How did you get involved with Sport Sedans???

[2002 turbo]

Ok not wanting to start a crap topic but I am genuinely interested in how members of this forum got involved with the Sport Sedan class. Regardless of whether you actually race, pit crew, take photos, build cars or just follow the class tell us your story of how and why you ended up here!!!!!!

I'll start it off, really my Dad is the reason for me getting involved with the class. He used to race in Austria & Germany
when dinosaurs roamed the earth (ok not that long ago but you get the idea, it was a long time ago!) and when he ended up living in Australia he got into racing again after he built up a car.
As a young kid I used to go along with him to state race meetings at Amaroo and Oran Park and later at Eastern Creek and Wakefield so the early exposure set me on the right path....Lucky for that because can you imagine the grief you'd cop if you were into Formula Vees!!!! Of course the fact the cars were so damn fast and tough helped too, I'll never forget the yellow blur that was Keith Carlings Nissan 300zx at full noise down the straight at Oran Park, pretty amazing stuff!
To this day I have been pit crewing for my Dad and some of the good friends I have made in the category but I am working on one day joining some of you maniacs out there on the grid!!

Anyway what's everyones story?

[Nadz44]

I started watching and enjoying sports sedans years ago when the family used to spend the day at oran park watching the super trucks go round in the early nineties. Back then my fave was Des Wall and the supra and i have grown to see some awesome cars come out and play ......

Nadz44

[Esse,s]

sports sedans started for me when i started breaking the
production touring car rules , "gunna have to lump you in
with the big bangers son !
this was around the same time as the start of CAMS
(Group G Rally cars ) realy just sports sedan rally cars
on gravel at night & very few technical restictions !
aaahh those were the days !
i am a firm advocate of having an open type class
the only thing with less restrictions
is "formula Libre"

[FalconEL]

A good idea for a topic Eric!!!!!

My involvement in Sports Sedans started as an enthusiast back in the late 70's and early 80's back when my father ran in Group C and Group A Touring Cars.

Back then as a 6 -10 year old, I loved standing on the fence at Lakeside watching the Sports Sedans, they used to scare me as a little kid because I thought they were soooooo loud and fast! This was back in the days of open exhausts when the quick, loud cars would shake the Control Tower at Lakeside and Surfers and frighten the crap out of me! I remember there being some monumental shunts too, I'll never forget seeing the pall of smoke under the Bridge at Surfers when Edmondson and Ward came together..... Really scary stuff.

We also had a bit to do with Simon Harrex throughout the early 80's and back then I thought his Commodore was pretty cool, it was well crash tested over the years also......

When Group A racing became ridiculously expensive back in the mid eighties, Dad decided to build a Sports Sedan (which was more cost effective because you could do pretty much everything yourself) and this ended up being Version 1.0 of the current 43 Falcon. (It's now on Version 94.0 :) ) The ability for guys to create a car from a heap of tube and their imaginations is something that makes our category so special. It's a quite uniquely Australian category, not sure where else in the world guys have the opportunity to build such cool creations.....

My own involvement in driving them started in 1996 when I purchased the ex-Seton/Sigley Ford Escort MK1 Rotary after doing three seasons in the Queensland Gemini Series. It was by far the best thing I'd ever done, the things that I was able to get away with in that car at Lakeside were just stupid, plus I got the opportunity to race it at Indy back in 1996/1997 and slide it around and smash it across the kerbs and annoy the bigger cars....very cool :)

I still maintain that not much can beat the sight and sound of a full field of Sports Sedans in full flight, I just love em'! I love driving them, I love working on them...... But one of the best things with being involved in the category, is that I've made some lifelong friends amongst the Sports Sedan fraternity and had the best time.....

[Nadz44]

Geeze CD, you know how to pull the heart strings.... :( :( ;)

[2002 turbo]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Come on all you other lurkers tell your story!!!!!

[bullitt.motorsport]

Grew up with Moffat and the Jane era - brother was lucky enough to get a ride in the can-am COLA MUSTANG - YES ILLEGAL !!!, had a soft spot for the Jane Monaro, was looking to get involved but as a young one could not afford it , went motorbike racing - less expensive , more painfully LOL ...kept a close eye on the goings on in the scene , can remember, seeing a historic race a while ago , Jane Monaro , Ex Richard's Falcon it was just awesome ;) , and created the old spark to which has only recently been resolved - bring on 2011 , looking forward to meeting the drivers families and meeting some new freinds on the way ;) :p