Eastern Creek on the last weekend in November was the setting for the second Tasman Revival meeting, a splendid memory trip laid on by the HSRCA. With a staggering 474 historic race cars from all corners of the earth in action it was an impressive effort by the organizers. The sight and sound of these, some of which have not been seen in this country for almost 40 years, and the quality of the racing made this one of the most enjoyable meetings I have attended here.   

Ferrari 246T

  Everyone’s favorite event was the well supported Formula 5000 which was won by the superbly turned out ex-Teddy Pilette VDS Racing Team Lola T430 Chevrolet. The sound of 21 snarling five litre V8s blasting off from the start was one that few of us will forget, and one that even fewer of us remember. One of my colleagues announced that it gave him goosebumps and on closer inspection, he wasn’t kidding. This incredible field included a huge range of Lolas, as one would expect, amongst which were the ex-Sunoco Penske Racing T192, a T190, a T142, five T332s and a pair of the ex-VDS Racing Teams T430s. Joining these were a pair of McLarens (M10B and M22), the two Ansett Elfin MR8Cs, a couple of Beggs (FM4 & FM5) and single representatives from other makes including Chevron (B24), Talon (MR1A), McRae (GM1), Matich (A50) and March (732A).Oh my God!! 

Lola T430

   The feature event, the Repco Tasman Cup, may have had slightly fewer international entries this time around but what there was, made up for what there wasn’t. OK we may have been missing the Gold Leaf Lotus 49 that showed up last time but this year we had the gorgeous ex-Chris Amon Ferrari 246T from 1968 and a marvelously melodic 1968 BRM P126 with its screaming V12. Tossed into the mix were a trio of Brabhams (BT4, BT16 & BT22), three Coopers (two T51s including the Alec Mildren car & a T53) and the Mildren-Waggott. Bulking out the grid to a whopping 36 cars were a large group of  Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula Junior cars including some wonderful Lotus’ such as the John Dimmer driven 35 and the Scuderia Colonia 18, and an amazing collection of Brabhams, Elfins and McLarens. Appropriately enough the race was dominated by the lovely little Ferrari driven by Rob Hall. 

BRM P126

  An enormous field of 1960s and 70s touring cars joined the fray and provided some of the most hectic moments of the weekend. On several occasions on Friday and Saturday the races were red flagged due to incidents including one on Saturday in which three cars were extensively damaged. The main race on Sunday went off without a hitch though and was won by Michael Donaher in his 1969 Chevrolet Camero.

Chevrolet Camero

    Other notable entries were the ex-Niki Lauda March 722 and the perennial crowd favorite, Ernie Nagamatsu in “Old Yeller” Mk2. Ernie is a lovely bloke with an unrivalled passion for his sport who welcomes all into his world and must hand out thousands of badges and other goodies throughout weekends like this one. Apart from Ernie what makes “Old Yeller” such a favorite is that it just looks so WRONG. And I say that with the greatest affection. It may look wrong but when it is going, it sure goes right. Unfortunately this time around “Old Yeller” suffered an ongoing problem with the carburetors before finally succumbing to a clutch failure.

Old Yeller

    There were many more categories on show at the creek including Formula Pacific/F2, Sports cars, Formula Fords and 50’s touring cars and to adequately cover the lot would take much more room than I have available here. What can be said is that they all combined to produce yet another superb three days of historic racing. It may not be able to match the Goodwood Revival but it’s not too far off and the Tasman Revival is a damned sight cheaper and easier to get to for us on this side of the planet. Given another couple of events and some traditions of its own this could easily become one of the big three historic meetings on the world calendar along with Goodwood and Laguna Seca.

Hillman Imp

 Easily.

Lola T332

 Sam Snape 

03/12/2008     

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