Replica Tourers set for huge grid
Image: John Morris
Queensland based category, Replica Tourers, will make its interstate debut with a huge field of over 30 cars at Sydney Motorsport Park in less than two weeks.
As Replica Tourers has the last couple of years, the category will again join the Australian Auto-Sport Alliance sanctioned Hi-Tec Oils Super Series in selected rounds.
Replica Tourers Category Manager and CEO Brian Smallwood can’t believe the popularity that the interstate round has garnered and is keen to see the series battle it out in Sydney.
“For us as Queenslander’s, a round in Sydney takes five days out of someone's working life to be there,” he said. “But we've already got 31 entries, and we may actually hit 34 entries!
“This has really surprised me, I’m so pleased with the support it has gotten from our drivers.”
He continued, explaining how excited the competitors are to travel to a different track
“It’s incredible, it’s just gone crazy, everyone has been saying I want to run at that round, I want to run in Sydney, and it's just shows that people are really keen on trying something new,” Smallwood said.
Smallwood credits the Super Series in making this a successful new venture for Replica Tourers, as well as strengthening the category.
“The Hi-Tec Super Series has made a really big difference to us, it's been very positive,” he stated.
“Being with the Super Series has really lifted our profile, it's made a massive difference to the local racing community.
“Because of that, in three years we’ve gone from 20 members to 89, and averaging 35 cars at a round. In fact, we had 42 cars at a round last year.”
Replica Tourers is a category open to a wide variety of vehicles, the simple rule is the model of car you race must have competed in Touring Car competition somewhere in the world, at some point in time.
“We have everything from Nissan Bluebirds to Mazda RX7s, VK Commodores to Geminis, the full range of cars,” he said.
“We're a capacity-based competition, so we have a 2L class, 3.5L, 5.0L, 6.2L and open, this allows people to race against cars with a similar horsepower.
“Cars must have been once road registered, so we don't want any purpose-built supercars.
“It means we get great grids, because people know that they're going to jump in a 2L car and they're not going to be racing a 7L car and coming 18th, they might be 18th overall, but second in their class.
“It is a positive thing, when you have five classes, 15 people are actually getting a trophy and it's a reward for the effort they're putting into something like racing, which they enjoy.”
The Replica Tourers will race at Sydney Motorsport Park as part of Sydney Sundown from May 30-31.
The Sydney Sundown will be shown on SBS Viceland, Fox Sports and Kayo from on Friday and Saturday, as well as on the Official Super Series YouTube channel.
Tickets to the event can be bought here.
Follow the Super Series on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram for event updates.