Porsche joins the Geelong Revival for the first time this year as the motoring festival celebrates more than 50 years of racing on the waterfront.
Porsches from 1959 to today’s 718 Boxster will roll into Geelong direct from the company’s Melbourne dealership – one of the oldest outside Germany.
Visitors can also tear up the racetrack in a Porsche 911 – sort of – through the company’s virtual reality set up.
For nearly 50 years since 1956 the Geelong Sprints brought a magnificent collection of classic sports vehicles to the waterfront.
The quarter mile sprints attracted many of the world’s best drivers including Sir Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Dick Johnson, Jim Richards and Alan Jones.
Towards the late ’90s and early 2000s, the event was one of the largest of its type in Australia until it fell dormant in 2003.
Racing driver Nick Heath and other locals revived the event as the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival in 2012, after meeting with the former organisers.
“I had no option but to do it myself,” he told the Indy last week.
He and his team of organisors had been busy putting months of work into the event, he said.
“If I had known then (how much work it is) I probably wouldn’t have done it, so it’s lucky I didn’t.”
About 400 cars and motorcycles will sprint down Ritchie Boulevard at full throttle over the weekend in the quarter mile National Classic Sprint.
The festival’s high performance vehicles will take on the 400-metre cause on Saturday, while on Sunday the classic and vintage cars hit the track.
Back by popular demand, Geelong’s Eastern Park will transform into a challenging course for more than 100 classic cars for round one of the 2018 Victorian Hillclimb Championships.
Competitors will race against the clock in Revival Hillclimb, which consists of six turns and 19 metres of elevation over 900 metres.
The Geelong Revival Motoring Festival had united the automotive community, bringing together the best classic, modern, European and domestic vehicles in one event, organisers said.
Judges will scrutinise more than 600 vehicles on their condition and quality of their exterior, interior, engine bay and boot in the festival’s showcase.
For those less interested in the smell of burning rubber, the festival includes live music, vintage fashions and caravans, and a plethora of food.
The Geelong Revival Motoring Festival runs from 24 to 26 November. Limited sprints, hillclimb and motorshow tickets are still available.
For more information visit www.geelongrevival.com.au
