A Maddington man’s race car came off second best after a crash during the annual Northam Flying 500 Round the Houses car race last weekend.
The event was held on Sunday and 113 vintage and classic cars headed inland to compete in the event.
The races were run to regularity meaning drivers nominate a lap time and try their best to keep as close to their nominated time as they completed laps instead of racing each other on track.
Amongst the competitors was 53-year-old Maddington man Andy Freeman in his 1969 Ford Cortina GT Historic Touring Car.
His ’69 had a 1600cc Ford Kent engine which ran on premium racing fuel and had a closed ratio gearbox for extra acceleration on the race track.
After buying it in “a disgusting green” in 2005, Mr Freeman re-painted the whole exterior in to be the purple-and-yellow number 68 car it competed as on Sunday.
Frustratingly for Mr Freeman his race weekend ended prematurely when he tagged the wall during his first event.
The accident put an end to his day’s running and meant a few hours would be needed in the workshop before his Cortina was fit for action again.
“I cut the corner too tight, basically I snapped an axle,” he said.
“It’s not too bad, a bit of body damage.”
Mr Freeman said he was a mechanically minded man and had plenty of experience working in and on cars.
He had competed in events in Albany, had done hill climbs in Northam and had raced at Wanneroo’s Barbagallo Raceway.
He said getting involved in historic races was not prohibitively expensive and some cars like his Cortina were more affordable than some more rare ones.
“The car’s a big cost,” he said, but they could be picked up for $15,000 to $20,000.
Mr Freeman said he had attended most Northam events since the 1990s and the competition had never stopped being exciting.
“There’s always new faces, new cars,” he said.
For motor racing enthusiasts the Western Australian Historic Touring Car Club will feature at a number of race meets in 2017.
The next event will be at Barbagallo Raceway on April 11 and 12 for the Autumn Classic event.
Rally fans could get up close and personal with WA’s rally drivers at events until November.
The next event will be held on April 21 to 23 at the Make Smoking History Forest Rally in Busselton and Nannup.
