Benalla's Ewan Geals is competing at Historic Winton for the fourth year.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
When Ewan Geals first competed at Historic Winton he had to travel from the other side of Victoria.
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But he loved the area and the track so much he’s now a local, living in Benalla.
“I've been racing in Historic Formula Ford for 11 years,” he said.
“The car is a Van Diemen, which is a company set up in England in the 1970s. It's an RF75, which means it was made in 1975.
“They became one of the biggest Formula Ford manufacturers in the world.”
For a 50-year-old car, you could be excused for thinking it recently rolled out of the factory.
Geals said it’s a reliable car.
“From a mechanical point of view, so long as you keep on top of some simple maintenance, they're very reliable and they're actually not all that expensive to run,” he said.
“If you have an accident, or you damage some panels, they can get a bit more expensive.”
He said competing in Formula Ford was not just about cars, it’s about the people you meet along the way.
“It's a big community,” he said.
Ewan Geals tests his Van Diemen at Winton Motor Raceway ahead of participating at Historic Winton.
Photo by
Simon Ruppert
“We all know each other, we all get along well. And because you race against the same people all the time, you get to know them really well.”
Geals said on some tracks you could get the Van Diemen up to 210km/h, but at Winton with the tight bends and shorter straights he’d hit about 180km/h.
“It can be quite exhilarating when you’re racing at that speed and your bum’s only 40cm above the track,” he said.
“But it’s good fun.”
He said he looked forward to seeing the community come down and support the 48th Historic Winton on May 24 and 25.
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