Festival of Motorsport back to brilliant best

With entries topping 410 across 10 categories, it was a brilliant weekend of racing at the Phillip Island Classic – Festival of Motorsport.

This year there were a contingent of 12 Kiwis who launched an invasion across the Tasman. Ten of these entries were Formula 5000s contesting the season’s fourth round of the Tasman Cup Revival series. With Australian entrants there were a total of 21 F5000s.

The other two Kiwi entries were McLaren CanAm cars. These CanAm M8Bs would be joined by the four New Zealand McLaren M10As and Bs and Australian owned McLarens at the Australian Grand

Prix two weekends after Phillip Island for the Bruce McLaren & the Tasman Era feature/tribute. Five of the New Zealand F5000s will be shipped to England to compete at Brands Hatch.

In addition to the F5000s the organisers headlined two very different race cars — the Ferrari 250LM and the Holden Torana L34.

There were Regularity events over the weekend, allowing cars to be exercised on the track without the cut and thrust of racing. Each driver nominates a lap time then tries to consistently achieve that time. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the release of the Holden Torana L34 was the cause of its celebration. The car that won the 1976 Bathurst in the hands of John Fitzpatrick and Bob Morris was on display in the paddock.

This year 32 car clubs displayed a total of 1,100 cars — a magnificent sight as well as being an added attraction for the thousands of spectators who braved the very hot weather.

Kiwi Codie Banks dominated all the F5000 races in his Lola T332. For the first race he was joined on the front row of the grid by his father David in his Talon MR1. 

Other events included a field of 46 Historic Formula Fords. Nicholas McBride ran away from the rest in his Swift to claim the Larry Perkins Cup, and there was some excellent racing throughout the field.

In amongst the 45 Historic Touring Cars, George Miedecke enjoyed success in a Ford Sierra Cosworth in one race and came second to Bathurst winner Stephen Richards in his Nissan Skyline GTSR3 in another.