Nostalgia at Killarney
IN A race day marred by the death of Gavin Ramsay (see story above), a large crowd witnessed nostalgic events during the Passion for Speed meeting at Killarney on Saturday.
Famous names from the past dominated many of them, including one of the main attractions, the Legends of the 9-Hour and Little Giants sequence.
Sarel van der Merwe’s Ford Galaxie was sidelined with gearbox problems, leaving Jonathan du Toit (Chev Nova) to win the first of them from Peter Lindenberg (Shelby GT 350) and Ferdi van Niekerk jr (Galaxie). In race two Lindenberg took the flag ahead of Mark du Toit (1957 Chev Black Widow), and David Grace (1961 Austin-Healey 3000).
In the first event of the day, a Chevron B23 driven by Jeremy Wheatle crossed the line ahead of Mark du Toit in a Lola T70 and a McLaren driven by Donald Duncan.
Wheatle dropped out of contention in the second leg, allowing Duncan into first place, with Dutch driver Michiel Campagne and Peter Leuthardt finishing close behind him.
Pole-man Chris Carolin (Mazda Rotary) ran wide in the first corner of the event for pre-’77 Classic and pre-’84 Invitation Cars and restarted at the tail of the very large field. It was then left to veteran Trevor Momberg (Ford Capri) and Malcolm Uytenbogaardt (Ford Granada V8) to set the pace to the flag.
Momberg and Uytenbogaardt had to settle for second and third places behind Anthony Corin (Ford Capri) in the final shootout.
The pre-’74 ISP and Tran-Am opener belonged to Franco Scribante, whose incredibly quick Chevron B26 finished well ahead of the opposition. Steve Hart (1964 McLaren) and Robert Enestedt (1965 Ford GT40) were second and third respectively.
The Grand Prix car opener proved a bit of a misnomer, but while they weren’t even all single-seaters it really didn’t matter as they provided a rare spectacle. The first leg was won by Richard Smeeton’s Formula Junior