Racing cars lost in transit

‘They somehow ended up 17,000km away, in Panama,’ WA Sporting Car Club competition manager Simon Sterner said.

‘It’s unfortunate ” it would have been the first time we had a direct US entry ” and this one was of particular importance.

‘It was Travis Engen, who has won countless vintage single-seater and sports car races and championships around the world, and he had entered his Chevron B17b, Lotus 23B and Ralt RT1.’

Engen, the wealthy Connecticut-based former president of Rio Tinto Alcan, chairman of ITT and other major corporations, raced in Australia in 2012 at Sydney’s Eastern Creek.

‘How his cars ended up in Panama we don’t know. But the two-day All-Historics meeting will still have an international flavour with five entries from New Zealand and more from NSW and Victoria,’ Sterner said.

The Kiwis are Noel Woodford in a Gemini, Nigel Russell (FMZ), Peter Boel in a Lotus 41C, Anthony Olisoff in an Emeryson Elfin and Alan Cattle with his Fiat-based Volpini.

They are all competing in the national Formula Junior Championship, which is still as fiercely fought as in its heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The saloon categories are peppered with Mini Coopers, Cortinas, Escorts, Mustangs, Camaros, Monaros, Porsches and Jaguars.

Forty events will be run in the various classes.

‘Even without Tavis Engen, it’s going to be a great meeting,’ a slightly frazzled Sterner said.

The entry fee of $15 covers both days. Kids are free.