Muscle car mania in Melbourne

V8 supercar driver John Bowe celebrated his birthday with a drive of the ex Ian "Pete" Geoghegan "Super" Falcon GTHO, other cars to lap the circuit included Allan Moffat's GTHO Series Production car, Kevin Bartlett's Channel Nine Chevrolet Camaro, Colin Bond's Moffat Ford Dealer Team XC Falcon, and of course circuit owner Bob Jane's 7-litre Camaro.

Bob Jane's old sparring partner of the 1960's "Stormin" Norman Beechey was on hand to sign autographs and swap stories with old fans, officials and fellow drivers.

A small field of "Muscle Cars" staged four entertaining races with Paul Sabine in a Chevrolet Corvette taking the honours ahead of former Channel Nine State Political Correspondent Colin Fulton in a DeTomaso Pantera.

Brute force came out on top at Mount Panorama last weekend as the Dodge Viper of Tasmanian driver Greg Crick led home the Lamborghini Diablo GTR of Peter Hackett to win Round Two of the Australian GT Championship.

The race was a part of the first WPS Bathurst International Motor Festival.

After taking three points for his pole position Crick won the weekend's first race from the Porsche GT3s of David Reynolds and Bryce Washington. Reynolds led for 11 laps of the 12 lap race but Crick had little trouble using the grunt of the 8.0-litre V10 to pass the Porsche driver on the final lap after a Safety car restart. David Wall was fourth in another Porsche ahead of Hackett and D'Arcy Russell in another Viper.

Race Two saw Hackett come from behind to beat Crick in a great race that kept the crowd entertained throughout its entire 12 laps. Crick jumped away to an early lead before Reynolds passed the Viper to grab the lead on lap two.

Hackett passed Crick two laps later and harassed the young Porsche driver throughout before finally taking the lead on lap nine. Crick muscled his way through into second place, two laps later but just couldn't find a way through leaving Hackett to take the win with Crick second and Reynolds.

Crick now leads the series on 171 points from Bryce Washington (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) 137 and Theo Koundouris (Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) 112.

Stars of the past as well as several current V8 Supercar drivers took part in a number of special events at Mount Panorama as part of the Festival. Paul Morris, Jason Bargwanna, Neil Crompton and Kevin Bartlett were just some of the names who took to the track in a variety of cars over the weekend.

David "Skippy" Parsons teamed with young Melbourne driver Marcus Zukanovic to win a V8 Utes legends race that also included Andrew Miedecke, Bob Holden and Wayne Rogerson.

Morris won the his first ever Aussie Racecar start but it was Crompton who came out on top after the weekend finishing a fine fourth behind series regulars Nick Simmons, James Ward and Paul Kemal.

A planned series of laps by Max Wilson in the Team Australia Champ Car failed to eventuate when the car's engine failed to arrive in time from the USA.

Organisers said they were happy with the running of the first event claiming a three-day crowd of over 21,000... A figure heavily disputed by some attendees.

Muscle Car Nationals images courtesy of Torque Photos