The 2026 edition of the Winton Festival of Speed was a highly anticipated event for those who drive AUSCARs and Sportsman.
SCA AUSCAR President Troy Perichon worked hard to get a field of eight AUSCAR or Sportsman drivers and their vehicles to participate at the event, Troy himself was there to drive the #6 Ford Falcon.
Technically it was nine, the #24 Holden Commodore that was driven that weekend by Rodney Templeton was a Future Tourer that used to be a Bruce Williams owned AUSCAR and it was even once driven by Kevin Schwantz on the Thunderdome.
Jamey Hollier who usually drives the #71 Ford Falcon put Alex Hollier in the car for the weekend to give Alex the all-important gaining of experience that a young driver needs.
Colin Matton was back in action; his #2 Commodore was quickly given a 1 to make the car #12 for the weekend.
Eddie Woods made his long-awaited return to track action in his #55 Holden Commodore.
It was our first good look at Duncan Brown driving the #02 XF Ford Falcon, he got some good practice in with Troy Perichon at Calder Park Raceway and was ready to go.
Lukas Gates was back on the track, one benefit of being at Winton was good track time for Round 3 of the Australian Stock Car Championship at the same track on August 29 and 30.
Brad Hall brought along the #09 Ford XF Falcon that was Andrew Gillespie’s ride in the late 1990s.
Brad Lighton brought the #26 Holden Commodore along, the car got plenty of attention earlier in the week when Jason Wyllie and fans of his saw the car on Facebook.
The AUSCARs and Sportsman’s were in the ‘Apex Steel Touring Car Legends’ field, first practice was held on Friday morning with Brad Lighton second fastest, Lukas Gates in sixth, Eddie Woods in eighth, Alex Hollier in ninth, Brad Hall was in eleventh, Colin Matton in twelfth, Troy Perichon in sixteenth and Duncan Brown in seventeenth.
Brendan O’Connor who has raced in both Invited and OzTruck categories was there too in his Ford Falcon.
Unlike a Stock Cars Australia round, the cars participated in sprints instead of races, each sprint had a time limit and drivers logged laps, the finishing order was determined by their best lap time.
Sprint 1 was held on Friday afternoon was won overall by Brendan O’Connor with a time of 1:37.2622, Eddie Woods was fifth, Lukas Gates was seventh, Brad Lighton was eighth, twelfth was Alex Hollier, thirteenth was Troy Perichon, fourteenth was Brad Hall and fifteenth was Colin Matton.
Sprint 3 saw Brad Lighton the best performing AUSCAR or Sportsman with a seventh best time of 1:41.6561, with Eddie Woods next up in twelfth, Colin Matton in thirteenth, Troy Perichon in fifteenth, Duncan Brown in eighteenth and Brad Hall rounded out the field in nineteenth.
The field got plenty of time on screen and over 1,000 people were watching at any one time, most of them likely had never heard of SCA AUSCAR.
That concluded the action for Saturday, two days down, one to go.
Sunday brought foggy conditions to Winton, but the field did not have to worry about that as it went away by the time the field got to partake in its fourth and final sprint for the three days.
Before they went out on the track, Brad Hall was interviewed by Callum Branagan while the cars were sitting on pit lane waiting for the track to be cleared.
Brad Lighton was the best of the runners with a time of 1:40.4217, a time that was good enough for fourth overall, Colin Matton was next up in eighth position, Brad Hall was ninth and Duncan Brown twelfth.
There was a fifth sprint for the event and Brendan O’Connor participated in that one in his Ford Falcon as well as Rodney Templeton in the ex-AUSCAR #24 Holden Commodore.
Comments
We asked many of the drivers for their thoughts
‘We had a record field of 8 cars attend, with lots of airtime, interviews and mentions across the weekend. Footage is still up on YouTube via blend line TV. Everyone interested in getting a car to the event next year has a year to get it ready and be involved. Would be great to see some NASCAR/Trucks also on the grid‘ – Brad Hall
‘It was genuinely one of the most fun things I’ve done on a racetrack, first time on track at Winton, first time in that car at that pace. Had heaps to learn but couldn’t have asked for a better weekend overall.
Even more keen to get out there with the rest of the AUSCARs in the upcoming SCA seasons‘ – Alex Hollier
‘It was a fantastic event; we got invited back again next year and
we were definitely a crowd favourite‘ – Troy Perichon
‘Genuine interest from people to get involved, we have been invited back next year, and the host of the event is entertaining the idea of genuine Thunderdome raced NASCARs being invited‘ – Lukas Gates
Wrap Up
You can see the SCA AUSCAR field along with Stock Cars, OzTrucks and Invited Vehicles at Round 3 of the Australian Stock Car Championship to be held at Winton Motor Raceway on August 29 and 30, admission is free.
Aussie Stock Car News 
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