HTCAV – 2023 Winton Festival of Speed report
Words: Darren Knight
Photos: Phil Wisewould
Nearly 40 Historic Touring Cars lobbed into Winton this 4-6 August for some ‘long track’ action at the 2023 Winton Festival of Speed.
After a substantial dump of rain late on Friday, brilliant sunshine lasted the rest of the weekend, ensuring the marquee event of the meeting - the 50K JUST CARS Historic Touring Car Cup – was held in optimal conditions.
Qualifying - Saturday morning
In his first visit to Winton in 15 years, NSW’s Brad Tilley in the 289-engined Group Nc Mustang grabbed pole. His qualifying time, almost a second faster than Andrew Williams (Torana), heralded a dominant performance.
A second further back, local Darren Collins (302 Mustang) headed a group of Adrian Moyle (Camaro), Andrew Girvan (Torana), Peter McNiven (Mazda), the legendary Tony Hubbard (Camaro), Brent Trengrove (Camaro) and Gary Edwards (Torana) – all within a second of each other, while Brett Ferris (Torana) rounded out the top ten.
Race One – Saturday afternoon
Looking to replicate son Jamie’s stunning run at this event last year, Tilley leapt to an early lead in front of Williams, while Collins slotted into third in his recently acquired `68 ‘Warhorse’ Mustang; one of the first Group Nc cars built in the late ’90s by Rian Nott in Melbourne.
Moyle ran off the end of the old back straight and fell to the rear of the field as fellow Camaro campaigner Hubbard retired. Meanwhile, McNiven’s Mazda began to look very racy, pressuring the Torana of Girvan for fourth.
Former Torana front runner Edwards, back after relocating to Queensland some years ago, was also racing strongly in the top ten. Just behind him, the immaculate XU-1 of Ferris had former HTCAV President Chris Stern (Mustang) and current Pres Ben Dahlstrom (Charger) duking it out right in his mirrors.
Willie van Wersch found a box of neutrals in his XY Falcon at precisely the wrong time - at full noise at the end of the back straight. Jumping off line to avoid pole axing cars in front, van Wersch hit the wet grass, then clouted the tyre wall, but emerged unhurt.
With only a couple of laps remaining, the race ended under the safety car, with Tilley the victor from Williams, Collins and McNiven. Completing the top ten were Girvan, Brent Trengrove, Edwards, Ferris, Stern and Dahlstrom.
Next came David Noakes (BDA Escort) and Tom Tweedie (Mini); the fierce rivals out of NSW crossing the line only a second apart. While Noakes finished ahead, bragging rights went to Tweedie with the fastest lap in the first of three magnificent stoushes the pair had for the weekend.
Further back, former HTCAV President Les Walmsley led a contingent of six Cortinas home, their number interspersed by Phil Barrow (FJ Holden) and Dean McLaughlan (Datsun 1600).
Race Two - early Sunday morning
With the main ‘enduro’ in the middle of the day, this short, sharp 5-lapper just after 9AM on a cold track blew cobwebs out of cars and drivers alike.
Even with less-than-ideal wide ratios in a replacement gearbox, Tilley led early, with Williams hot on his heels. The cool morning air worked magic as Tilley broke the outright Group N record with an astounding 1m35.3s lap. Meanwhile, Girvan was out early after a belt departed.
After McNiven nipped his RX2 under Collins, he began harassing the Williams Torana in a fantastic dice for second, while a 'David and Goliath' stoush erupted between Richard Hill (Mini) and reigning HTCAV Champ Pete Meuleman (Mustang).
Dahlstrom went out with gearbox issues in his Charger as open wheeler ace Tweedie flung his Mini around with much verve in pursuit of Dom Leo in the ex-Collins Camaro. Getting the better of Noakes this time, Tweedie also set the unofficial Mini record for the Winton long track of 1m39.4s on his way to a result just outside the top ten.
Out front, Tilley was never headed and took the win from Williams and McNiven, closely followed by Collins and Brent Trengrove, then Stern and the Toranas of Ferris and Edwards.
THE 50K JUST CARS Historic Touring Car Cup
This is the toughest race on the HTC calendar. Winton’s long track tests everything on designs that are between half and three quarters of a century old. Even though many of these Group N cars are newer builds, the stresses and strains over 50km saw ten starters unable to endure the enduro.
With 17 laps in the offing, fuel tanks were brimmed as the field gridded up under bright sunshine.
Tilley made another tidy start in the #28 Mustang as van Stokrom, who was running mid-pack after steadily moving up the order over the weekend in his unfamiliar ex-McKelvie Mustang, had a moment through the sweeper.
Stu Bailey (Cortina) tried to avoid cannoning into the errant Pony Car, but was collected in the rear quarter by an unsighted Girvan charging up from the rear. Both retired, as did Stern a few laps later with power steering woes. Meuleman followed with a dead fuel pump, ending his incredible run of consecutive race/session finishes, thought to be as high as 74.
Tweedie and Noakes engaged in some spirited dicing yet again, this time in front of SA visitor Evan Gobell (Torana). As Walmsley was having another solid run in his freshly painted Cortina (striping still to come), McNiven pitted with a loose wheel, ending his chances of another good finish.
With Tilley leading from Williams, Brent Trengrove nabbed third place from Collins, then almost immediately retired after the throttle cable dislodged. D`oh! Collins suffered his own misfortune soon after with a gearbox issue. This allowed Moyle onto the podium behind Williams as Tilley made it a clean sweep for the weekend - including that new lap record set earlier in the day.
Off the podium, it was Collins, Edwards and Ferris; the latter awarded the Makulu Vehicle Storage HTC Driver of the Meeting.
The VHRR Driver of the Meeting, which is judged across all race categories at the Winton Festival of Speed, went to Tweedie for his giant killing efforts in the Mini, which included a 9th place finish in the Cup, scraping home just over 0.1 seconds ahead of archrival Noakes.
All in all, the Winton Festival of Speed was a great weekend, with good weather to showcase the JUST CARS Cup, which is now firmly established as the feature race at this premier historic motor racing meeting.
