Big and varied field puts on a spectacle
Last weekend’s annual Phillip Island Classic meet went off well, blessed with great weather and a big turnout of cars.
Some 20 international entries rolled through the gates, while grids for most classes seemed to be well-filled.
Race legend and Unique Cars magazine columnist John Bowe was nominated Patron of the meeting, while heavily involved in the track action.
“I had 11 races in three different cars,” he explained, “Very old-style!” The cars were the Joe Calleja-owned 327 Corvette and March F1, plus the Mark Peche Volvo 240T touring car.
“I did two races in that Volvo with Alfredo Costanzo,” said Bowe, “And we DNF-ed both times. This time we started four races and finished all of them. It was great fun, racing with people like Jim Richards and Chris Bowden.”
Meanwhile Bowe was impressed with the Calleja Corvette. “Those Chevy small blocks, man they’re good. This one was built by Steve at Synergy Engines – he also did the engine in my Touring Car Masters Mustang. It gave a lot of the Porsches a fright!”
If you haven’t yet been to one of these, make a mental note to do it next time. Just a walk around the pits is a treat and the racing is a lot of fun. And, if you get tired with that, there’s a fairly decent impromptu car show in the spectator area.
Meanwhile, enjoy our gallery.