The Phillip Island
Classic
March 7th 8th & 9th 2008
Huge
Phillip Island Classic meeting guaranteed!
  
World’s most
powerful sports car’
for Shannons
Phillip Island Classic more...
Admission Prices:
Friday 7th
March $10.00
Saturday 8th March $20.00
Gates Open 7.00am
Sunday 9th
March $30.00
Gates Open 7.00am
Weekend pass $40.00
Children under 16 Free
Programme $5.00
Full Catering
Huge
Phillip Island Classic meeting guaranteed!
The 2008 Shannons
Phillip Islands Classic from March 7-9 is already guaranteed to be the
largest historic motor race meeting ever staged in the Southern
Hemisphere and in terms of entries, one of the world’s biggest.
An entry capped at 550
cars spanning eight decades of racing to the early 1990's, more than 50
vehicles coming from overseas and a stunning list of cars and famous
racing personalities, have already stamped that imprimatur on the event.
There is already a
waiting list of over 30 for both the Group S sports car and Under 3000cc
Touring Car categories.
This year’s meeting
theme ‘Australian Legends’ has brought in a flood of entries and
interest.
Australian makes
participating in the 33-event, three day programme that commences on
Friday March 7 include Ascort, Buchanan, Buckle, Elfin, Matich, Maybach
and Nota, while many other rare Australian specials from Lightburn Zetas
to Goggomobil Darts are planning to make a pilgrimage to Phillip Island.
Bill Buckle, the
creator of the Dart and the lesser-known Zephyr-powered Buckle 2.5
Coupe, has been invited to be a special guest of the meeting to
celebrate the Dart’s 50th anniversary.
Other famous Australian
motoring and motorsport personalities expected at Phillip Island include
the Victorian Historic Racing Association’s Patron, Sir Jack Brabham,
2008 Phillip Island Classic Patron and recently-retired V8 Supercar ace
John Bowe and motor racing legends including Frank Matich, Norm Beechey,
Bob Jane, Kevin Bartlett and Alan Hamilton.
John Bowe will be
re-acquainted with the Elfin in which he won the Tasmanian Formula Ford
title in 1972, he will race the Brabham BT14 Formula 2 car previously
owned and campaigned by Bib Stillwell and John Harvey, while there are
high hopes of Bowe also getting behind the wheel of an historic touring
car for several races.
Seven-time Bathurst
winner and twice Australian Touring Car Champion Jim Richards will also
demonstrate his newly acquired Ford Mustang historic touring car at the
meeting.
The overseas entries –
around 50 per cent more than the record 2006 Phillip Island Classic crop
– include 19 Formula 5000 and 10 Formula Junior racing cars from New
Zealand and some 15 cars from the UK, including another six Formula
Juniors and the sister car of the 1931 Australian Grand Prix-winning Bugatti T39.
From the Porsche Museum
in Stuttgart comes the famous 1100HP Porsche 917/30 sports car raced by
the late Mark Donohue in the 1973 Can-Am series, while also from Germany
there is a race-prepared Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing to be driven by
1983 Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan.
Other notable cars
heading for Phillip Island include a glorious 1932 Alfa Romeo P3 in the
hands of regular Phillip Island visitor Peter Giddings – fresh from a
total restoration in New Zealand – along with a rare Cologne Capri
touring car, a T100 Lola Formula 2 and two Chevron B16 GT cars.
Under the expanded 2008
Shannons Phillip Island Classic format, practice and qualifying for all
categories will be held on Friday March 7, with a total of 33 races for
all categories in the Saturday and Sunday.
A racing highlight of
the Sunday programme will again be the VACC Challenge in which a
combined grid of 32 Formula 5000 and former 1970s and 1980s Formula One
cars will take part in a 12 lap feature race. Another 12-lap race will
also be staged for the ‘big-banger’ sports car the same day.
More details can be
found by visiting
www.vhrr.com or
www.shannons.com.au
Media enquiries and
publication quality images:
Michael Browning
(03) 9879 9111/0418 324 328
The Porsche Collection 2007
more
Click here for
the latest photos from last year's event (2007), and
here for
more photos
The
Phillip Island Circuit
The Phillip Island circuit is situated in a spectacular
coastal location approximately 130km south of Melbourne city. The drive, once you get on to the South
Eastern freeway, takes approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. The
Phillip Island circuit contains an excellent mixture of fast and tight sections over
undulating countryside. Large sections of the track can be viewed
from virtually all spectator areas. Click
here to go to the Phillip Island Circuit website.
Information
for Visitors to Melbourne
If you will be visiting Melbourne for the Phillip Island
International Challenge, link to Visitors to Melbourne page for useful information
and links about the City of Melbourne and it's surroundings.
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