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The Southern Hemisphere’s largest historic racing event, the VHRR Phillip Island Classic, is shaping up to be another spectacular event in March 2024 attracting crowds of upwards of 25,000 over the long weekend.
Scheduled for March 8-10, 2024, entries are flowing in from all parts of Australia and New Zealand and there are already some exceptional Formula 5000, Can-Am, and historic saloon cars confirmed for the event.
A strong contingent from New Zealand includes entries from the McLaren Group including Tony Roberts McLaren M10A 300-09 – a car built for the introduction of the Formula 5000 in the UK in 1969. The prototype M10A won the European Championship and dominated the second year of international F5000. Tony’s car, a 300-9 was originally supplied to Bob Esseks in the USA and first raced at Road America in July 1969. Tony has been racing various McLaren cars for more than 25 years and was the stunt driver for the recent movie, ‘McLaren’.
Grant Clearwater’s McLaren M10A 300-08 was originally built for Sir Nick Williamson in 1969 and raced at the international hill climbs at St Ursanne-Les Rangiers and Ollon-Villars before making its debut at Preston in September winning all three UK outings in late 1969. Rebuilt at the factory to M10B specification it went on to win four championship rounds and took the British Hill Climb Championship.
The McLaren M10A 300-03 owned by Rob Ward will also be racing. This is a car that was entered in the 1969 US series but later crashed during practice for the race at Mont Tremblant. It was sold and restored and competed in of SCCA National Park and five Pro races.
Frank Karl’s McLaren M10B 400-185 was originally raced in South Africa by Alan McKechnie and later by several owners in the UK and raced by Len Booysen in 1975 for Team Domingo.
A car that received a lot of personal input from Bruce McLaren is the M10B 400-7 owned in New Zealand by Toby Annabel. This car was very successful in smaller hill climbs and was used in the British Hill Climb Championship in 1974 and 1975.
Of particular interest will be the McLaren Can-AM Sportscar M8B-1 owned by Alistair Hey as this car was developed for the 1969 Can-AM season where it was totally dominant, winning 11 out of 11 rounds.
Five New Zealand based super touring and Group A cars will also be at the meeting including Andy Greeslade’s Benson & Hedges RS500 Sierra. This car was the last of five Benson & Hedges Sierra’s and the only one built in Australia with the aim of winning the 1990 Bathurst 1000. It first raced in round 3 of the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship and seven weeks later was at Bathurst where it competed with Tony Longhurst and ex-F1 champion Alan Jones setting a lap record for Mount Panorama however it did not finish the actual race that year.
Peter Sturgeon’s 1996 Honda Accord Supertourer was originally raced by David Leslie in the 1996 British Touring Car Championship, Neil Crompton in the 1997 North American Touring Championship and Graham Dodd in the 1998 Australian Super Touring Championship.
Two highly competitive BMW Super tourers owned by Steven Kelly and Dennis Chapman will be racing plus Scott O’Donnell’s 1995 Ford Mondeo Supertourer.
With such a strong team of New Zealand cars and drivers there is no doubt that trans-Tasman rivalry will be to the fore with competition coming from some of Australia’s best drivers and cars including upwards of 15 Australian Formula 5000’s.
There will be eleven racing categories over the three day event providing spectacular interest on the track for spectators along with up to 1000 vehicles on display around the circuit
More information can be found on the VHRR site HERE.
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