The Historic Sports & Racing Car Association had a special marque setup at Sydney Motorsport Park and also put on its annual celebration dinner with ‘KB’, as he was known, the special guest. It was the most popular ever.
“I know I should have expected it, but I was a bit overwhelmed. I think the best part was meeting up with so many former drivers that I don’t get to see very often these days,” Barlett said as he made the journey to the event from Queensland.
Bartlett was a winner in many disciplines. He won the Gold Star in the Australian Drivers’ Championship back-to-back in 1968 and 1969. That same year (’69) he also took out the Macau Grand Prix.
He was the first person to do a (lap average) of 100 miles per hour at Bathurst. As well as his exploits in open wheelers, he race touring cars for over two decades. KB was also the winner of 1974 Hardie Ferodo 1000 on Mt Panorama where he co-drove with John Goss.
Several of the cars he steered in his illustrious career were not only on display, but some were raced by their current owners. They joined a field of around 200 historic sports, race and touring cars, many of which are similarly storied and significant.
Included among the cars was the Brabham BT-2 which was one of the first of the open wheelers driven by Kevin Bartlett early in his career. It is now owned by Colin Haste and ran alongside another of his well-remembered cars, the ‘Yellow Submarine’ in Groups M, O & P.
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Raced on the weekend by Bruce Ayres, the Mildren Waggott aka the ‘Yellow Submarine’, was the car that KB won the ADC, the Macau GP, the Hordern Trophy and the 1970 Tasman round at Warwick Farm against Formula 5000s.
The Goss Falcon was on display. Bartlett was behind the wheel for the last stint in the rain around Bathurst in one of the great races. It sat alongside the Alex Mildren Racing Alfa Romeo GTA production car which scored results in 1967 at Bathurst, Surfers Paradise, Lakeside and Warwick Farm in KB’s hands.
For competitors and diehard fans, the historic race meeting offered raw, noisy, fast racing, which is how motorsport should be. The environment was friendly, relaxed with an open community atmosphere. Spectators were free to explore the pits and paddock, meet the drivers and teams, and get up close to the cars.
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