They came, they saw, they conquered

They came from far and wide. Firstly in small numbers but, ultimately, as the weather smiled on the occasion, they came in droves.

Ballarat’s second Festival of Motoring triumphed despite the hovering threat of windy and wet conditions prevalent in this region at this time of year. On the first weekend of September, the clouds miraculously dispersed, the mercury notched up a degree or two and hovered there long enough to lure visitors who might otherwise have stayed away.

Conducted last year as a 50th anniversary celebrating Ballarat’s early and relatively unknown history as a motor racing venue, the 2011 Festival of Motoring was judged an unequivocal success and embraced by the local tourist authority as an ongoing event.

The idea for the festival came in 2010 when long-time motoring enthusiasts and event organisers John Emery and Gary Grant put a proposal to the City of Ballarat to recognise the area’s early motorsport history with a week-long event centred on the Ballarat Aerodrome.

Justification was certainly there. In the immediate post WWII period up until 1961 the airfield had played an important role in the history of Australian motor sport. It is, in fact, recognised as the venue for the re-start of motor racing after World War II, and is Australia’s only airfield-based motor racing circuit to have staged an international event.

The first race at the aerodrome was held in 1947, followed by sporadic meetings through to the last race in 1961 when it hosted an international Formula Libre race contested by big-name drivers including Dan Gurney and Graham Hill.

The 2011 celebrations were so successful (the festival attracted about 5,000 people) that a second event was a virtual fait accompli. Not surprisingly, this year it was even more successful, with a bigger crowd and a longer list of participants.

The organisers are now working on a five-year plan that will see the festival maturing and growing, while maintaining a grass-roots philosophy drawing in the spectators to a greater extent than a more competitively-focussed event.

This year’s formula essentially followed that of 2011 -- an eight-day activity including a cruise from the picturesque town of Buninyong to kick off the event, an historic vehicle motor show at Ballarat’s Mining Exchange, a show ‘n shine on the Saturday and a frenetic Fathers Day Sunday at the aerodrome, where cars representing various eras of motor sport competed in 400 metre sprints and timed performances over a three-kilometre section covering much of the old race circuit.

The organisers cajoled and wheedled to attract an incredible lineup of participants, including a first-time coming together of two of our most famous F1 cars: Jack Brabham’s 1966 World Championship winning Repco Brabham BT19 and the FW07B Williams that Alan Jones raced to a World Championship victory in 1980.

The owner of the Alan Jones Williams had no fear putting the car on the track during the Sunday activities, while the Repco Brabham, which has been on static display for about five years, was a little short of being operational -- although its caretaker, former Repco chief engineer Nigel Tait, says only “a little bit of work” is needed to get it running.

The participants in the motor show, at the Saturday show ‘n shine and on the Sunday race day covered just about everything imaginable, from American Offenhauser-engined sprint cars to a beautiful 1950 Allard J2 racecar, to the rusty chassis of an early 1900s dirt-track racer and even a current McLaren MP4-12C supercar.

In between were a glamorous 1930s Bentley -- driven from Melbourne to Ballarat by its owner for the fun of the drive as much as anything else -- a low-rider 1950s Chevrolet, a Holden 48-215 that competed in the 1953 Monte Carlo rally, a Ford GT40 replica, a 1958 Lancia Aurelia B20, a Renault Alpine A110, a 1938 BMW 328, a Bugatti 35C, a 1963 Elfin Mallala sports car and the MG K3 raced by the legendary Prince Bira of Siam in the 1930s. And that’s only a small selection.

Many of these cars participated in both the 400-metre sprints and track work on the Sunday. For the large crowd milling around the Ballarat airstrip, the sounds were as much a part of the experience as the visual feast provided.

Foremost among the crowd pleasers was the Alan Jones Williams catapulting off the start line in a shattering blast that cut through the chill wind of the nevertheless dry and sunny morning.

Just as aurally overwhelming was the 1973 March F5000 open wheeler that won the sprint competition ahead of a 1990 Caterham Supersport 7 -- although the 1939 Ford special that came in third with a best time of 12.74 seconds saw the dropping of many a jaw as it outpaced the likes of a big-block Chev Corvette, a 5.0-litre MGB GT V8 and a Porsche 904 replica.

And speaking of decibels, a 1969 HT Holden Monaro not only challenged the eardrums with its high-pitched scream as it shot down the airstrip, but also produced some of the fastest part-circuit times of the day.

The early cars that lined up mightily impressed onlookers, both for their magical sounds (the distinctive beat of the flathead American V8s in particular) and for the bravery of their owners willing to risk damage as they manipulated the crash gearboxes and carefully watched the rpms on oversize, white-faced tachometers.

At the end of the festival, the organisers awarded perpetual trophies to the participants scoring the highest figures based on their level of participation. Trophy winners were judged on distance travelled to the event, the number of show ‘n shine vehicles entered and the results, the number of vehicles displayed at the show, multiple vehicle placings in the 400-metre sprint and multiple vehicle placings on the racetrack.

The inaugural winner of the Ballarat Festival of Motoring Perpetual Trophy was Graeme Smith (1950 Allard J2 and 1973 March F5000) while the runner-up was Don Hume (1958 Lancia Aurelia B20 and Porsche 904 replica).

Go to: www.ballaratfestivalofmotoring.com.au for a full set of this year’s event and class winner details.

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