Leyburn Sprints

[Neville Bertwistle]

Went to Leyburn at the weekend for the annual Historic Sprints Around the Houses. Leyburn is a little one pub town about 2 hours west of Brisbane, whose claim to fame was that it held an Australian GP there in the 1950's. It's been a regular event on the calendar for 12 yrs now and this was my 5th year.

For the last two years I've been lucky enough to pilot a very special piece of Australian motoring history. It won the 1962 Australian GT Championship at the hands of John French. Mind you, I had to marry this old blokes daughter to get the gig The things you'll do to get a drive.

This is called the Centaur Waggott. It's a hand built special from 1960, which runs a Holden grey motor bottom end with one of only 9 twin cam heads made by Merv Waggott. Running gear is mostly Jag and I have to say it's a lot of fun to drive. Here's a few pics from the weekend, plus the only one I have of the engine.