HISTORIC MUSCLE & SALOON CARS
The 2021 Taupo Historic Grand Prix has come and gone, and this year’s event was certainly the best yet. The celebrated brand was Ford and a massive number of Blue Oval enthusiasts descended upon Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park with their road cars, where they made for a breathtaking display. Owners were rewarded with the opportunity to circulate the track during the lunchtime break on both the Saturday and Sunday. The sight of nearly 150 Fords, headed by Paul Radisich’s personal Radisich Telstar snaking right the way around the circuit was truly impressive.
For Historic Muscle & Saloon Cars, this event was one of the highlights in the group’s history. The 39 cars entered included entrants from both the North and South Islands. And the array of vehicles was really outstanding, ranging from the trio of mid-1960s American Fords (Leon Hallett’s Galaxie, Chris Anderson’s Fairlane and Paul Berkahn’s Falcon Sprint) right through to a quintuplet of Anglias for Clyde Walters, Ewan MacPherson, Gran Fitzpatrick, Pat Excell, and Dennis Dowling, and Donn White’s Mini Clubman.
In addition to the four regular HM&SC races, there were a further three Ford Invitational Historic Muscle & Saloon Car contests, the last of which was the Paul Fahey Trophy Race.
The HM&SC grid enjoyed a boost in Schedule K historic cars, with period race history. These included Donn White’s aforementioned Mini, the Jim Richards Willment Racing Escort (owned by Rayden Smith), the Halliday brothers’ Escort (Dennis McConnell), the Ivan Segedin Fleetwood Motors Mustang (Sean McCaughan), and the Norm Barry/Red Dawson Shelby Mustang (Nigel MacDonald). White’s Mini was the same car he purchased brand new and raced in the Castrol GTX production series in the 1970s. After selling it, he finally bought it back many years later and restored it.
In addition to the Schedule K machines were several beautiful tribute cars, including those of Grant Sprague’s Escort (built as a tribute to the Mt Cook Airlines Escort TwinCam raced in period by his brother Gary), David Hopper (1969 Bob Jane Camaro), Tony Roberts (1968 Penske Racing Camaro), Paul McCarthy (Andy Rouse Broadspeed Escort), Elliott Frame (Alan Mann Racing Escort), Tony Mexted (PDL Mustang) and Rodger Cunninghame (Paul Fahey 1966 Mustang).
Plus, there was a great representation of Kiwi and international motorsport history, including Ford Capris for Natalie Campbell, John Sampson and Gareth Sampson, Mustangs for Graeme Bagrie and Dale Mathers, Kevin Gimblett’s Camaro, Craig Hyland’s Monaro, David Wood’s unique Dodge Aspen, Falcons for Sean and Mike McCaughan (Sean McCaughan was performing double-duty with the Fleetwood Mustang), Mike Coory’s Datsun 240K, Peranas for Tom Lancaster, Brady McCaughan and Karl Shields, and the remainder of the impressive Escort fleet for Poul Christie, Colin Campbell, Derek Cecil, Greg Goudie and Tony Durham.
With the starting order shuffled for each race, the outcomes were as varied as the field itself and made for a truly amazing spectacle. And in January 2022, we get to do it all again, this time celebrating Jaguar and Daimler. Book your tickets early.
More info on Historic Muscle Cars/Historic Saloon Cars can be found at the HMC website: www.historicmusclecars.co.nz or through the HMC online discussion forum at The Roaring Season: www.theroaringseason.com