Widescreen Gallery: 2019 HSRCA Sydney Classic

Images thanks to Seth Reinhardt, HSRCA

The golden age of motorsport was alive and well in Sydney over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, June 8 & 9, with the HSRCA Sydney Classic putting on a packed weekend of racing at Sydney Motorsport Park. Scroll along and enjoy some photos.

Warming up with a day of practice, the event ran over three days and brought some exciting machinery out to play. Being June in Sydney, the weather didn’t entirely cooperate, presenting a foggy Saturday that made warming up the tyres a challenge, but making amends on Sunday with a stunning day and perfect conditions for racing.

MG Racing Australia joined in the fun for the first time, bringing a record field to the event and putting on a show to suit.

The MG Racing series has been running since the mid-’80s and features just about any racing MG you can imagine, as well as other invited British cars. There was some serious firepower on show, from Phil Chester’s monster ex-Production Sports MGB GT V8 to Adrian Akhurst’s V8 MG ZT, the last works MG race car built under MG Rover ownership, the MG SV-R driven by Rhys Howell and plenty more.

We were also stoked to hear about a set of Formula Holdens heading to the event to compete in the Groups Q & R ‘wings ‘n slicks’ category. These included an ex-Mark Skaife 1991 Romano SPA 001, which won the Australian Drivers’ Championship twice, a 1989 Shrike Formula Holden, NB89H 002, and the Hocking 901 Formula Holden. They didn’t disappoint, looking and sounding great on the track and spending the weekend in the thick of the action.

They joined Historic Formula Ford Australia, which ran a round of its 2019 Historic Formula Ford Australia Driver to Europe Series at the event. The series celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Australian Formula Ford Championship, and in a call back to the championship’s history will award winners from each class flights from Australia to the United Kingdom.

Earlier ’50s and ’60s sports and racing cars, Groups L, M & O and Formula Vee, completed the open-wheel contingent. These machines are so evocative of the golden age of the sport, and it’s magic seeing them out on track doing what they do best.

Group S Racing and Group N brought big fields of sports and touring cars out to play and put on some of the most action-packed events of the weekend. Group S drivers worked particularly hard, with many doing double duty and hitting the track with MG Racing Australia as well.

The Regularity and Super Sprint groups were also a lot of fun and attracted some interesting and exciting cars, such as the awe-inspiring 1974 Porsche 911 RSR above. These are great categories to get involved in. They offer a (slightly) more relaxed pace, put a little less pressure on the cars and provide an opportunity for cars that may not fit in other categories for one reason or another.

With a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, plenty of action on the track and an exciting entry of classic cars to check out, the HSRCA Sydney Classic was another great historic race meeting. The HSRCA will be back in action in September, with the Spring Festival held at Wakefield Park over the 28th & 29th, and then back in Sydney to wrap up the year with the Summer Festival, November 30 to December 1.

For more on the club head to their website here or follow them on Facebook here.

Images thanks to Seth Reinhardt.