We’re freshly returned from a perfect Autumn weekend at Wakefield Park, where we kicked off 2018’s historic motor racing with the Autumn Festival. Now that we’ve had a few days to adjust to the return to the working week, it’s time to take a look back at the action and share a few photos from the weekend.
The HSRCA’s first historic race meeting of 2018 was held in picturesque Goulburn, which did its level best to put on a near-perfect weekend for motorsport over the 7th & 8th of April. The weather was clear and warm and while the mercury may have crept up a little too high to squeeze absolutely every tenth out of the cars and circuit, it was kind on drivers and pleasant in the pits and paddock.
The wonderful weather and quality camaraderie between entrants, officials, friends and spectators made for a lovely atmosphere and contributed to a relaxed and social weekend. We work hard to provide plenty of quality track time, but it’s equally important that time outside of the car is just as enjoyable, so we’re very thankful to be supported by such a warm and welcoming community.
While we advertise HSRCA meetings as two-day affairs, the option of private practice on Friday allows people to extend the meeting and spend some time getting cars, and drivers, nicely sorted – especially after the summer break. Proceedings thusly kicked off on Friday morning with private practice kindly supported by Wakefield Park.
We kicked into top gear on Saturday, opening with qualifying and then heading into the full race, regularity and super sprint format on Saturday afternoon and throughout Sunday. Outside of a delay on Sunday morning, the program ran very smoothly throughout the weekend.
The race, regularity and super sprint events were a lot of fun and provided plenty of spectator appeal, with some great passing and dicing throughout the fields. It was fun to see the order mixed up in several events, with drivers putting in special runs to claim a win or a personal best.
Alex D’Onofrio, pictured above, put on a giant-killing display in Group N to outrun many of the larger-engined cars and we thoroughly enjoyed the awe-inspiring sight of Daniel Nolan in the ’75 Nola Chev and Paul Hamilton in the ’68 Elfin 600 on track together – both running well under the old lap record.
We’d like to send a big ‘THANK YOU!’ to drivers and entrants for their respectful driving and exemplary preparation of the cars as well as organisers and officials, who keep everything ticking along nicely. We enjoyed excellent participation from interstate competitors at the Autumn Festival, so a huge thanks to all of you for making that effort as well!
The Autumn Festival was headlined by two significant anniversaries – the 60th anniversary of Formula Junior and a commemoration of the life and career of Jim Clark on the 50th anniversary of his untimely passing on the 7th of April, 1968.
The Formula Junior Jim Clark tribute race was held on Saturday afternoon and we were happy to see it well-supported. It featured an excellent dice for the win, with Danny Ciarma from Victoria displacing Queensland’s Donald Thallon for the victory. Kim Shearn put in a very spirited drive to take third place in the Lotus 18 Formula Junior.
We were also thrilled to be joined by some truly lovely Lotuses in race, regularity, super sprint and on display in the paddock in support of Jim Clark’s Lotus history. Thanks to everyone who contributed to those significant historical milestones, and a special thanks to Club Lotus Australia for their support.
Speaking of displays, we were able to put together a magic Jim Clark display in the sign-on facility, so a huge thanks to everyone who helped to create that – we hope you made time to check it out.
We were also happy to welcome new friends in the form of the BMW E30 Racing series at the Autumn Festival. The BMW E30 Racing series joined with Group N for the weekend, and put on an awesome show, fitting in perfectly with the spirit and aesthetic of the meeting and contributing to some great dices throughout the weekend. It was great sharing a weekend with you, and we look forward to many more in the future!
This was, as always, true for all of the Fifth Category competitors and support teams who joined us for the meeting. A big thank you to everyone in BMW E30, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, Formula Vee, Groups J, K, L and Invite M, Group N, Group O, Q and R, Group S, Regularity and Super Sprint. A huge amount of effort goes in to preparing for, and running at, a historic race meeting, and we greatly appreciate your support.
As always, our biggest and most deserved thanks goes out to the many volunteers who support the club, its members and its events. Without you and the time, passion, dedication and skill you devote to the sport, none of this could happen. THANK YOU!
With that, it’s time to zip it and head to the photos. Put on the kettle and settle in to spend a few minutes clicking through the following links and enjoying the photos contributed by the many talented people who document our events.
Images thanks to Anne Bromley, Andrew Green, David Jenkins, Wayne Jones, Taylor, Pember, Seth Reinhardt, Mark Richards, Stuart Row, Peter Schell, Dallas Thomas and Gino Valdes.
Anne and Dallas’ work can be found on their website atstudioeleven.com.au and Wayne’s images can be found on his website here. Mark Richards can be found online here, and Stuart Row’s website is www.transchroma.com.
Follow David’s work on Facebook here, Andrew’s on Facebook here and Taylor’s Taylor.Made Photography Facebook page here.. To contact Gino, Peter or Seth, send Seth an email via seth@hsrca.com.
Our next historic race meeting will be the Spring Festival, which will be held at Wakefield Park over the 22nd & 23rd of September, 2018. Entries will open in the coming weeks, and we will be in touch with an invitation shortly! Stay tuned to www.hsrca.com for more.