What started in 1991 as a one off one day meeting for racing cars that a committee had decided were “classic”, celebrates it 30th annual anniversary this weekend. The Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch host the running of a two day meeting under the Skope Industries banner and promoted and organised by the Canterbury Car Club.
A handful of the cars from 1991 remain and in particular a 1972 Elden MK8 Formula Ford and a pair of locally built late 1950’s Mistral Sports cars. From 1994 entries still include two Lotus 23B replica and the Stanton Corvette. This car was then and is still raced now by Blenheim’s Russell Greer.
Saloon and sports cars then and also now still involve a collection of Mini’s, Porsches, Ford Cortina’s, Anglia’s and Capris, Fiat’s of varying makes and the first of the Japanese cars to be deemed “classics” with the Datsun 240Z and 1200SSS.
Of the drivers that raced at the early meetings, Bert Govan MK2 Jaguar, Jeremy Stace E type Jaguar, Paul Tayler Mistral and Bryan Ashworth Daimler SP250 will again be on the grid in 2020 with the same cars.
The V8 theme has always been a popular attraction and this year is no different with the presence of the Formula 5000 revival series and a good number of V8 muscle cars along with those V8s that are eligible for the Open Saloon Car (OSCA) races.
The Formula 5000 cars are no strangers to Ruapuna and their era of international competition makes them a compelling reason why the Canterbury Car Club are always keen for them to return.
For six wonderful years in the 1970s, the stock block mostly 5 litre Chev powered cars was the national single seater formula. “ The cars are the stars,” says David Abbott of the New Zealand Formula 5000 Association. “ Some of these cars have been driven by the legends of the sport. They are big, grunty vehicles that can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand out. They are hard to drive and ferociously quick. They’re way smarter than the modern GT cars even though they are 40 years old”.
Among the drivers in the Formula 5000 field is the evergreen driver Kenny Smith MBE. Smith a former national champion and winner of the 1976 Lady Wigram trophy race is now in his sixtieth year of racing.
The various saloon car fields will include a healthy number of muscle cars with entries including three former Australian V8 Supercars along with Hugh Gardiner in his 6 litre Chev Comaro, Phil Hoffman 4.7 litre Shelby Mustang, Frank Ryan 6 litre Camaro, Roger Williams 6 litre Chev Monza and Hogan Jeffs in his father’s Pre 65 category, 7 litre Ford Galaxie. ‘
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