CLASSICS TAKE THE FIELD UNDER SUNNY SKIES

The Thoroughbred and Classic Car owners Club (TACCOC) Spring Classic racing event was held under sunny skies at Pukekohe Park Raceway on Sunday, 3 November. The card was as follows: Historic Racing Cars (HRC): Formula Ford, Formula Junior, and sports cars; Arrow Wheels: faster European Racing Classics (ERC) cars; PPG Classic Trial; Historic Muscle Cars (HMC) and Historic Saloon Cars; AES Tradezone: not-so-fast ERC cars; and Historic Sports Sedans. Each class was on track for three races of eight laps, with the exception of the Classic Trial, which had three 15-minute sessions.

The day was largely without incident, with most drivers behaving themselves and very few mechanical breakdowns.

Several new cars entered the fold for this season, including Dale Mathers’ newly refurbished Penske replica Camaro. The event was essentially a testing and tuning session for the car. Some may remember Bob Hyslop’s 1984 Mazda RX-7 from the past. What initially caught our attention was the huge amount of flames thrown out the exhaust when Bob downshifted. When we tracked him down in the pits, he said this was the first time in more than 16 years that he had raced the Mazda at a full race day. The car is in the original state in which he raced it all those years ago and does require a bit of a tune-up.

Racing kicked off around 10.30am with the 24 HRC cars lined up on the grid. The first race was won by Gavin Aleksich driving a 1986 Mondiale M86S Formula Ford. He started off second on the grid and despite losing a few places during the early stages soon caught up and took the lead on lap seven. Having won the first race Aleksich started the second race on pole. Although he lost a place on lap one to Peter Boel he passed him again on lap five to take the chequered flag. The third race was a different story, however, when he once again lost places at the start but was never able to regain them and finished third. Peter Boel in a 1966 Lotus MK41C went on to win their final race.

A class made specifically for European classics, Arrow Wheels features the faster of these. George Adams in his TVR Tuscan Challenge was unbeatable in the first race. Having started first, he enjoyed a clear road ahead apart from a brief moment when he lost a place to Phil Laird. Race two, a handicap race, wasn’t so good to Adams; the TVR started to experience overheating problems and rather than push on Adams thought it best to retire to sort out the issue. The race was won by Bryan Collins, who was behind the wheel of a 2003 Alfa 147 GTA. The final Arrow Wheels race was won by Simon Mills, who navigated his 1982 Alfasud Ti to the chequered flag first having stayed in the lead throughout the whole race.

The slower ERC cars, which are the

AES Tradezone group, had Ken Northin starting fifth but slowly making his way into the lead to win the first race. The second race, being a handicap, had lots of overtaking throughout due to the staggered start, which sees the last few laps get very tight. It was Ken Williams with the trusty Mercedes 280 CE who managed to win. Race three, another handicap, saw Peter Northin, who started in 17th place, navigate through the field to take first place on the final lap when he passed Rob Macready for the lead.

Built to period specifications, the HMC class is always a crowd favourite with the cars’ replica team paintwork and noisy V8s rumbling away. All three races were won by Glenn Allingham, who was driving a black 1970 Camaro. Allingham led the first race from start to finish, while his lower start position of ninth in race two, which was a rolling start, saw him having to power his way through the field to the front. Race three had Allingham starting in eighth; by lap five he was in the lead to win the race and this round.

The Classic Trial is open to any race car. Participants are without the on-track competition as they are trying to lap the circuit as close as possible to their own nominated time in qualifying. The ‘races’ are 15 minutes long and have all the cars on the circuit at the same time. Winning that feat for the weekend was Russell Goodwin in a 1972 Ford Escort Mk2, with an average score of 0.49 of a second close to his nominated lap time.

The final race of the day was for Historic Sports Sedans. This class features sports sedans from the late ’60s to the mid ’80s. Roger Williams in a 1975 Chevy Monza led races one and two from start to finish, the first three cars remaining in their respective start positions throughout race one. Race three, with minimal overtaking, saw second-placed-starter Bob Hyslop in the flamethrower RX-7 take the lead on lap seven when David Metford failed to finish.

After a full day of racing in the hot sunshine, the drivers enjoyed a cold beverage while telling tales and discussing racing lines.