Dean Amos has continued an unbeaten run at the Historic Leyburn Sprints, racing his Gould GR55B open-wheel car to an 11th outright win at the 30th weekend on the Queensland Southern Downs.
The three-time Australian Hillclimb Champion set a best time of 40.580 seconds in an explosive run around Leyburn’s 1.0 km closed-street course, but missed bettering his 2019 record by just 0.79 sec.
“I set the time on one of my runs this (Sunday) morning, but made a slight mistake on another run, so who knows if that might have been the record. This is such a tight, short course there’s no room for mistakes in 40 seconds,” Amos said.
Warwick Hutchinson finished 3.16 sec. behind Amos in an OMS 28 and Brett Bull third, 3.56sec. off the lead, in his self-built BB MHC car.
In the Historic classes, Matthew Clift won in a Mazda R100 coupe with a fastest time of 53.34sec., fractionally slower than his 2025 winning time.
The slowest of all entries was the 1925 Austin Seven Sports of Justin McCarthy, although there was no shame in the time of 1min. 41.13sec considering the car – named Alfred – was 102 years old and its life-long owner Justin McCarthy, 86.
Amos, Hutchinson and Bull, the three regular rivals for the Col Furness Memorial Trophy for outright honours, were merely the fastest in an extraordinary field of 240 cars that celebrated the Sprints 30th anniversary and the 77th anniversary of the 1949 Leyburn Australian Grand Prix, which it commemorates.
From a 1924 Crossley to a 2019 Porsche GT3 and everything in between from family cars to sports cars and thoroughbred racers, there was non-stop action for a crowd organisers hope will top the current 18,000 attendance record when counting is completed.
Sprints President Tricia Chant said it was the best event yet hosted by the town of around 350 residents and its community volunteers.
“The crowd just poured in from early Saturday morning – the precinct was packed. Queues started at the merchandise stand at 8am and popular souvenirs like shirts, hats and jackets virtually sold out,” she said.
“The 40 market stalls and 15 food and drink outlets were busy throughout both days, their thirst no doubt driven by the perfect sunny Queensland winter weather we enjoyed all weekend.”
Apart from the Sprints competition, the attendance as special VIP guests of 10 legendary drivers from past racing eras – Dick Johnson, John Bowe, Colin Bond, Kevin Bartlett, Bap Romano, Steve Masterton, Charlie O’Brien, Graeme Lawrence, Bruce Allison and Andrew Miedecke - attracted hundreds of spectators to three autograph sessions.
First-time visitors Lawrence, Miedecke and Masterton were surprised at the size of the event.
“I’m gobsmacked. I can’t believe the number of people here,” said Miedecke, who brought his ex-Peter Brock Mobil 1 Ford Sierra and 1986 Mercedes-Benz Group A German touring car to display in Motorsport Alley.
The VIP drivers also visited the memorial cairn for the 1949 Australian Grand Prix, uast outside Leyburn and attended a Night with the Stars, Under the Stars 30th anniversary celebration at a resorted 120-year-old woolshed owned by retired rugby league legend and local farmer Shane Webcke.
