RaceFuels Winton Festival of Speed hailed a massive success

The RaceFuels Winton Festival of Speed reinforced its status as the largest motorsport festival taking place annually at Winton Motor Raceway, 24 to 26 July. Just under 300 of the most significant classic racing cars in Australia converged on the Nation’s Action Track for three days of non-stop racing action, featuring Group N Historic, Groups A&C Heritage, Tributes and Legends Touring Cars, complimenting a strong entry list from Group S Sports and the debut of the Famous Fitzy Cup. It was a record-breaking weekend for RaceFuels Winton Festival of Speed with a notable uplift in physical attendance numbers across the three days complementing significant broadcast viewership figures compared to previous years. The festival also attracted its highest number of corporate sponsors, with Apex Steel, Wurth Australia, AutoSport, Shannons, Brown Brothers, Ringwood Mazda, Kalus Kenny Intelex, Resene Paint, PremiAir Hire, RBR Hire and Famous Insurance all joining naming-rights partner, RaceFuels in supporting the festival. RaceFuels leveraged their support of the festival to pull the covers off their brand-new permanent fuelling facilities at the southern end of the Winton Lower Paddock, which features 98 RON Octane, E85 and Elf 102 via pump for all track enthusiasts, casual to professional race teams. The CFA Fire Brigade Winton was the nominated charity for the RaceFuels Winton Festival of Speed, with their hardworking volunteers at the gate on Saturday and Sunday receiving donations in their brand-new Tanker. The WFOS promotions committee and VHRR preferenced local retailers and suppliers first and foremost, wherever possible. The festival is a huge injection of resources and cash into the local and surrounding communities, welcoming local food trucks, coffee vans, party hire and mechanical solutions. The festival also saw hot air balloon rides departing the circuit on Friday morning. Three Goldrush Ballooning units were raised in the early hours of Friday on the inside of the Turn 5 sweeper, treating passengers to unrivalled views of the Winton Motor Raceway before the opening day of qualifying and racing action kicked off in earnest. On track, an incredible battle between Brad Tilley and Paul Stubber in the Over 2 Litre Group N Historic Touring Cars kept fans entertained for the entire weekend. Tilley (Mustang) and Stubber (Camaro) traded blows across Friday, Saturday and Sunday races, with the latter eventually gaining the upper hand in the final race in dry conditions. In the Under 2 Litre group, David Noakes proved too powerful in his Ford Escort, fending off the charging Minis of Adam Bressington and Richard Hill. The Famous Fitzy Cup made its long-awaited debut at the festival, where Christian Fitzgerald was awarded the ‘Spirit of Fitzy’ accolade for his efforts in preparing his car, as well as going over and above to perform throughout the five Sprints during the event. Andy Hall and Jamie Lovett were both consistently quick throughout the sprint sessions, making it a unique battle between 996 and 997 Cup Car generations. A special moment was coordinated following Sprint 5 which saw Fitzgerald and Tim Wolfe form a guard of honour lap - featuring the Falken Tyres liveried Porsche 968 Clubsport and 996 Carrera Cup ‘Unicorn’. Barely a dry eye in the house witnessed the slow lap, bringing together two of Peter Fitzgerald’s most iconic cars onto the track once again and remembering, celebrating the achievements of ‘Fitzy.’ Group S Sports Cars were split into two classes, Bomber Squadron for over 2 Litre, and Mosquito Squadron for under. Graham Gulson was quick and consistent all weekend in his 911 Carrera, ahead of fellow Porsche racers Douglas Barbour and Alex Webster in the Bombers. Grant Kelly echoed Gulson’s performance in the Mosquitos, steering his Triumph TR2 to victory. Touring Car Legends featured seven V8 Supercars, six AUSCARS and a sprinkling of Australian production endurance classics. PremiAir Racing’s Peter Xibberas brought along three Supercars, including the 2002 Perkins Engineering VX Commodore wrapped in its iconic Castrol livery. Xibberas also brought his Bob Jane T-Marts VK Commodore, which featured a surprise cameo from Elliot Barbour who stepped behind the wheel of the Commodore in Saturday’s races. David Towe (BMW M3) proved to be the man to beat for most of the weekend, before an epic battle in the final race on Sunday with Chris Stillwell (Sierra) and Adrian Allisey (Commodore) saw the latter come out on top. Jonathan Miles was the man in control in Formula Ford, securing the honours in his Van Diemen RF89 ahead of James Crozier (Reynard 87F) and Andrew McInnes (Van Diemen RF89). Tom Reid meanwhile was awarded the VHRR ‘Driver of the Event’ award for his consistent racing efforts, having only secured his racing license on the Thursday leading up to the Festival. Phil Chester was mighty in his MontiPower MGB GT V8, leading a large field of MGs and Invited British Sports Cars to claim a relatively straight-forward round victory. The field featured 34 cars, including an ex-Colin Chapman Lotus 11 that made its debut in the class. Damien Meyer and Michael Trathen completed the podium places in MGs. BMW E30 Racing is celebrating its 25th year of competition in 2026, and combined with the Porsche 944 Challenge to form the German Classic Cup at the Festival. With grids combined, the 944s took off ahead of the E30s in a staggered start. Ryan Woods proved to be the man in control in his Porsche, leading Jamie Westaway and Cameron Beller in the final race. The final race was marred by an incident at turn 2 involving Peter Grant, Patrick Klein and Chris Lewis-Williams. Contact between Grant and Klein pitched the latter into the fence on driver’s left, while Lewis-Williams appeared to take evasive action putting him into the tyre wall. Meanwhile, Royce Lyne made a cameo appearance having recently raced in Improved Production, leading home Brett Stevens and Sean Bell in the E30 class. It was also just the second time in history that all competitors from the Bell family had entered a competition E30 racing weekend. Graham, Sean, Chris and Jess Bell leveraged the festival to share the track for the first time in over a decade, and marked the latest race outing for Jess following a lengthy re-shell of her Green E30. Richard Renato was the man to beat in the Touring Car Tributes, steering his impressive Volvo 240T to the fastest times outright despite spirited competition. Event sponsor, Andrew Cavalli from AutoSport, brought along an ex-Murray Carter Ford Sierra RS500 and threw the keys to drive it to John Bowe.

RaceFuels Winton Festival of Speed hailed a massive success

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