PHILLIP ISLAND CLASSIC FESTIVAL OF MOTORSPORT
MARCH 9-12 2023
Phillip Island this weekend for the annual PI Classic.
What a great track and location. Certainly my favourite must go event of the year.
Ill be there of course. Looking forward to it. We have some interesting cars including a number of Historic F1 cars coming over from Europe.... Hesketh, Shadow DN8, Surtees TS16, Tyrrell 012 (Benetton livery) Ensign, Lotus 81
A lot more than just F1, hundreds of wonderful cars entered.... we will see F5000, other open wheelers, big Sports cars from Kaditcha to McLaren and T70, plus, Ernie Nagamatu coming from the US with his Old Yeller 11, a range of Historic Touring Car events from Group A through to the Camaros and Mustangs, Lotus Cortinas, Minis and a lot in between, and of course a host of Australian Specials mixing it with more well known marques.
I think we have 10 categories of cars running. Link follows for all the events, cars and entries.
Sadly the Lotus 81 F1 car of Steve Boultbee-Brooks suffered a terminal engine failure in early practice. Even more sad is that he dragged himself and the car all the way over from the UK where he normally runs the cars in the Masters events. Long (and expensive) trip to make to go out in P1
Mind you he also brought over his Lola T70 which he has entered and will be running.
How the other half live.
We have another non-starter for Phillip Island. The reason is quite weird and in the hands of the Police.
Peter Williams and his ex Sir Jack Brabham BT21 were all loaded up Thursday night ready to head off to PI Friday morning.....He. was entered in M&O Sports and Racing, F.Junior and Invited class. Unfortunately.....
Police investigate theft of 'extremely rare' 1960s race car driven by Sir Jack Brabham
An extremely rare 1960s race car has been found damaged and unable to be driven, after it was stolen from a property in the wealthy Melbourne suburb of Toorak.
Police are investigating the theft of the Brabham BT21, which is believed to have occurred on Hill Street in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The race car is very rare, with only five others like it in the world.
The vintage vehicle was discovered on Grange Road by officers on patrol and police said It had been abandoned just streets away from where it had been taken.
"I don't think they knew how to turn on all the switches to be able to start it properly," owner Peter Williams told ABC Radio Melbourne this morning.
A green and gold race car with the number five on it, sitting stationary on a concrete road.
Police have released an image of the stolen vehicle to assist in the investigation.
Mr Williams was set to be competing in the car at the Phillip Island Classic this weekend — a five-day event which draws hundreds of historic race cars from across Australia and abroad.
Mr Williams said the rare car was driven by Australian racing legend Sir Jack Brabham.
The damage done to the clutch has put the vehicle out of the game for now, but Mr Williams said he had high hopes he would be able to get it back on the road.
As he said it was fortunate he got it back but just goes to show there are some pretty lowlife types out there. Not to mention stupid.... Where on earth did they think they could get rid of it or use it?
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
What a great weekend! Got back late last night. Weather was kind, Saturday was perfect, although a bit windy and a bit nippy at 8am in the morning on Sunday. Wind was pretty blowy Sunday but the threatened rain didnt happen,,,, we got a verry light spit but nothing that made any difference to racing or spectating.
From a spectator pov some stunning cars. Sorry we didnt get to see the Essex Lotus 81 in action but we did get to see all the other F1's that came over plus the local ones we have all slugging it out for 4 races over the weekend, and one event I am sure will feature in pub or online Trivia in the future..... we had an F1 cars only 2023 Phillip Island Grand Prix. That was won in commanding style by the ex James Hunt Hesketh Racing liveried Hesketh 308 of current custodian James Hagan, who I know has been to PI before in other cars so has a bit of local knowlwdge... Was not a huge long race, just a few laps but the spirit was there and they were running hard. And oh did I mention the sound.... a nostalgic mix of DFV, the BMW in the Benneton and Ferrari. Sadly the latter were not from the flat / v12 era and were turbo.
I say the F1 cars ran on their own for the PI GP..... for the rest of theweekend they ran in a combined field with F5000 and F2 type stuff. (There was an ex Cevert March running as well not seen before by me.
For those who like cars with roofs we had 80 entries in the Historic Touring cars, Group N (Pre 1974)split into tw races, one for the Minis, Cortinas Escorts and up to 2 litre, the over 2 litre catering for the Camaros, Mustangs, Valiants, Toranas etc. Plus we also had races for car from the Group C and Group A era most of which as Heritage cars are genuine period machines not modern day replicas. There was a number of Nissan GTR Godzillas down there including the Fred Gibson run Jim Richards driven car he dominated our local touring cars with, the original Godzilla. Nice to see his son Steven (of 5 times Bathurst winning fame) driving that car with fellow Kiwi Greg Murphy driving another..... Greg d was on board the HR31 GTS-R, previously raced by five-time ATCC winner Mark Skaife,as well as George Fury and Win Percy. Good to see a number of the old Gibson crew of the day were there running the cars and also Fred Gibson himself was there.one day at least.
Steven Richards, Greg Murphy, Anthony Alford each raced a Nissan Skyline out of the Gibson Motorsport stable
There is a short clip on Instagram of the Nissan's going out.
Oh in the racing it seems the Nissans continued their winning ways..... Richo topping Qualy over second-placed Murphy, with the latter returning serve in Race 1, claiming victory from Chris Stillwell (Ford Sierra RS500) and Richards. FYI Chris Stillwell is the son of the late great Aussie racing identity from the 50's and 60's Bib Stillwell.... Chris is a member of our Historic Touring Cars Victoria Club .... he also runs an Escort BDA Group N (pre '74) in that. Oh and he also runs the Stillwell Motor Group that Bib set up way back when.
Murphy made it back-to-back wins in Race 2, as Richards moved up to second, with Stillwell completing the podium.
Edward Sansil (BMW E30 M3 Evolution) picked up the victory in Race 3, with Anthony Alford (Nissan HR31 GTS-R) second and Stillwell third, while Richards and Murphy finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Richards capped off the outing with victory in Race 4 as Murphy and Stillwell rounded out the podium.
Here should link you straight to the Natsoft results for the various categories running over the weekend (Note F1 were part of the F5000 headed list and ran as Group R under 3 litre. Friday Saturday and Sunday all there split by day.
EDIT RE RESULTS. It seems that link does not go direct to the PI page so click the link then click the Circuit Racing option on top left of that home page.... you will then see a list of events listed, the, PI Classic is 4 or 5 down.... click on the date in the left column or the "View" in the right and it will open up the results page showing all 3 days
Not many videos posted yet but my good mate Jervis Ward has posted a clip from race 4 of the Historic Touring Cars.... on board from his Falcon Sprint. (The Rally Sprint basically uses Mustang running gear, Windsor 289 cubic inch etc but is lighter than a Mustang). Unfortunately he had a troubled weekend from a blowout in the first race from a body rub, and not running at 100%. Shows the size of the grid we had though.
If interested there is an interview with Jervis from a year or so ago which tells the story of the Falcon Rally Sprint.... probably one of the first ever "Homologation Specials" having been introduced by Ford to try and win the Monte Carlo Rally back in 1963. Big V8 engine and weightsaving fibreglass doors boot bonnet etc made it a relatively light car. In more recent years people have realised they are fully homologated for Historic Motorsport and have a good spec for circuit racing too.
Just noticed the bloke in the vid near the start who walks past looking like he is in another world (about 2:15 in) is me lol.
Ill post some piccies as soon as I get them sorted and picked out a few to post.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Vassago wrote: ↑1 year ago
Thx for sharing the experience! I hope you enjoyed yourself there
Had an absolute ball. Met up with loads of friends from over the years, some who had dragged over their trailers and trucks from Perth,(over 7000 klms return journey) plus a friend from UK who had brought his Chevron B6 over. Lots of "remember when...." conversations. Met new friends as well. Spent time with a guy originally from your part of the world (not actually Poland but Slovakia) who runs an old Citroen light 11. Some great cars..... from the F1's, and ex Cevert F2 March I have not seen before. Great to hear DFV's live and in anger again.
I'll post some photos when I have sorted through the hundreds I took! Weather was ok, shorts and T shirts all weekend
Cant wait for next year now! Before that we have Winton and Sandown Historics though!! Shame they dont attract the overseas entries, although still plenty from interstate .
Re he F1's etc I posted a video in the previous post. Plenty of other stuff appearing on youtube now.... just search 2023 Phillip Island Classic
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Not to mention stupid.... Where on earth did they think they could get rid of it or use it? 
