According to Clerk of Course Holloway, more than 430 competitors took part in this year's Phillip Island Classic, with full fields in virtually all categories. As with previous Classics, the weekend ran like clockwork with cars gridding up as those from each previous race were leaving the track.

With never more than a couple of minutes between races, except where cars had to be retrieved from around the track, spectators were kept enthralled at all times. The huge crowd is testament to the event, which has set the standard for historic racing in Australia over recent years.

This is also evident from the competitors who flock to the event each year, including the likes this year of Win Percy, Colin Bond, Bob Holden, John Harvey and overseas regular Peter Giddings, as well as the hundreds of drivers from all over Australia. Sir Jack Brabham gave his 1966 World Championship BT19 a run again this year, leading the parade of special vehicles at the lunchtime break.

Word is spreading in foreign lands about the quality of this weekend and this year saw Louis Sellyei Jnr bring his D Type Jag out from the US, which looked a treat with Nigel Webb's D Type driven by Win Percy. Dean Butler was out again from the UK with the magnificent Maserati 8CTF and the unique Miller 4WD, while Paul Busby, Peter Wunsch and Kaid Marouf were others counted among the international visitors. e Of a purely Australian flavour, the Group C Improved Production sedans had a reasonable showing, with 16 cars. Although a smaller grid than many of the other categories, there is no doubting the popularity of these cars with the public and talking to many of the drivers showed a lot of enthusiasm for a growing field.

In the under 3 lt class, Bob Holden had his Escort, which he recently brought out of retirement exactly as it finished its last race about 20 years ago. However, he handed the driving duties over to Justin Matthews, while slotting into the driving seat of another of his old Escorts, now owned by Frank Binding, who in turn was driving his Army Reserve XD Falcon. They're a close clot in Group C. However, at the pointy end of the field a battle raged between Paul Stubber in his ex-John Harvey A9X Torana and Lloyd Bax in the Everlast XC Falcon. At the end of the weekend, Stubber had two wins and a second, while Bax reversed the trend with two seconds and a win

In order to make way for Group C the axe finally fell on the MG class, which was never really an historic class anyway. However, there were plenty of MGs playing in the Group S Sports Cars and the regularities, so the category was barely missed. Not surprisingly, the Group N field again had to be split into under and over 3 lt classes to fit them all in, giving plenty of exciting racing in both groups. In the under 3 lt class, Bill Cutler had a good weekend in his BMW 2002, taking a win and two seconds, with the other wins shared between Jim Runciman's Cooper S and Steve Land's Ford Capri.

The big car class saw the usual battle royale between John Mann's Mustang (two wins), Doug Westwood's XY Falcon (two seconds) and Drew Marget's Mustang (a win and a third). Group S P, Q & R were fairly dominated by the Ralt RT4s, with Richard Carter taking two wins. All categories were hotly contested under mostly clear skies, although the rain on Sunday morning did make for some interesting moments.

For sheer racing enjoyment, the Phillip Island Classic is worth taking in, particularly as it is just one week ahead of the Grand Prix in Melbourne. If you're not from the area, it is seriously worth making a holiday of it and setting your calendar aside for the best two weeks of motor sport in Australia.

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