Phil's Holiday Roadtrip

[014 Phil]

Had a great holiday, which I got back from last week.

Started by venturing down to the Phillip Island historic races.
Had an awesome time. LOTS of photos taken. Here's a small sample from Phillip Island historics.

F5000 & a picturesque location makes a great combo.


Plenty of Toranas, racing & on display.




There was something for everyone.................:p




Unfortunately not a good day for everyone.

[014 Phil]

This was one of my favourite road-cars in attendance.....



And for race cars, it's hard to top this Camaro which is the actual car which won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1971 & 72.

[014 Phil]

Last few pictures from the Island.
The local newsagent owns the red one (and gave me the weekend pass )








The guy I stayed with on the weekend built & races this.


And if anyone was wondering why the white car was on of my favourites


the answer is all to do with the engine & where it's located.

[001 Neville]

Ok, so it is mid-engined, but what is it?

It's not even an Opel engine tucked away in there!

Looks like a great event, Phil. Good photo opportunities too. Well done!

[014 Phil]

Ok, so it is mid-engined, but what is it?

It's not even an Opel engine tucked away in there!

Looks like a great event, Phil. Good photo opportunities too. Well done!

This is just the beginning Neville.............

The car is called Giocattolo. There was only 15 built between 1986 & 89. Alfasud Sprint body with a HSV built 5 lt injected V8 (basically a VL Walkinshaw Group A engine, but with a custom manifold).

[014 Phil]

Monday..... I didn't make firm plans for anything between the Phillip Island races & the Grand Prix, but it was suggested I pop in to Shannons office. They are the largest insurer of classic cars in Aust, a sponsor of the Brock Commodore Owners Association, and also the biggest auction house for classic cars.


After that I was heading over to see another guy in the Brock fraternity when I realised I was near the HSV factory. So..........we just had to go THERE, didn't we!!


Inside the foyer area


Then, a personal tour of the factory

They come in as complete roadworthy vehicles, and step one is stripping off bumpers, sills, lights, and any other trim which is to be replaced.

[014 Phil]

Next leg of visit to HSV was to the racing arm, the Holden Racing Team.


They raced at the AGP meeting the following weekend, and so were making final preparations.


This car had copped a big hit at the previous meeting, and final reassembly was under way.


That visit to the race team was a rare privilege.

[014 Phil]

Fairly quiet day on Tuesday.
Went via Holden's head office.


They usually have a good display of their concept cars in the foyer, but unfortunately several were away elsewhere when I was there.
These were the highlights for me.

Commodore Coupe (which became Monaro when it went into production)

The unveiling of this car at the Sydney Motorshow in 1998 caused an absolute sensation. It was kept VERY secret, and even within Holden, only about 20 people knew of it's existence.

Marilyn



The Monaro Convertible was production ready, complete with folding cloth roof. Unfortunately it didn't happen.......

SSX - AWD 5.7 lt hatch. I love it. :)

[014 Phil]

Wednesday, went via an Alfa display. They're celebrating 100 years of Alfa this year.





Then checked out the local area while waiting for access to the AGP later in the day.


Pitlane walk, but unfortunately the teams didn't seem to keen for people to see their car.



There was a display of road & historic race cars



Then I thought I should get some Grand Prix souvenirs to take home.
These looked the perfect thing.


Then I got greedy


And finished up with nothing........

[076 Mitch]

There's some great pics here phil!!
Glad you had a good trip & had a great week too!!

[026 Nik]

Great pics Phil, love the Alfa SZ and the Monaro Concept car. Was that the W427 Coupe parked next to it? Dad had a client who put a deposit down for one, then they didnt happen

[001 Neville]

Then I thought I should get some Grand Prix souvenirs to take home.
These looked the perfect thing.

Hmmm, those look very nice souvenirs. You would have had a problem getting more than the two in the car anyway..... Notice the "Angelina Jolie style" pair of ..... lips on your right?

Then I got greedy


And finished up with nothing........

....remember the saying "two birds in the hand are worth....." or something like that anyway!

Oh, the other pics were great too

[014 Phil]

Then I thought I should get some Grand Prix souvenirs to take home.
These looked the perfect thing.

Hmmm, those look very nice souvenirs. You would have had a problem getting more than the two in the car anyway..... Notice the "Angelina Jolie style" pair of ..... lips on your right?

Then I got greedy


And finished up with nothing........

....remember the saying "two birds in the hand are worth....." or something like that anyway!

Oh, the other pics were great too

Yeah, what was I thinking!! Should have just picked one.......

Here's some more

Thursday was practice day for the support categories, with the execption of F1 which didn't hit the track.
There were some weird cars on display



Some people believe you can never have too much red......




The classic cars were out for some demonstration laps. Only one tried too hard.


Hooray, race cars. Formula Ford is the only open-wheeler category in Australia that can attract decent fields.

[014 Phil]

Friday
2008 McLaren, which they were using for speed comparisons against a V8 Supercar & AMG Merc roadcar.


Walkinshaw enhanced (supercharged) HSV. 6.2 lt producing 480 kw & 803 Nm of torque. (and I LOVE the colour)


Performer 'Pink' is huge in Australia & fronts the V8 Supercar marketing campaign.


The army uses this to help theiir recruitment

(I guess it seems a lot more appealing than getting shot!)





Formula 1 finally hit the track


Main support category (& Australia's premier catergory) - V8 Supercars


My daughter's favourite driver - Greg Murphy


And finally, one of my all-time favourite cars
[/

[014 Phil]

Saturday, F1 practice & qualifying. Exciting day, but didn't manage any good F1 photos. These others will have to suffice.



Formula 5000 stripped bare. It's no wonder the 'Lola limp' was the injury of the era.


The 'XXXX Angels' periodically entertained the crowd (ps. it's Queenslanders who can't spell beer... :eek: )


We were in a different grandstand for each of the four days. Each grandstand can see at least one big screen, so you don't miss anything. There was massive carnage at the start of the GT race.


The V8s were again back on track


Love the flouro white on the Jack Daniel's cars