After two fun days of historic motorsport at Wakefield Park, our first historic meeting of 2017 is in the books, so it’s time to catch up on the action and share a few photographs and videos from the weekend.
The HSRCA’s first historic race meeting of 2017 was held in Goulburn’s lovely countryside at the classic Wakefield Park circuit over the 8th & 9th of April. It was a relaxed and friendly return to the track, supported by, mostly, magic autumn weather and it saw several groups contest championship rounds, along with the introduction of a new supersprint category.
Conditions on Friday and Saturday were perfect for motorsport. The sun was out and temperatures were mild, making for great racing and a pleasant time tinkering and chatting in the pits and paddock. Sunday threatened rain when we arrived at the circuit, which sadly saw some competitors departing early, and did give Group N an exciting mid-race downpour, but the clouds parted at lunch and produced a spectacular autumn afternoon.
Event proceedings kicked off on Friday, which saw competitors getting into the groove and preparing their vehicles for the weekend’s racing. It was a good opportunity to get settled in, catch up with mates and give the cars a run after the summer break. Qualifying was held on Saturday morning and from there we popped it into top gear for the races.
Thanks to the hard work of the volunteers who support us and entrants’ great preparation and tidy steering, the programme ran smoothly throughout the weekend. This contributed a great deal to the event’s friendly, relaxed and respectful atmosphere, which is something that we value a great deal and will continue to nurture. As always, the cars were beautifully-prepared and looked and sounded magic out on the track.
Our eight fields included Formula Vee, Groups K, L, M & Formula Junior, Groups O, Q & R, Regularity, Group S, Group N, Formula Ford and the new Supersprint event. Formula Vee, Group S, Group N and Regularity put together particularly full and exciting fields and the Vees stuck it out right to the bitter end to produce a particularly impressive 100% participation through Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed the races throughout the weekend, and were pleased to see exciting and respectful dices contested throughout all of the race events as well as consistent performances in regularity and some good times produced in the supersprint events.
These old machines bring us a lot of joy, but they also bring it to others. Spectators were quick to praise the cars, people and racing and to comment on their reminiscence of the sport’s golden age.
Thank you to all of our drivers and their support crews! Competing in a race weekend is no small undertaking, and we greatly appreciate the effort you invest in preparing, running and racing your historic sports and race cars at our events. We will continue to work to improve the experience leading up to race weekend, as well as the weekend itself and our follow-up efforts, and we appreciate your support and feedback.
The wonderful community that makes up our Club is one of the strongest draws to our events, and you have once again created a warm and relaxed atmosphere that made the weekend a pleasure. The pits and paddock were, as always, fun to explore – even if it takes an unexpectedly long time to get anywhere once you factor in all of the opportunities to stop and chat along the way. Thank you for making historic motorsport such a welcoming and social experience!
If you’re new to historic motorsport and join the HSRCA, or any of our sister clubs around the country, at a historic meeting, make sure to take the time to wander the pits and paddock, check out the cars and chat with their custodians and drivers. We’re a friendly bunch who love to chat – especially when cars are involved!
Most importantly, we, and everyone involved in the Club and all of its events, would like to extend our most gracious thanks to the many volunteers who support us. You devote your time and talents to motorsport and its community, and it is your hard work and dedication that allows us to enjoy these experiences. THANK YOU!
That’s enough (far too many) words for one day – on to the photos! Put on the kettle and take a few minutes to click through the following links and enjoy the photos and video contributed to the many talented photographers, videographers and editors who cover our events.
Blend Line TV kindly filmed races on Sunday, and are currently uploading them to their YouTube channel. Scroll down to catch a few races, and make sure to check out their channel for more.
Images thanks to Mike Fisher, David Jenkins, Wayne Jones, Glenn Keating, Steve Koen, Rod Mackenzie, Brad McDonald, Seth Reinhardt, Geoff Russell and Rudi Seidel. If you’d like to see more from them, or to organise digital copies or prints, please head to their official websites. We greatly appreciate you supporting their work.
Please head to Wayne’s Sportz Fotos website for more from him and to Ten Tenths for more from Glenn. David’s work can be found on Facebook here and Geoff can be found on Instagram here.
See Brad’s work on totalexposure.com.au here for more shots from him. Rod can be found at the Rod Mackenzie Collection and for more from David, Mike, Rudi, Steve or Seth, send Seth an email at seth@hsrca.com.
2017 Autumn Festival by Mike Fisher
2017 Autumn Festival by David Jenkins
2017 Autumn Festival by Wayne Jones
2017 Autumn Festival by Glenn Keating
2017 Autumn Festival by Steve Koen
2017 Autumn Festival by Rod Mackenzie
2017 Autumn Festival by Brad McDonald
2017 Autumn Festival by Seth Reinhardt
2017 Autumn Festival by Rudi Seidel
2017 Autumn Festival by Geoff Russell
Our next historic race meeting will see us returning to Wakefield Park for the 2017 Spring Festival, to be held over the 2nd and 3rd of September, 2017. Entries will open shortly, and we will be in touch in the very near future. Stay tuned to www.hsrca.com for more!
