There were a small field of entrants for the fourth round of the 2023 Formula Classic season. Sadly, many of our usual Formula Atlantic entrants were out still waiting on engine parts / repairs for their BDA’s.
Qualifying was a very sad affair for Andrew Gifford and his March finding the wall in the “bowling alley” on the very first lap. Lance Carwardine only managed a few laps in qualifying too with a right rear puncture and Ricky Virago also only managed a few laps as well with a blocked air filter.
It was good to see Bruce Mitchell out in his Reynard FF2000, his first outing in the car for some time.
Race one saw Bill Norman on pole, the only BDA powered car running at the event, with Jamie Kerkhoff alongside him. Third was Brian Searles in his Ralt RT1. The race finishing in the same order but with Ricky Virago getting past Brian’s Ralt to claim third spot.
Race two saw Lance back on the grid with his rear tyre repaired. Despite him starting rear of the grid it didn’t take him too long to get up to third spot. The three Formula Ford drivers in our group all were having a great battle mid pack trading places along the way.
Race 3 saw Bill out front with Jamie and Lance in hot pursuit and the rest of the group following in their wake.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Bill Norman 75 pts
2nd Jamie Kerkhoff 60 pts
3rd Ricky Virago 52 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Glenn Swarbrick 28 pts
2nd Ricky Virago 27 pts
3rd Bruce Mitchell 21 pts
The next round is at Wanneroo Park on Saturday 10th June.
There were a good number of entrants for the third round of the 2023 Formula Classic season. Sadly, many of our usual Formula Atlantic entrants were out waiting on engine parts / repairs for their BDA’s and as a result of their absence it made for a very different front end of the field.
There was also the return of an immaculately prepared Formula Two March that had not been seen at the track for several seasons. It’s new owner, Andrew Gifford, being the brother of the car’s previous owner, Shane who’d had it in storage since he retired from racing. Andrew made a very good showing for his first run in the car, running on some tyres that were so old they needed to be Carbon dated.
Qualifying saw Allan Jones and Simon Alderson top the times with Harvey Leys, John Hurney and Lance Carwardine close behind them. Jamie Kerkhoff missed qualifying with an electrical gremlin but had it fixed in time for the races.
There was a long wait on the dummy grid for race 1 following a huge oil spill on the track from the previous event. The marshals doing a great job to get the mess tidied up but it took close to an hour before the track was ready again. We lost Bob Creasy’s Ralt RT1 in race one with fuel contamination issues. Allan Jones won the event from Simon Alderson and Jamie Kerkhoff.
Race 2 saw Lance Carwardine a nonstarter with a starter motor issue and Ricky Virago pulling off after one lap with carburettor issues. Jamie Kerkhoff made a poor start and let Allan Jones and Simon Alderson pull out a small lead on him, however by the end of the race he had caught and passed Simon to claim second spot.
Race 3 saw Simon Alderson missing from the grid with a failed battery. Jamie made another poor start from the front row allowing Allan a small lead which he never relinquished, despite a few late braking moves from Jamie.
Craig Thomson and Ricky Virago were having their usual great battle in the mid field with their similarly powered Ford Pinto cars, Craig in a FF2000 Van Diemen and Ricky in a Lola S2000.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Allan Jones 75 pts
2nd Jamie Kerkhoff 58 pts
3rd Harvey Leys 50 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Jamie Kerkhoff & Brian Searles 37 pts
3rd Harvey Leys 30 pts
The next round is at Collie Motorplex on Saturday & Sunday 13th / 14th May.
The second round of the 2023 Formula Classic season was a very interesting event. Formula Classic was the first qualifying session on the Saturday morning. After only a handful of laps the red flag came out and we were told the timing system wasn’t working correctly. (Bob Creasy being provisionally on pole position with a 14 second lap!!) After a while the qualifying session restarted only to find out later the timing system was still not working. After about a 3 hour delay the timing system was sorted and a reduced race programme commenced for the afternoon session.
There was a good size field of 14 cars running including three guest Formula Ford entrants. Dan Gate and Arthur Abrahams were the pace setters in the first race in their Ralt RT4’s with Jamie Kerkhoff and Lance Carwardine chasing them.
Race 2 saw Arthur spin off into the gravel ending his weekend with engine damage.
Sunday morning came with a revised race schedule. Dan retired his Ralt before the start of Sunday’s first event with engine trouble. Two of the guest Formula Ford drivers had retired too, flying back to Melbourne for school on Monday morning! Jamie Kerkhoff retired his Toyota TRD as well with a frayed water pump belt.
To add to Collie’s woes for the weekend their PA system packed up on Sunday leaving the officials to run around getting race groups organised for their next event.
With the Formula Classic numbers depleted Lance and last remaining guest Formula Ford driver were battling it out for the day’s honours. Lance maintaining the upper hand until the final lap of the last event when his fuel pump packed up, handing the race and weekend win to Andrew Van Leeuwen.
Craig Thomson and Ricky Virago were having a great battle for third place honours in their Ford Pinto powered cars, Craig in a FF2000 Van Diemen and Ricky in a Lola S2000.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Andrew Van Leeuwen (guest) 93 pts
2nd Lance Carwardine 84 pts
3rd Craig Thompson 82 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Ricky Virago 42 pts
2nd Glenn Swarbrick 34 pts
3rd Craig Thompson 28 pts
The next round is at Wanneroo Park on Saturday 15th April.
The first round of the 2023 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Sunday 5th March. It was a perfect day for racing with clear blue skies and a very civilised start time of 11.00 a.m.
Thirteen cars were entered for the event and there were a couple of guest Formula Fords with us too.
In the qualifying run we saw a few different car and driver combinations, mainly due to several cars being prepared for next weekend’s big race at Phillip Island. New boy to Formula Classic, Arthur Abrahams was driving Bob Creasy’s Ralt RT4 whilst Bob had reverted to his RT1 and Dan Gate was in his March 80A.
Sadly, Bill Norman broke his CV joint at the start of the first race causing a bit of mayhem for the vehicles behind him and prompting a safety car intervention, that in itself cause some issues subsequently with time penalties being applied to several drivers for yellow flag infringements.
Arthur won the first two races and looked set to make it a clean sweep but for an electrical issue to sideline him partway through the third race. Jamie Kerkhoff, who’d been running a strong second in the first two races swept through to win the final race of the day, his first ever win and taking the outright win for the day too.
Glen Caple returned to the track after a three year absence with his beautifully presented Birrana 274, similarly Harvey Leys returned to the track after an absence with his equally beautifully prepared Chevron B19, Harvey picking up overall 3rd place on the day.
CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE ON YOUR FIRST OUTRIGHT WIN!
There was one huge big smile on Jamie Kerkhoff’s face on Sunday afternoon following his inaugural outright win in the Carco Cup race. There could have been no more deserving winner following last season’s struggle with a string of car problems that saw him sidelined more often than on the track. Further cause for celebration too was the sub sixty second lap he managed along the way to his win.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Jamie Kerkhoff 65 pts
2nd Lance Carwardine 54 pts
3rd Harvey Leys 52 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Harvey Leys 42 pts
2nd Glenn Caple 36 pts
3rd Jamie Kerkhoff 35 pts
The next round is at Collie over the weekend of 25th / 26th March.
Rob Janney Memorial, Wanneroo Raceway 6th November
The final round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Sunday 6th November.
The biggest field of cars in several seasons turned out for the final round, a total of 19 entrants.
Prior to qualifying one Ralt dropped out and a second Ralt was lost after qualifying with a broken axle.
There was a very interesting mix of new cars and drivers swapping cars with others. Dan Gate delivered a blisteringly hot 54.9 sec lap in qualifying driving Bob Creasy’s RT4. Whilst Bob reverted back to his earlier RT1 Ralt. Meanwhile, Tom Hamlett had jumped into Dan Gate’ newly acquired March 80A and Terrence Nielson had jumped into his Dad’s RT4 and left Dad (Andrew) to drive his newly rebuilt Tiga FA-82. Brian Searles had an engine failure in the Friday practice session and brought out his recently acquired Tiga SC84 for its maiden outing. Other debutants for this season included Ray Stubber, Dave Watkins, Jamie Kerkhoff and Bruce Mitchell.
Dan dominated the day winning all three events with Terrence Nielson taking out overall second with Marty Bullock in his trusty Chevron rounding out the top three.
This final round of the 2022 FCR Championship was sponsored by Trench West with 4 lucky entrants each receiving $500 at the end of meeting barbeque having their names drawn from a hat. Congratulations to Jamie Kerkhoff, David Dearden, Bill Norman and Ricky Virago.
The penultimate round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Collie Motorplex over the weekend of 1st / 2nd October.
The initial entry numbers looked very encouraging with 13 entrants however 3 Ralts all fell by the wayside before qualifying was completed. Neil Woodward was a further retiree after race 1 with the Bifa Ford leaking oil profusely.
Dan Gate, usually the dominant driver at Collie, had a couple of issues with his Ralt RT4 on Saturday with a control arm failure in race one and overheating issues in the second race. However normal service was resumed for the Sunday with wins in both races.
Simon Alderson, another usual top performer had issues with his Van Diemen on the Saturday losing a front brake in race one. A replacement calliper was sourced overnight and Simon was back on Sunday with a third and second place finish in races 3 and 4.
Lance Carwardine suffered an unusual problem in race 1 with a piece of plastic debris getting in behind his clutch pedal and restricting its operation. The problem was easily rectified and Lance continued to a steady third place overall for the weekend.
The weekend was won by a guest driver, Tom Hamlett, in a Stealth S3D Duratech powered Formula Ford.
The seventh round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Saturday 17th September.
There were eleven entrants in the Formula Classic event.
Dan Gate was the dominant driver winning all three races. Allan Jones kept him honest in the first race but sadly retired his Ralt RT5 with electrical gremlins.
Ricky Virago gave his new Lola T492 Sports 2000 its first race and he ran consistently with it throughout the day.
Sadly, another casualty after the first race was Bill Norman with a worrying rattle from his freshly rebuilt BDA. Fingers crossed it is only something minor.
The sixth round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Collie Motorplex on Sunday 21st August.
There were only six entrants in the Formula Classic event and FCR had to argue strongly with MSA and the Collie race officials not to amalgamate the group with Formula Ford. The winning argument being that the Formula Ford event was a championship round and that for them to have ‘other’ cars on the track at the same time may interfere with the outcome of their championship.
Dan Gate blitzed the qualifying session in his Ralt RT4, 7 seconds quicker than the second place qualifier. Sadly, Ricky Virago’s Ralt RT5 only managed half a lap in qualifying before clutch failure put him out for the day.
The highlight of the meeting was Dan Gate setting a new Formula Classic lap record in race one in a time of 1 min. 07.81 sec. Eclipsing Hendo’s previously lap record by 0.1 sec.
Outside the excitement of the new lap record the three events were largely processional with only Neil McCrudden and Brian Searles having a personal battle at the back of the field for tail end honours.
The fifth round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Saturday 25th June.
It felt like déjà vu!
It was a beautiful winter’s day; there was a very small grid of Formula Classic cars entered, Dan Gate blitzed the qualifying session, failed to finish the first run and then blitzed the second and third races. Have I just slipped back to the May race meeting?
Allan Jones took outright honours on the day with a first and two seconds, it was Allan’s first outright win in his beautifully prepared Ralt RT5 Congratulations Allan, hopefully there’ll be more outright wins to come in the future for you.
The broken driveshaft on Dan’s car at the start line cost him dearly with no points for the first run and despite wins in races 2 and 3 he was only able to manage third overall for the day.
Lance Carwardine had a steady run throughout the meeting in his Jane Brabham netting him overall second place.
Simon Alderson, normally a front runner, had a tiny touch with Allan Jones’ rear wheel exiting the Esses that damaged his front wing and put him out of race 2.
The fourth round of the 2022 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway on Sunday 29th May.
There was a very poor turnout with only 7 cars taking to the track, one of which was a ‘guest’ car from F1000.
Dan Gate looked like dominating proceeding again but a DNF in race one due to an ignition coil issue put pay to that outcome. He did however win the remaining two races.
Simon Alderson and Stewart Burns, the guest F1000 drive had a great battle at the front of the field with the F1000 just having the legs over Simon’s Van Diemen.
Allan Jones in his Ralt RT5 and Lance Carwardine in the Jane Brabham were the only other drivers in contention for place honours with Allan grabbing 2nd overall for the day.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Simon Alderson 65 pts
2nd Allan Jones 56 pts
3rd Dan Gate 50 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Simon Alderson 27 pts
2nd Allan Jones 24 pts
3rd Dan Gate 10 pts
The next round is at Wanneroo on Sunday 25th June.
The third round of the 2022 Formula Classic season, the Ernie Hastie Memorial, was held on Sunday 15th May. Several entrants made the journey down to Collie on Friday for the afternoon practice session and then took ‘the day off’ on Saturday to do other things in region before returning to race on the Sunday.
Bill Norman Did not have a good Sunday! He left Perth at 3.00 pm to get to the track on time only to have very concerning mechanical rattle from the bottom end of his engine during the qualifying session that forced him to retire his car before the first event.
Dan Gate continued his dominance of the class with a qualifying pole time 4.5 seconds quicker than the second place car and a comfortable win in all three events.
Young Formula Ford driver Marc Redman and FCR regular Lance Carwardine had a great battle for second place honours with Marc coming out on top with two second places to Lance’s one.
Further down the field Craig Thompson and Glenn Swarbrick were having a great battle in the historic Formula Fords.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Dan Gate 75 pts
2nd Marc Redman 58 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 56 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Lance Carwardine 33 pts
2nd Dan Gate, David Drearden & Glenn Swarbrick 20 pts
The Collie Icebreaker, second round of the 2022 Formula Classic season, was held on Saturday 26th March. The weather forecast was for heavy rain all day which fortunately did not happen. The morning qualifying session was wet and there was a further shower just before the final race of the day but in between this it was dry, overcast and very humid. There was a modest entry with just 10 cars being present. Sadly some of the more regular entrants were unable to compete due to their cars being out of action or virus restrictions.
New kid on the block, Dan Gate, continued to show his race pace securing pole position for every race and winning all three events too. Bill Norman kept him honest in the first two events but unfortunately his Ralt suffered engine failure during the second race. A suspected dropped valve being the cause of the failure.
It was good to see “The Father” of Formula Classic, Neil McCrudden, making an appearance on the track again after a several year hiatus in his trusty Macon F2. Neil was immediately on the pace and ran well in the first two races until a fuel issue forced him to retire the car before the third run.
Ricky Virago and Lance Carwardine were trading third and fourth places depending upon whether the track was wet or dry with Glenn Swarbrick behind them, and as always, running steadily in his Macon Formula Ford.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Dan Gate 75 pts
2nd Lance Carwardine 52 pts
3rd Ricky Virago 50 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Lance Carwardine 28 pts
2nd Brian Searles 25 pts
3rd Glen Swarbrick 18 pts
The next round is at Collie over the weekend of 14th / 15th May.
The first round of the 2022 Formula Classic season kicked off at Wanneroo with the twilight meeting. There were 13 cars entered but sadly a couple didn’t make it past qualifying due to mechanical issues. Marty Bullock’s Chevron leaking oil from the rear of the engine somewhere and Allan Jones’ Ralt developed a misfire that could not be found.
New kid on the block, Dan Gate, showed his race pace immediately by putting his recently rebuilt Ralt RT4 on pole and then running away with a win in races 1 and 2. Unfortunately a clutch issue on the start line for race 3 excluded him from the final race of the day.
Andrew Nielson had handed over the reins of his Ralt RT4 to his son Terrence, for this race, and he was going great guns in his first outing in the car, chasing Dan hard. A good second place finish in race 1 and running strongly in second place in race 2 until a front suspension failure put him off the track and into the sand trap at the bottom of the hill.
Simon Alderson and Bill Norman were also in the mix at the front of the field in their respective Van Diemen FF2000 and Ralt RT4. Their consistencies paying off with a round win to Simon and Bill in second spot.
In the mid field, Craig Thompson and Lance Carwardine were having a great duel trading places regularly throughout the three races. Craig finishing on top and picking up third place overall for the day.
Outright results for the meeting were:
1st Simon Alderson 63 pts
2nd Bill Norman 53 pts
3rd Craig Thompson 52 pts
Simon Alderson accepting 1st place trophy
Bill Norman (2nd) describes the days events
Craig Thompson (3rd)
Handicap results for this round;
1st Robert Creasy & Genn Swarbrick 20 pts
3rd Allan Ould 19 pts
The next round is at Collie over the weekend of 26th / 27th March.
Night Masters Race Meeting, Wanneroo – 13th November
A good field of 16 cars entered the Night Masters race meeting, the final event of the 2021 season. Sadly the field was reduced by a couple of cars after qualifying notably Ricky Virago pulling out with engine issues in his newly rebuilt Ralt RT5.
It was a case of the usual suspects battling it out at the front of the field however ‘new kid on the block’ Allan Jones was keeping them honest in his newly acquired ex Ricky Virago Ralt RT5.
Race 1 was red flagged on the first lap after Bob Creasy’s Ralt RT4 stalled on the starting grid. The re start saw Marty Bullock take the win from Simon Alderson with Bill Norman coming third.
Race 2 saw Marty and Bill swap places at the front of the field will Allan Jones picking up third spot. Simon Alderson picked up a 30 second time penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag. This dropped him to ninth place in the results for race 2.
Race 3 was very good to watch with a huge battle between Andrew Nielson in his Ralt RT4 and Simon Alderson. Andrew keeping ahead of Simon to the chequered flag only to lose the place after receiving a 5 second time penalty for a jump start. Leone Magistro who’d been running reliably all day got a puncture in his rear tyre on the last lap and ended up in the sand trap. Fortunately no serious damage was done to his car although it was completely covered with sand and dust. Bill continued his winning way with Marty second and Allan third.
Historic results for the meeting were;
1st Bill Norman 70 pts
2nd Marty Bullock 65 pts
3rd Andrew Nielson 52 pts
Libre results for the meeting were;
1st Simon Alderson 68 pts
2nd Allan Jones 65 pts
3rd Harvey Leys 56 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Glenn Swarbrick 17 pts
2nd Andrew Nielson & Harvey Leys 14 pts
This was the final race of the 2021 season. The 2022 season will start around the end of February / early March.
We look forward to an exciting year of racing in 2022.
Rob Janney Memorial Race Meeting, Wanneroo – 17th October
A good field of 16 cars entered the Rob Janney Memorial race meeting. Seven of the 16 entries were from the Ralt marque. The weather was dry and overcast in the morning but the sun broke through later in the day leading to a warm afternoon. The local flies were out in force, lovely!
Ralts on parade
The field was reduced to 14 cars before the first race began with John Hurney withdrawing with gearbox issues and Harvey Leys pulling out after qualifying with fuel system problems.
Race 1 started with Marty Bullock in the lead and Bill Norman snapping away at his heels. On lap 6 Marty, unfortunately had an ignition wire come off whilst heading down into Kolb corner, effectively killing his engine. Bill following so closely was forced to take avoiding action and took to the grass sadly breaking the front left wishbone in the process. Both cars being towed back to the paddock at the conclusion of the race. Simon Alderson taking the chequered flag from Andrew Nielson and Stuart Kostera.
Race 2 saw Marty up and running again but starting from the rear of the grid prevented him from challenging for a win however he did manage to get up to 3rd spot at the drop of the chequered flag. Simon winning the race from Stuart in second place.
Race 3 saw the return of Ricky having fixed his fuel line issue. Simon continued his winning way in the third race making it a clean sweep for the day.
Allan Ould’s normally very reliable Aztec let him down this weekend with 3 DNF’s. The problem appears to be with the fuel pump.
