News from the Festival of Sporting Cars Inc.
Patron: Mr Brian Lawler.
Issue 28. November/December 2016
TRACK TIMES
Welcome to issue 28 of our newsletter. Since no one likes a slow lap, let’s get straight into what’s
been happening in the last few weeks. Photos featured in this issue are all courtesy of Daniel Walters:
[email protected] Enjoy the read. Dave Nichols, Editor, and the FoSC team.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – MR ROBERTS COMES UP TRUMPS
First up there was our 2016 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, October 22nd – held fittingly in
Suite 3 overlooking the Brabham Straight at Sydney Motor Sport Park, courtesy of the ARDC.
The big news from that is we have a new President: Mr David Roberts has jumped in the hot seat as
nimbly as Steve McQueen at Le Mans, taking over from yours truly and becoming the 4th FoSC
President since 2005, after Geoff Pike, Chris Payoe and myself.
FoSC’s new President walking tall on the Dummy Grid.
We are also pleased to welcome some new – and not so new – faces for 2017: Don Anderson and
Geoff Pike are back, while Lisa Tobin-Smith (MGB and Henry V8 pilot, AKA “the Masters’
Mistress”) and Mark Brown (our hardworking Regularity Nominations guru) join the FoSC team. With
Rob Jardine, Peter Amos (Vice-President), Terry Thompson OAM, Stuart Littlemore QC and me (just
plain ‘Mr’), that brings our membership up to ten as we look forward to our 12th year – which looks
like this:
FoSC 2017 CALENDAR
Saturday 18th March, Druitt Circuit, SMSP
Saturday/Sunday 20th/21st May, Wakefield Park Raceway
Saturday 22nd July, Druitt Circuit, SMSP
Sunday 1st October, Amaroo Circuit, SMSP
SPRING INVITATION MEETING: SUNDAY 23RD OCTOBER, SMSP
Meanwhile, back to this year… Our fourth, and final, meeting of 2016 took place on SMSP’s
Amaroo Circuit. Coming only a week before the annual Muscle Car Masters event, it was never going
to attract our friends from Group S or the HTCA, but was very well subscribed – albeit with dozens of
last-minute entries – with fields from long-time supporters like the Excels, and Regularity, as well as a
new group of Miniature Cars and a combo of Historic and Invited Sports and Touring Cars – boosted
by a group of MX-5 Cup contenders.
We were also heartened by all the entries from Come and Try drivers, keen to learn from the FoSC
Masters and get into our kind of motor sport. Here’s a wrap-up of the place-getters.
EXCEL CHAMPIONSHIP
Brenden Vinckxx (76) and Matt Stockwell (4) jockey for position.
This being the ultimate round of the 2016 Excel Championship, competition was even closer than
usual, with a well-subscribed field and four drivers dominating the results.
Race 1: 1st Brenden Vinckxx (1998 Hyundai Excel); 2nd Matt Stockwell (1999 Hyundai Excel); 3rd
Nikkolas Hough (1998 Hyundai Excel). Race 2: 1st Matt Stockwell; 2nd Brenden Vinckxx; 3rd
Nikkolas Hough. Race 3: 1st Matt Stockwell; 2nd Brenden Vinckxx; 3rd Nikkolas Hough.
REGULARITY A
Three out of three made Josh Rowe the most consistent competitor of the day.
As one of our foundation fields, with some familiar faces, we witnessed some good tight driving
and consistent times. It was also good to see relative newcomer, Glenn Cox, notching up points, as he
continues to develop his car and technique.
Event 1: 1st Josh Rowe (2005 Subaru WRX); 2nd Bill McBride (2002 BBB Clubman); 3rd Matt Russell
(1982 Mazda RX-7). Event 2: 1st Josh Rowe; 2nd David Felstead (2001 Porsche GT3); 3rd Steve
Molloy (2005 Birkin S3). Event 3: 1st Josh Rowe; 2nd Glenn Cox (1999 BMW M5).
MINIATURE RACE CARS
Chad Cotton in his jolly green Future Racer set FTD at 1:00.2507.
Previously running in Regularity, Kerry Hughes made good on his promise to deliver a field of
these great little cars for a dedicated round of races. Their speed and enthusiasm brought smiles to
everyone’s faces.
Race 1: Chad Cotton (Future Racer); 2nd Jase Collins (Aussie Race Car Falcon); 3rd Josh Guetaya
(Futurebusa). Race 2: 1st Chad Cotton; 2nd Jase Collins; 3rd Jake Klein (Holden Commodore).
Race 3: 1st Jake Klein; 2nd Josh Guetaya; 3rd Chad Cotton.
REGULARITY B
Cool, calm Carl shows how it’s done.
Staunch supporter Carl Stevenson showed his skills once again, joined by some new and familiar
faces, in a great mix of cars (and drivers) covering seven decades or more.
Event 1: 1st Carl Stevenson (2004 Mazda MX-5); 2nd Lawrence McKinnon (1990 Toyota Celica GT4);
3rd Alan Sebsesfi (1959 A-H Sprite). Event 2: 1st Colin Barrell (1971 Ford Escort Mk1); 2nd Carl
Stevenson; 3rd Steve Dalziel (2013 Mazda 2). Event 3: 1st Luke Puzziello (2001 Honda Integra Type
R); 2nd Carl Stevenson; 3rd Edward Ahn (1998 Mitsubishi Evo V).
HISTORIC & INVITED SPORTS & TOURING CARS
Every picture tells a story – this one being that Andy Harris dominated the field.
Although some purists would have a pink fit at such a mix of vehicles, we’ve proved that with
competitors sticking to our mantra of ‘respecting other drivers’ and ‘no-contact’, we can give a wide
range of enthusiasts the chance to get out on the black stuff and enjoy their sport. This time, we even
incorporated a group of Mazda MX-5 Cup contenders – who enjoyed “races within races” while
getting valuable track time (see more below).
Race 1: 1st Andy Harris (2006 Mazda MX-5); 2nd Brett Lansley (2012 MNR Clubman); 3rd Cameron
Macarthur (2004 Mazda MX-5). Race 2: 1st Andy Harris; 2nd Brett Lansley; 3rd Cameron Macarthur.
Race 3: 1st Andy Harris; 2nd Brett Lansley; 3rd Verne Johnson (1999 Mazda Mx-5).
MAZDA MX-5 CUP PLACINGS
Second most successful of the MX-5s was Cameron Macarthur.
Taking the Mazda MX-5 Cup contenders results out of the combined field results, gave them the
following placings.
Race 1: 1st Andy Harris; 2nd Cameron Macarthur; 3rd Rob Hay (1999 Mazda MX-5 SE). Race 2: 1st
Andy Harris; 2nd Cameron Macarthur; 3rd Rob Hay. Race 3: 1st Andy Harris; 2nd Verne Johnson; 3rd
Cameron Macarthur.
BEST REGULARITY RESULTS FOR COME & TRY DRIVERS
Mathew Fiorenza was among the Come & Tryers who put their time spent with the Masters to good use
Take the Masters’ tuition, some untapped hidden talent (and maybe a bit of clever sandbagging,
perhaps), and you get some of our Come & Try drivers soon coming to terms with the demands of
Regularity, with results like these: 3rd: Alan Sebesfi (1959 A-H Sprite); 4th: Simon Batge (1999
Nissan Silvia); 7th: Aflaine O’Connor (2006 Mazda MX-5); 14th: Scott Pusey (1974 Datsun 260Z);
16th: Mathew Fiorenza (1993 Nissan Skyline); 20th: Mark de Gioia (1980 Datsun Sunny).
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS AND THE ARDC
Commentators Dave Conole and Steve Shephard generously gave their time to bring that important
extra dimension to the proceedings – a special thank you to them, the FoSC Masters team and all our
other stalwart officials and volunteers. And none of this would have been possible without the venue
and the assistance of the Australian Racing Drivers Club. It’s always great to show one’s Membership
Card at the gate and be welcomed in; so a big thank you to Alex, Michelle, Peter, Paul and everyone.
WELL, WAS IT GOOD FOR YOU?
Since we always strive to keep Entry Fees down – while still having to meet third-party costs – we
made a few economies at this meeting, such as a very much-simplified Programme. Judging by your
feedback, this didn’t unduly affect everyone’s enjoyment of the day:
“Thanks for organising such a great event yesterday. I could not have asked for a better introduction into
motorsport. Could you please pass my thanks to all committee members, masters and volunteers as it would
not be easy to put together or manage the day. I will be at the next event, and will be encouraging more to
come. Car went well, no major issues which was great. The final DNF was due to the main ignition lead coming
off the coil. Regards, Simon Woodcock.” (Alfa GT, Come & Try.)
“Great to hear you all had a successful day yesterday. We were sorry not to be there and appreciate being
thought of in your note. I'm sure both Chris & Charles were watching on with pride and it's just so great the
FoSC flag continues to fly for all the right reasons. Hats off to all the hard workers… Viv & Brian Lawler”. (Our
Patron.)
“Great Day! Glad to be part of it! Raine and Ray Gulson.” (Assistant Race Secretary and FoSC Master,
respectively.)
“Many thanks for the great event yesterday. As usual FOSC ran an excellent event. I really enjoyed the racing
and felt I got great value for money out of the day. Thanks for your assistance with the entry procedure last
week. I really appreciated your patience. Please pass on my thanks to all your volunteers for their hard work.
Kind regards, Andrew Raymond.” (PRB S3, Historic & Invited Sports & Touring.)
“Hi Dave, Thanks for your kind words to the FoSC team. I've always admired the enthusiasm and positive spirit
projected by everyone. This has continued to make these meetings enjoyable compared to some of the others.
Kind Regards, Steve Shepard.” (Commentator.)
“Thank you so much for Sunday. It was well organised and a very relaxed environment. Great turn up and all
drivers were very well behaved which made the event so pleasant. It’s great to experience such an event,
takes me back 20 years when racing was about being with like-minded friends and helping each other out. See
you next year! Regards, Parry Anastakis.” (Peugeot 205 GTi, Historic & Invited Sports & Touring.)
“Hi David, as a participant last weekend, I would like to thank you and everyone involved for a great day. As the
past president of the Porsche Club, I know how much work goes into these events and appreciated the
opportunity to be a part of it. Regards, Paul Dortkamp.” (Porsche Cayman S, Reg A.)
“It's always an honour to work with a great bunch of people who I hold in high regard. Marcus Prentice.” (Flag
Chief.)
CALLING ALL BRITISH SPORTS CARS!
Old mates Bob Rowntree and Brett McManus have approached us about running a race series for
British Sports Cars at our four 2017 meetings. It’s a great idea and gets FoSC back to our roots.
While we have quite a few regulars like the Rookes, Dave Lawrence, Doddsy, Steve D-C, Damien
Meyer, Brian Weston, Colin Goldsmith, the Sebesfi family and others in their UK roadsters and
racecars, there must be dozens more enthusiasts out there, whose MGs, Austin-Healeys, Triumphs,
Jags, Sunbeams, Morgans, Lotuses etc., are languishing in the shed waiting for a run with like-minded
enthusiasts, at a friendly, no-touch meeting.
Entrants can expect Practice & Qualifying, plus three races at one-day meetings, and five races at
two-day meetings. Both AASA and CAMS licences are accepted.
So if you want to be part of a dedicated field of the Old Dart’s finest, get in touch with Bob (0402
216 149) or Brett (0421 858 157) – and help them get a grid together for next March, and beyond.
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS
Don’t forget to support the sponsors and suppliers who help us enjoy our motor sport: Alpha Hotel
Eastern Creek; MotorActive; Next Media; Parabolica Publishing; Simpson Race Products and Sue’s
Transport Books. You’ll find links to them all on our Supporters Page.
KEEP THE FEEDBACK COMING!
We love to hear from competitors and officials. So drop us an email with your comments, niggles,
suggestions or photos – it’ll take some of the hard work out of putting the newsletters together!
PARTING SHOT
Couldn’t resist this pic’ of Denis Tobin ‘living the dream’. Having seen Denis eyeing off the little
racers at Scrutineering, we knew he’d grab the opportunity to have a go in the Partners Parade!
www.fosc.com.au