Phillip Island Classic heats up

More than 540 entries have been accepted for the 27th annual Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport to be held over March 11-13.

Organised by the Victorian Historic Racing Register, the 2016 edition sees a record 58 races slated for the weekend, across a record 12 historic categories, with oversubscriptions to Touring Car, Production Sports Car and Historic Formula Ford grids.

Feature events include a 10-lap Historic Touring Car race on the Saturday with, another 10-lapper reserved for the ‘big banger’ sports cars and open-wheelers on Sunday, a category that includes up to 30 Formula 5000s.

Event patron Jim Richards will be on-hand competing in Group C and A Historic Touring car events aboard an ex-JPS Group C-spec BMW 635CSi; one of nine ex-JPS BMWs expected to compete over the weekend as part of the Munich company’s centenary celebrations.

Richards will also display his personal Group A E30-series M3; the very car which he used in the early rounds of the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship that he would go on to win.

The Bowden family will also have a special BMW in action with Chris Bowden competing in their newly-acquired 1979 BMW M1 Procar.

Designed to compete in a one-make championship in 1979, the M1 Procar series were popular enough to be included as a support category for several Formula 1 events and pitted legendary drivers from several disciplines, including F1 stars such as Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda, who won the 1979 Procar title.

With incredible aero and around 360kW on tap from its 3.5-litre straight-six, expect the Bowden M1 Procar to star in the Group Q and R field.

As ever, F1 machines will feature prominently, with representatives from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s — highlighted by an ex-Alan Jones Williams-Cosworth FW06; the car he first piloted with the famous English team before he went on to win the World Championship in 1980 aboard the FW07.

An ex-Graham Hill BRM P261-5 will join Repco-Brabham, March and Lola Formula 1 entries.

To facilitate the record race entries the VHRR has decided to remove the traditional circuit parade and demonstration elements of the Phillip Island Classic.

However, there will still be plenty of off-circuit attractions to entice, including a display of more than 30 road-going BMWs put on by the BMW Club of Victoria.