Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport

One week before the Australian Grand Prix (7-9 March) the Victorian Historic Racing Register (VHRR) ran its annual Classic Festival of Motorsport at Phillip Island for the 36th time at one of the most picturesque tracks in the world.  As last year, the Australian summer skies were clear blue and the weather in the mid 30s each day.  There was practice on the Thursday before the event then qualifying and the first racing on Friday.  Peter R Hill reports…

Despite a clash of dates with the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, the VHRR attracted 350 entries to fill the grids of ten categories.  Two non-race categories were included.  Australians love their V8 Saloon racers, and the organisers catered for these by offering a Super Sprint event where cars aim to get the fastest laps without wheel-to-wheel racing.  This allows a field of great looking cars with famous period liveries to run and be enjoyed by the spectators, even though many are “tribute” cars, as opposed to real period race cars.  There are also less stringent licence requirements for a sprint event.

The other non-race category was the Regularity event, which always brings out a big field of interesting cars — this year there was a total of 62 starters.

There were fewer overseas drivers than in previous years, but Ernie Nagamatsu returned bringing his stunning Dave McDonald lightweight Corvette.  Perennial English visitor Andy Newell was back to race an RF86 Van Diemen, joining a healthy field of thirty Formula Fords.  He finished in the top ten.

English couple Keith Ahlers and his wife Sue shipped his 1962 Le Mans class winning Morgan Plus 4 and Sue’s polished aluminium Lola Mk 1 prototype for preparer and Ahlers’ regular co-driver Billy Bellinger to drive.  There were dramas for this team when, despite having shipped the cars from the UK in mid-December, they only arrived in Melbourne on the Friday of the meeting.  Regular racer in the UK, Laurie Bennett, provided his McLaren M1 for Keith and Billy to use in practice.  He then facilitated the release of their cars very early on Saturday morning.  They finally got them on-track on Saturday afternoon.  Both cars ran in Regularity as well as their race categories, so they still enjoyed plenty of time on the circuit.

As there were only seven Formula 5000s entered they joined a mixed category of 24 single-seaters that included the Guido Belgiorno-Nettis Formula 1 Ferrari 156/85 turbo, a 3.8 litre Formula Holden, an F3000 Ralt 21 and two groups of up to two-litres from the early 1970s and 1980s.  V8 Supercar driver Thomas Randall returned to his single-seater roots racing the Formula Holden.  He finished in the top five.  The Ferrari was uncatchable even though both Paul Zazryn in his F5000 Lola T332 and Vince Holland in his Ralt RT21 F3000 kept the red car in their sights.  They each settled for a second place over the weekend.  

For the five litre Touring car events there was a strong field of 27 cars entered.  Australians loved the battles between Fords and Holdens over the decades, most famously at Bathurst.  This field had many cars sporting famous period liveries.  On Saturday 19-year-old Bailey Collins posted a very quick 1:34.85 in his Jack Daniels Holden VE Commodore, but he failed to start the subsequent sprints leaving Ben Eggleston (Holden VZ), 15-year-old Ryan Wyhoon (Ford FG), Martin Wagg (Holden VF) and Allan Nash (Holden Commodore) to share the top places with times in the 1:37 and 1:38 bracket.

As always Formula Fords provided the closest racing.  Nicholas McBride in his Swift FB89 proved to be unbeatable except for a DNF in Race 4.  McBride also took the Larry Perkins Cup, the feature event named in honour of Australia’s past Formula Ford champion and F1 driver.

Production sports cars were catered for in two groups with names that reflected their size.  The Mosquito Squadron boasted an entry of 32 cars, although by Sunday only 24 cars faced the starter.  An interesting assortment included gaggles of Austin Healeys, MGs, Triumphs and Alfa Romeos.  These were joined by a couple of Ferrari 308 GT4s, a brace of Datsun 2000s, a couple of Porsche 911s and Fiat 124s.  An Elva Courier and a Ginetta G4 Mk3 added some rarity.  In the first two races Damien Daley’s Datsun 2000 beat the similar car of John Geist, but Steven Byrnes’ Ginetta was third and set the fastest lap.  In race two the Ginetta split the two Datsuns and prevailed outright in the last two races, beating Daley’s Datsun and the Triumph TR6 of Geoffrey Byrne.

The Bomber Squadron included heavyweights and provided much entertaining racing: six Corvettes, 11 Porsches – mainly 3 litre Carreras, four Alfa Romeo GTVs and three Datsun 240Z.  There were a few tiddlers included in the field of 35, perhaps they were a Fighter Squadron.  The races were fought out between the Carerras of Wayne Seabrook and Geoffrey Morgan and Terry Lawlor’s Shelby America 350, the three swapping podium spots over four races, with Brett Smith adding further variety by taking a third place in his Datsun 280Z

In a mixed sports/racing group, early (1930 to 1962) sports cars and monopostos were joined by half a dozen Formula Vees for an entry of 27 cars.  By Sunday the grid was depleted to 21 cars, which included the overseas visitors Billy Bellinger in the Lola, Ahlers in his Morgan, finally on the grid, and Ernie Nagamatsu in the Corvette.  The two Brits immediately upset the pecking order by taking second and third place behind David Reid’s interestingly named Faux Pas.  During race five we got a reminder that motorsport is dangerous.  What had otherwise been a safe meeting was marred by a serious five car accident.  Sadly, the crash involved the popular Nagamatsu in his beautiful Corvette, which was badly damaged.  Ernie remains in hospital at the time of writing.  No results were recorded.  The Morgan and Lola were not involved.

For enthusiasts who have more interest in seeing rare cars than close racing, the Regularity event made great viewing with 62 cars on the track.  The variety was stunning and included a Lancia Stratos G4; Alpine Renault A110; a D-type Jaguar replica; from England the Lola Mk1 in its original shinning aluminium and the Morgan Plus 4; two Ford GT40 replicas; two Porsche 356SCs; a Porsche 914; two Jaguar E-types; three Lotus Elans; a Bolwell Nagari; and, of course, the star of the show, the ex-Mark Donahue Can-Am Championship Porsche 917/30 that recently arrived in Australia and which featured in John Ketchell’s evocative painting that adorned the cover of the programme.  Fans loved seeing these cars at speed even if they were not racing.

The pavilion on the outside of the circuit housed various stalls offering merchandise including books, models, team clothing etc.  This year it also included racing simulators, which proved to be at least as popular as the real racing.  A number of the Bolwell Australian sports cars from the 1970s through to the present day Bolwell 500 model were also on display in the pavilion.

As was the case last year, many happy but sunburnt spectators went home smiling and looking forward to next year after enjoying a great experience. The organisers are considering dropping the Thursday practice day for 2026, reverting to a three-day meeting which will ease the organisational load and heavy commitment of all the marshals and volunteers.