A century of Mount Tarrengower scrambling

Racers rushed to finish projects in time for the 100th anniversary running of the Mount Tarrengower Historic Hill Climb, which is one of the oldest hill climbs in Australia. The 1.5km course, which featured a new chicane for the 2017 event, was attacked by more than 100 pre-1972 cars and motorbikes.

Singer Le Mans racer

Nathan Tasca started reviving this 1934 Singer Le Mans last December and this is its first event back on the track in more than 20 years. ‘Surprisingly, after 22 years it started up in two minutes, just needing fresh fuel and a new battery,’ said Tasca. ‘Since then we’ve rebuilt the fuel system and brakes. My dad bought it in 1978 from a local technical college that had been using it for the apprentice mechanics to practise on. At that stage the Singer motor was missing and it had a Holden engine in it. Lots of parts had been removed by the apprentices and dad found replacements all over the local area, restoring the car to racing by 1980. He laid it up around 1993 to play with another project and it hadn’t run since then.’

Renault R8 Gordini replica

‘I bought this little 1967 Renault as an unfinished project seven years ago from a guy who had started turning it into a rally car,’ explained owner Angelo Simonetto. ‘I completed all the bodywork myself.

‘Once it had been sand-blasted it turned out to be quite rusty, so I put it up on a rotisserie and just worked on it when I had spare time. I did all the steel work and I painted the car myself too. I finally got it on the road about three months ago.

‘It’s running a 1.4-litre R5 Alpine engine with a fourspeed gearbox and a locked rear differential. I built it with the intention of having fun at the track, so that’s exactly what I’m doing with it now!’