One of Australia’s premier historic motorsport festivals, the Historic Leyburn Sprints, is back with a packed program for its 29th instalment.
When you think of the Australian Grand Prix, Queensland’s Darling Downs is unlikely to be the first place that springs to mind. But in 1949 the small country town of Leyburn was the site of the first AGP, which was held on an ex-wartime aerodrome nearby the township.
It was a landmark moment in the history of Australian motorsport, one that will again be celebrated this year with the 29th Historic Leyburn Sprints, on the weekend of August 23-24.
A crowd of up to 18,000 visitors is expected to descend on the historic township, located in the Southern Downs region of Queensland, approximately 200km southwest of Brisbane.
That’s a fair boost on Leyburn’s usual population of around 350 residents, but the township is well prepared for the weekend influx which will include an estimated 5000 campers and 250 competing cars.
Locals will be looking to go one better on last year’s event, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Leyburn Australian Grand Prix, attracted record attendance and entries and was awarded Queensland Motorsport Event of the Year.
Warming up to chase a milestone 10th outright victory at the award-winning grand prix heritage festival will be Dean Amos, the most successful competitor in the event’s 28-year history.
Dean, a two-time Australian Hillclimb Champion, has been unbeaten in every start on Leyburn’s 1.0 km closed-street course since first entering the Sprints in 2014 (there was no Sprints event in 2020 because of Covid-19, while in 2021 Amos was marooned by floods around his Lismore home).
Driving his British-built Gould GR55B V8, Dean will have to survive the Sprint’s newly introduced Top 10 Shootout format, which will give perennial rivals Warwick Hutchinson and Brett Bull an extra shot at victory, with Bull bringing a brand-new car built for the open-wheel Formula Libre class.
After the scheduled seven timed runs for the 250-car field, the Sprints will wrap up with an eighth run for the 10 fastest drivers, giving them a do-or-die chance in favourable cooler track conditions to seize the coveted Col Furness Memorial Trophy for fastest time.
Organising committee President Tricia Chant said she was excited to see how some of the country’s fastest sprint-course drivers responded to the new format.
“I won’t rule out some of the quick tin-top guys from getting on to the podium, such as the New South Wales driver Adam Kaplan and his Giocattolo Group B coupe. Adam’s a highly experienced driver in single-seaters, touring cars, rally cars and targa competitions and his little coupe is a rocket,” she said.
While Amos, Hutchinson and Bull finished first, second and third last year, Hutchinson believes several factors including cooler day’s-end conditions and a weekend’s worth of rubber on the track could blow the contest wide open this year.
“Dean’s car is a naturally-aspirated V8, Brett runs a motorcycle engine and my car has a turbocharged rotary. And they have different weights – I expect Brett’s will be less than 400kg – so on the day we’ll all be able to use different competitive strengths depending on the conditions,” he said.
“They’re all fantastically quick, too. Dean’s car should hit 200km/h in just a few hundred metres between corners, so they’ll be great for the spectators to watch.”
A packed off-track program includes a spectacular Motorsport Alley car display, Vintage Van Village, Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine, fun run, charity auction and hot-lap and helicopter rides.
Three original cars from the 1949 grand prix will be on show, while famous former champions Dick Johnson, Warwick Brown, Kevin Bartlett, Bruce Allison and Charlie O’Brien will be on hand to meet fans.
Top 10 things to see and so at the Historic Leyburn Sprints
- See 250 fabulous racing, sports and touring cars from 10 decades of motoring race against the clock on the closed street circuit.
- Watch Sunday thrilling Top 10 Shootout for outright fastest lap.
- Visit Motorsport Alley and its spectacular collection of competition cars, including a vintage Cooper Climax raced by World Champion Sir Jack Brabham, and the Brabham BT11A that Kevin Bartlett drove to the historic first 100mph lap of Mount Panorama.
- Checkout Vintage Van Village’s colourful display of the best vintage caravans and tow-vehicles.
- Ogle the coolest cars from the Darling Downs region and beyond in Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine.
- Eye off the 1949 Australian Grand Prix trophy, back in Leyburn for the first time in more than 20 years.
- Say ‘G’day’ to Australian racing legends Dick Johnson, Warwick Brown, Kevin Bartlett, Charlie O’Brien and Bruce Allison who will be signing autographs.
- Bid on an array of items aimed at the motorsport enthusiast in Saturday night’s Charity Auction at the historic Royal Hotel.
- Buy $5 raffle tickets to win a hot lap ride on Saturday and Sunday.
- Visit the Australian Grand Prix memorial, where 30,000 spectators on 18 September 1949 saw John Crouch and his Delahaye race to an historic victory.
