Western Double – Rounds 7 & 8
FOR SALE – Elfin Catalina
| Make: Elfin Model: FJ (Catalina) Engine type/capacity: Ford 1100cc |
| Year 1962 Chassis No: 6319 |
| Current Owner: Bruce Edgar, Perth, WA 0414 416 200 Bruceedgar40@gmail.com |
History of car
Bought by the Victorian importer (Jack Hunnam) as a kitset, and built up for its first owner Vern Cerche (in Victoria) in early 60s as 1500c but never raced. It incorporated the existing alloy disc wheels and 4 wheel disc brakes.
After a series of owners and adventures, including a court case, the car was acquired by Dave Sullivan (in Perth) and he and his son Dave in 1978 and first raced in 1983 at Mallala and Collingrove. Subsequently the car was raced in a dark green livery through the 80s in Historic races at Wanneroo, Perth with some Round the Houses events. Only sporadically raced since the 80s including an appearance at the Caversham Reunion in 2007 where damage was sustained after an “off”.
Acquired by the current owner in May 2010 and completely rebuilt. The is a great, original example of this type. Raced as a Formula Junior in the original Cerche livery of red with white stripes. Has been raced almost continuously in the west with occasionally forays east and to NZ. Subsequently raced as part of the 2105 FJ series and 2016/7 series in Aust, NZ and USA.
Best lap time at Wanneroo 67.7 sec (Jun2015).
Description of Car
Rebuilt in 2010 to race as a FJ with 1100 Ford engine but not log booked as negotiations stalled. Can be converted to Elfin FJ specifications or as Group M 1500 (as originally built). Original early 60s build (with documentation) includes the solid, unique, wheels as shown and 4 wheel disc brakes. Car accepted by Elfin as genuine FJ (Catalina) and given chassis no 6319.
Car is complete with 1100 105E (3 bearing) Richardson based all steel engine, dry sumped, twin 40 Webers and VW tunnel 5 speed gearbox incorporating Taylor Race internals). Was rebuilt with approved design roll over bar, 6 point seat belts (with 2in top sections for HANS), GAS shocks (steel, single adjustment and adjustable spring height). Fully sorted with increased rate springs and adjustable antiroll bars front and rear. Currently on FJ spec tyres.
Has spare body panels (2 noses, pair of sides and tail, gearboxes) and some other spares.
Car is complete and ready to race. Fuller details on request.
2024 Formula Classic – Round 5
Wanneroo Park 15th June
The weather was perfect for racing, dry, sunny and mild.
Eight cars took to the track for qualifying. It was great to see Murray Charnley out in his Lotus 23 and Bruce Mitchell joining us for his first run this year in his Reynard FF2000. Bill Norman had experienced some issues at Friday’s tuning day and was still working on the car on Saturday morning trying to get ready for qualifying. He made it out for only two laps, an insufficient number to formally qualify and therefore had to start rear of the field for race 1. All other drivers qualified satisfactorily with Simon Alderson claim pole.
With Bill starting from the back of the pack, this break gave Simon enough of a gap to hold onto first place for a win of race 1. Bill was close on his heels for 2nd place with Lance Carwardine third across the line.
In an effort to improve the race day scheduling the WASCC introduced this year time allocations for each racing group rather than a prescribed number of racing laps. For race 2 FCR was allocated 15 minutes which translated to 13 laps for the lead cars. Several of the drivers commenting after race 2 on the noticeable increase in track time. Starting from the front row alongside Simon, Bill was able to take the lead of the race and hold it to the chequered flag. Bruce Mitchell made a good start and got up to 4th spot before an electrical gremlin sidelined at turn 6.
Race 3 was allocated 12 minutes track time, it was the usual suspects at the front of the field, Bruce starting from rear of the grid after his electrical woes were resolved only to end up spinning off and out of the event at turn 6. Murray pulled out of the final race too following a fall that resulted in some minor injuries whilst undertaking the self extraction test. Lance was pinged for a minor infringement on the assembly lap that saw him incur a 15 second penalty, this time penalty elevated Brian Searles to 3rd place in his Tiga Sports 2000.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Bill Norman 70 pts
2nd Simon Alderson 65 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 53 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Simon Alderson 28 pts
2nd Murray Charnley 22 pts
3rd Bill Norman 16 pts
The next round of the 2024 Formula Classic season is at Collie Motorplex on one day over the weekend 17th / 18th August (whether FCR race on Saturday or Sunday is yet to be decided by the organisers).
There’s Trouble in Paradise
FORMULA CLASSIC RACING 20th April 2024
Newsletter 041
We are so privileged to own race cars of a golden era, to have access to two great local race tracks and to have some of the lowest cost circuit racing in the world, yet we regularly choose not to enjoy them. Why is this?
Sadly, as with most great things that are ‘on your doorstep’ they are taken for granted and often underutilised, ignored or forgotten about, assuming they will always be there whenever you want them. Please don’t take for granted this amazing privilege we have as one day it may all be gone.
I’d like to share with you some statistical data from the past few years regarding the number of drivers that took part in Formula Classic events by year;
To date this year we have managed to put out;
Round 1 – 7 cars
Round 2 – 5 cars
Round 3 – 7 cars
Round 4 – 3 cars (cancelled)
What has happened? What is going on? Why are we having so few entrants to our events?
The Formula Classic website lists 86 known historic racing and sports cars in WA, the majority of which are owned by FCR members.
FCR currently have 41 club members, 34 of these are racing members.
I’ve highlighted these statistics to demonstrate the imbalance between the number of racing members, the numbers of eligible race cars in the state in comparison to the number of cars on the track this season.
Last weekend’s showing would not have been missed by many and the reputation of Formula Classic will have been seriously tarnished as a result of having only 2 cars running in the final race.
I think this is only time, in my many years that I have been involved in motorsport, that I have ever seen such a small grid.
We all want Formula Classic to succeed and be around for years to come, not only for ourselves but for future members to ensure the legacy of historic motorsport continues.
Round 5 at Wanneroo Park is being held on Saturday 15th June. It is imperative that FCR put out a big field of cars at this event to show everyone that we are a robust class with a strong and deep membership. Whilst entries for Round 5 are not yet open, I would ask everyone to put in an early entry again signalling our strength as a racing group.
It has been said many times before but I’ll repeat it once again. Any member who needs help preparing their race car please do not hesitate to ask. There are several very able members willing to assist anyone in getting their car prepared for the track.
STAY SAFE Contact details; admin@formulaclassic.com.au
Since this newsletter was written we have had only 3 cars enter for round 4 and hence it was cancelled, let’s see ifwe can make a comeback for round 5
2024 Formula Classic – Round 4
Collie Motorplex 5th May
Event cancelled due to low entries. (3 only)
The next round of the 2024 Formula Classic season is at Wanneroo Park on Saturday 15th June.
2024 Formula Classic – Round 3
Wanneroo Park 14th April
Just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse!
Only 7 cars entered the third round of the 2024 Formula Classic Championship. Lance Carwardine withdrew on the morning with a back injury.
Qualifying was uneventful with Simon Alderson putting his Van Diemen on pole with Marty Bullock in his Chevron alongside.
Race 1 saw Simon take the win, with Marty in second place, followed by Dave Watkins in his Royale, Glenn Swarbrick and Dave Dearden. Brian Searles dropping out with engine maladies in his Tiga Sports 2000.
Race 2 culled over half of the remaining cars. Watto’s Royale developed a terminal ignition issue, Glenn ruptured a water hose and ‘cooked’ the Macon engine and Marty had a major lock up at the end of the start finish straight ending him in the sand trap.
The final race of the day saw only two cars take to the track.
The highlight of the meeting was seeing Dave Dearden take an outright second place trophy home with him. Congratulations Dave!
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Simon Alderson 75 pts
2nd David Dearden 56 pts
3rd Marty Bullock 20 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Simon Alderson 16 pts
2nd David Dearden 14 pts
3rd David Watkins 10 pts
The next round of the 2024 Formula Classic season is at Collie Motorplex on Sunday 5th May.
2024 Formula Classic – Round 2
Collie Motorplex 24th March
The second race meeting of the year was a bitter sweet event in many ways.
The Bitter
The choice of date for the event may have impacted the number of entries received being the same date as the Melbourne Grand Prix, plus several of our top running competitors were still waiting for their vehicles to return from the Phillip Island Classic following some transport issues due to bad weather.
However, the absence of some of our regular top running competitors opened the door for some of our other ‘mid field’ players to vie for top honours.
Race 1 saw Lance Carwardine put his Jane Brabham on pole position with Brian Searles alongside him in his Ralt RT1 on the front row. Some engine maladies hampered Lance allowing Brian to take the lead and hold the position until the chequered flag. (The Sweet – Brian’s first race win in over 30 years!)
Murray Charnley join us for Race 2 with his beautiful Lotus 23 following some oil tank breather issues in qualifying that were not resolved in time for Race 1.
Lance had resolved his engine issues after Race 1 and quickly took to the lead in Race 2, followed by Brian and Glenn Swarbrick. Dave Dearden, in his Vector FF1600 was struggling with third gear issues that were hampering his efforts to challenge Glenn and Brian.
Race 3 was pretty much a copy of Race 2 except for Lance starting from pole position.
Long time between drinks, one happy camper!
Natsoft outright results for the meeting were;
1st Lance Carwardine 67 pts
2nd Brian Searles 65 pts
3rd Glenn Swarbrick 56 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Glenn Swarbrick 27 pts
2nd Brian Searles & David Deardon 14 pts
The next round of the 2024 Formula Classic season is at Wanneroo Park on Sunday 14th April.
2024 Formula Classic – Round 1
Wanneroo Park 3rd March
The first race meeting of the year held all kind of promises that sadly failed to deliver.
The Phillip Island Classic drew several of our top competitors away from our grid together with several other regular competitors not have their cars ready in time for the event. The Formula Ford group were in a similar yet somewhat worse position with only a handful of entrants for their event. The organisers wisely amalgamated the two groups to make a half decent field of cars.
As if this was not enough of a challenge, the weather was very hot and humid making it very uncomfortable for everyone. Compound this now with a series of medical emergencies (none race driver related) that took the medical staff away from the track and halting proceedings. The perfect storm scenario.
Eventually the meeting was abandoned around 5.00 pm with only one race run but with many frustrated drivers and helpers.
It’s not clear at the time of writing whether points, partial points or no pints will be awarded for the day.
The highlight of the day was the barbeque at Jamie’s shed after everyone packed up and the beautiful MGTC of one of our guests.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Arthur Abrahams 25 pts
2nd Simon Alderson 20 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 18 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Brian Searles 14 pts
2nd David Watkins 11 pts
3rd Glenn Swarbrick 9 pts
The next round of the 2024 Formula Classic season is at Collie Motorplex on Sunday 24th March.
Formula Classic 2024 Calendar
Round 1: Sunday 3rd March Wanneroo
Round 2: 23rd – 24th March Collie
Round 3: Sunday 14th April Wanneroo
Round 4: 4th – 5th May Collie
Round 5: Saturday 15th June Wanneroo
Round 6: 17th – 18th August Collie
Round 7: 14th-15th September Wanneroo
Round 8: 21st-22nd September Collie
Round 9: Saturday 19th October Wanneroo
2023 Formula Classic – Round 10
Bob Creasy Memorial – Wanneroo Park 29th October
The season finale was a very well supported event with 17 entries, the highest number all year. It had been decided to trial rolling starts for Formula classic following the start line incident at the previous Wanneroo round where several cars were damaged.
It was good to see FCR Chairman, Marty Bullock, back on the grid with his trusty Chevron following an extended overseas trip. It was also great to see Andrew Gifford’s beautifully presented Formula Holden on the track again in its Mitre 10 livery.
Terrence Nielsen was making his first appearance for the year too in the ex-Rob Jordan Ralt RT4.
Race one was a bit of a none event following contact between Arthur Abrahams and Terrence Nielsen at turn one on lap one putting them both into the sand trap and track conditions deteriorated further with Allan Jones car catching fire. The race was red flagged and the remaining 6 laps were run behind the pace car.
With Jamie Kerkhoff on pole position for race two he made the most of controlling the rolling start pace and led into the first corner never to be overtaken. Simon Alderson was hot on his heels but couldn’t get past.
Dan Gate had forsaken his usual Ralt RT4 for the memorial event instead driving the Ralt RT1 that Bob Creasy had previously campaigned for many years. Dan finishing 4th in race two and was looking good to improve in the final run of the day.
Race 3 was the main event for the meeting being the Bob Creasy Memorial Cup. Jamie made his usual great start and was leading until his engine went of song a little and Simon was able to sneak by and claim the big prize. Dan great progress in race 2 came to naught in race 3 with a broken CV joint at the start forcing him to retire the car. It would have been so appropriate for Bob’s old RT1 to win the inaugural cup but it was not to be sadly.
A very happy Simon Alderson celebrating his win of the inaugural Bob Creasy Memorial Cup.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Jamie Kerkhoff 68 pts
2nd Simon Alderson 65 pts
3rd Terrence Nielsen 48 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Lance Carwardine 34 pts
2nd Jamie Kerkoff 31 pts
3rd David Dreardon 30 pts
This is the final round of the 2023 Formula Classic season see you next year.
2023 Formula Classic – Round 9
Coalfields 500 – Collie Motorplex 30th September / 1st October
Ten cars entered the 9th round of the 2023 Formula Classic season. The Coalfields 500 was a two day event with four races for Formula Classic.
It was great to see Peter Marsh for the first time driving in Formula Classic in his Aztec AR9 F3 that he had recently acquired from Allan Ould.
It was also good to see Ray Stubber for the first time this year in his beautifully restored 1981 Van Diemen Formula Ford.
Qualifying saw the usual line up with Bill Norman on pole and Simon Alderson close behind, then followed by Lance Carwardine and Peter Marsh. Brian Searles had a problem in qualifying, breaking the alternator bracket on lap two, however some speedy repairs were undertaken with the help of Dave Dearden and the car was back in time for race 2.
The two races on Saturday were both 12 lap events, Bruce Mitchell’s Reynard FF2000 overheated towards the end of race one forcing him to retire the car before the race finished. Unfortunately he was not to return to the track that weekend following a burnt hand whilst investigating the overheating issue.
Sunday’s two events were the usual 8 laps, both in the morning, and thereby allowing us to leave the track at the lunch break and head home in daylight.
Bill dominated the weekend taking all 4 wins, similar Simon was a consistent 2nd with Lance and Peter scrapping for the final podium spot. Unfortunately Peter missed a gear change during the last race and ‘buzzed’ his engine, costly in he missed out on a possible podium spot but also possibly a large engine bill too.
At the back of the pack Craig, Glenn, Dave and Brian were having equal fun scrapping over the minor points.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Bill Norman 100 pts
2nd Simon Alderson 80 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 71 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Craig Thompson 28 pts
2nd Bill Norman 26 pts
3rd Peter Marsh 25 pts
The final round of the 2023 Formula Classic season is at Wanneroo Park on Sunday 29th October.
2023 Formula Classic – Round 8
Rob Janney Memorial – Wanneroo Raceway 16th September
Fourteen cars entered the 8th round of the 2023 Formula Classic season.
Arthur Abrahams did not show up for qualifying suffering with a medical issue. Dan Gate put his Ralt RT4 on pole position with Allan Jones, Simon Alderson and others all pressing on hard trying to get close to his pace.
Race one started and ended badly, very badly, for three drivers. Dan broke a drive shaft off the line causing the field behind him to dive left and right to avoid the near stationary car at the front of the grid. John Hurney took to the grass on the infield to avoid the stricken Ralt as did Ricky Virago. Ricky’s Lola broke traction on the damp grass as he tried to return the car to the bitumen causing it to spin violently across the track and into the pit lane wall. Glenn Swarbrick, who’d made his usual brilliant start was a helpless passenger as his Macon crashed straight into the spinning Lola. Craig Thompson, who was on Glenn’s heels at that moment had nowhere else to go other than into the back of the Macon. The race was immediately red flagged whilst the carnage was tidied up. Fortunately no one was injured in the incident but the three cars involved in the incident were all badly damaged.
The race was restarted under the pace car, John Hurney had an uncharacteristic spin, during the course of the race, in his Van Diemen into the sand at the end of the start / finish straight bringing out the yellow flag in that sector. Allan Jones picking up the race win from Lance Carwardine in second spot and Andrew Gifford third.
The grid for races 2 and 3 were somewhat depleted however Dan was back with a new driveshaft fitted and he proceeded to win both the two remaining races. Allan, Simon and Lance, were all chasing him down final podium positions.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Allan Jones 61 pts
2nd Simon Alderson 57 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 52 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Daniel Gate 24 pts
2nd David Drearden & Lance Carwardine 22 pts
The next round is at Collie Motorplex over the weekend of Saturday 30th September / Sunday 1st October.
Robert (Bob) Creasy (1943 – 2023)
Vale
Robert (Bob) Creasy (1943 – 2023)
The WA Motor Racing Community mourns the passing of Robert (Bob) Creasy last week.
A stalwart of open wheel racing, Bob was the last WASCC member racing in 2023 who had competed at the Caversham circuit, where he raced a Datsun SR 311 sports car during the circuit’s closing 1968 season.
He then raced the Datsun during the opening season of the current Raceway in 1969 before racing a Fielding – the first Formula Ford to compete in WA – in 1970. Later Bob moved up to a Formula 2 Birrana in which he had much success winning the WA Racing Car Championship in 1978/79 and 1981. He then acquired a Ralt RT4 and won the WA Championship in 1982/83/84/85 and 1987. As well as competing in WA, Bob raced at numerous East Coast venues and with the Ralt competed in several Australian Grand Prix as well as racing in New Zealand.
After a long break, Bob returned to WASCC events in 2017 in an immaculate Ralt RT 1. Later he acquired another Ralt RT 4 and had been competing enthusiastically with this car in 2023. To all who knew him Bob was a quiet and charming man who simply loved racing open wheel cars. He definitely subscribed to the saying that “Real racing cars don’t have doors or roofs”.
What many would not know is that Bob was a keen member of the volunteer WASCC team that worked to build our current venue in 1968/69 and then continued to give up many weekend days to complete the venue in the early 1970s.
We offer our sincere condolences to Bob’s many friends and the Creasy family.
2023 Formula Classic – Round 7
The Tyre Place Track Attack – Collie Motorplex 20th August
There were a small field of nine entrants for the seventh round of the 2023 Formula Classic season.
Qualifying saw a close contest at the front of the field between Bill Norman and Arthur Abrahams in their Ralt RT4’s, Bill picking up pole position with Arthur a close second. Lance Carwardine qualified third in his Jane Brabham and Andrew Gifford 4th in his beautifully presented March 722.
Sadly we lost Andrew Gifford during the course of race one with and electrical / distributor gremlin. Bill Norman led the field for the entire race from the starting light to the chequered flag drop. Arthur finished second with Lance third.
The second race looked like being a repeat of the first at the front of the field however Bill slowed significantly on the last lap allowing Arthur to overtake him for the race win. It turned out Bill had run low on fuel and was struggling to get fuel pick up at the end of the run. It was good to see Bruce Mitchell getting to grips with his Reynard FF2000 after a slow start in race finishing 5th ahead of the very tightly fort FF1600 battle between Glenn Swarbrick, Craig Thompson and Dave Dearden.
With ample fuel on-board for the final race of the day, Bill took off from second position on the front row to lead the race and to take the outright victory for the day. Arthur finishing second and Lance in third place.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Bill Norman 70 pts
2nd Arthur Abrahams 65 pts
3rd Lance Carwardine 54 pts
Handicap results for this round;
1st Bruce Mitchell 27 pts
2nd Glenn Swarbrick & Bill Norman 24 pts
The next round is at Wanneroo Park on Saturday 16th September.
2023 Formula Classic – Round 6
KOSTERA CUP, WANNEROO RACEWAY, 1st JULY 2023
This round was happily greeted by a fine but very cold, three degree Celsius morning, and although cold it certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of the 13 entrants for the meeting.
Of special note was the inclusion of Murray Charnley having entered in his Lotus 23b after a long lay-off and who also just happened to be celebrating his 88th birthday. Murray is clearly proving inspirational to us younger competitors.
Unfortunately, the repairs to our key Formula Atlantic entrants were not quite completed but the word is that they are very, very, close to being ready to roll again.
Qualifying was entertaining before it had even started. Simon, having just fitted some nice new tyres, managed a lovely pirouette warming the tyres in pit lane before even getting onto the circuit. Once on track though, it proved to be a closely run affair between Simon in his FF2000 and Allan in his RT5. Pole position was separated by just under 0.2 seconds.
The two leaders were then followed slightly further behind by Bill in his RT4 and Andrew Gifford treading gingerly in his recently repaired March 722 and then by a very tightly bunched midfield and Formula Ford group.
Jamie encountered a gremlin or two forcing him out of qualifying early but a quick once over enabled him to get onto the grid for race 1, albeit from rear of field and Bill although being quick (as usual) was unfortunately chasing a throttle / carb issue which persisted all day.
Race 1 was met with a warmer track thankfully. Bill didn’t manage to get to the grid and Jamie, although starting from the back wasn’t planning on being there for too long, hammering past the field towards the front once the lights went out.
The two leaders continued their close battle, being joined by the flying Jamie in his Argo and an increasingly confident Andrew in the March 722.
The midfielders of Lance (Brabham BT23), Harvey in his gorgeous Chevron and the persistent Ricky (Lola) were having a nice tussle and Bob Creasy in the lovely RT1 poking his nose in from time to time as well. The Formula Ford group including the birthday boy enjoying his day out in the Lotus were plugging away swapping positions regularly.
Unfortunately, Murray suffered an oil leak in the Lotus which although not stopping him completing the race did prove to be severe enough to put a stop to his day of fun.
Final positions for Race 1 were; 1st – Simon, 2nd – Allan, and 3rd – Jamie (who also managed fastest lap).
Race 2 – Bill managed to get things sorted and joined the field. Once the race started it was with a bang. Unfortunately for Jamie it was quite literally a bang with a driveline failure off the start forcing him onto the grass and enacting a safety car to clear him away safely.
During that safety car period a few liberties “might” have been taken with numerous overtakes and redressing being performed along with the penalties that go with them. I am sure there were a few lucky (and unlucky) calls given.
When the race restarted, Allan and Simon scooted away however this time being closely followed by Andrew who was impressing with very quick times – dropping nearly 3 seconds a lap over is previous efforts.
Lance and Harvey were pushing on hard with Bill snapping at their heels despite the ongoing carb problem.
The Formula Ford group were keeping each other very honest with close racing as usual. So close in fact that Glenn and Craig were within 0.1 seconds of each other on the finish line in favour of Glenn with Dave Dearden in his Vector right on their tailpipe.
Results were 1st – Allan, 2nd Andrew, and 3rd – Simon (also with the fastest lap)
Race 3 was another close race. With both Bill and Simon out of their usual position, Allan managed to break away in front. Bill got into 2nd on lap 2 followed by the fast charging Andrew in 3rd and Simon in 4th. Not to be perturbed, Simon got his head down and managed to get by Andrew on lap 4. The race continued until the inevitable catching of traffic during the closing stages were things got serious for the front runners. With no quarters given, a close affair was guaranteed with positional changes and a last corner dash on the cards, it was Simon victorious followed by Allan and Bill. There was less than a second covering the group at the finishing line.
Andrew, who must have been feeling well chuffed with his performance on the day was not far behind, consolidating on a successful outing.
The Formula Ford battle was again a continuation of the preceding races being equally as close. This time however Craig managed to overcome Glenn to the line by 0.02 seconds with Dave again staring at their exhaust.
Outright results for the meeting were;
1 Simon Alderson 68
2 Allan Jones 65
3 Andrew Gifford 54
4 Lance Carwardine 49
5 Harvey Leys 46
6 Ricky Virago 42
7 Bob Creasy 39
8 Craig Thompson 35
9 William Norman 33
10 Glenn Swarbrick 33
11 David Dearden 31
12 Jamie Kerkhoff 18
13 Murray Charnley 9
Race report prepared by Ricky Virago.
Handicap results for this round;
1st Andrew Gifford 37 pts
2nd Allan Jones 24 pts
3rd Simon Alderson 21 pts
The next round is at Collie on Saturday 20th August.