Leitch Motorsport / Southland Times Classic Speedfest Plus The Tribute To George Begg

Hugely successful! That is the overwhelming opinion of almost everyone associated with the Leitch Motorsport / Southland Times Classic SpeedFest plus the Tribute To George Begg held in Southland this weekend.

George Begg built eighteen racing cars in Southland that went on to tackle the best marques in the world and regularly beat them.

The Tribute To George Begg featured activities at Drummond and Invercargill on Friday before more events were incorporated into the SpeedFest. The major highlight at the SpeedFest was the display of Begg cars, sixteen of the eighteen Begg’s being present. Eleven of those participated in a parade at lunchtime on both days of the event with drivers such as Jim Murdoch and David Oxton being reunited with their cars of old. These included Begg 018, now owned by Noel Atley, and FM5, in Southland courtesy of the Southward Museum Trust. George Begg himself was present, visiting the province from Australia with wife Freda. Begg and his grandson led the parade of Begg’s atop a Chev convertible.

There were several Begg’s on track racing as well during the weekend and fittingly they had their share of success. Ian Bisman of Kaiapoi won four of the five races in the Clive Wilson Computers Sports / Racing Car Class in his while the Chairman of the Tribute Committee, Noel Atley, won a race in the Begg 018 in one of Sunday’s Allied Materials Racing Car races after working on an engine until late on Saturday night.

Meanwhile in other racing action Invercargill driver Brendan Mason dominated the Southland Times Classic Saloons & GT Group A races in his 1970 Chev Camaro. Mason won all five races for the class dropping the lap record to 1 minute 02.50 on Saturday before trimming it to 1 minute 02.12 on Sunday

Another Invercargill driver Glen Brazier made his first appearance at Teretonga in his Chev Corvette on Saturday and quickly set a new lap record, breaking the old mark that had stood for almost 5 years. The record was 58.46 seconds but Brazier sliced it to 56.83 seconds. Brazier dominated the Noel McIntyre Drainage Clubmans Group A races while Darcy Hewitt of Invercargill (Nissan Primera) and Jamie Hodgins of Dunedin in a Toyota Starlet shared the Group B races.

David Brown of Timaru won four of the five Southland Times Classic Saloons Group B races in his Datsun Cherry 100A, Don Bradley of Auckland winning the other in his Alfa Romeo GTV.

Allan Dippie of Dunedin won the first three Turntru Machining Sports/Racing Car Group A races in his MGB V8 before Dennis Chapman of Christchurch in his Ferrari Dino 206 and Russell Cunningham of Invercargill in a Datsun 240Z won the last two between them.

Munro Tall of Queenstown won three of the Allied Materials Classic Racing Car events in his Reynard with Geoff Harriman of Auckland in his Ralt and Atley taking the others. In one incident in this class an oil spill caught out experienced competitors Peter Grant, Keith Cowan and Snow Chisholm resulting in all leaving the track. Bisman and Chris Chiles of Great Britain in a Lotus Elan shared the Clive Wilson Computers Sports / Racing Car races.

In the Lone Star Cafe & Bar Club Saloon Class races Brazier won the 2501cc and over race, Dave McLean of Balfour the 1601 - 2500cc class, Jeremy Dawson, the 1301- 1600cc section and Alan Crawford the 0 -1300cc class. The finale races for each class were won by Brazier, Mason, Rob Boult of Queenstown in his Furi MK6 and Dean Gullery of Christchurch in a Royale.

The Leitch Motorsport / Southland Times Classic Speedfest was a huge success with large grids of cars plus huge numbers of spectators. With the added attraction of the Tribute To George Begg it was a fitting beginning to a year that celebrates Teretonga Park’s 50th birthday. In another milestone a presentation was made to the seven drivers who have competed at every SpeedFest since it’s inception.

The Begg tribute activities had begun in Drummond on Friday, the small Central Southland town where the eighteen Begg’s were built. A mayoral welcome and a speech by former Begg driver Jim Murdoch were followed by a drive - by of many of the Begg’s plus a McLaren M23 Formula 1 car. Memorial Avenue in Drummond was lined by locals and visitors alike as the cars that were built just a short distance away were paraded.

Later that night at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill a tribute dinner was held with almost 400 people in attendance. Begg enthralled the crowd with stories of his favourite motor racing moments as he was interviewed by motor racing historian Michael Clark. He said he was “humbled” by the response to the tribute. When quizzed as how to how he managed to build world class racing cars in rural Southland he replied, “you get out of bed, decide what you want to do and you go and do it! “

The tribute events were organised by a small committee headed by Noel Atley. The committee consisted of Stuart Lush, Lindsay O’Donnell and Grant Clearwater while Atley’s wife, Hilary became very involved in the project. Atley said last night the tribute had been “just unreal” and paid tribute to Donald McDonald and Clark who conducted the MC duties at Friday night’s dinner. Clark also wrote the book produced for the occasion “George Begg - The Man and his Cars”, a book that Begg spent many hours autographing at the weekend.

Atley also praised the local contribution of Clive Campbell and Joelle Osborn plus Keith Douglas.

The next meeting of Teretonga Park’s 50th Anniversary year will be the Mike Pero Motorsport Series over the weekend of 10/11 March. The event will feature the New Zealand Grand Prix for Toyota Racing Series cars plus the penultimate round of the Parker ENZED NZV8s Championship.