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Ballarat Begonia Parade 2010
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With 2010 marking the 60th anniversary of the formation of Ballarat Light car club (formally the Light Car Club of Australia, Ballarat branch) to celebrate we attempted to present a car from each decade of the clubs existence at this year’s Begonia parade.
First up was 1933, 3 wheeler Morgan Aero Sports Owned and lovingly restored by Ray Barnes. Ray and the car are still actively competing in historic racing events.
Next up was the first Wheels Australian Car of the Year. Keith McElroy’s 1964 Renault R8 Gordini. With a relatively small 1100 CC engine, but light weight of 700 kg helped this car reach a top speed of around 150 km/h. The Gordini was among the first production vehicles to be fitted with fully independent suspension and all wheel disc brakes.
Following the Gordini the first of two cars in the parade to win at Bathurst was the 1970’s Ford GT Cortina of Jeff Stewart. Although kept close to standard this by no means it is kept under lock and key somewhere gathering dust. For example weekend following the parade he will be competing in an historic rally covering around 700 KM in around 24 hours.
The second club car to win at Bathurst is the 1977 Holden Torana A9X of Steve Grinstead, built with focus on track competition with a fully worked fuel injected 5 litre stroker V8. Steve is a regular at hill climbs, bitumen rallies and track days.
1981 was the year Dave Stewart’s Nissan Bluebird TRX. This car has been built over a period of seven years as a clone of the George Fury Bathurst race car. Dave thinks a lot of this car and his pool room is bursting with trophies won competing with this car. Dave also competes in Hillclimb's and Bitumen rallies with his daughter making up the second half of a fairly competitive team.
Also from the early 1980’s Ian Crooks, Rover SDI made an appearance. This car is used in club and state historic competition. Not a common car in Australia the 3500 SDI was rallied and developed extensively in Europe.
Representing the 90’s was the Russell McKenzie owned 4WD Turbo Charged 1993 Nissan Pulsar GTIR. Designed specifically for World Rally Championship competition this car is now used for Hillclimb's bitumen Rallies autocross events. (Piloted on the day by Ian Brain)
The final car marking the state of the art in dirt rallying is Mark Fawcett with his 2005 Subaru WRX GTI this car is fully spec’d to TR3 Australian Championship rally rules and is as competitive on dirt as you can get. Mark and the car are current Victorian Rally Champions for the 2008/09 season.
