After a lovely weekend celebrating the golden era of the Tasman Series with the 2016 Tasman Trophy, it’s time to hang up our gloves for the year and prepare for the holiday season. Before we do that, however, let’s wrap the event up and enjoy some photos!
The 2016 Tasman Trophy was held over the 19th and 20th of November and saw an excellent entry of historic sports and racing cars take to Sydney Motorsport Park for a spot of historic motorsport. Thank you to everyone involved for getting stuck in and putting on an action-packed and friendly weekend of racing.
We arrived at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday the 18th to hold a private practice day for competitors. The day gave everyone a chance to get settled in, catch up and ensure their cars were nicely sorted for the weekend. Sydney put on a scorcher on Friday, so hats off to everyone who braved the inferno!
The cars were, as always, spectacular to behold and beautifully prepared. It’s a joy to see them so well cared for and in tremendous racing shape, and that care greatly contributes to a smooth weekend of racing. The work and tinkering that we see at the track, considerable that it is, is but a fraction of the preparation that goes into getting the cars there in the first place. So, thank you!
Saturday morning set the stage with final practice and qualification up until lunch, after which racing kicked off and didn’t let up until late Sunday.
Our feature category for the Tasman Trophy this year was Formula Junior, featuring a round of the Tasman Tour 2016 and the Formula Junior Diamond Jubilee World Tour. The Juniors are such evocative little cars and, with full grids all weekend and some very exciting racing, were absolutely awesome to feature at the event.
We were joined at the Tasman Trophy by a large contingent of significant international cars, and many of those took part in the Formula Junior events. We would like to extend a special ‘Thank you!’ to all of our international competitors for travelling to Sydney and joining us for a weekend’s racing. It was an honour to host you, and we hope to see you back soon!
Group S was our other feature category and put on the always-spectacular relay enduro race on Sunday.
The 45-minute endurance race was a true test of driver and machine, and was a lot of fun – particularly in the pits around change-over. Well done to everyone for putting on a smooth race, for tackling the competition like it was a sprint and for holding a fun event!
The same should be said for drivers in all categories. Thank you for respecting each other and the cars of which you are custodians, for leaving racing room and providing a safe, fun and social environment in which to race. The racing was exciting and respectful all weekend and great to be a part of whether on the track or spectating.
The joys of historic racing are not limited to time in the seat of a race car. The pits and paddock are lots of fun to explore and provide a level of access that’s hard to match in motorsport. The pits and paddock had a very pleasant, social and relaxed atmosphere throughout the Tasman Trophy and that’s a credit to the good people who make up this community.
Speaking of the good people who make up this community, I will conclude with our most important thanks. A monumental amount of work goes in to preparing and running an event like the Tasman Trophy and none of it would be possible without the support of skilled, passionate and dedicated volunteers.
You allow us to hold these events, enjoy these experiences and take part in this community. THANK YOU from everyone involved for giving us these opportunities and keeping us safe, and for all that you devote to historic racing and its community.
With that, I’m sure you’ve had more than enough of words and are ready for photos! Grab a cup/pot/pint of your favourite beverage, sit back and spend a few minutes clicking through the links below to enjoy the many photos contributed by the talented photographers who cover our events.
2016 Tasman Trophy by Riccardo Benvenuti
2016 Tasman Trophy: Jeremy Braithwaite
2016 Tasman Trophy by Jeremy Dale
2016 Tasman Trophy by Bill Fonseca
2016 Tasman Trophy: Rod Mackenzie
2016 Tasman Trophy: Seth Reinhardt
2016 Tasman Trophy by Mark Richards
2016 Tasman Trophy by Geoff Russell
Tasman Trophy 2016 by Rob Scheeren
2016 Tasman Trophy by Peter Schell
2016 Tasman Trophy by Sam Snape
2016 Tasman Trophy Trophy Winners, by Peter Schell
Images thanks to Riccardo Benvenuti, Jeremy Braithwaite, Jeremy Dale, Bill Fonseca, Rod Mackenzie, Mark Richards, Geoff Russell, Seth Reinhardt, Rob Scheeren, Peter Schell and Sam Snape.
For more from Rod, please see his website here, Bill’s website can be found here, Geoff can be found on Instagram here and Sam can be found at www.mmmsport.com.au. Head to autofokus.com.au for more of Rob Scheeren’s work, click here for Riccardo’s website and see Jeremy’s website here for more from him, including shots of nearly all competitors. Mark’s website can be found here, and to get in touch with Jeremy, Peter or Seth, please send Seth an email at seth@hsrca.com.
Next up, Christmas cake and a nap! Then we’re heading to Wakefield Park over the 8th and 9th of April, 2017. We can’t wait to get stuck in to a fresh year of historic racing, and look forward to seeing you there!
