Historic Sandown
7-9 November 2025
Report by Darren Knight Pics by Phil Wisewould
As well as being the name for a pretty lightweight English band from the early nineties Wet Wet Wet was also a very accurate description of the weather at Sandown this year. The 33 strong grid would endure constant rain of varying intensities all day on Saturday with West Australian Aldo De Paoli bagging pole for race one in front of fellow Camaro runners Trevor Talbot and Andrew Beard.
Les Walmsley (Cortina GT) was a sensational fourth fastest after latching onto the tail of De Paoli who was one of the first onto the track, the pair posting their best lap early in the session before the inevitable spray from traffic became a visibility limiting factor.
Race One
Beard ignored the sodden race surface and rocketed off the second row to win the drag race down the famously bumpy front straight and grab the lead into turn one. Michael Miceli (Mustang) rounded up Talbot on the back straight to move into third as De Paoli wrested the lead off Beard. Geoff Munday (Camaro) showed the improved speed he has been demonstrating all year at State level, jumping into the top ten after starting 16th as De Paoli got sideways in straight line (yes it is possible) as he grabbed top gear at full noise going up the back straight.
Making a welcome return in his late father Robs (aka Hot Dog) Mustang was Daniel Van Stokrom who showed great speed early before the pin in the distributor snapped. John Harrison (Cortina) had an almighty stoush with Walmsley which resulted in some inadvertent paint swapping after the former slipped off the treacherously slippery kerbing, taking out seventh outright with Les close behind in eighth.
De Paoli took the win followed by Beard who was almost caught by Miceli who ended up second anyway after Beard was dealt a five second penalty for the start that proved to be too good in the Officials eyes. Talbot was fourth with Nb Mustang runner Pete Meuleman an excellent fifth.
Race Two
Sunday dawned overcast but mercifully dry though the grass verges remained soaked after the previous days non- stop deluge. Miceli initially got the jump when the lights went out but De Paoli fought back up the inside to snatch the lead into turn one before running wide and dropping a few spots with the Chev not responding to a few handling tweaks after race one.
A frantic three wide punch on at the end of the front straight saw Beard get the Camaro squirming under brakes, collecting Queenslander Ian Mewett (Mustang) in the passenger door with Talbot then copping a subsequent hit from the Ford. The 15 foot long door of the fastback Mustang then swung open as Mewett rounded turn one, refusing to slam shut despite Mewetts efforts of weaving the big Ford coming onto the back straight. An inevitable black flag ended his race.
De Paoli and Miceli traded the lead several times in a fantastic battle that also included Beard and Talbot before the latter spun off at the final corner with a stuck throttle. Ben Wilkinson had his Mustang on the move in the dry after struggling with no wets yesterday until the pony became stuck in third gear. Miceli edged out a few lengths at the flag to take the win but then copped a five second penalty for movement at the start, demoting him to second behind De Paoli.
Beard was third and newcomer Scott Pierce (immaculate Grabber Lime `69 Mustang) an excellent fourth with fastest lap to boot. Watch this space. Munday was fifth in front of the ever improving Joe Calleja (Mustang) and David Tessari (Monaro) off the back of the grid. Meuleman dropped out of sixth on the final lap after spinning off coming down the hill, wiping the Mustangs nose across the fence and losing the front bumper wedged in between the slats of the armco. “Three-Pete” continued to finish ninth whilst post-race the trackside workers employed the tow trucks winch to extract the wedged bumper!
Race Three
Beard made another great start (completely legal this time) to head the field into turn one as Miceli had the opposite, dropping spots after the Mustangs Boss 302 started misbehaving. Tessari charged into fourth by the end of the first lap as Mewetts challenging weekend ended with the Mustang bogged in the sodden infield after an off coming down the hill, bringing out the Safety Car.
Excellent recovery work by the marshals allowed a re-start with a couple of flying laps to go, Tessari pouncing on Munday at turn one to grab third as De Paoli bolted at the front to put this thing to bed, winning relatively comfortably in front of Beard who had Tessari climbing all over him at the finish. Pierce snagged another fourth place to round out an impressive debut meeting.
Winners…
no images were found