Thank you for hooning

It's the one time of year Albany police turn a blind eye to hooning down York Street.

You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into an old-fashioned raceway at the weekend, with the Albany CBD transformed into a historic “round-the-houses” circuit for the 2011 Albany Classic.

Picture: Kevin Organ gets set to leave Grey Street West into Collie Street in his 1968 Holden 327 GT Monaro.

In what was the biggest Classic yet, 140 drivers and 120 classic and vintage race cars converged on Albany for the event, which is a recreation of a race first held in 1936.

Albany Classic Committee chairman Phil Shepherd said organisers were thrilled with the turnout to the 21st Classic, with the weather turning in favour of the event right up until late Sunday afternoon.

“We don’t really officially keep tallies but I’d say it was a fantastic crowd turnout, better than average, up around the 10,000 mark,” Mr Shephard said.

“The marshals and everyone involved did a fantastic job controlling the crowd, and that’s what we expect of a family event, everyone seemed to have a smile on their face and really enjoyed themselves.

And we would like to thank all the merchants and residents within our track area for putting up with us for another year.”

While a few of the vintage motor vehicles came to grief with the concrete pillars lining the circuit, Mr Shephard said he had no reports of injuries over the event.

“The good weather probably had a lot to do with that, but as you can imagine the track is well designed and after 21 years it’s been fine-tuned, so we know now how fast the cars go and what we need to do to make sure it’s safe,” he said.

Mr Shephard invited all event volunteers to a thank you barbecue which will be held at lunchtime on Saturday, June 18, at Ken Stone Motor Trimmers, 22 Prior Street.

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