Historic Sports Sedans Australia is set for a spectacular Spring Festival, bringing their unique flair to One Raceway over the weekend of September 26 & 27.
Sports Sedans grew rapidly through the 1970s as competitors looked beyond the restrictions of production touring car racing of the time. The result was some extraordinary machinery, with big power, wide guards, vast wings and front air dams being the norm.
The historic category was born in around 2007, started by Fred Sayers, a QLD Mini Sports Sedan competitor, before Mark Stockwell and Simon Pfitzner took it on and nurtured it into the series we know today.
The cars are restored back to their race spec up to the end of 1985. The John McCormack Trophy is now contested across four rounds in four states, and we are proud to host this year’s NSW round at One Raceway. Let’s get to know a few of the cars
Chris Clearihan will bring out the K&A Engineering Alfa Romeo Alfetta Chevrolet. Tony Edmondson won the 1980 and 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Championships with the car before Clearihan bought it in 1988. He went on to set lap records at circuits including Oran Park, Amaroo Park and Calder.
Simon Pfitzner will run the Thomson Fowler Chevrolet powered Mercedes. Built beginning 1978 and restored to 1988 specification, the car uses a twin turbo de-stoked 4.2 litre Chevrolet V8 and Hewland transaxle rear end. It was driven in period by John Bowe, Brad Jones and Bryan Thompson, amongst others, with Thomson taking it to GT Championship success in 1985 and 1986.
Keith Carling’s Mazda RX7 was built by Barry Campbell in 1983 and 1984. Originally a GT car converted to a Sports Sedan with the demise of that series, it raced successfully through the second half of the decade, culminating in victory in the 1988 NSW Sports Sedan Championship. Carling bought the car back in 2019 and it has since received a full restoration.
Max Carter will drive Charlie Milner’s remarkable HB Torana. Built in 1979 and 1980 around a spaceframe chassis, it began with a Holden six before trying a turbo Mazda rotary and, finally, squeezing a mid-mounted small block Chevy V8 into the chassis.
This would eventually be built up into a 400 ci block, 350 crank, Brodix heads, quad 48 IDA down draught Weber carburettors and magneto ignition, mated to a Muncie four-speed gearbox with Hollinger gears and Datsun differential. In its original Holden-powered form it recorded ten first place finishes from its first eleven meetings.
Tony Hubbard has a particularly strong connection to his LH Torana. He built the car in 1977 and raced it successfully until 1982, becoming Victorian state champion and three times Champion of Winton. Hubbard bought the car back as a wreck in 1988 and it has recently undergone a complete rebuild.
Tony Ross is another driver with a long connection with his car, and will be back in his Chevrolet powered FX Holden at the Spring Festival. Ross bought the FX sans engine in about 1980, fitting the 350 Chev from his road car, bolting on IDA Webers and going motor racing. He won the Austin 7 Club’s highest points scorer for Sports Sedans over 3,500 cc racing on P plates that year.
With the help of Bernie Pfitzner, who custom built many parts for the car, the FX was developed into a mid-engined Sports Sedan. The car would go on to win at Adelaide International Raceway and took the 1989 Champion of AIR title. After three decades away, Ross is once again driving the restored car.
Image thanks to Historic Sports Sedans Australia
Ian Baird’s Austin A30 was built by Barry Bray and first log booked in 1975, it runs a mechanically injected 2.0 litre Datsun engine and close ratio five speed gearbox. It ran supercharged for a few years, hence the bulge in the bonnet, but was returned to natural aspiration when that was found to be too unreliable. Sold in the early 1980s, the car was thought lost, only to be rediscovered as a barn find and restored about 8 years ago with Bray’s help.
The Holden FX of Mark Abela is another car that disappeared from the scene for a few decades and which has been brought back to life with Historic Sports Sedans Australia. The car competed in the NSW scene during the 1970s, but went into an early retirement in 1977. It has been recently returned to the track, running a Holden 202 with triple Webers, and retains details including its original Bond half roll cage and Mawer race wheels.
David Bailey’s Ford Capri GT was converted from a road car into a Sports Sedan, as many of the entry level cars were, by Derek Van Zelm in 1980. He raced it in the Victorian state series as well as the South Australia VS Victoria Challenge in 1983. Today it remains in largely the same configuration in which it was built.
These cars and more will join a magic field at the 2026 HSRCA Spring Festival, featuring the Formula Vee National Challenge, under three-litre Group C & A touring cars and the Stan Jones for JKL, as well as races and speed events for all historic and invited cars.
Entry is free for everyone, so join us at One Raceway, September 26-27, and enjoy the action with some of the best spectator access in all of motorsport.
Historic Sports Sedans Australia is proudly supported by PPG Gearboxes, Historic Sports Sedan Models, Old Car Radios Fixed, R&J Batteries, ULX110 Lubricants and Tuff Mounts