TACCOC CHRISTMAS AT THE DOWNS
The third and final TACCOC racing event of 2022 was Christmas at the Downs, held two weeks before Christmas at Hampton Downs – and under a barrage of rain for the most part.
The card for the event included Historic Muscle Cars and Saloon Cars; PPG Classic Trial; ERC (European Race Classics); Historic Single-Seaters and the BMW Race Driver Series, the latter using the event for one of their One-Hour endurance races.
The ERC class was the first one out, which included both the faster Arrows cars and the AES/Trade Zone cars being on-track at the same time. The first of the three races saw Bryce Platt winning overall, with Ray Williams finishing in second place in the Perana Capri. With the second race being a handicap, Platt and Williams started from the rear of the grid and thus were unable to challenge for the top positions. Shiane Rinkin in a 1999 BMW E46 320i led from start to finish. The final ERC race which was on a dry track had Ray Williams get to the chequered flag first having started in 15th place, but with a nicely dialled-in car he was able to slice through the field.
The Historic Single-Seaters featured both Formula Junior and Formula Ford openwheelers. The first race was red flagged soon after the start when the Formula Ford of Jeff
Boad leaked oil and glycol onto the track, so much so that the marshals ran out of soaker to mop it all up. Once racing was back under way, Mike Davidson continued to lead the race to the end in the Formula Ford, while Nigel Russell won the Formula Junior class.
“Along with the torrential rain, this made for lots of fun,” said Russell afterwards. “For the second race the track was actually slipperier than the first, as the rain had spread the spilled oil across the entire track. Some of the cars span multiple times! A great leveller with a lot of the positions reversed, and lower horsepower cars up at the front. Peter Benbrook in the Gemini, with me in the FMZ, actually won some of our races [FJ class].”
There were 11 starters for Historic Muscle Cars and Saloon Cars. The first race was won by Elliot Frame, driving a 1974 MkI Ford Escort, the small and nimble car running away from the field to win by a massive 18 seconds from the second-placed Ford Falcon GT of Sean McCaughan. Torrential rain suited the Escort. Race two was won by Michael McCaughan in a 1971 Ford Falcon GT while Elliot, who started last due to his win in the previous race, still managed to work his way through to second place in what was another wet race. The track was dry for the final race and so the Escort was unable to challenge for the lead which was eventually went to Sean McCaughan. Newcomer John Mills brought his 1970 Pontiac Firebird out for this race and finished in fifth place.
The event also saw round four of the Classic Trials Championship. The on-off rain made the three 15-minute races quite a challenge for the drivers as they tried to maintain consistent laps. Once the times and points were added up it was Carcolors owner Ken Smith in his Ford Escort RS2000 who clocked a best differential time of 0.91 to win the round.
One of the more interesting cars on track was the black 1967 Riley Elf of Nic Apanui. He purchased the car in 2017. “It had been left in an upholstery shop and the work was never paid for,” said Nic. “It was then purchased by a couple who intended to restore it but as projects usually go, it never happened, that’s when I got it for $1,500.”
He has tried to keep the Elf classic, steering away from Japanese parts. The engine is a standard 1275cc, with race suspension and race brakes etc.
The feature event of the meeting was the One-Hour race for the BMW Race Driver Series. It started behind the safety car in very trying conditions, with pole-sitter Grant Baguley in a 2000 BMW E46 leading the field away. However, it wouldn’t be too long before the safety car was deployed when the Alex Schultz E36 came a cropper. Several cars came in for their driver changes at this time, while Baguley continued to blitz the field. On a dry track, he eventually finished 1 minute 12 seconds in front of second-placed Graham Ball and his 2008 M3.