THE Porsche museum in Stuttgart, Germany, is sending one of its rarest and most prized exhibits to Winton Motor Raceway as part of The Festival of Speed, a historic race meeting to be held on August 13, 14 and 15.
The event will feature a Porsche 935 Turbo that won the World Championship of Makes in 1976. It will undertake a number of demonstration runs at the festival.
There are 200 entries for the meeting so far, including historic touring cars and a huge field of sports and rare GT cars, including three De Tomaso Panteras, Corvettes and Shelbys.
The event is a joint venture between the Victorian Historic Racing Register and Winton Motor Raceway.
The register is Australia’s largest and most influential historic motorsport club and it has announced a three-event championship as part of a scheme to encourage participation in historic racing.
The Festival of Speed will be part of the new historic racing championship supported by Shannons, Penrite and CoolDrive.
The club at present runs the two pre-eminent historic events in Australia — the Return of the Thunder at Sandown and the classic Festival of Motorsport at Phillip Island.
Both events are growing in popularity, with record driver and spectator participation.
They have also been profitable ventures for the register.
The Festival of Speed has seen the management of the Winton Motor Raceway and the register combine in the planning, promotion and running of the event, although it will be run under the auspices of the register. It will also be an Australian Auto-Sport Alliance event.
The president of the register, Ian Tate, said the club was looking at historic racing as a growth area for Australian motorsport and the club had undertaken some research to find out what potential entrants and spectators wanted.
“Last year, as part of a business strategy, we canvassed competitors, car club members and spectators at both Phillip Island and Sandown,” he said.
“The research included demographics, age, family details and specifics such as days attended, reasons for coming, likes, dislikes and event interest.
“A third survey canvassed competitors, racing enthusiasts and car club members on reinventing a historic race meeting at Winton Raceway’s long circuit.”
The club survey response was strong and encouraging, with a definite “yes, we will support such an event and we (would) like it to be part of a three-race championship”.
It will be a full race meeting with added features aimed at increasing both spectator and competitor numbers.
It is also designed to reach a younger and more diverse audience as well as attracting classic car enthusiasts who may not want to race but who would like the opportunity to run timed laps.
For the first time, the popular Regularity events will be backed up by timed sprints with 15 minute runs.
The eligibility for the sprint events will be American and Australian muscle cars, plus Porsches, all built up to 1985.
Drivers will need a basic CAMS or Australian Auto-Sport Alliance licence and must wear a helmet.
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