31-car field for Historic Formula Ford at Winton Festival of Speed
\This weekend 31 pre-1990 Formula Fords will hit the track at Winton Motor Raceway for the annual Winton Festival of Speed promoted by the VHRR. This weekend the category's historic division will warmly welcome some new local and international drivers. New Zealander Wayne Colville will be crossing the Tasman, steering a newly acquired Van Diemen RF88. Colville is planning on doing more racing in Australia and has recently purchased the RF88 from former FF competitor Andrew Robson. Richard Tarling is the second overseas addition to the Formula Ford field. The British driver will bring plenty of Formula Ford experience to Winton for his debut race Down Under. Tarling will be joining the Ecurie Australie team, aboard Chris Davison's Quest FF86. The Quest returns to Winton where it was driven in 2017 with Indycar and F1 designer Malcolm Oastler. This car is a one-of-a-kind and Tarling will definitely be one to watch across the weekend. Another driver to keep an eye on this weekend is young Simon Fallon. Fallon won the 2018 Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia, after starting his career in the Victorian Formula Ford Series in 2016. Fallon will be joining fellow family members John and Harri Blanchard, aboard John's freshly restored Van Diemen RF86. Blanchard acquired the car from the Clem Smith car collection after Clem's passing in February 2017. This highly valuable RF86 was then restored by John Dean and brought back to life to race again in the Historic Formula Ford field. The Blanchard family won't be the only family team racing this weekend, with Paul and Will Faulkner and Graeme and Craig Degotardi continuing the family tradition of father and son racing together. Claire Greig will be the sole female entry, fighting hard against the boys as always. Racing is a family hobby for the Greig family, with Claire usually accompanied on track by husband Johnny, who will be instead taking on the crew chief role this weekend. Claire follows in her grandmother's footsteps with her race endeavours, Diana Davison Gaze being one of the first female racing drivers in Australian Motorsport history. Sean Whelan will be back at Winton once again to try and clinch the Cooldrive Cup for the third year running. This trophy is a awarded to the overall winner for the weekend, considering points in the individual classes. Whelan, who will be steering his Reynard FF84, dominated the FB class in both 2017 and 2018 and will try and do the same this year to take the Cooldrive Cup home with him again. The Historic Formula Ford field will be competing on the long-track layout, with qualifying and race one scheduled for Saturday and race two and the Cooldrive 15-lapper feature race on Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the category in Australia. Classic Formula Ford is a division of the Formula Ford Association Inc. with the aim to liaise with promoters and competitors in Historic Formula Ford. For any further information regarding Classic Formula Ford, please contact our category administrator on 0422 840 300 or our Classic Formula Ford Representative on 0431 177 082. If you would like to get involved in Classic Formula Ford, we invite you to join the Formula Ford Association Inc. and contact our CFF representative to express your interest in helping the group. Classic Formula Ford is proudly supportedby: Formula Ford Association Inc., Cooldrive Auto Parts, Brandstormers, Speedsure, Borland Racing Developments, Larner Engines, Varley Red Top Racing Batteries, Stuckey Tyre Service, Aviation Component Services and VHRR.
Weekend schedule Friday, 2nd August Practice day organised by Winton Motor Raceway Saturday, 3rd August Qualifying - 10.15am Race 1 - 12.50pm Sunday, 4th August Race 2 - 9.20am Race 3 - 1.50pm
Entry list FA Class (pre-1978) #11 Grahame Burton - Hawke DL11 #35 Warwick Foletta - Van Diemen RF75 #46 Phil Oakes - Elfin 600 #57 Cole Spender - Spender Lynx #73 Greig Degotardi - Bowin P6F #76 Nick Mansell - Van Diemen RF76 #94 Paul Faulkner - Crossle 32F #117 Craig Degotardi - Elfin 600 #342 Kevin Kosa - Lola 342 #416 Andrew Barron - Van Diemen RF73 FB Class (1978-1983) #12 Ian Edgar - Lola T642A #20 Glen Woodforde - Reynard FF83 #23 Claire Greig - Reynard FF84 #30 Andrew Lamrock - Reynard FF83 #32 Sean Whelan - Reynard FF84 FC Class (1984-1989) #1 Bo Jensen - Van Diemen RF89 #2 Wayne Colville - Van Diemen RF88 #3 Richard Davison - Van Diemen RF89 #4 Andrew McInnes - Van Diemen RF89 #21 John Blanchard - Van Diemen RF88 #27 Simon Fallon - Van Diemen RF86 #36 Richard Tarling - Quest FF86 #40 Nick Bennett - Van Diemen RF88 #41 Neil Richardson - Van Diemen RF89 #42 Harrison Blanchard - Van Diemen RF88 #49 Eric Bellamy - Wren 003 #51 Jonathan Miles - Van Diemen RF89 #72 Anthony Mann - Van Diemen RF86 #88 Andrew Nethercote - Reynard FF87 #95 Will Faulkner - Van Diemen RF86 #99 Nigel Hook - Ray FF85
