The category is a popular addition to the Great Race undercard this year, boasting 55 competitors across various classes including Group C/A, Super Touring and early V8 Supercars.

All cars in the historic division have racing heritage and compete in their original colours, which for many includes cigarette branding.

Those cars took to the track for practice and qualifying this morning in full liveries, before an order delivered within an hour of the afternoon race resulted in signage being partly taped over.

The somewhat comical nature of the requirement meant cars ran with as little as a single letter being covered.

Some competitors expressed frustration to Speedcafe over the situation, having been of the belief that they could race their cars in original condition.

Speedcafe understands that, while they could compete in that form, the cover-up is the result of recent changes to broadcasting laws.

Category manager Ed Singleton confirmed to Speedcafe: “It’s come down as a Federal Government directive that broadcasting of tobacco advertising is no longer permitted.

“Once we explained that to our competitor group, they were happy to comply.”

The opening race of the weekend was won by the 1995 Holden Racing Team Commodore of Super2 Series team owner Ben Eggleston.