Race Reports and Results
Phillip Island Historics 2008
March 7,8 & 9
For the second year in a row, I made the trip to Phillip Island. Once again, I came away amazed at how lucky we are to not only have such a wonderful track and facility, but how rich our country is with classic cars with owners who love to bring them out and race.
For the 2008 meeting, Groups Sa, Sb and Sc were gridded together. This meant that many would-be competitors missed out and also meant that there were quite large speed differences. As usual, however, the racing on this challenging circuit was exciting, not just in Group S. And if you felt like a break from racing, there’s always the carpark where there is almost as much to see.
A major change this year was the decision to conduct practice and qualifying on the Friday, which in my opinion was a brilliant idea. Although this possibly makes things harder for interstate competitors, it worked well and gave all groups 4 races instead of 3.
Qualifying
After practicing on Friday morning, the Group S field’s qualifying session didn’t produce many surprises. Bill Pye was on pole, followed by Don Thallon’s Corvette. Don was over 2 seconds quicker than 12 months earlier when he also qualified second. That’s progress. Then came Peter Hall’s 260Z, Adler and Brian Taylor’s Porsches and Jackson’s De Tomaso Pantera. The top ten was rounded out by Lawlor, Ashby and Hung Do’s Porsches and Ian Ross in the Shelby 350GT. Further back, I was in my 2 litre Porsche 911S, and was the top qualifier in the SB under 2-litre cars in 20th, two places ahead of Brian Weston’s Midget and Reark’s Ferrari. Peter Whitton was fastest qualifier of the MGBs in 28th. Of the Sa runners, Pike’s Healey 3000 edged out Schuler’s Corvette ahead of a field which included Cooper’s pretty 190SL Mercedes, Goldsmith’s Healey, TR3, TR2 and a gaggle of Sprites.
Race 1
Bill Pye’s won from pole, but there was plenty of position swapping behind him. Stan Adler had a terrific race, coming through from fourth to finish ahead of Thallon, Lawlor and Brian Taylor. Sixth was Peter Hall in the 260Z, followed by the Jackson De Tomaso, Sabine’s Corvette, Bryne’s Lotus and the Shelby 350GT’s of Ross and Nittis. Littlemore hung onto the Morgan Plus 8 to finish 15th, Rutledge was triumphant among the Triumphs, Pike’s was the peak Healey performer and Mark O’Neill won the Battle of the Bees from Whitton and Kent Brown. I finished in 19th, but was happy with the way the car felt and looked forward to the afternoon race.
Race 2
Right from the start of Race 2 it was on for young and old, with Stan Adler throwing everything he could at Bill Pye and even sneaking past. But it didn’t last, with Adler and Pye both spinning out of contention and handing victory to Terry Lawlor with Hall 2nd in the 260Z. Pye managed to bring the orange Carrera home in 3rd, but Adler was a spectator and thus relegated to starting from the back of the grid for Sunday morning’s race. Nittis had a good race in the Shelby, finishing 7th, but Ross was having difficulties and finished a lap down. Peter Whitton’s MGB GT was the first MG home, but he was still two places behind me in the my 911S. Others to DNF were Thallon and Schuler’s Corvettes, with neither car destined to return during the weekend.
Race 3
While Terry Lawlor’s win on Saturday may have been lucky, his Sunday morning win was the result of good driving and maturing racecraft. Bill Pye got past Hall’s 260Z, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get by the black Carrera. Hall kept the rest of the field at bay, which included the reliable and unusual Fiat 124 Abarth Spyder of Norm Singleton ahead of both myself and Whitton’s MGB in 16th and 17th. Among the big engined runners, all was not well. Jackson and Ross – whose shocker continued – DNFd, as did the Basset’s big V12 Ferrari.
Race 4
Pye and Lawlor continued to fight it out at the front, but with Bill Pye in the lead, Lawlor couldn’t get by. Meanwhile, Stan Adler who had started the morning race from the rear was carving his way through the field in fine style. George Nittis had a major moment coming onto the straight on lap 2 when the Shelby seemed to be heading straight for a very solid wall. As George climbed out of the car, steering wheel in hand, he seemed more than a little displeased…
The results showed Bill Pye with another win ahead of Lawlor (making it two each) with Hall in 3rd and Adler getting up to 4th – a great effort in the circumstances. Biggest improver over the weekend was Nic Taylor who finished in 8th, three spots behind his father, after qualifying 18th on Friday. The Webster vs. Whitton battle continued, once again resolved in my favour, but it was Keith Alhers’ Morgan that won Sb in 9th place. Meanwhile, Geoff Kelly’s TR2 and Brent Cooper’s Mercedes 190SL.
Typical airline dramas finally saw Nick and I arrive at the locked gates of the Webster compound about 11pm Thursday night. Alex arrived to open the gates with a handbrake flourish a la golf cart. Next morning saw an early start and trip down to the Island in the wonderful, but much maligned, Stavic (more on the Stavic later...). The circuit reminded me of Eastern Creek in size and facilities, but with a much better view.
The roll up of cars was a rev-head's dream. Full grids of Group S and Group N (Historic touring cars), a bunch of formula cars (including the fantastic
little Formula Juniors who were the featured cars), a gaggle of Group A and C touring cars which brought back memories of watching Skylines and Sierras (the 'imports') battling the local Torana’s, Commodore’s and Falcon’s, lots of old 'specials' and racers of all shapes and sizes. The Porsche factory had brought along a 1100hp 917/30 and a twin cam 356 Carrera. However, for mine, the 917 doing demonstration laps was trumped by Rusty French's black twin turbo 935 K3 in full flight!
The TYP901 crew had a prime spot overlooking the hairpin under a large bunch of tents, for which thanks must go to Alex for waiting at the gates from Thursday morning. Nick and Bryan's cars arrived shortly after us and scrutineering went smoothly for everybody. I kept myself busy running errands, torquing wheel nuts and scrutineering Stewart Webster’s 911S/RSR but the frustration of being car-less was starting to show.
Some bad weather had arrived, but the first practice session went pretty smoothly for all - including the Northerners, several of whom were seeing the circuit for the first time. The 2.7 Carrera's were making their presence felt at the pointy end of the Group S grid - perhaps to the surprise of the big horsepower Pantera’s. Alex put his car P7 in the wet – a great achievement.
Despite a noon kickoff for regularity, Marcus casually rolled into TYP901 tent land about 11.10am. He was resplendent in generous mirrored shades and a relaxed approach that I, for one, could not muster at a race event. Marcus did not think he was running late and that was all that mattered. Some unhurried unpacking followed by a leisurely trip to scrutineering had Marcus ready to roll. Seeing my former car (OJ 911) was not helping my car-less frustration.
The afternoon saw better weather, and lower lap times for all. Practise completed it was time to return to Frankston aboard the Stavic. Nick was pleased to discover that the Stavic provided a tray table for his morning coffee and could not be removed from the rear seat for the remainder of the weekend. I was happily ensconced in the passenger (co-pilot's) seat and was equally enjoying the comfort and performance of the Stavic. I will digress here to mention that the Stavic's looks have been the subject of many cruel barbs over the years. I would say this: beauty is not only skin deep, both Nick and I fondly remember our twice daily Stavic rides and hope that the newly formed Stavic Appreciation Society will grow in the future. Stay tuned for some Pimp-My-Stavic action in the future...
Group S qualifying saw Porsches fill 6 of the top 10 spots on the grid, with Bryan P5 and Hung P9. The first Group S race on Saturday morning was pretty uneventful at the front - but had lots of action midfield. Alex started in P20 and made up one spot to P19. Nick worked his way up two from P18 to P16. Bryan was having trouble at the hairpin but maintained his fifth position. David Withers went from back one from P12 to P13.
Sadly, Hung's motor decided to request a rest on the first lap and he would not take any further part in the weekend's racing. Alex proved capacity is not everything with a killer start overtaking several cars including Nic's C3. However, Nic had reclaimed his position before the end of the straight. See my youtube site - http://www.youtube.com/0brut - for both 'perspectives' on this start.
The site also has footage from Alex's car in the first 3 races and from Nick’s car in the last race. However, if you're reading this, then you have probably already seen all that...
The first under 3 litre Group N race was also entertaining viewing with a Mini giant killing win by a considerable margin. Mark Johnson's lovely 911ST clone was well driven into 6th spot.
The action hotted up in the second Group S race with an incident between front runners Bill Pye and Stan Adler seeing both of them leave the circuit. Pye recovered for a 3rd place whilst Adler would start race 3 off the back of the grid. Sydney's Terry Lawlor took the win in his beautifully prepared black 2.7 Carrera. Alex started in P19 and made up two places to P17. Nick worked his way up three places to P13. Bryan was still having trouble at the hairpin but finished a solid 4th. David made up the position he lost in race 1 to finish 12th.
A fantastic Saturday night was then spent eating pizza, drinking beer and telling car stories with the Vic TYP901ers at Brett's local pad. NT’s Cam Arnott and USA’s Kent Moore were also in town – having traveled similar distances to get to the event.
The third Group S race saw Adler storm from off the back of the grid to 7th place. However, there was some great action at the front with Lawlor holding off Pye for another deserved win. Alex moved forward another position to 16th. Nic worked his into the top ten with a 9th. Bryan maintained his 4th position from the start. David fell away a little to P15.
The final Group S race was a Pye benefit at the front of the pack and non stop action for the rest of the field. Cars were spinning off the circuit everywhere. Nick nearly T-boned Stuart Littlemore's Morgan after a couple of attempts to catch the sliding Morgan didn't take. George Nittis had a terrifying ride as his steering wheel became separated from his car during his entrance onto the main straight. He thankfully pulled the car up within inches of the wall.
Alex made up a bunch of places to finish the weekend in 12th – go the 2.0 litres! Nick continued his forward progress to rack up another top ten finish at 8th. Bryan lost one spot and finished 5th to Adler’s 4th. David got back 5 spots to finish 10th. Mark Johnson finished the weekend in the pretty ST in 3rd.
All in all - a fantastic weekend and a fantastic motor racing event that anyone into old racing cars should get along to. Whilst I have concentrated on the Group S races, there were awesome races across all classes and very open pits with lots of people happy to give you some information on their cars.
Click here to see the videos of the race