Minda Motorsport

Minda Motorsport (MMS) had a hectic time leading up to the Winton historic festival over the weekend of Aug 13, 14 and 15.  Having freshly completed restorations on the ex Craig Lowndes 88 Reynard of Jeremy Mantello and the RF89 Van Diemen for Geoff Mcinnes, these 2 cars joined 7 others from the MMS team to make the trek to the rural Victorian circuit, for the Winton Historic Festival of Speed.

Qualifying Group Q/R racing

MMS had 2 cars competing in the premiere open wheel class, Geoff Calvert the ex Laffite Ralt RT4 and Andrew Mc Innes in the ex US 88 RT4.  Geoff was the star of the show in Qual, setting a time some 1.5 seconds faster than his peers to claim a fantastic pole.  McInnes was the victim of a misfire and what was later found to be a failing ignition system, and try as he may, could only bank a time to place him 9th.

Race 1 Group Q/R racing

Making the most of his superb number 1 starting position Calvert made the jump at the start and went on to win the race by almost 2 seconds over his nearest rival, McInnes had to retire to due to the reappearing misfire.

Race 2 Group Q/R racing

With rain starting to fall as the cars left the pre grid, with all cars fitted with slick tyres, this event was always going to be interesting! Calvert again made a great start and led the grid away, but a mistake by the Winton local meant a spin and a subsequent beaching on the kerb, and a DNF was the result. Fellow MMS driver McInnes with misfire fixed stormed from the rear of grid to finish an excellent 2nd in the competitive class.

Race 3 Group R racing.

With the rain coming down over the 3.1 km circuit, both Mc Innes and Calvert were the pace setters.  Calvert raced from rear of grid to finish an impressive 4th, while McInnes shot away to the lead from the start, only to have a spin on lap 2, dropping back to 5th, again showed real skill to bring the Black Ralt home in a fine 2nd place, coming up short of catching the eventual winner Simon Gardiner.

Formula Ford FC Qualifying

MMS had the responsibility for the preparation of some 5 cars in this class; this meant it was always going to be an exciting weekend for the team.  Andrew Reid was the pace setter, putting his MMS prepared RF89 Van Diemen on pole position in his comeback race meeting.  Next placed was MMS stalwart Adam Beryman, not having been in the car for some 12 months Berryman placed his RF 86 Van Diemen fine 4th on the grid,.  Mantello was next, still finding his way in his beautiful yellow Reynard on the 6th row of the grid.
Geoff McInnes was the next MMS driver doing a solid job in 13th and 14th was Splitrock MD Michael Valmorbita in his second ever FF drive and his first in 3 years.

Race 1 FF FC

Race 1 was a great race, with Reid taking his first race win of the weekend from a fast moving Berryman in 2nd, Mantello still feeling his way in the new car finished a good 9th with Mc Innes and Valmorbida coming home 11th and 12th.

Race 2 FF FC

Starting from 2nd on the grid Berryman got a great start and took the early lead over Reid; this battle lasted for a short while until Reid made his move and got by the blue 86.  Mantello drove an impressive race to further his climb up the order; McInnes coming to come to grips with his new toy had some battles as did Valmorbida. The order - Reid 1st, Berryman 2nd, Mantello 6th, McInnes 10th and Valmorbida 12th.

Race 3 FF FC

Race 3 was another cracker of a race, on the damp track Reid again showed his class with a flag to flag victory.  A long and some times over enthusiastic battle between red wine drinking buddies Berryman and Mantello raged and with the Reynard of Mantello coming out on top, to score a emphatic 3rd on debut and Berryman 4th.  While this was going on Valmorbida drove a fine race to come home 6th, and Mc Innes rounded out a steady weekend in 10th.

Andrew Reid was awarded driver of the meeting by the event organisers – CONGRULATIONS!

Formula Ford  Fa-Fb Qualifing

Having prepared 3 cars for the pre 83 ff races MMS was running its pretty yellow T642 Lola for Phil Chester, and was doing a hand over of its 2 other Lola’s.  Pole went to James Crozier driving the MMS restored RP 21 Royale, Chester in his first drive in the Lola did a solid job to qualify 7th,Bill Norman driving his MMS built and prepared T640 Lola was 9th, while the MMS built and prepared T644 Lola of Colin Sullivan was 16th.

Race 1 FF Fa-Fb

Chester had a great run and finished a credible 4th, surprise of the race was Norman who raced well to fill out the last step on the podium in 3rd, and Sullivan also had a steady run to bring his nice blue Lola home in 14th.

Race 2 FF Fa-Fb

Norman was again the star, driving the black Lola home a sensational 2nd.  Chester had a small drama and pitted, rejoined and drove him back into 11th; Sullivan had an enjoyable race to come home in 14th.


Race 3 FF Fa-Fb

Race 3 was a wet event and Norman shined in his “Lola debut” to win his first race. Chester drove a strong race from 11th a fine 6th place, Sullivan also did a good job and finished 8th, to finish off his first event in his new car.

MMS would like to thank all the people who made this event a success, the sleepless nights, extreme pressure to get all cars prepared.  MMS would also like to congratulate all its drivers on their fine results and look forward to the next event at Sandown on November 5 - 7.