Images thanks to Historic Sports Sedans
Historic Sports Sedans are set to put on an absolutely magic show at the 2022 HSRCA Summer Festival, bringing out the biggest field they’ve ever run at an HSRCA meeting for the 2022 finale. Let’s get to know some of the cars.
Our first car is a well known one, having run several times with the club in recent years. Aarron Hodges will pilot a Ford Escort originally built by Ron Whitaker in his backyard and run between 1975 and 1977.
When Garry Ford took it over in 1977 he dropped a 3.2 windsor V8 into it, with a toploader gearbox and Borg Warner differential, racing it until late 1978. He would get behind the wheel again in 2007, restoring it to its 1978 livery for Group U historic racing and competing extensively until 2020, winning the John McCormack trophy in Historic Sports Sedans in 2018 and 2019.
Carey McMahon’s ex-Graeme Whincup 1985 Chevrolet Monza raced successfully between 1985 and ‘98. Built by Whincup in conjunction with John Riordan and Ron Harrop, it has a tubular construction with the 350 Chevrolet fuel injected engine bolted on to the front of the tube frame capsule and a four-speed Hewland transaxle bolted on to the rear of the tube frame capsule.
McMahon purchased the car from Peter Champion in 2020 and then set about doing a total restoration back to its 1987 Blaupunkt livery, debuting it at Mallala Raceway in April 2021 and taking pole position and three race wins.
Chris Clearihan will be behind the wheel of the recently restored K&A Alfetta-Chev, in which Tony Edmondson won the 1980 and 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Championships. Purchasing it from Edmonson in 1988, Chris set many lap records at Oran Park and Amaroo Park in the car, and hit 290 kilometres an hour during a lap of Calder Park, where he held another lap record.
Sticking with the Chevrolet theme, the Thompson Folwer Chev Merc was driven by John Bowe, Brad Jones and Bryan Thompson in period, with Thompson winning the 1985 and 1986 GT Championships with the car. It was restored to its 1988 specification in the early 2000s and has been a long time competitor with Historic Sports Sedans.
We’re looking forward to seeing a varied collection of Toranas out on track at the meeting. Dave Cameron will run a 1973 LJ Torana built in 1983 and run through to the late ‘90s. Restored in 2016, it’s powered by a mid-mounted Hemi 265 six, which runs through a Ford single rail gearbox.
The Dave Hunter Challenge Motors LC Torana, which first raced at Calder Park in August 1976 and competed several times through the late ‘70s, made its way to Mark Sully in 1987. Sully still owns and runs the car today, restored in 2014 to its 1977 livery and spec.
The pair will be joined by Norm Curry in a 1968 HB Holden Torana and Glenn Gorick’s LJ Torana, which was first raced in Bathurst 1971 by Pat Peck before it was convreerted to Sports Sedan specifications in 1973. Originally Linamint Green, it’s now presented as a tribute to the 1970s Holden Dealer Team livery and powered by a John Wright Holden 202 motor with a Duggan cylinder and produces about 400 horsepower. It runs very rare fluted Holden rear drum brakes.
The Datsun Stanza of Myles Bond was built by Barry Bray in the late ‘70s and ran as a two-litre Sport Sedan between 1985 and 2008, after which time it was acquired by the current owner and restored to original specifications.
Haydn Nethery will pilot a 1972 Datsun P510 1600 built in 2014 as a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre Sports Sedan and running in Queensland with both the historics and state series. It recently received a Sprintex supercharger with the team nearing completion of their research and development and ready to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
A series of interesting Ford Anglias are set to compete, starting with Graeme Hodges who will be on board an ex-Colin Boland Anglia 105E at the meeting. The car was built and first log booked in 1970 and rebuilt around 2012 by SCS Motorsport and GC Restos Gold Coast QLD.
The ex-Mick Monterosso Ford Anglia is run by the young Charlie Carter, with Chris Carter also sharing driving duties. It was built by Gary Sloper but mainly raced by well-known local racer Mick Monterosso.
Last but not least of the Anglias is the Supercheap car of Bill Govett and Bevan Edmunds, which was originally built by Barry Smith in 1984 and runs a turbocharged 13B rotary. It is believed to be the first non-5-litre Touring or V8 Supercar with Supercheap sponsorship, after they entered motor sport in the late ‘80s.
Jason Waye’s 1981 Ford TF Cortina runs a mid-mounted turbocharged Nissan RB25 through a five-speed Nissan gearbox and Borg Warner differential. It was raced between 2002 and 2015 and treated to a sympathetic restoration in 2022 by Muscle Garage.
Looking to some of the Holden representation, Rod and Belinda Wood’s FJ Holden was raced by Kevin Farrisey in Appendix J between 1969 and 1971 before being converted to a Sports Sedan in 1972 by Peter Rule.
Originally bought by Ron Krause from Bathurst Holden in 1964, the Ernie Corry EH Holden was built up into a race car by Krause in 1968. It was raced successfully by both Ron Krause and his son David in the sport sedan classes in circuit racing and hill climbing.
Mark Abela will pilot the number 50 FX which Graeme Seckolt built and developed over an eight year period as the last Sports Sedan of his 50-year career. It is based on his ‘80s F series Humpy Holden and has run consistently in hill climbs in recent years.
The Austin A30 of Ian Baird was somewhat of a barn find, thought to have been cut up and lost. It was restored back to its former glory with the help of Barry Bray, who built it back in the ‘80s, and is now presented as it was in period, with the original body, wheels, roll cage, seats, dash, grill, fuel tank and diff housing. It runs a 2.0-litre Datsun ‘U’ series motor with mechanical injection, five-speed close ratio gearbox from a Datsun Sports 2000 and a Ford escort diff.
Glen Gerstel’s RX7 was built in 1987 in Fort Myers Florida for the Daytona 500. It’s powered by a 20B peripheral ported dry sumped triple rotor producing around 420hp at 8500rpm. It made its way to Australia in 2015 and was restored in 2019.
Finally, Simon Pfitzner is the current custodian of the Clem Smith Chrysler Charger, which will be piloted by Jason Maros at the Summer Festival. The car is based on a 1972 Charger and was built by Develco in 1980 around a mid-mounted 5.9-litre Chrysler V8. It raced mostly in South Australia at Adelaide International Raceway and Mallala Raceway, but also raced interstate at circuits like Calder several times.
We’re looking forward to seeing these cars and more take to the track at the 2022 Summer Festival, December 3-4. The gates of Sydney Motorsport Park will open from 8:30am each day, with events kicking off from 9am. Spectator passes will be available at the gate, or online in the lead-up to the event.