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Image thanks to Brent Murray of At Speed Images
Muscle Car Masters may have moved to a new date for 2018, but it’s set to be the same massive celebration of Aussie touring car action that we all know and love. Heritage Touring Cars will return to the event and ensure that the big cars roar this Queen’s Birthday long weekend, June 9 & 10, when a magic collection of historic Group C & A touring cars takes to Sydney Motorsport Park to contest round two of the 2018 series.
31 historic Australian touring cars will contest the round, split evenly between Group C (1973-84) and Group A (1985-1992). Heritage Touring Cars will open the event on Saturday morning, rolling out bright and early at 9AM for qualifying. Race 1 will be held just before lunch, at 11:45AM, and then we’ll close out the day with Race 2 at 3:43.
The Group C feature race will open proceedings at 9AM on Sunday morning, with Group A heading out not long after for their own feature event at 10:19. The two groups will be reunited for Race 3 after the Muscle Car Masters parade on Sunday, heading out at 1:17PM for our final race of the event. Take a look at the full program here and remember that start times are subject to change as the event progresses.
Master Blasts are back for 2018, and will put significant race cars that no longer race back on the track for fans to enjoy – make sure to check them out over the weekend. ‘MC Hammer Time’ also promises to be fun, featuring limited-production muscle cars from Ford, Holden and Chrysler in what’s described as ‘spirited demonstrations’.
As both the first event at Australia’s newest motorsport facility and the first Heritage Touring Cars round of the year, the Shannons Nationals at The Bend did a lot to shuffle up the series order. We’re looking forward to some great racing at Sydney Motorsport Park with quick drivers and cars looking to put themselves on the board.
Bill Cutler leads the Group A series currently, followed by Adrian Allisey and Mark Eddy. Of the top three finishers at The Bend, only Allisey will be running at Muscle Car Masters. He’ll be piloting an ex-Leeson/Willmington ‘Walkinshaw’ VL and looking to resume his strong performance from Round 1.
We’ll be looking forward to seeing more of Tony Karanfilovski at Sydney Motorsport Park. The Bend was set to be his first run in the ex-Glenn Seton Peter Jackson Ford Sierra RS500, but reliability goblins meant that he put the car back on the trailer after qualifying. It seems that Tony will make his true Heritage Touring Cars debut in the car at Muscle Car Masters, which is fitting for the mighty Sierra.
Tony Sawford sits atop the Group C tables after a magic weekend in South Australia driving the ex-Allan Grice Craven Mild A9X Torana, and will be back at Muscle Car Masters, as will Justin Matthews, who’ll be piloting his Bob Holden Motors Ford Escort MKII. After missing 2017, we’re pleased to see Nick Stipanovic returning to Heritage Touring Cars. He’ll be bringing another Torana A9X out to play.
Group C is looking to be a classic Ford VS Holden battle, featuring a full grid of Commodores, Toranas, Escorts and Falcons. The Geminis of Darryl Leslight and Gavid Adamson and the Mazda RX7 of Phil Verwoert will represent Japan’s contribution to Australian Group C history while Peter Woods will be back on board his Volvo 242 GT – a veteran of the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000.
With winter settling in, Muscle Car Masters 2018 is sure to bring a little heat to Sydney this June 9-10, and we can’t wait. The event will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, June 9 & 10, with events kicking off at 9AM each day. Tickets are available online now and will be available at the gate on the weekend. For further details, see www.musclecarmasters.com.au.
The full Muscle Car Masters entry list is available here.
Stay tuned to www.heritagetouringcars.com.au for more from the Legends of Bathurst.
