phillip Island Classic,  Sheumack purchased the Supertourer from New Zealand earlier this year.  Originally raced by Johnny Cecotto at Monza during the 1993 FIA World Touring Car Cup it was shipped to Australia a year later.  Paul Morris used it in the two-litre series at the time as Craig Baird and Brett Riley drove it 11th in the 1994 Bathurst 1000.

Kiwi's Dennis and Debbie Chapam were next to acquire the car, racing the BMW in the 1999 Bathurst 500 and 2002 Bathurst 24 Hours and had been situated in New Zealand until this year.

Like seemingly all historic motorsport weekends in Victoria, touring cars and other assorted tin tops were joined by a full grid of classic Formula Fords and Vees as well as a handful of unique open wheel and open cockpit racecars.

The March 74S​ was a prototype racer for Group 5 sports car competition made of a fiberglass body and an aluminium monocoque.  This example raced in Europe in 1976 and 1977, before heading over to the USA with Virtusio Racing.  The chassis is a March 73S that includes a BMW M12/7 four cylinder making all the power, with the body and aerodynamics being made in 1974, dubbed 74S.

One of the most exciting races each year at Winton's Festival of Speed are those dished out by Group N.  You might have watched YouTube videos of Mini Coopers battling horsepower hungry muscle cars, and that's exactly what you get in Group N.  The twisty corners of Winton are perfect for low power yet nimble cars such as Minis and Cortinas, who put up a fair fight against Camaros and Mustangs who will have the upper hand coming down Winton's long straights.

However, the category that caught the attention of most, was the striking grid of Historic Sports Sedans.   Beginning in the mid 1960's, the class became a mixture of modified production and Group C touring cars, and space frame rocket ships, making for some crazy racecars.

Those of note, a 13B Rotary swapped Ford Anglia - which was also the first car ever sponsored by Supercheap Auto - and a rear engined, highly modified VW Fastback.  Oh yeah, and about engine placement, open the bonnet to almost all of these Sports Sedans and you won't find one.  That's because in most, it's positioned right next to the driver, surrounded by a firewall.

Even among the vibrant and diverse field of Sports Sedans, Nick Crocitti's 1957 Chevrolet Coupe stood out in a good way, looking more suited to a drag strip rather than a twisty circuit track.  Better yet, it's pretty much brand new, with Nick purchasing the shell approximately 14 months ago, and the Festival of Speed being the car's maiden outing.  Nick's original plan after cutting up the shell and keeping the bits he needed was to turn it into an American Stock Car, but after speaking to the crew at the Historic Sports Sedans, the build would head in a different direction.

With a new goal for the project, the 327ci Chevrolet engine had to be moved back and the driving configuration also had to be changed.  Even though the car is only a year old, Nick has done everything he can to make it accurate for the 70s/80s Sports Sedan period with a live rear axle and a conventional 4 speed gearbox.  And boy does it look the part, both in the pits and on the racetrack.

However, it would be rude of me to talk about Sports Sedans and not mention the Mercedes 450 SLC, built by Peter Fowler in 1979 with support from the community in Shepparton.  John Bowe was the first to drive the wide Benz before handing over driving duties to Brad Jones after a single season.  After then withdrawing the car from competition for a few years, Bryan Thompson purchased the car and upgraded the engine to a D-Stroke Chevrolet with twin turbochargers.  With the new engine package, Thompson went on to win the 1985 Australian GT Championship.  

Now, a six-litre Chevrolet V8 with LUCAS fuel injection sits next to the driver, with a LG600 5-speed transaxle sending power to the rear.  Current owner Simon Pfizner bought the car approximately seven years ago and has tidied up the bodywork and running gear since then, making sure the Mercedes is as reliable as possible.  

I love [Historic Sports Sedans], just great to see old race cars from the 70's early 80's, lots of shapes, colours with different engines, different schemes, different shapes." - Simon Pfizner

I want to finish with the quote above from Simon, because he sums up perfectly why historic racing as a whole is popular.  You get a taste of the many ways people approached competition, and is something that motorsport categories of today, should take into consideration.

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