Organisers of The Bend Classic have chosen the Australian Auto Sport Alliance (AASA) to sanction the second edition of the event, which will take place on 5-6 September at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.
Entries for the 2020 Bend Classic opened last week and the event will be open to a variety of historic cars and categories including Group J (Vintage), Group K (Post-Vintage), Group L and M (Sports and Racing), Group N (Historic Touring Cars), Group Q and R (1970-87 open-wheelers), Group S (Production Sports Cars), Formula Ford, Formula Vee and Sports Sedans.
The real head-turners are likely to be the historic Formula 1 cars, which also participated in last year’s Classic.
While The Bend Classic will again utilise a sprint format, this time only one track configuration will be used – the 3.41km West Circuit. Competitors will also benefit from significantly reduced entry fees.
The Bend Motorsport Park Event Operations Manager Charise Bristow said working with the AASA has been a simple process.
“The AASA team have been very easy to work with, and they’ve been supportive in accommodating all our requests,” Bristow said.
“With the change to AASA sanctioning for this year’s event, we’ve been able to simplify the regulations for competitors; it will be straightforward for a wide range of historic competitors to participate.”
Along with the Formula 1 cars, Bristow said some high-profile drivers have also expressed interest in competing.
“We’ve had drivers like John Bowe indicating they would like to participate; hopefully by the time our event rolls around, COVID-19 restrictions will have eased slightly and we can have drivers like John travelling from interstate.”
Bristow and the team at The Bend are aiming for the Classic to become part of Australia’s rich historic racing culture.
“Australia is blessed with a large and passionate historic motorsport community, and there are popular events in each state that are attended by the same competitors year after year,” she said.
“We’re positioning The Bend Classic as complementary to those events and we would love it to become one of the ‘must-do’ historic race meetings on the calendar.”
AASA Business Development Manager Stephen Whyte said AASA’s involvement in The Bend Classic presents dual opportunities.
“Firstly, it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to be able to work with a world-class facility like The Bend Motorsport Park in facilitating a race meeting,” Mr Whyte said.
“We’re already involved with their drive day programs and some of their other activities, but this is a chance to collaborate with them on a larger event.
“Secondly, it also gives us another valuable connection to the historic motorsport community, which we see as an important customer base for the AASA.”
