Winton Festival of Speed SET TO GO!
The Winton Festival of Speed takes place this weekend at Winton Motor Raceway with a huge list of classic racing cars from Formula Fords, to Group A Touring Cars, the big banger Sports Sedans and everything in between.
The Winton Festival of Speed is an event run by the Victorian Historic Racing Register (VHRR) which was founded back in 1976.The Winton event is one of the highlights of the VHRR calendar with Historic Touring Cars from the 60s through until the 90s, Holden HQ racing, Historic Sports Sedans, Formula Ford, Formula Vee, Group S Sportscars and Alfa Romeos, these are just some of the categories on the entry list.All these categories will not be slowly driving around in demonstrations, no, they are competing in full on races with prizes and trophies on the line.In total, over 300 cars are entered to compete in the event on track, with a further 500 entered as part of the Shannons display and Shannons parade. These cars are made up of various car clubs from around Victoria.The event takes place on the full length 3.0km layout of the Nation’s Action Track starting with practice on Friday, before the event slides into qualifying and racing across the weekend.As always, the Winton Festival of Speed will celebrate notable birthdays and milestones in motorsport.In 2024 the major theme will be Ford versus Holden and to help celebrate this there will be several notable cars in attendance including the 1974 Ford XA Falcon Coupe driven to Bathurst 1000 glory by Kevin Bartlett and John Goss.On the red side of the fence there will be several Holden Toranas, SLR 5000s and L34s.One of the highlight categories this weekend is Heritage Touring Cars with 35 cars entered into the category.It is not just familiar cars, but several familiar names as well, including reigning national Top Fuel Drag Racing champion and Supercars Championship team owner Peter Xiberras.Xiberras will drive his Group A VK Commodore formerly raced by Denny Hulme and Ray Smith, before Graeme Crosby drove it throughout 1986.Other cars include an ex-Alan Jones EL Falcon an ex-BTCC BMW, Nissans, Mazdas, Escorts and the Colin Bond Alfa Romeo GTV6.The event is also celebrating 60 years of the Ford Mustang, as well as being an icon of American Muscle Cars, the machine has gone on to be a global success and featured dozens of films.However, incredibly the Ford Mustang’s first ever motor race victory came in ‘Down Under’ in the hands of Norm Beechey.Beechey and Ian Geoghegan won titles in Mustangs, while Allan Moffat and Dick Johnson took race wins in the 70s and 80s. In 2019 the Ford Mustang returned to Supercars and assisted Scott McLaughlin to the championship in 2019 and 2020.All Ford Mustang car clubs and owners have been invited to bring their cars to the event.One of the feature races will be the 50k Cup for the Group N Touring Cars which will contain multiple Mustangs as it covers racing machines from 1953-1973.Entry on Friday for spectators is free, $40 on Saturday and $40 on Sunday, however you can by a multi-day pass for just $65.People 17 years old and under can enter for free, while concession cards will give you a $5 discount.Tickets: www.vhrr.com.au/winton/fosIf you want to attend the event but can’t make it to the track, don’t stress, you can stream all of the racing action across the weekend via the V8 Sleuth website, YouTube channel or Facebook page.