Michelle’s Review

There were so many highs from being at Historic Winton; from sharing a garage with my good friends who are currently calling themselves “Historic Racing bandits”, to seeing many new friends that I made at Mallala.  I felt like a totally spoilt princess when I discovered Russell Dickson and Bill Vaughn had arranged for “Winnie” the road registered Austin 7, a black 1929 Wasp, to be on display and for me to drive her in the parade laps.

The first event I participated in was the parade laps, I drove Winnie and as we were marshalled by pit lane many of my racing friends came to admire the beautiful car she is.  Paul, who drives an amazing dodge special, poked fun at the strange ballet flat shoes I was wearing for driving, so I showed him the pedal box and now he knows that nearly everything about Austin7’s are small.  My favourite memory of the parade laps is heading towards the esses in 3^rd gear next to the Nick Logan in a Austin 7 ute; almost in unison we both double de-clutched with the unmistakable sound of a engine rev in neutral before dropping down seamlessly into 2^nd.  We looked at each other after our perfect gear change and nodded approvingly.

This race meet was the first circuit event I participated in that had competition with comparable engine capacity.  I needed to quickly learn how to overtake safely as I was entered in regularity and cutting other people off would not make the event fun for anyone.  The track was a little damp for the practice session but I used those laps to select a nominated time.  By the time session 1 started, the track had dried so I drove considerably faster.  For session 2 I adjusted my nominated time based on session 1 but it rained just before the event so I drove slower.  I did enjoy feeling Fernando drift in the “rabbit ears”.  So, I selected a wet lap time on the dry track and a dry lap time for the wet track – I decided to just drive the remaining sessions and see what my luck brings.

Session 3 was fun, there was an oil trail from the previous race but the team from Racesafe did an amazing job cleaning the track and there was no impact on our event.  I got a lot of clear track to play on and even bopped along in my seat as it hummed the tune to the song Speed Racer.

Session 4 saw the rain return and with a monumental rainbow over the circuit I felt like I was driving in Mario Cart’s rainbow road.  Fernando struggled to keep his engine warm with the cold air and there is a new noise that is possibly coming from the clutchplate, soon Fernando will be back at Austin 7 Heaven for some more love and TLC. 

Russell was able to see his car out circuit racing and I was very pleased that he thought his car looked “very good out there”. 

Michael’s Review

After driving from Melbourne on Thursday and preparing the Paddock Office for driver sign-on the weekend started smoothly.  The only issue encountered was the lack of network access for the Paddock Office phones, but that was easily worked around for the rest of the weekend.

Friday saw a smooth flow of drivers through driver sign-on and by the end of the day the majority of drivers had completed the sign-on process.

Saturday I had a few roles to fulfil.  I helped the front gate to get set-up and ensured the ticketing machines were all working; for the first time there were no significant ticketing IT issues over the weekend.  I then spent some time shadowing the Clerk of Course to help gain experience with that role and also ended up assisting at the top pre-grid area.  Over the weekend we had Evie do a couple of days of work experience; Charlie (who is doing VCE VM through Austin 7 Heaven) was looking to experience all aspects of a race event, and first day marshal was in attendance and interested in exploring options.  I helped all of them find roles to try and then quickly lost track of them.  Thankfully they all seemed to have a great time over the weekend and experienced a number of different roles.

As the Austin 7 Club President was unwell, I had to step into my role as Vice-president and present the awards at the Saturday evening awards night.  I wasn’t prepared for this, but I don’t think I screwed it up too badly.

Sunday was quite similar to Saturday except that by mid-afternoon the event was starting to wind down and I was able to watch some racing.

Results

Competitors were awarded one point for every 0.1 seconds over time and 2 points for every 0.1 seconds under the nominated time.  The winner of each session was awarded to the person with the fewest points.

49th Historic Winton – Lap Times Practice

49th Historic Winton – Lap Times Session 1

49th Historic Winton – Results Session 1

49th Historic Winton – Lap Times Session 2

49th Historic Winton – Results Session 2

49th Historic Winton – Lap Times Session 3

49th Historic Winton – Results Session 3

49th Historic Winton – Lap Times Session 4

49th Historic Winton – Results Session 4

49th Historic Winton – Overall Results

Thursday before Historic Winton, the track is quiet, some cars are arriving, and the madness is about to begin.

Ready for the Saturday morning parade in Winnie

A chilly morning on track for practice

A light fog just adds to the ambience

Through the esses it’s a little slippery

Down the start/finish straight

Thankfully the fog had lifted, but it still made for good photos

Round turn 3 with the campground in the background

Entering the esses, trying not to slide

As practice ends the fog is still around

Finally into competition, let’s get the session underway

Warming up on the out lap

A fast entry into the corner

The rear left is just holding on

Smoothing out the corner strains the rear left a little less

Getting back in the swing of regularity

Michelle stole another Austin 7 and took it in the parade laps.

When you steal a car you may as well enjoy it and wave to the crowd

Michelle waving to the crowd along the main straight at a wet Winton Parade

Michael listening to the Clerk of Course giving the “Top Grid” marshals some advice

Michael and Evie (the work experience student) in the paddock office

Michelle taking Marilyn (her mother-in-law) for a spin around the track

Getting ready for some cornering g-forces as Marilyn is shown how much fun a stolen Austin 7 can be

Michelle and Fernando crossing the start/finish line into the sun glare on a wet track, but the chequered flag isn’t out so it isn’t over yet.

Not letting the wet stop her, Michelle is coming down the inside of a Singer 10 Triple S and a GN Vitesse Special into Turn 1 at Historic Winton

Ready to get day 2 of the 49th Historic Winton underway.

Sunday morning into the esses to get the session started

In the procession of cars coming round to start the session

Round Turn 5, the first of the rabbit ears

Leaning into the corner with the tyres holding on nicely

Next up, Turn 6