The Falcon GT Club of Australia  

 

16th Falcon GT Nationals 2015

 

As reported in Australian Muscle Car Sales:

“The 16th Falcon GT Nationals were held this year at Sandown Raceway from April 2 - 6 and hosted by the Falcon GT Club of Australia. A huge effort resulted in an amazing show. From scrutineering on Thursday and Friday to the National Concourse on Saturday and the motorsport events on Sunday, the event was a true success in every way. The home of the Falcon GT - Melbourne - saw every model, colour and shape and truly celebrated 47 years of the Falcon GT from 1967 to 2014.”

 

Friday Scrutineering

The Judges really earn their keep during scrutineering, performing not only the verification of each and every vehicle’s authenticity but also the pre-judging of all vehicles to identify those for recognition as having achieved a notable Silver Certificate presentation level or if they were indeed up to a Gold certificate level of recognition. The Gold Certificate level vehicles then going through to final judging on the concourse day. All queries were professionally handled by the experienced judges’ team consisting of volunteers from NAFGTC member clubs resulting in an on time conclusion of this vital aspect of the overall event. The judges’ team then regrouped at the end of Friday to prepare for Saturday’s final concourse judging. On concourse day the team revisited all vehicles that had achieved Gold Certificate level during pre-judging, seeking to identify points of differentiation between competing vehicles in each of the models and categories. With the presentation of vehicles at our 2015 Nationals being of such a high standard the judges were required to identify the smallest differentiators to determine the overall trophy results. Who would want to be a judge? Well done to the team and a thank you to the volunteers from our fellow NAFGTC affiliated clubs who supported this event.

The scrutineering precinct was a popular viewing area throughout Thursday and Friday. Several never before seen vehicles created an absolute WOW factor.

 

Saturday Public Day

Concourse day started early. Entered vehicles could commence set-up at the venue from 7am with a complete engine shut-down scheduled by 9am. Everyone would agree the concourse vehicle display layout was excellent. The bulk of the vehicles were positioned in model order with individual special displays skirting the area.

Gates were opened to the public from 10am when there was already a long queue waiting to get in to this rare and amazing show.

 

The high standard of the vehicles, the sheer amount of people milling around the display right throughout the day with special guests Murray and Carol Carter, the judges doing their thing throughout the day, the fantastic and friendly atmosphere plus the exceptional sunny Melbourne autumn day all combined to make this 2015 Falcon GT Nationals concourse one for the ages.

As evident in the display, entrants came from all over Australia. One group had driven from Perth while another from Mackay in Queensland. Full credit to all the long distance travellers who travelled from all states.

 

Sunday - Track Day

Sunday was Track Day activity for those who had entered to run their vehicles around the legendary Sandown racetrack. Those who ran their cars at speed on the track enjoyed the experience . It certainly looked and sounded great from above the pit garage complex. Our former Club President enjoyed it so much he ultimately boiled the Brembos in his GTP.

The awe inspiring parade lap had every model GT cruising around the Sandown Racing Circuit. All participants enjoyed themselves as did the Nationals Entrant spectators.

 

Presentation Dinner

The presentation dinner was an excellent affair with great food and beverage choice available. The function was facilitated by an MC who kept the pace moving during the trophy presentation. There were plenty of individual results to be announced during the evening, remembering there are now equally as many later GT Falcon models as there are classic models. The evening included a memorabilia auction which was well subscribed with some items attracting fierce bidding and realising excellent knock-down prices. Several trophy winners said a few words when collecting their awards during the evening and there were several individual special awards made including the Howard Marsden Award voted on by the NAFGTC delegates group for an individual’s contribution to the Nationals over the years. The award was awarded posthumously to Warren Fleming of the Falcon GT Owners Club of NSW and Warren’s wife and son received the award in person on Warren’s behalf.

 

 

A DVD movie was made of the 3 day event and is available from the club.