After a rain interrupted practice session on Friday Afternoon qualifying on Saturday morning was a moist but drying track.
Bill took pole in his RT4 with Simon just behind, Marty came in third with Ricky completing the first 2 rows. Unfortunately Andrew had a misfire that would eventually ruin his weekend’s racing. Lance continued a good run in the Brabham and the Formula Ford contingent was reduced temporarily to 2 cars as John Rowe’s car decided that full throttle should be a permanent fixture.
Race 1 started with a wet track which dried throughout the race. Bill had only slick tyres so this worked well for him, although Simon was flying on his wets, challenging on the first laps before the drying track saw Bill pull clear. The qualifying order was the race order in the end with Andrew just managing to keep in front of Lance with his continuing misfire.
Race 2 was dry, allowing Marty to get some use out of some new slicks to at least challenge Bill for some of the time. Ricky was the big improver, putting in some very fast laps in his beautiful RT5. Andrew’s misfire allowed Lance to take 5th with Craig being the best of the FF’s.
Saturday Night was a cracking event in the Federal Hotel, we had managed to exceed a table for 12 on the Friday but Saturday Night saw a table of 20 requiring at least 4 extra spots. Amazing that we can only manage to field 9 cars but can field at least 24 for dinner at the pub. The RSA v NZ Rugby Union on the pub TV made a fantastic backdrop as we have a good contingent of both RSA and NZ countrymen and women amongst us and the good natured rivalry was great to witness during a high class and very close match.
Sunday produced some fantastic weather, Andrew withdrew the his RT4 as the misfire was diagnosed as a crank angle sensor failure and no replacement part was available. Glenn had an unfortunate incident during his Regularity run late on Saturday when an absolute deluge of rain caused his car to aquaplane off the circuit into a conveniently place concrete barrier. Glenn was fine and his car not too bad.
Race 3 Saw Bill get another great start with Marty in hot but hopeless pursuit. The real action was behind this pair with Ricky and Simon going at it for 3rd place. Unfortunately Ricky spun exiting the back straight chicane and backed his car into the bank. Minimal damage to car and driver but a missed result after a great drive.
Race 4 and this time Bill did not make such a good start allowing Marty through and a race long 3 way battle with all 3 cars within 1 second of each other throughout most of the race. It was frantic stuff with Simon getting in front of Bill after his attempt to overtake Marty. In the end Marty prevailed (just) for the win. Unfortunately Lance struck a problem and had to pull in. Craig completed a very good weekend in the lovely Lola and John also ran solidly all weekend after fixing the throttle on the Valour.
It was a great weekend with some great racing and some very good company.
2021 Formula Classic – Round 5 August Race Meeting, Collie – 21st/22nd August
A good field of 10 cars entered the Collie August race meeting. Of the ten entries 9 were historic log booked vehicles, Ricky Virago being the sole libre log booked car entrant. The weekend weather was changeable with a mixture of rain and sunshine which made the tyre choice interesting for most of the entrants.
Sadly, Bill Norman broke a driveshaft at the start of the first race, resulting in a restart for the group and ending Bill’s racing weekend before it really began.
Marty Bullock dominated three of the four races, however Ricky Virago recorded his first win on the Sunday morning whilst the track was still damp, electing to run on wet weather tyres. Ricky had run second to Marty on both races the day before and it was great to see him take the chequered flag for the first time.
Lance Carwardine ran a consistent third throughout the weekend, this was equally great to see as he had been struggling with various issues with the Jane Brabham that now have all, finally, been resolved.
There was also an interesting battle running in the mid pack too, between Glenn Swarbrick and Craig Thompson in their historic Formula Fords with both taking honours twice each over the course of the meeting.
2021 Formula Classic – Round 4 June Race Meeting, Wanneroo – 13th June
Despite the gloomy weather forecast in the week leading up to Round 4 of the 2021 FCR Championship, the weather was kind with sunshine and blue skies for most of the day.
There was a good list of entrants for this event but sadly the numbers were depleted before the racing got underway. Lance Carwardine was the first not to run pulling his entry due to uncertainties with the engine cooling system on the Jane Brabham. Harvey Leys experienced fuel pressure issues and only managed a few laps in qualifying before withdrawing and both of Rob Jordan’s entries didn’t make it beyond the qualifying session either.
Simon Alderson maintained his winning form with outright wins in all three races and also taking the Libre class honours. Marty Bullock race consistently second on the track keeping Simon honest and collecting the Historic class honours.
Towards the end of race 3 Bob Creasy’s Ralt engine breather line parted from the motor liberally spraying oil around large sections of the track. Bob finished the race but unwittingly created a bit of chaos for his fellow competitors and causing a significant delay for the remaining events whilst the marshals cleaned up the track. Allan Ould sadly was an innocent casualty of this oil spill retiring his Aztec thinking he had a punctured tyre that was causing the unstable handling.
It was good to see John Hurney make his first appearance this year in a Durotec powered Formula Ford borrowed from the Fastlane stable.
At the conclusion of the racing FCR put on a barbeque that was well attended by their members, guests and friends.
2021 Formula Classic – Round 3 Ernie Hastie Memorial, Collie – 15th/16th May
There’s New Kid on the block!
Bill Norman made a great debut run at his first event since moving to WA winning 3 out of the four Ernie Hastie Memorial races in his 1982 Ralt RT4.
Bill moved to WA earlier this year from Queensland to be with his family in WA and he towed the Ralt and his motorcycle engine powered hill climb with him when he drove across.
It’s great to see another competitive car and drive join the ranks of FCR.
Both Marty Bullock in his Chevron and Simon Alderson in his Van Diemen kept Bill honest at the front of the field, Marty beating Bill to race honour in the final race of the weekend.
John Rowe ran his recently acquired Valor FF1600 for the first at the event, John spending most of the weekend acclimatising himself with the car.
It is good report all the entrants ran reliably with only one DNS for Lance Carwardine in the Jane Brabham with a boil over on the dummy grid on the last race.
2021 Formula Classic – Round 2 Wanneroo Night Masters – 27th March
The second round of the 2021 Formula Classic season was held at Wanneroo Raceway. The grid consisted of 16 cars, with three Formula Ford cars joining the FCR field. FCR also had a guest entrant, James Hogan, from Northern Ireland, who is on vacation in Australia for several months.
The qualifying session unfortunately saw Stuart Kostera in the Ralt RT4 drop out and not return to the track.
The competition at the front of the field was fierce with Marty Bullock and Simon Alderson going toe to toe. Simon taking out top honours in each round and Marty dropping away from the challenge with an overheating BDA engine in his Chevron.
Andrew Nielsen ran consistently in third place until the final race when Harvey Leys got ahead of him at the start in his Chevron sports car and never looked like losing that spot.
Lance Carwardine’s woes continued with the rebuilt Jane Brabham, having qualified and running well in the first race a mechanical gremlin forced the car to stop in the second race and not to return to the track.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Simon Alderson 75 pts
2nd Marty Bullock 60 pts
3rd Andrew Nielsen 53 pts
Handicap Results:
1st Harvey Leys 26 pts
2nd Leon Majestro 19 pts
3rd James Hagan 16 pts
Pictured from left: Martin Bullock, Simon Alderson, and Andrew Nielsen
2021 Formula Classic – Round 1 Collie Ice Breaker– 13th March
The first round of the 2021 Formula Classic season kicked off at Collie with the traditional Ice Breaker meeting.
It was a full day’s programme with a qualifying session and three races.
Race one saw Marty Bullock and Simon Alderson take up their usual spot at the front of the field battling hard with each other for race honours, with Lance Carwardine in the recently rebuilt Jane Brabham and Ricky Virago doing battle for third position. Sadly for Lance his engine expired towards the end of the race with a blown head gasket and that put him out for the rest of the meeting.
Alllan Ould was next across the line followed by Glenn Swarbrick and John Rowe. John was running his newly acquired 1972 Valor Formula Ford for the first time and he was adjusting to his new steed.
Races 2 and 3 yielded the exact same result as Race 1, very consistent running by all competitors.
The end of season prize giving dinner was a huge success with nearly 40 members and their guests attending. The Melville Glades Golf Club gave us a great room for the function as well as preparing a beautiful meal for us too. On behalf of FCR I’m going to take this opportunity to give a big thank you to my wife, Anne, for organising the event at her golf club.
First place in the 2020 FCR Handicap Championship went to Glenn Swarbrick. Glenn drove the WARM Macon FF1600 all season and accumulated 115 points.
Second place went to Craig Thompson driving his FF2000 Van Diemen with 93 championship points.
Simon Alderson finished third in the championship
The Formula Classic ‘Spirit’ trophy was awarded to Allan Ould this year in recognition of all his work with Motorsport Australia in developing the Sporting Regulations for FCR.
2020 Formula Classic – Round 7 WASCC Night Masters Meeting – 14th November
Unseasonal wet weather greeted the Formula Classic competitors for their final round of the 2020 championship. Sadly there was only a very small entry of 6 cars for the event and consequently the grid was amalgamated with the Formula 1000 cars.
The dry qualifying session saw Stuart Kostera take pole position in his Ralt RT4 from Harvey Leys’ Chevron and Craig Thompson claiming third quickest time in his Van Diemen.
The rain came on just in time for Race 1 and this saw Harvey Leys park up his Chevron as he has no wet weather tyres. Race 1 also claimed Stuart Kostera who pulled off after only 3 laps and he did not reappear for the remainder of the meeting. With the top two runners out and Craig Thompson struggling on old wet weather tyres Dave Turner in his Sports 2000 Tiga took the win, followed by Craig Thompson and Neil Woodward in the WARM owned Befa Ford taking third spot.
Race 2 saw the exact same finishing order.
Race 3 was looking like a repeat of races 1 and 2 however the race was marred by an incident between a Formula 1000 car and Craig Thompson resulting in his retirement from the race. Neil Woodward subsequently claimed second place and Glenn Swarbrick third spot.
Outright results for the weekend were; 1st David Turner 75 pts 2nd Neil Woodward 56 pts 3rd Glenn Swarbrick 52 pts
Handicap results for the weekend; Equal 1st David Turner & Neil Woodward 26 pts 3rd Glenn Swarbrick 20 pts
2020 Formula Classis – Round 6 WASCC October Race Meeting – 1st November
A good grid of 14 cars was entered for round 6 of the 2020 Formula Classic season. Unfortunately the weather was wet, wet, wet and this didn’t change all day. Stuart Kostera Jnr made a guest appearance driving Rob Jordan’s Ralt RT4, hopefully he’ll be a regular driver in the future with Formula Classic.
With the event declared a ‘wet’ meeting and treaded tyres only permitted on the track this precluded several competitors from venturing out of their garage, namely Marty Bullock, Allan Ould and Harvey Leys.
Qualifying took it’s tole on Dave Turner on lap one with a spin into the wall at the Esses. Dave was driving Rob Jordan’s Lola Sports 2000 rather than his usual Ralt RT4.
Race 1 saw Andrew Nielson, in his newly acquired Loynings powered Ralt RT4, take the win from Simon Alderson with Stuart Kostera running third.
Race 2 yielded the same result as Race 1 but in Race 3 Andrew Neilson unfortunately broke a drive shaft at the start of the event that side lined him from the race. Ricky Virago in his beautifully prepared Ralt RT5 was rewarded for his consistency with an overall 3rd place for the meeting.
Outright results for the weekend were; 1st Simon Alderson 65 pts 2nd Stuart Kostera Jnr 56 pts 3rd Ricky Virago 52 pts
Handicap results for the weekend; 1st Ricky Virago 22 pts 2nd Neil Woodward 20 pts 3rd Robert Creasy 8 pts
The final round is at Barbagallo on Saturday 14th November.
2020 Formula Classis – Round 5 Coalfields 500 – 3rd / 4th October
The Collie track welcomed Formula Classic to the Coalfields 500 event for Round 5 of our championship. The weather stayed dry for the majority of the weekend albeit there was a bitter wind blowing most of the time.
A good entry of 12 cars turned up on the grid for practice, 10 regular Formula Classic entrants and two guest Formula Ford drivers from the Fastlane stables.
The qualifying pace was set by Marty Bullock in his Chevron and Simon Alderson in his Van Diemen with Craig Thompson, Ricky Virago, Jamie Kerkhoff and the two guest Formula Fords all snapping at their heels.
John Rowe made his first appearance of the year with his beautiful Lotus 18 Formula Junior. The car sounding very sweet but unfortunately a gearbox issue put him out after the first race.
Ricky Virago’s Collie misfortunes continued, having practiced and qualified well an electrical gremlin shut his engine down on the first lap of the first race and the problem could not be fixed track.
Marty Bullock won all three events but was given a 5 second time penalty in Race one for movement on the start grid that handed the win to Simon Alderson. Craig Thompson finishing third overall for the weekend, struggling with a clutch issue in the last run,
2020 Formula Classic – Round 4 Torque Trophy & Kostera Cup Meeting – 16th August
Well a worse day you could not imagine for Round 4 of the 2020 Formula Classic Championship. The weather was wet, windy and cold. At the previous round there were 17 entrants in Formula Classic, this signalled a strong return to racing following the temporary suspension of racing due to the Covid virus. Round 4 unfortunately didn’t deliver a big field of cars with only 7 cars entered.
Sadly these 7 entrants were quickly reduced to only four with both Marty Bullock and Harvey Leys electing not to venture out due to their lack of wet weather tyres.
Glenn Swarbrick was also excluded from racing as his qualifying time was outside the 130% rule. This seemed to be a particularly harsh punishment as the Formula Classic group had been amalgamated with the F1000 group and the qualifying time was based upon their fastest time.
Race 1 saw Simon Barrett drop out after only a handful of laps with a major engine issue.
Simon Alderson won all three races, with Craig Thompson and Bob Creasy trading the minor places.
Outright results for the weekend were: 1st Simon Alderson 75 pts 2nd Craig Thompson 60 pts
Handicap results for the weekend: UPDATED 1st Glenn Swarbrick 23 pts 2nd Simon Alderson & Bob Creasy 22 pts
Note: half points only have been awarded for the handicap championship due to the very low level of entries for this round. Note: These handicap results have been updated to full points after consideration and Glenn Swarbrick has been calculated into the result set.
The next round is at Collie over the 3rd – 4th October weekend.
2020 Formula Classic – Round 3 WASCC Tander Cup Race Meeting – 11th July
Note: original rounds 3,4 & 5 cancelled due to COVID
After an extended delay in 2020 season due to the Covid 19 virus Formula Classic returned to racing at the Tander Cup meeting.
A good field of cars were entered for the event, 17 but only 16 took to the track on Saturday morning for qualifying as Lance Carwardine had a major engine failure in his OMS in Friday’s practice session.
Qualifying was very close with less than 1.5 seconds separating the top four cars. Simon Alderson taking pole position with a 59.2 second lap, followed by Marty Bullock in his Chevron, Shane Gifford in his March and Dave Turner (Ralt RT4). Qualifying however also took it’s tole on a few other cars, Brian Searles Ralt RT1 had an engine failure, Harvey Leys Chevron had an excursion into the sand trap and severely damaged the front bodywork and Rob Jordan’s Lola dropped out too with problems.
Race 1 saw Marty get ahead of Simon and lead until the chequered flag, although Simon was glued to his gearbox throughout the event. Dave Turner finish 3rd ahead of Craig Thompson in his Van Diemen FF2000 . After a poor qualifying time, Jamie Kerkhoff got his TRD Toyota going well and recording a 60.7 second lap until rear suspension failure forced his retirement from the race and the rest of the meeting.
Races 2 and 3 saw Marty reinforce is position at the front of the field with Dave Turner running second, Simon Alderson third and Shane Gifford forth.
It was great to see Joe Ricciardo join the event driving his beautifully presented Brabham BT6 Formula Junior.
Outright results for the weekend were;
1st Marty Bullock 75 pts
2nd David Turner 58 pts
3rd Simon Alderson 56 pts
Handicap results for the weekend;
1st Ricky Virago 20 pts
2nd Shane Gifford 17 pts
3rd Neil Woodward 15 pts
The next round is at Barbagallo on Sunday 16th August. Let’s see if we can put out a large group of cars to support this event and the WASCC club.
2020 Formula Classic – Round 2 Collie Icebreaker Meeting – 14th / 15th March
For the second round of the 2020 Formula Classic season the cars headed south to the Collie circuit for their Icebreaker meeting.
A small number of cars were entered, only 9, and that number diminished with Bob Creasy withdrawing his Ralt RT4 late in the day and Lance Carwardine’s OMS only lasting a few laps in Fridays practice session before detonating its engine. The good news was that despite a grim weather forecast for the weekend clear dry weather was enjoyed throughout the event.
There was an interesting battle at the front of the field all weekend with Marty Bullock and Simon Alderson battling it out for top honours. In just about every race it was the first car into the first corner that picked up the win.
Craig Thompson ran consistently all weekend in third spot until the last race when he picked up a second place finish after Simon Alderson ran out of brakes.
Outright results for the weekend were;
1st Marty Bullock 140 pts
2nd Simon Alderson 128 pts
3rd Craig Thompson 109 pts
Handicap results for the weekend;
1st Glenn Swarbrick 39 pts
2nd Martin Bullock 38 pts
3rd Craig Thompson 34 pts
The next round is the Night Master event at Barbagallo on Saturday 28th March. Let’s see if we can put out a large group of cars to support this event and the WASCC club.
The first round of the 2020 Formula Classic season kicked off with a 16-car entry list. It was encouraging to see a few new cars on the grid along with the usual mainstay of the group and few contemporary Formula Fords joining us as there was no class for them at this meeting.
Sadly, we lost Lance Carwardine’s OMS SF/2A on the first lap of the first race with suspension failure. There were also one or two other cars that missed out on a couple of the races due to minor technical issues.
With the absence of last season’s dominant Ralt RT4 driven by Michael Henderson, the 51st Birthday Meeting’s four race Formula Classic programme took on a different complexion with David Turner, Marty Bullock and Simon Alderson all fighting closely for the top honours.
Harvey Leys, in his beautifully prepared Chevron sports car, was a consistent 4th place runner as was Craig Thompson’s 5th place in his Van Diemen FF2000.
Outright results for the weekend were;
1st David Turner 100 pts
2nd Marty Bullock 78 pts
3rd Simon Alderson 74 pts
During the off-season Kevin Taylor undertook a further revision of the handicapping system to allow the results to be processed quickly on the day, below are the handicap results for this round;
1st David Watkins 24 pts
2nd Marty Bullock 23 pts
3rd Paul Barron 18 pts
The next round is the Collie Icebreaker over the weekend of 14th / 15th March. Let’s see if we can put out a large group of cars to support this event and the Collie club.
The end of season dinner and prize giving was held on Wednesday 4th December at the Mount Henry Tavern in Como. There was an exceptionally good turn out of 39 guests at the function, the largest group seen for many years.
Congratulations to the 2019 Formula Classic Handicap Championship podium finishers.
2019 Formula Classic Handicap Champion – Simon Alderson – Van Diemen RF 88
2nd place – Craig Thompson – Van Dieman RF 82 3rd place – Murray Charnley – Lotus 23B
“Spirit of Formula Classic” winner was deservedly – Murray Charnley
This year’s trophies were made and donated by Jamie Kerkhoff and Brian Searles.
Full results for 2019 season can be found here and the FCR Newsletter here
