HTCAV – 2022 Historic Sandown Report
Words: Darren Knight | Photos: Phil Wisewould
Blessed with sunshine, big crowds and great displays, this year’s Historic Sandown on 4-6 November saw two big fields of Historic Touring Cars face the starter at Sandown International Raceway.
Under 2-litre Nc and Under 4.5-litre Nb were racing separately from the Over 2-litre Nc and Over 4.5-litre Nb grid, with tight and torrid racing in each category…
Group One – Under 2 Litres NC and Under 4.5 Litres NB
Race One
The Safety Car made a very early appearance after the Cortina of NSW’s Jerry Lenstra suffered a fuel leak and subsequent under bonnet fire on the warm-up lap. The flare-up was quickly doused, but the field still had to circulate under yellow flags for two more laps.
When the greens came out, pole sitter David Brown (Datsun 1600) bolted ahead of the rapid EH Holdens of Phil Shepherd and Claude Ciccotelli. Both GM-H sedans would be caught and passed by Rob van Stokrom (BMW) soon after, as the Mini Cooper S of magical 87-year-old Ted Brewster kept the close-following Cortinas of Don Knight, Simon Browning and Stuart Bailey at bay.
As Rod Evans parked his Cortina with a piston issue, Phil Barrow flung his incredible FJ Holden ‘Supercar’ into a big battle with the pushrod Cortina of Les Walmsley, the Lotus Cortina of Peter George and the Mini of SA’s Ian Pringle, who in turn pressured the similar Cooper S of NSW’s Paul Battersby in a great battle for sixth.
Richard Hill (Mini) had qualified second, but had to start from the rear of the grid and finished twelfth.
In the end, Brown took a comfortable win from van Stokrom, Ciccotelli, Shepherd and Peter Van Summeren (Lotus Cortina).
Race Two
Shepherd would not grid up for the Sunday morning race after discovering a valve train issue that would end his meeting. He’d be joined on the sidelines by David Forbes, who met an early end when his XM Hardtop suffered a gearbox failure in the opening race, but some consolation came from being awarded Best Presented in the pre`65 (Group Nb) class.
Brown didn’t make the best of starts this time around, but still led the big field into the first corner.
After a rough Race 1, Hill was soon mixing it up inside the lead pack for Race 2, against fellow Cooper S speedsters Battersby and Pringle.
The ex-Graeme Blanchard FE Holden of Eddie Dobbs was looking a lot stronger this time out, plunging up the inside of Barrow as Hill overcooked it exiting T3 in his pursuit of third-placed Ciccotelli, running across the grass before re-joining.
The frantic closing stages of Race 2 saw Barrow retire with an engine issue and Queenslander Stephen Jeffs loop his EH at T1. Ahead of this drama, Brown grabbed another win, with van Stokrom and Ciccotelli completing the podium again ahead of Hill.
After an epic race-long battle, Justin Brown (BMW) finally found a way past Mike George (Lotus Cortina) on the last lap, while Bill Trengrove coasted across the line in eighth, oil and smoke pouring from under his EH thanks to a holed block.
Race Three
The delay caused by the Trengrove oil clean up resulted in the final race being truncated to four laps.
Ted Brewster was a little too keen to get underway and was immediately slapped with a (post-race) time penalty, but Brown got away cleanly, as did Ciccotelli, who absolutely stormed off the line and made a big lunge under van Stokrom entering turn one. Alas, it was a tad hot for the drum braked Holden!
As Ciccotelli’s burgundy machine spun exiting T1, van Stokrom almost came to a complete stop to avoid T-boning the Queenslander, who had to wait for the entire field to pass before re-joining.
Out of this incident, Hill grabbed the opportunity to nip into second place, with Battersby following him through.
After a Race 2 DNF caused by a miss of some sort, van Summeren sliced through the field as Walmsley again showed that a well-driven pushrod Cortina was capable of mixing it with its Lotus twin cam brethren.
Repeating the dose from R1 and R2, Brown was never headed, but van Stokrom closed in slightly near the end, having regained track position lost in that first turn incident. Hill snagged third.
Group Two: Over 2-Litres Nc and Over 4.5 Litres Nb
Race One
Guest steerer John Bowe, in Joe Calleja’s `69 Mustang, blasted away from pole as fellow front rower, Queensland’s Ian Mewett (Mustang) lost traction off the line, letting the similar machine of Victoria’s Andrew Lane nip into second place.
A five-strong Charger contingent at this meeting was initially headed by Michael Hibbert and Ben Dahlstrom, who swapped places constantly, but Rob Burns soon made his presence felt in the familiar number 70 Mopar.
Despite no previous experience at Sandown, Jason Humble had his Mazda RX-2 firing big time, rounding up Queenslander Graeme Wakefield (Mustang) and Nathan Gordon (Monaro); the latter coming off plenty of TV time during the Bathurst 1000 support races when he put in a sterling drive in greasy conditions.
Tony Hubbard (Camaro) made steady progress after starting from pit lane, while Dahlstrom’s race ended in smokey fashion on the back straight after an oil fitting let go and sprayed the black stuff everywhere under the bonnet: a small fire (and a big mess) the end result.
John Alessi (Monaro) skated through the Dandenong Road sand trap as Bowe took the win from Lane and Mewett, with NSW’s Ben Wilkinson (’68 Mustang) in fourth, ahead of the extremely impressive Falcon Sprint of Queenslander Marty White.
Post-race, Mewett would take ill and be forced to fly home to Queensland, with the whole category wishing him a recovery just as rapid as his fastback `Stang.
Race Two
The second encounter for the big boys saw Bowe again lead into Turn 1, with White making a blinder of a start and grabbing third early on before Wilkinson, er, put him to the sword.
Meanwhile, a humungous all Aussie six-cylinder battle erupted between the Chargers of Hibbert and Burns and the Torana XU-1 of Tasmanian Mick Cross. The trio left absolutely nothing on the table in a hugely entertaining scrap which came to a head entering T1 for the final time. Cross found himself up high on the inside ripple strip and traded paint with Burns, the Torrie spinning while Burns continued.
There was more drama as Humble retired; the resultant yellow flag seeing several cars “check up” at the scene, with the Mustang of Darren Jones tripping over the similar Ford of Pete Meuleman and cannoning into the Armco.
Thankfully, Jones was fine, but his pony did suffer fairly hefty damage down one side. Jervis Ward also had a frantic moment right at the end after his Falcon Sprint decided it didn’t need front brakes.
Bowe, Lane and Wilkinson again made it an all-pony podium.
Race Three
Incredible work (and a late night) by Liam Reed and his team saw Dahlstrom grid up at the back for the final as did Hibbert, who had retired late in R2 with the same oil fitting failure that had originally struck down Dahlstrom! Who knew it was contagious? Luckily, the volume of oil sprayed about was not as severe.
Bowe hooked up well to grab the early lead as Wilkinson showed Lane he wasn’t going to settle for another third place and slotted his 302-powered Ford into second.
Chris Stern (Mustang) had a wild ride in his pursuit of Gordon, the ex- Whiteside machine spearing off at T1 before car (and driver) regained some composure and re-joined.
Fellow Mazda racer Darren Hossack lent Humble some distributor bits to join the final race, but it all came to naught as the RX-2 began emitting a slight puff of smoke before eventually calling it quits within sight of the flag.
Also experiencing drama was race leader Bowe, who slowed and began dropping places thanks to an intermittent fuel pump issue.
Ward snuck under Burns’s Charger but found the Camaro of Hubbard (who had lost gears) facing the wrong way entering the front straight. Incredibly, a couple of cars, including Gordon, somehow missed the stationary Chev, but Ward just kissed its side as he straightened his Falcon Sprint out.
With Bowe out of the picture and Wilkinson dispatched, Lane found himself in the lead and duly greeted the chequer, with White again strong in third.
It had been a strong finale for the JUST CARS racers right through the field, including down the back, where John Clarke (Nb Mustang) pipped NSW’s Fred Brain (Monaro) by just 0.3 seconds after a race-long battle.
Island Magic next
More than 30 Historic Touring Cars will contest the fabulous Phillip Island circuit for the 2022 HTCAV closer. Once again, some of Australia’s best exponents will ensure fantastic battles – WA’s Paul Stubber and Aldo de Paoli will headline a five-strong Camaro entry, while from SA, fierce antagonists Jason Armstrong and Justin Elvin top the six-car field of Minis.
Out of this meeting will come the HTCAV outright champion for 2022… Read all about it in the next issue of JUST CARS!
