2025 Formula Classic – Round 5
Wanneroo Park – 27th July
The tale of the Safety Car and THE RAIN!
The fifth round of the 2025 Formula Classic championship took place at Wanneroo Park on 27th July in what can only be described as awful weather conditions. The local weather forecasting service had been predicting a very wet day on the 27th for about the 10 previous days and, boy, they were not wrong!
The number of entrants was low for the event, many put off by the weather forecast probably.
The track was wet for the qualifying session and the rain only coming down modestly. Allan Jones qualified fastest in his Ralt RT5 followed by Bill Norman in his Ralt RT4 and Brian Searles in his Tiga SC84.
Race 1 started under heavy rain conditions that rapidly deteriorated to torrential rain, so much so that the safety car was deployed and the field tippy toed their way around track for the latter part of the race until the checkered flag came out. Craig Thompson, Van Diemen FF2000, decided to retire early from the race due to the terrible conditions. The Race 1 finishing order was Allan, Bill and Brian.
Race 2 looked to be much better conditions with the rain holding off and the track drying out a little but no sooner had the field left the assembly area the heavens opened again! Brian spun his Tiga at the top of the hill on the first lap but recovered and continued. Allan Jones was not so fortunate
spinning his Ralt into the sand trap at Turn 6 and ending his race there. As Allan was stranded in a precarious position half on and half off the track and the safety car was deployed, and the race neutralised whilst the Ralt was recovered. The finishing order at the flag was Bill, followed by Dave Dearden and Craig.
Dave enjoying a snack with his crew in between down pours.
Track conditions had improved by Race 3 and the rain was holding off (finally!) Allan Jones came quickly from the back of the field to try and challenge Bill for Race 3 honours but it was not to be. Bill holding on to the lead until the flag. Glenn Swarbrick, who had been running very steadily in the two previous wet races, was closing in on the back of Craig’s Van Diemen during the closing laps of Race 3. As the pair approached the entrance to the left hander they touched wheels spinning Glenn off the track into the grass and ending his run. Craig was able to continue to the finish.
The collective brain power of Formula Classic trying to figure out why Bill had an ignition problem.
Post race debrief with a hot dog and a cold beer!
Outright results for the meeting were;
1st Bill Norman 70 pts
2nd Dave Dearden 54 pts
3rd Brian Searles 50 pts
The next round, The SmashaStrawb South West Cup will be held at Collie Motorplex on Sunday 17th August. Entries are currently open vis the MSA portal.