Super Sprint spectacular at Winton
Image: MSCA
The weekend of August 16 and 17 at Winton Motor Raceway was all about racing against the clock, with hundreds of competitors taking to the ‘Nation’s Action Track’ to in Super Sprint events.
Saturday the 16th saw 96 drivers compete in the Marque Sports Car Association (MSCA) run All British Day. The field consisted of Lotus’, Triumphs, Jaguars and several cars made outside of the UK.
Like all Super Sprints it is all about setting the best lap time much like in a qualifying session. Drivers share the track with other cars, but they are all competing against the clock. Each driver gets four sessions to set the best time possible.
At the end of the day, it was two regular Victorian Super TT runners that topped the timesheets.
Joshua Robins in his Lotus Elise set a 1m 32.943s, 1.4s faster than fellow Elise driver David Buntin. Jeffry Beable driver a Nissan GTR R34 pipped Alexander Barnett to third.
On Sunday August 17, Winton played host to Round 5 of the MSCA Super Sprint Championship and Round 3 of the Victorian Super Sprint Championship.
The paddock was packed, full to the brim with Super Sprint cars, it was certainly a sight to behold.
The variety of the machines had to be seen to be believed, from old British classics to nimble Japanese machines, some German sedans and some good old Aussie muscle cars.
There were many classes depending on engine size, how modern the vehicle is and tyre specification, there was even a regularity class.
The most common class was modern 2L to 3.5L, this went the way of Richard Renato in his Mazda MX5 SE. He set a time of 1m 33.009s over 2.5s clear of anyone else in the class.
Paul Lummis ended up second, 2.72s behind in his Audi RS3, it was another Audi driver, Paul Fixter in his Audi TT that rounded out the podium.
Another popular category was Modern up to two-litres, a class dominated by light-weight rear-wheel-wheel drive cars.
George Whenn beat fellow Lotus Elise driver Mark Ferrari by a smidge over 1s, with Linton Coombs rounding out the top three in his Honda S2000.
Overall, the fastest time set on the day was by Mark Bone a 1m 30.719s time. Bone was competed in the Clubman class in his PRB S2, he beat his opposition by 4.38s.
Whenn was second fastest overall, 0.6s back but notably the only other driver throughout the day to lap the 3km circuit in under 92s.
Sprints are an exciting and yet affordable way to get into motor racing, Round 3 of the Winton Super Sprint season takes place in less than a fortnight, on September 6.
You can enter a racing car or even your road car, the entry fee is $190 per driver/vehicle (18+) for 14–17-year-olds it costs just $90. All entry fees include a garage or carport.
You can enter using the link here.