Although Group Nd competitors have previously gathered and competed together, during May 2025 the Historic Racing Car Club of Queensland ('HRCC') opened their Autumn Classic Speedfest to include Group Nd cars. The Autumn Classic Speedfest was held from the 9th to the 11th of May at Morgan Park Raceway and this was a 'first' for Group Nd competitors at an all historic event.
Another 'first' for the 'Group Nd almanac' is that on the Saturday morning Group Nd was called over the public address system to the dummy grid - we breathed in the moment, as never before at any other track in Australia had this been done! As another first for Group Nd, HRCC were incredibly supportive and provided us with trophies.
Prior to the event we had received around 12 registrations of interest and when entries were finally sorted we had six Group Nd cars entered plus three additional cars that were welcomed onto our grid but were not cars that would be eligible for Group Nd. So the cars entered for the first of four super sprints we had the following:
- Nissan R30 skyline (New Group ND spec car)
- Triumph Dolomite Sprint (existing Group ND spec car)
- Alpa Romeo (existing Group ND spec car)
- VC Commodore 308 (what we believe is an ex Commodore cup car, which is basically on spec for Group Nd)
- VB Commodore 308
- Ford XB Falcon GT
The point score was taken over the first three super sprints and John Gilbert in his VC Commodore came home first with 68points while Dave Richardson in the Alfa brought home second on 59points. Joshua Schauer came incredibly close to the silverware with 54points, which was only 4points behind Gary Hunt in the Triumph.
With the final Group Nd super sprint being the very last event on the schedule and also being outside the point score the competitors decided to make it fun outing on the track. All competitors took turns in leading the peloton and messers Richardson and Hunt did a 1-2 finish a-la Moffat and Bond style across the finish line.
The camaraderie amongst the competitors was certainly a highlight of the weekend. This along with great competitive fun, good track time and amazing support of the HRCC certainly made the weekend of 'firsts' incredibly enjoyable. We are looking forward to July when HRCC will be running their Queensland Classic at QR!
