HTCAV Driver Profile – Craig Allan, Ian Mewett
Words: Chris Ralph
Photos: Phil Wisewould
This story begins just a few short years ago when experienced hard charger and gun car preparer, Craig Allan of the Gold Coast’s MotaCarb operation, was servicing a customer’s E-Type Jaguar. Craig invited the customer to be part of his entourage at the Morgan Park ‘Historic Queensland’ race meeting run by the HRCC (Queensland’s equivalent of the HTCAV).
“Wow, how long has this been going on?” asked Ian Mewett, entrepreneur, businessman, pilot and classic car fancier. “I want in! In a Jag!”
The younger Sorcerer promptly found and fettled a very smart Jaguar 3.8 Mk 2 Group racecar for the older Apprentice to race in the pre-65 Nb class. They then set off for various circuits so Ian could learn the car and car craft.
Those trips included heading south to the big Victorian Historic meetings where Craig had been so successful, including winning the Makulu Vehicle Storage Driver of the Meeting at the 2016 Phillip Island Classic.
While Craig was challenging for outright wins in his tangerine Torana, Ian was slowly working his way up from the back of the field, meeting by meeting, as his lap times came down.
Pony Express
Meanwhile, back on the Gold Coast, Craig was starting a total rebuild on the first Fastback Mustang to race in Historic Touring Cars. Originally built for Graham Hunt (son of famous fifties racer and Holden Dealer, Reg Hunt), it had raced successfully through the mid ’90s, before being bought and campaigned by Chris Stillwell (son of famous fifties racer and Ford Dealer, Bib Stillwell).
In the mid-noughties, it was purchased, not by another son of a successful dealer, but by WA-based manufacturer of Forpark playground equipment – and 2018 HTCAV Club Champ - Darryl Hansen, who blessed it with another decade of fierce racing.
Ian, the entrepreneurial ‘apprentice’ was watching Craig’s work on the restoration, thinking “Hmm, next step for me? We could both go racing in the same sort of car… Hey, Craig I’ve got an idea!”
As with so many race-prep professionals, it was a case of down-tools on this project and up-tools on a customer car for Ian. In 2019, the brand new Fastback Mustang was finished and Craig resumed work on the old warrior.
From Cats to Horses
After his somewhat more docile Jaguar, learning how to handle a 550+hp Mustang with 1969-spec brakes and road-based tyres was a new challenge for Ian, but once again, he started conservatively and learned well.
At last year's Historic Sandown meeting in November, Ian earned a Makulu Vehicle Storage Driver of the Meeting award. Having never driven at Sandown before, he worked his way to two race wins from three starts, signaling that the 70-year-old apprentice had well and truly come of age…
Pair of Ponies
By the time the Phillip Island Classic rolled around earlier this year, the Odd Couple were both Fastback Mustang mounted - Craig in the ‘MotaCarb’ colour (tangerine orange) and Ian in the dark blue ‘Kezzabel’, named for his wife Kerri.
After qualifying, the teammates were a scant two tenths of a second apart, on the third and fourth row of a packed grid. The two then proceeded to trade fastest laps during the races, but in the end, the greater experience of Craig saw him outpoint Ian, with 7-8-4 finishes in the first three races, leading up to a fine second place in the major race on the Sunday. Ian scored 9-9-8 results, then DNF’d the finale with a diff issue.
The team’s dream of a year together, racing at tracks around Australia had a well-known virus nix the plan, but the lure of an early return to Sandown in July at first had them tempted. How would they get there with the lockdown rules and closed borders still in place at the time of writing? Truck the cars across the border and fly down in Ian’s plane… Easy!
Where there’s a will, there’s a way - and this Gold Coast team has plenty of both.
