Results – Leyburn Sprints 15th & 16th August 2015

Leyburn Sprints 15^th & 16^th August 2015 – Results.

The 20th annual Leyburn Sprints, had a field of 240 drivers, a diverse line-up of classic, historic and performance cars ranging in vintage from 1935 to 2014. More than 140 cars also entered the Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine, this year also had the Retro Caravan Show Off this drew, big interest from spectators.

New South Wales driver Dean Amos broke the track record Amos, put his 1997 Gould-Judd V8 open-wheeler around the houses in 42.954 seconds eclipsing Warwick Hutchinson in his Rotary Powered open-wheeler, they both dueled throughout the weekend but Hutchinson ended up 2^nd outright. The highlight of the weekend was north Queensland drive Michael Von-Rapard in his Dallara F392 coming in at 3^rd outright blitzing Dean Tighe in his V8 Dallara.

Dean Amos Gould GR37 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

A huge crowd – estimated on Saturday alone to be twice the size of the entire 2014 event – drove to the little Darling Downs township to see more than 220 historic, classic and performance cars contest the time trials, 140 cars in a Shannons Shine n’ Shine, 25 vintage caravans, nine legends of motorsport honoured at a sold-out dinner and appearances by three famous racing cars of yesteryear, Sir Jack Brabham’s 1987 BT23C-1 Formula 2, the Mildren-Waggott ‘Yellow Submarine’ and 1965 Bathurst winner Bo Seton’s Ford Capri.

“The weather was perfect and the crowd was enormous. I think they were drawn by our 20th anniversary, the entry list and the chance to meet our Legends John French, Bob Holden, Bruce Allison, Bo Seton, Jim Bertram, David Harding, Brian Michelmore, Paul Stokell and John English.

“With more than 1800 runs across the weekend, the fans certainly got their money’s worth. It was certainly one of our most memorable Sprints.” The weekend marked 20 years since the local community got together to host a commemoration for the 1949 Australian Grand Prix, which was run on a nearby ex-wartime airfield. A little-known Jack Brabham won the Queensland Road Racing Championship there in 1953 and the 20th Historic Sprints were dedicated to the memory and heritage of the three-time World Champion, who died last year.

Proceeds from the Historic Sprints weekend are used to benefit local community groups and projects.

There were 6 rotary powered cars in 3 different Classes running at this year’s event, this was the most rotary’s entered since we started this blog over 6 years ago.

Running in Historic Touring Cars – Group Nc (Log Book) Class

Matthew Clift (R100), Stephen Gander (RX2) and Bob Heagerty (RX2)

Matthew Clift in his Mazda R100 did very well over the weekend, Matthew’s best time was on his last run on Sunday with a time of 53.85 sec. he did well to finish 1^st in this Class and 43^rd outright.

Matthew Clift R100 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

Stephen Gander in his Mazda RX2 also went well over the weekend, Stephen’s best time was also on his last run on Sunday with a time of 54.29 sec, he finish 2^nd in this Class and 49^th outright.

Stephen Gander RX2 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

Bob Heagerty also in another Mazda RX2 did well over the weekend, Bob’s best time was also on his 2^nd last run on Sunday with a time of 55.91 sec, he finish 4^th in this Class and 76^th outright.

Bob Heagerty RX2 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

 Running in Touring Cars (Pre – 1980) – 2001cc to 3000cc Class

Garry Irons (RX4)

Garry in his Mazda RX4 went well over the weekend, this rotor sounded fantastic, Gary’s best time was also on his 2^nd last run on Sunday with a time of 60.00 sec, he finish 2^nd in this Class and 149^th outright.

Gary Irons RX4 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

Running in Racing Cars – Formula Libre (Log Book) Class

Darren Duffield (RPV01-B) and Warwick Hutchinson (RPV02)

 Darren Duffield back in his Rotary open wheeler (RPV01-B) it was good to see this car back running again. Darren had issues starting the car on the Saturday morning with the very cold weather (-3 C) but like all good rotary’s his car started and ran well over the 6 runs available. Darren’s best time was on his 2^nd last run on Sunday Run 5 with a time of 47.56 sec, he finish 6^th in this Class and 7^th outright.

Darren Duffield RPV01 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

Warwick Hutchinson in his Rotary open wheeler (RPV02) also had issues starting his car with the very cold mornings, Warwick’s fastest time was on the 5^th run with a time of 43.73 sec. he finished 2^nd in this Class and 2^nd outright.

Warwick Hutchinson RPV02 – Photo by Trapnell Creations

Top 10 Outright Results for the weekend –

Fastest times outright:

1^st DeanAmos (Gould GR37 Judd) 42.954 sec. (New Track Record)

2^nd Warwick Hutchinson (RPV02) 43.732

3^rd Michael Van Rappard (Dallara F392) 45.687

4^th Dean Tighe (Dallara D395) 45.735

5^th Peter Corbett (Radical SR3) 46.654

6^th Paul Stokell (Radical SR3) 46.780

7^th Darren Duffield (RPV01-B) 47.561

8^th Neal Lewis (DBF-1) 47.711

9^th Mark Trees (Nissan NSR) 47.864

10^th Ray Vandersee (Skelta G ForceS/C) 48.246

Once again the organizers of this event should be congratulated as the weekend was a great success and we are looking forward to running in the next year’s event.

The Photos for this entry were taken & supplied by Peter Trapnell and his team form Trapnell Creations, thanks Peter as always fantastic Photos.

To see more photos from Trapnell Creations CLICK HERE to visit their website.

The next hillclimb event that the rotary Hillclimb racing car will be running is the Mt Cootha Classic on Saturday the 5^th Sept 2015 at Mt Cootha overlooking the Brisbane City.

For more info on the Mt Cootha Classic you can visit their website.

“CLICK HERE” to visit the Mt Cootha Classic – web site.