Geelong Revival :: The Speed Trials Are Back

It has been almost a decade since the last Geelong speed trials, the Geelong revival is the reinvention of this great event. It has returned in bigger and better fashion. With a motor show, sprint and gala dinner, held over two days along the beautiful Geelong waterfront.

Since 1956 this event has captivated young and old. It has seen its fair share VIP racing identity’s, Sir Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Bob Jane, Glen Seaton, Mika Hakkinen, to name a few.

Upon arriving i was greeted by a large group of mini car shows scared all along the shore line, up until the start line of the sprint track.

Some fantastic cars were on display, this has to be one of the cleanest fiats of the show, love the classy lines of this car.

I found this very yellow lotus 7 enjoying the sun.

Many more classic cars had grouped to form there own little show cases, this MG had prime position and lots people stopped to admire its unbelievable condition.

The fiat 500 never looked so good, these wheels set it off and make it look like a real life toy car. But this little toy car is the real deal, its the Abarth version.

In the pits the first thing to catch my eye, was these classic touring cars, in the eighties, these two dominated the scene and the mountain.

Some people needed a little helping hand to get there cars started, lucky many had a large pit crew to help out.

Im not completely sure what a PJC-2 2008 is but apparently this is it! a custom built car, mainly used for track events and club racing.

The classic mini, getting a quick fix before getting back on the track.

Slammed type 3, not your normal track car, but it was great to see a car with such character out there mixing it with the big boys.

There were plenty or replica and real cobras on show, with so many cobras together it was hard to see any difference.

These controls may look boat like, but back in the day this is what the dash of most cars would have been like.

What is a classic car event with out an e-type Jag? They always look so good and to date i have never seen dirty one.

A MG montlhery midget, it is not only a show car but also it has seen some serious time on the track.

With so many chances to mark his territory, this little dog had unfinished business and did not want to leave.

That classic shape! and those bold lines! you know it could only be 328GTS Ferrari

With more curves than a woman, this ultra rare classic car drew a lot of attention.

So many cool old school wood grain interiors around i felt the need to go black and white.

Soaking it all in, were these two blokes enjoying there morning coffee and the many cars on show.

You may recognize this car from regular rob roy hilclimbs, the Lancia Lambda Special is one large monster of a car.

This was one of the most unique cars on display in comparison to everything else

A true old school touring car, from the days when touring cars had some variety and were good to watch un like today’s v8 controlled layout. Thankfully the introduction of Nissan and Mercedes might make things a little more interesting.

This is one of only a handful of hot rods in attendance, most of these were scattered around the shoreline mixed in with many other classic cars.

Graham Alexander’s Evo was equal fastest on Saturday along with John Major in his R32 GTR, recording a time of 11.8 seconds over the quarter mile run.

A Custom built Diasio D962, i have never seen one of these before and it is almost like a small lemans style car, the best bit is its powered by a twin rotor.

Not to forget the bikes at the event, this is one of the more extreme side-car style bikes with no much to hold on to.

What i love about this event is the variety of cars, it is absolutely huge with over 200 cars across two days of racing.

Once a race class have raced on the track they are made to return on the same road, from here you can see the slight bend and incline they have to negotiate on there way to the finish.

The RED BUS racing team put on a great display, all of their cars were looking fantastic and many people stopped to have a closer look at the many fine cars they bought to Geelong.

Dont let the Showroom condition fool you!, this was one of the fastest cars to race on the saturday and the only other Nissan that came close to its time was the GTR VSpec 2 N1 2001 driven by Serge Alexander.

At the end of the straight you are forced to turn hard left and this makes for some interesting late braking.

Pit lane was almost as long as the whole track, with so many people walking around the pits it took a fair amount of time for all the cars to get on the track for their sprint.

Of the mazda’s entered into the sprint, this was my favorite, the paint job and the overall condition of this car was impeccable.

Here is another view of the cars returning to the pits, the Fiat X1/9, yet another favorite of mine because of its unique look and sleek lines.

Considering it has been at least a decade between the last Geelong sprint, this event has come together with military precision. With a massive crowd in attendance, it would have to be one of Geelongs biggest events of the year. We cannot wait until next years event if this is just a taste of things to come.
Thanks for looking,
Grant