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.
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.
