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11.06.13 – HTC Championship Update
Round 1 – Phillip Island Classic
A great start to the year with blue skies, a resurfaced track and an impressive number of entries reminding us why the evergreen and always popular Phillip Island Classic is such a fantastic event. Lap records fell with Willie Van Wersch and Ed Singleton resetting the record books for Group C in their VH Commodores, with Willie narrowly edging out Ed in the final race with a time of 1:45.7559.
Mark Skaife, guest driving Jim Richard’s HR31 Nissan Skyline set a new benchmark of 1:40.2312 in Group A, however the competitor with the biggest grin at the end of the weekend was Terry Lawlor in the ex Bond Caltex Sierra, who managed to hold Skaifey out in the feature race by 3 hundredths of a second.
Round 2 – Autumn Historics – Morgan Park
Late April saw the category featuring at Morgan Park, a charming country circuit just outside the township of Warwick, approximately 2 hours west of Brisbane. This was the first time the category had visited Queensland for this event, shifting from the regular late July timeslot. The HRCC bent over backwards for the category to make this work, and continued to support us right across the weekend. The move was rewarded by the biggest grid we have had in Queensland to date, with 30 entries received. The event featured the Under 2lt competitors, with Escorts, Geminis, Dolomites and Celicas coming out in droves. However, it was the lone Nissan Gazelle of Brian Henderson which set the pace for the weekend, winning the Under 2lt Feature Race on debut.
Special mention also to John Abbott, who brought two cars to the event, and had HTC “Master” John English behind the wheel of his immaculate Group A Toyota Supra. So well presented in fact, that guest category DSO Colin Bond awarded John’s Supra the “best presented” award for the weekend.
Round 3 – Lakeside Classic
Next up is the Lakeside Classic, where Heritage Touring Cars shall be visiting the iconic “Lakeside International Raceway” for the first time as an official championship round. This event shall be held across July 19-21. The promoters, Queensland Raceways and Shannons are working closely with Heritage Touring Cars to ensure that this event becomes a highlight in our calendar, with the opportunity to feature both Group C and Group A as separate categories across the weekend.
Round 4 – Muscle Car Masters
The biggest event on the Heritage Touring Car calendar, Muscle Car Masters will be featuring at Sydney Motorsport Park across the Fathers’ Day weekend, August 31 – September 1. Luke West, editor of Australian Muscle Car Magazine, and big fan of Heritage Touring Cars has introduced the “Grid Spectacular” as a lunchtime entertainment feature for this year’s event. Luke’s vision is to recreate the excitement, colour and spectacle of the pre-start build up of the Great Race. Only genuine cars shall be invited to register, and we encourage you to starting flipping through the old Bathurst annuals for inspiration to recreate your car’s original team look. Banners, flags, mascots, uniforms are all encouraged.
Round 5 – Historic Sandown
Following on from the successful long race and pit-stop format of recent years, Bill Cutler and the team are already working on a revised format for Heritage Touring Cars for this year’s event. More to come as we get closer to the November season finale…
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14 Dec 2012 – A Race Within a Race
Heritage Touring Cars are fondly remembered for participating in a “race within a race”, and for many fans, the variety of racing provided by the multiple classes is what makes this period of motorsport so special.
At Muscle Car Masters 2012, we trialed splitting our group along the lines of capacity rather than category, which resulted in the “Unders” putting on a great show of close and exciting racing.
Expanding on this idea, we plan to feature the smaller capacity cars at a specific event each year.
For 2013, Round 2 at Morgan Park shall incorporate a feature race for the Under 2L and invited cars, and we look forward to seeing the Escorts, Geminis, Dolomites, Corollas, Celicas and others turn out in force.
Naturally the Big Bangers will be welcome at the event as well, and track time won’t be compromised by the feature focus.
A committee has been formed to rally the Under 2L troops, to make sure that CoDs are in order and licences renewed. Feel free to contact Beach Thomas, David Patterson, Chris O’Conner or Michael Logiudice to find out more.
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12 Dec 2012 – 2013 HTC Event Calendar Announced
To kick off 2013, Heritage Touring Cars have announced a five round championship series encompassing VHRR and HRCC events in Victoria and Queensland, the Lakeside Classic in July, and of course, the ever popular Muscle Car Masters event at Sydney Motorsport Park on Fathers’ Day.
Having met with many owners this year, the underlying message was that 2012 had too many events too close together. The result was grid dilution, taking away from our enjoyment, and the spectacle that we are capable of putting on for the fans.
The direction taken from you at the various interstate meetings was to establish a well spaced event calendar, underpinned by the historic and heritage events, but with some variety from year to year with regard to tracks, events and feature event opportunities.
Following is the finalised calendar for 2013.
2013 Heritage Touring Cars Championship
Round 1: March 7-10 Phillip Island Classic, VIC – VHRR
Round 2: April 27-28 Autumn Historics, Morgan Park, QLD – HRCC
Round 3: July 20-21 Lakeside Touring Car Classic, QLD – QR
Round 4: Aug 31- Sep 1 Muscle Car Masters, NSW – ARDC
Round 5: Nov 9-10 Historic Sandown, VIC – VHRR
In working with the various promoters, but particularly Craig, Bill and Ian Ross of the VHRR we have agreed to rotate events from year to year, which enables us to provide variety, visit different tracks and plan ahead to accommodate feature opportunities at significant events.
For example, in 2013, Winton has been rested, but will feature in 2014, taking the place of the 2013 Lakeside opportunity.
The V8 Supercar meeting is also being rested for 2013, with a view to reassessing opportunities for 2014 later this year.
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30 Nov 2012 – Heritage Touring Cars – A New Name for Old Favourites
Perennial crowd pleasers, the Group C and Group A touring cars will have a new moniker in 2013, Heritage Touring Cars – The Legends of Bathurst.
Represented by the Group C Touring Car Association, Group C and Group A touring cars have grown rapidly in both numbers and popularity since becoming a CAMS historic racing category over 10 years ago – particularly making their mark at the annual Muscle Car Masters event.
With recent cameo appearances at the Australian Grand Prix and select V8 Supercar events, the Association are maintaining the momentum by embarking on a number of initiatives to kick start the 2013 championship.
Association Director, Ed Singleton explains, “We needed a name that made it easy for promoters and the fans to relate to the category, as well as to ensure all members feel that they are represented.
According to Ed, selecting the new name was a natural progression, underlining the fact that the Heritage Touring Cars are the real deal – the heritage of the Bathurst 1000 and the actual cars that raced back in the day – not replicas or reproductions.
