All roads lead to Leyburn

FROM the vibrant and racy tax evaders of Monte Carlo to the Formula One politics of Spa, you can get the flavour of this big wide world of serious petrol heads with the international passport to motoring pleasure, the Leyburn Sprints.

Forget Le Mans, Monza, Pebble Beach and Goodwood, the Leyburn Sprints is to glam motorsport what Paris Fashion Week is to frocks.. Of course the usual rumours abound. Brad and Angelina have booked the penthouse at Shane Webcke's Royal Hotel for the 28th. George Clooney will be staying at Malcolm and Jenny Rauchle's 1868 Brick Villa Heritage Rural Resort while Bernie Ecclestone is in the deluxe suite at the Leyburn Motel.

No wonder. Around-the-houses racing is about as exciting as it gets. On the Monaco Circuit, which runs along the rich streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine, they do a poor imitation of the Australian version. What's worse, in the 92-year history of the Monaco race the Europeans have allowed only two Australians, Jack Brabham and Mark Webber, to win.

Although the Leyburn Sprints, Australia's premier motor racing event, is in Queensland, round-the-houses racing is really a West Australian invention.

The creme de la creme of WA round-the-houses events is the Albany Classic in June. Historians write that the date of the first race - March 8, 1936 - was "the third most exciting day in Albany's history". The first was of course the arrival of Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet with 12 steam-fired battleships and 14,000 sailors. When he decided to be the first president to ride in a car, Teddy chose a Columbia Electric Victoria in 1908. The second most exciting event was the departure of the first convoy with 30,000 Australian and New Zealand troops to Egypt in 1914.

The winner of the first Albany race was Narrogin boy Peter Connor. Pete's dad, Stan, started the Great Southern Flour Mill in North Fremantle where Alan Bond is said to have painted a Dingo Flour sign. He didn't, but the sign is still there.

Pete Connor married Perth socialite Dorothy McCarthy, who constantly reminded Pete that she sacrificed a Hollywood career to stay in WA with him. He made it up to her by inventing the first speargun and glass-bottomed boat.

Look, while Leyburn may not have Monte Carlo's Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer-inspired Marlborough Fine Art Gallery, it does have the opening of Liberal-National MP Lawrence Springborg's art project and the Jim Beam Racing merchandise truck.

But to brighten things up this year three young drivers, James Moffat, Alex Davison and Steven Johnson, will challenge Dick Johnson in a V8 supercar race around Leyburn's 1.1km course.

Naturally, to make it difficult for the younger drivers they will be driving V8 Fords that are at least 40 years old. They are a 1934 Indy-style single-seat racer with a flathead V8, a 1971 Ford Escort Mark 1 and a 1971 Ford Falcon XY GT-HO with a ground-shaking NASCAR race engine. As race director Dennis Brown says, Dick is the only one to have raced a GT-HO in its heyday and has regularly driven at Leyburn, so don't expect the young guns to beat him.

Brad and Angelina have asked me for suggestions for fine dining during the sprints. Regular readers know there is only one answer: the Royal Hotel, where cognoscenti go straight to the Webcke rump ($28).

Here's the link: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Katiedot wrote:Oh my gosh, he's not going to be there! The writer is making a joke about all the celebrity rumours.