The 2010 Phillip Island Classic

*March 12th 13th & 14th 2010

*Provisional only at 21/06/09

All the following relates to the 2009 Event

Phillip Island Classic Entry List Click here

Phillip Island Classic Event Schedule Click here

Admission Prices:

Friday 13th March $20.00

Saturday 14th March $20.00 Gates Open 7.00am

Sunday 15th March $30.00 Gates Open 7.00am

Two day pass $40.00

Three day pass $50.00

Children under 16 Free

Programme $5.00

Full Catering

Challenging conditions for Phillip Island Classic

Victoria’s wettest weekend of the year broke a five-year drought of perfect weather for this year’s Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motor Sport over the March 14-15 weekend, which was again supported by Shannons, the VACC and Cool-Drive.

However the gale force winds, flash flooding and frequent torrential downpours didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the 564 entrants, nor the healthy crowd that still turned up.

So wild was the weather that Saturday’s race programme was suspended for more than two hours due to track flooding and the events for the faster racing and sports cars were limited when racing resumed in the afternoon. Then, to add injury to insult, some of the marquees blew down overnight, causing damage to a number of display and race cars. More............

Big names on the grid at Phillip Island

Brock, Skaife. Richards, Seton, Grice, Jane, Goss, Bartlett, Percy, Janson.
Many of the biggest names in Australian Touring Car racing will be on the grid at the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport on March 13-15 for the main races for touring cars from the 1970s and ‘80s. More....

Historic racing enthusiasts support Bushfire Appeal

Competitors and enthusiasts attending the 2009 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport from March 13-15 will support the Victorian Bushfire Appeal through a range of on and off-track activities. More...

Formula Ford greats race at Phillip Island

Formula Ford champions past and present will race at the 2009 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport from March 13-15 to mark the 40th anniversary of the star-making category in Australia.

Headlining the 50-car grid capacity field is 2007 Australian champion and 2008 British series runner-up, 21 year-old Victorian Tim Blanchard, who will take over the Penrite Oil Van Diemen RF82 usually raced by Samantha Dymond.

However one of his greatest rivals will be a driver whose career peaked well before he was born – 1977 Australian Formula Ford and 1981 Australian Formula 2 Champion, John Smith more....

Huge entry for Phillip Island Classic M'Sport Festival

A huge entry of more than 560 vehicles has been received for the 2009 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport from March 13-15, equalling the record attendance of the past two years and cementing the meeting’s place as the major event of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.

Capacity grids in many categories, 18 overseas drivers from six nations and the attendance of iconic figures in Australian motorsport have been confirming following the official close of entries on February 13.

Highlights include an entry of 43 Minis for a special Regularity event marking the 50th anniversary of the ubiquitous ‘brick’, with drivers including, Bob Holden who won the 1966 Gallagher 500 at Bathurst with Rauno Aaltonen in a Mini Cooper S.

A record field of 57 Formula Fords, including four drivers from the UK and four from New Zealand, is chasing 50 grid places to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the category in Australia. More...

Healeys pit stop at Phillip Island on way to Bonneville  

After a gap of 55 years, big Healeys are set to return to the salt flats of Bonneville in 2009 – via the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport supported by Shannons and the VACC from March 13-15.

In 1953 the Austin-Healey 100 was new to the motoring world and especially the burgeoning US market. What better way to gain publicity for the car than to set speed records, and what better place than the famed salts flats at Bonneville in Utah?

In that year, the Donald Healey Motor Company built a special version of the Austin-Healey 100 sports car with the aim of setting both high speed and endurance records. This Endurance car, looking similar to a standard Austin-Healey 100, was driven by Donald Healey himself, George Eyston, Carroll Shelby, Mort Goodall and Roy Jackson Moore. More....

Bumper Phillip Island Entry defies gloom

Another huge turnout is guaranteed for this year’s Phillip Island Classic Motorsport Festival from March 13-15, with more than 400 entries received by the Victorian Historic Racing Register a month before the February 13 closing date.

Event Director Ian Tate said the entry was on track to equal that of the past two years, when around 500 sports, racing and touring cars took part in what has become the largest historic race meeting in the Southern Hemisphere. More...

More meeting details can be found by visiting www.vhrr.com  For media enquiries and publication quality images:  Michael Browning /0418 324 328

Glenn Seton is Phillip Island Classic Patron

Two-times Australian Touring Car Champion and perennial Bathurst ‘bridesmaid’ Glenn Seton, will be the Patron of the 2009 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport from March 13-15, which is being supported by Shannons and the VACC.

Seton, who remains one of only five drivers alongside the late Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, John Bowe and Mark Skaife to have competed in over 200 touring car rounds, will race a BMW M3 in the headline combined Group C & Group A races at the meeting.

More........

Celebrate with Elfin

The 50th anniversary celebrations of Australia’s Elfin cars is currently in full swing, with a major display and on-track tribute planned at the Phillip Island Classic race meeting from March 13-15, 2009.

Up to 50 of the unique and charismatic race and road going models originally created by the late Garrie Cooper in his minimalistic workshop in suburban Adelaide will be at the meeting. Meanwhile some of the household racing names who achieved success in his cars will be seen at the wheel of a range of open wheeler and sports car Elfins. More.....

Racing greats at Phillip Island for Formula Ford 40th

Racing greats from Formula One, V8 Supercars and the Carrera Cup will be at the 2009 Phillip Island Classic Historic race meeting from March 13-15 to open the 40th anniversary celebrations of Formula Ford racing in Australia.

Formula Ford began in the UK in 1967, with the first championship in 1968 won by Australia’s Tim Schenken.

The first Australian Formula Ford race was held at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway in 1969 and was won by Richard Knight in an Elfin 600, a precursor to his victory the following year in the inaugural Australian Formula Ford series.

Since then, eight World Formula One champions have risen through Formula Ford, including Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen, while Mark Webber is also a Formula Ford graduate.

In Australia, the V8 Supercar series is rich with Formula Ford champions, including Larry Perkins (1971 champion), Tomas Mezera (1985), Mark Larkham (1989), Russell Ingall (1990), Craig Lowndes (1993), Steven Richards (1994), Jason Bright (1995), David Besnard (1996), Garth Tander (1997), Greg Ritter (1999), Will Davison (2001) and Jamie Whincup (2002). And 2007 Australian Carrera Cup Champion David Reynolds took the Formula Ford title in 2004.

Formula Ford stars from these and other series are being invited to the Phillip Island meeting, where a parade, a mass autograph signing session and an historic group photograph will be amongst the category’s celebrations.

As well as local Formula Ford cars, containers of vehicles are also expected from the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
However Formula Fords won’t be the only cars in the spotlight at the March 13-15 meeting.

The 50th anniversary of the Mini and the Elfin car and the 100th anniversary of Morgan are also being celebrated at the 2009 Phillip Island Classic, which again has major sponsorship from Shannons and the VACC, with major displays of each marque featured of the meeting.
The meeting also celebrates the 20th anniversary of racing at the circuit conducted by the Victorian Historic Racing Register, under whose guidance the Phillip Island Classic has grown to become the largest historic race meeting of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, with more than 500 touring, sports and racing cars spanning seven decades taking part in 2009.

More details can be found by visiting www.vhrr.com For media enquiries and publication quality images: Michael Browning /0418 324 328
 

The Porsche Collection 2007 more

Click here for the latest photos from last year's event (2007), and here for more photos

The Phillip Island Circuit
The Phillip Island circuit is situated in a spectacular coastal location approximately 130km south of Melbourne city.  The drive, once you get on to the South Eastern freeway, takes approximately 1 hour 45 minutes.  The Phillip Island circuit contains an excellent mixture of fast and tight sections over undulating countryside.  Large sections of the track can be viewed from virtually all spectator areas.  Click here to go to the Phillip Island Circuit website.

Information for Visitors to Melbourne
If you will be visiting Melbourne for the Phillip Island International Challenge, link to Visitors to Melbourne page for useful information and links about the City of Melbourne and it's surroundings.