2025 Formula Classic – Round 4
Carco.com.au Raceway – 28th June
The third round of the 2025 Formula Classic championship took place at Carco.com.au Raceway on the 28th of June. It was a cold winters day with bright sunny skies to warm the competitors.
It was great to have Colin Youd joining us for the first time in the ex Rob Jordan Tiga.
Dave Dearden was also out in his newly acquired Reynard FF2000.
Qualifying:
11 Cars took to the track for qualifying in what was a great turnout for Formula Classic.
Pole position was secured by Bill Norman in his Ralt RT1, closely followed by Allan Jones in a Ralt RT5 and Peter Marsh in the Aztec.
Phill Grove put in some excellent times in what was his first competitive session in his VD RF82.
Race 1:
Race one started out well until Ricky Virago’s car caught fire and pulled off the track to the infield just after turn 6.
Ricky was fortunately able to extinguish the fire with his hand held onboard fire extinguisher.
Confusion then ensued with the track going to full course yellow and the safety car being deployed.
It took several laps for the backmarkers to get passed the safety car to allow the lead car to be picked up at which point race control decided to release the cars for the last few remaining minutes of the session.
Unfortunately the pack decided, incorrectly, to follow the safety car into pit lane except for Glenn Swarbrick who swept into the Lead in his Macon Formula Ford followed by Bruce Mitchell.
Craig Thompson slowed to enter pit road and then decided against it and resumed the track behind Glenn and Bruce.
The cars in pit road saw the three leading cars sweep past and decided to join the race again, albeit somewhat behind them.
With only one lap left to run, Glenn Swarbrick crossed the Line for a well deserved win followed by Bruce Mitchell and Craig Thompson.
Race 2:
Race two was closely contested at the front by Bill Norman and Allan Jones, with Allan eventually managing to pass Bill at turn 7 on the last lap for the win with Peter Marsh in third place.
Colin Youd and Craig Thompson were trading places regularly with Colin finishing ahead of Craig.
Further back in the field the remaining 4 cars of Dave Dearden, Phill Grove, Glenn Swarbrick and Bruce Mitchel were also racing closely with each other at times.
Race 3:
Race three had Bill Norman sweep into the lead on lap one and hold that position over Allan Jones through to the finish.
Peter Marsh was third in the increadibly fast Aztec, which only has a 1300cc engine. All credit to his driving skill, setup and tuning by his crew.
The remaining cars all had a good race with the final places being fiercely contested.
All in all a great day was had by everyone.
Final results were as follows:
1: Bill Norman – 60
2: Allan Jones – 59
3: Craig Thompson – 51
The next round will be at Carco.com.au on the 27th of July – be sure to be there!