ICEBREAKER 2018
The Icebreaker at Hampton Downs was the first race of the 2018–’19 season for many drivers in many classes, but the Escorts took the spotlight this year, celebrating their 50th anniversary.
Several well-known Escorts turned up for the weekend of 22–23 September. One was the ’68 Willment Lotus Twin Cam Escort. It raced successfully in the 1969 2000cc RAC British Saloon Car Championship before being imported to New Zealand the following year. It was the car that launched Jim Richards’ career in the Radio Hauraki / Carney Racing livery. Current owner Rayden Smith bought the car in 1990 and raced it until 2004.
Naturally, the Halliday Brothers MKI Escort, well known for its long and successful racing career and a regular at race meets, was also there. Paul Mccarthy’s Zakspeed replica, and a Jim Stone Escort, which was the 1982 and ’83 winner of the under-two-litre Shell Championship Series, were also racing.
After all three races, Bruce Mannon, in a 1975 Escort RS2000, took the win, followed by Clark Procter in a 1971 2300cc Escort, with Dean Curtis, driving a 1979 2.5-litre Escort, third.
The two-day HRC Events gathering also featured PPG Classic Trials, Hooters Vintage Race Series, ERC Classic Race Series, Toorace Trofeo Series, BMW Race Driver Series, Superkart, and Historic Formula Ford. First up was the Historic Formula Ford. Callum Crawley won both of the Sunday races in his Van Diemen. Second and third were Cody Banks and Curtis Raymond, respectively.
In the BMW E30 races, scholarship winner Peter Bennett showed that he has what it takes to race an E30, winning two of three races and finishing with the most points in his first E30 outing. He was last year’s Ssangyong ‘Actyon Sport Ute’ Racing Series winner, so we suppose he is used to rough ’n’ tough racing! Ant Belsham was runner-up with one first and two second placings.
Moving on to the Hooters Vintage Race Series, it was the BSA FW32 of Ray Ferner that was once again no match for the rest. It was nostalgia heaven seeing these old cars racing again. The BMW Open class closed off the day’s racing. Many of these cars have been modified to the hilt, and they are spectacular to
watch and listen to. Graham Ball, in a ’96 318ti, took out the class with a top-four finish in all three races. The ‘318’ badge on his car is a little misleading, as it is powered by an M52 328i six-cylinder engine with a six-speed gearbox, and puts out about 164kw at the wheels.
It was good to see that retirements were low in this first meet of the season for many drivers, and there were no major incidents. The success of the event was summed up by HRC Events operations manager Tim Hill: “Looking around at the weekend and talking to those who attended, we created a very special meeting to celebrate the Ford Escort. The races were exciting to watch, the owners were all super enthusiastic about showing their cars off to the public, and there was a great family atmosphere. Several cars were recommissioned especially for the meeting — some having not seen action for 10 years or more. Craig Howser even restored an early ’70s Transit van as his support vehicle.”
Prompted by this success, the organizers are now considering an end-of-season birthday party at the season finale in May, where they hope to see even more rare Escorts come out to play.