Historic Sandown Preview Nov 08

The VACC Historic Sandown event marks the 40th anniversary of Holden’s historic win at the Sandown 3-hour in 1968. Bob Watson drove the HK Monaro GTS 327 to victory on that day and he will be the guest of honour this weekend. Along with approximately 40 Monaros either on track or on display Bob will help celebrate with a victory lap in a similar Monaro GTS 327 to that of the winning car.

Holden fans can look forward to past greats such as Harry Firth and Bruce McPhee who will join many other Holden drivers to meet fans, sign autographs and drive parade laps.

Murray Carter also celebrates 60 years in motorsport this weekend as Patron of the event, racing his Corvette C5. Murray will also drive his original Corvette Special, the car he successfully campaigned for many years in sports and GT events, in a series of demonstration laps.

Over 100,000 horsepower will be on show during the three-day event. One main attraction is an expected field of over 20 thundering Formula 5000 racing cars. This will be a sight to see, especially as many have arrived from New Zealand where Historic racing is really taking off.

Adding to the thunder this weekend will be the booming Group A & C Touring cars with a 25 car field including Holden Toranas, powerful Nissan Skyline Turbos, Jaguar XJS, BMW M3s and Ford RS5000 Sierras.

Also on the card are two categories of Historic Touring Cars; separated by engine size due to the enormous entry list. The 3000cc and smaller class includes Mini Coopers and Ford Escorts, while the over 3000cc class means the raucous sixes and V8s will have the track to themselves to do battle. The Group Sb (1961-1969) and Sc (1970-1977) production sports cars promise a great spectacle and is as always over-subscribed, with a three-way clash expected at the front between De Tomaso Panteras, Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays and Porsche 911s.

The usual regularity (average speed) events will be on show with Porsches, replica D-Type Jaguars, an Aston Martin DB4 among the entrants and a special speed comparison between an MGB, a Torana XU-1 and a Formula 5000 on the track at the same time. There also are static displays, RAAF flyovers and more.

Almost 400 cars will take part in the VACC Historic Sandown sponsored by Shannons from Friday to Sunday 7-9 November. The weekend weather is looking great, but not as good as the action on the track.

For more information please visit www.vhrr.com

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