The Formula Vee Australia National Challenge 1,600 cc grid starts on Sunday morning
We made the road trip down to Goulburn over the weekend of September 25-27, to hold what would be the biggest race meeting the circuit has seen yet. Let’s catch up on the action and enjoy the photos from the weekend.
While we held the meeting squarely in spring, Goulburn being Goulburn we had a day of summer on Saturday followed by winter on Sunday. Thankfully, while the sun on Saturday saw attendees seeking shelter in any strip of shade they could find, the air wasn’t that hot and conditions for motor racing were good. Sunday saw temperatures drop close to 20 degrees, with persistent drizzle throughout the day ensuring that competitors were kept on their toes.
A big ‘THANK YOU!’ to the many volunteers who persist in keeping us safe and our meetings running smoothly no matter what the elements throw at us, and allow us to run these meetings and enjoy our cars and the wonderful community that’s formed around them.
A big thanks as well to all of the HSRCA members, competitors, families, friends, support crews and spectators who came out to enjoy the racing and the good company in the pits and paddocks. These countryside meetings are always particularly relaxed and friendly and it’s a pleasure to see everyone making new friends, sharing stories, working on cars and relaxing throughout the weekend.
This weekend in particular we were thrilled to see tremendous support from interstate competitors. Thank you to everyone who journeyed to NSW from across the country to support the meeting!
Matthew Bialek leads a group in the 1986 Elfin NG Formula Vee
For the Spring Festival, we were pleased to host a round of the 2026 Formula Vee Australia National Challenge, which brought an incredible 54 Vees to the circuit for some of the best racing of the weekend. Historic Sports Sedans Australia and the under three-litre Group C & A group also brought out wonderful grids, alongside all of our usual historic grids.
The Cyclekart Club of Australia was a fun addition to the meeting
In the paddock, we were also pleased to host the MG Car Club of Canberra and the Falcon GT Club of Canberra, who also brought along some other related clubs. The Cyclekart Club of Australia brought a few of their cyclekarts out for the weekend, which were fun to see out on track for their lunchtime laps.
MG Car Club of Canberra prepares to head out for their lunchtime laps
Thank you to all of the clubs and groups who take part, make our historic race meetings more interesting and support the community!
The Vees opened the meeting, with the 1,200 cc cars out first, Jason Cutts setting pole position in qualifying one and Stephen Butcher going fastest in session two. Matthew Pearce would get the better of both in race one, repeating the effort for race two and three before Jason Cutts scored victory in the final race, followed by Pearce and Bialek.
The 1,600 cc cars had a massive field, which would be split over three qualifying sessions. Curtis Porter led the first, Mallacai Windsor going fastest in the second and Daniel Reynolds quickest in the final session. Come racing, Daniel Reynolds held on to his qualifying speed for a win in race one, before Craig Sparke hit his stride to win the remainder of the three closely competed races.
Our 2026 Young Woman in Motorsport scholarship recipient Mackenzie Pollard enjoyed her second HSRCA event in the now-yellow club Formula Vee competing in the FVee National Challenge and is continuing to improve in her race craft, with a 15th outright 6th in the historic class over the weekend. You can support the initiative with a donation to our Australian Sport Foundation fundraiser at this link.
Graham Boulter brought his 1974 Elfin 623 all the way from South Australia to compete
Sticking with the open wheeled theme but going in the completely different direction, Q & R saw Malcolm Oastler off to a strong start, qualifying fastest and winning the first two races in his Ralt RT1, before Nigel Hook in the Kaditcha F282 led a depleted field just before lunch on Sunday.
Club President Wayne Wilson ahead of Malcolm Oastler and Mark Hurst, Mal Reid showing the way and Kris Matich in the background
L, M,O, P & Formula Ford saw an interesting and varied combined field compete, led by the Formula Ford of Tom Tweedie throughout. Travis Clark was quickest of the M & O drivers in the Rennmax BN-3, while in the older cars David Reid in the 1959 Faux Pas had a great weekend.
Looking to the sports cars, Group S brought out a strong field which saw an interesting battle between the Midgets of the Meyers and the 911s of Graham Gulson and Wayne Seabrook. Simon Meyer was quickest to get comfortable, setting pole ahead of Gulson and Seabrook. Gulson answered in the first race, however, with David Stone also having a good run in his MGB.
Damien Meyer 1969 MG Midget down the back straight
Race two saw Simon Meyer back at the front, Andrew Purvis stepping onto the podium with Damien Meyer. The two Meyers held on to the front in the tricky conditions on Sunday morning, Graham Gulson back on the podium in third. Gulson would finish the weekend strong, winning the final race ahead of the two Meyers.
With many drivers heading to South Australia for Tailem Bend this coming weekend, Group N was uncharacteristically quiet this weekend. Nevertheless, there were some great cars out and some good racing.
Mark Johnson 1968 Ford Mustang and Robert James 1970 Ford Capri coming through turn one
Robert James qualified quickest in his 1970 Capri, setting up a great tic tac toe with Mark Johnson, who would win the first race of the weekend. James was back at the front for race two before the handicap race on Sunday morning shuffled the order, Nathan Stevenson holding the lead ahead of Paul Battersby, and Chris Dubois in an Escort. For the final race of the weekend James would be back on top ahead of Johnson and Battersby.
Rick Allen & Meon Nehrybecki were neck and neck throughout the weekend
It was a great weekend for fans of tin top racing, with the annual under three-litre Group C & A competition bringing out some iconic cars and very competitive racing. Meon Nehrybecki and Rick Allen would have a great competition throughout the weekend, Nehrybecki narrowly outqualifying the Benson & Hedges BMW, Craig Foster in the Team Toyota Australia Corolla third. Come racing, however, Scott Robinson ran away with the first win ahead of Craig Foster and Jason Delaney.
Robinson and Foster repeated that result for race two, Rick Allen fighting his way back onto the podium before climbing the rest of the way in race three followed by Nehrybecki and Robinson. It was Nehrybecki’s time to shine in the final race of the weekend, snatching a narrow victory from Allen, Craig Foster back on the podium in third.
Tony Ross in the 1952 Holden FX Sports Sedan crossing the hill and heading down into the fish hook
Historic Sports Sedans Australia showed tremendous support of the Spring Festival, integrating beautifully into our Supersprint grid and bringing a wonderful collection of their varied and entertaining Group U cars out to play. Max Carter went quickest off the back in the 1978 Torana, Simon Pfitzner improving in the first run of the weekend with a great lap in the mad Mercedes and Willie Van Wersch having a blinder in the final run of the weekend.
The weather conditions did no favours for our Regularity competitors at the Spring Festival, making it very difficult to predict times going into Sunday. Greg Redman topped the sheets in qualifying and maintained that consistency into the first run of the weekend. In run two Eli Solomon from Singapore was impressive, topping the sheets with only first and fourth gear available, John Culvenor also very close in the lovely Elan. The third run of the weekend saw Riley Morrin score a win, John Rose finishing the weekend strong.
We were pleased to welcome some new drivers and cars in the field, with Tess Yager in the #66 V8 Ford Escort enjoying her first drive on a race track in a group of similar race cars and Willie Van Wersch making his racing debut in the the #05 Chev Monza that he’s owned for around twelve months.
Blend Line TV once again came out to live stream and record the Spring Festival in its entirety. The archive of which is available on their website. You can find Saturday’s stream here and Sunday’s at this link. It costs $10.99 per month (less than the cost of 5 litres of fuel) for access, and that includes all of our recent race meetings, as well as those of our sister historic clubs across the country.
Thank you for your support of the 2026 HSRCA Spring Festival! We’re straight back into it, with entry to the Summer Festival, Sydney Motorsport Park November 27 – 29, opening in the coming weeks. We look forward to seeing you there!
To keep you busy until then, grab a cuppa, browse through the following links and enjoy a wonderful selection of images with thanks to the many talented photographers who help us document our meetings.
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Mark Walsh
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Seth Reinhardt
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Wayne Jones
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Steve Haskell
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Emily Chebaia
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Riccardo Benvenuti
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Campbell Armstrong Rider
2026 HSRCA Spring Festival: Andy Aristodimou
Thank you to Andy Aristodimou, Campbell Armstrong Rider, Riccardo Benvenuti, Emily Chebaia, Steve Haskell, Wayne Jones, Seth Reinhardt and Mark Walsh. Click their names to head to their websites or socials for more, or email Seth at web@hsrca.com if you’re looking for something from him, Mark or Steve.
Another well organised and run event by the HSRCA, with some interesting fields. I thought the Sports Sedans might be a bit much in Regularity & Supersprint, but although much faster than most they were pretty good in. handling a lot of overtaking safely – well done to the drivers!
Noel and Robyn Brian & team sorted out an excellent weekend, and even kept most of the rain at bay on Sunday until about 4pm.