Eddington - 2012
Monday, 02 April 2012 02:35

Eddington - 2012

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    Excitement that recalls the style and class of older times.
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   Maserati smoking its wheels as it sets out on the quarter mile sprint
Eddington is 142 km out of Melbourne  - 40 km from Bendigo. It's not very easily found. That needs to be understood. The neighbouring places are Baringhup West, Laanecoorie. Neereman and Waanyarra.  Many road maps and sat nav systems don't even tell you how to get there. But the true believers manage  to come from all over the country. Amongst others, author John Medley from NSW - as you will see in a forthcoming Part 2 of this article, featuring Richard Abey's classic photos.Despite the remoteness, there are full amenities, of course, and there's always plenty of room to walk about, admiring the competition and other cars. And you see people you've known about over many years, who are not necessarily rich and famous - just people who compete in classic machinery, without sponsors or extravagant teams of engineers.  Whilst the meeting is conducted under strict CAMS rules, there is a freedom from many of the constraints and interferences that are imposed on many modern big meetings. Country Fire Authority motor vehicles outnumber the official cars you see around higly publicised events. You can look the cars over, talk to the drivers. There are no huge concrete blocks or walls of safety netting obscuring your views of the quarter-mile sprint. (see what I mean? Miles - in the older style of things) And there's no endless chatter over the PA system either that you get at big-crowd circuits round the place. Nor are there rows of stands flogging model cars,'memorabilia', or old magazines.  The cars were magnificent. The drivers were brilliant. And that's what everyone had come to see.   
JimRussel-S Kieftstart-S IMG 1513  IMG 1518 
 Jim Russell  The Kieft   Maserati Replica  Betty Lowe's Alta
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 Chatting to owner-drivers  Standard Special  Austin 7   Self-governed informality 
 
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   Graeme and Betty Lowe
 
Macdonberg L IMG 1626 IMG 1583 IMG 1585
 Mackdonburg Special  Clear view of the track Keith Roberts Riley Special Robert Sales'  Fiat Ballila
 
Phillip Island Part 2
Tuesday, 13 March 2012 05:01

Phillip Island Part 2

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                               Main Photographer - Lucas Hunter 
                                                   The begining
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 Singer Car Club  Alfa Romeo 1750   4 Cyl engine  Red Flag incident
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 Riley (left) and MG TC Spanish/French - Hispano Suiza Austin Healey  Lamborghini
text
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 Bugatti 8 Cyl Engine - Type 35 (?)  TV star and admirers  The Bird
 
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                                                    And the End 
                                                                                             vintracecar2
Phillip Island Festival of Motor Sport 2012
Monday, 12 March 2012 02:29

Phillip Island Festival of Motor Sport 2012

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The place to be in Australia this autumn - during the weekend  9th - 11th March 2012 - was Phillip Island, Victoria.Over 500 fabulous cars were entered in 47 events, and hundreds of the most desirable cars from all over the world were there for the 2012 Festival of Motor Sport.
IMG 0760
 The Island is 140km from Melbourne, and the drive is supposed to take an hour and 30 minutes. Along the Highway I spotted an AC Cobra, a Morgan 3 wheeler, all kinds and ages of Alfa Romeo, two or three Testa Rossa, Porsche, Maserati, MG Magnette, TC-TF, TR2, Aston Martin, General Motors and Fords, a pair of XK 120, and a couple of Bugatti. It was going to be a Festival all right.Here is a glimpse of some of the competitors in the Classic tradition. 
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 Victoria Le Gallais - BrabhamBT15 Formula 3  Wayne Sayers - 1960 Elfin (blue)P. McKnight - Aarons Lotus (green)    Tony Osborne - 1958 Simca Spl  Thomas Benson - 1952 BMH Spl'Comic Book'  2200 cc 
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 Monoskate - Graeme Raper  Mac Healey - Graeme Marks  Cooper Climax T 45 - ScottyTaylor   TS Special - Charlie Mitchell
more text followed by 2nd of 3 sets of frames
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 Dick O'Keefe - Photon (Lotus 11)  John Anderson - 1962 Cooper Butler 1496 cc  Nigel Gray - Singer Special Sports  Alfa Romeo 6C -Trevor Montgomery
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 Des Donnan's FN Boulogne   John Rundell - 1953 Maybach 2  Ferrari Tipo 500 Bruce Jones - Ford Zephyr Spl
 
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 Michael Stupka - Citroen 11D
 
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 Bob Pinkerton - 1955 Peugeot Spl  Bill Prowse - 1968 Alfa Ricciardi Spyder  Kent Patrick - Bugatti 37A GP  Geoff Burton - Brabham BT 29
  Click here for more photos in Part 2
                                                                                  vintracecar
Spa Six Hours 2011
Wednesday, 07 March 2012 21:24

Spa Six Hours 2011

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After a damp Goodwood Revival weekend before the Six Hours meeting and the memories of a very wet Six Hours weekend in 2010, I was relieved that everyone driving off to Spa-Francorchamps was treated to a totally sunny autumn weekend. It’s still hard to understand why one of the most important classic race events on the European mainland doesn’t attract more visitors. Compared to the number of people visiting Goodwood it must be a bit frustrating for the organisers as the fields of all the races are filled with an impressive number of highly interesting and well prepared cars.