The Albany Classic is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, and organisers are expecting a big crowd, with more than 100 competitors lining up to race on the much-loved Around the Houses track.
The Albany CBD will be closed on Sunday as the Albany Classic takes over the busiest part of the city, with concrete chicanes and start-finish lines replacing the scores of regular vehicles and pedestrians on York Street as 150 drivers and their vintage cars take part in the historic event.
Albany Classic Motorsport Club president Glenn Badger said the committee had watched the event go through a lull after COVID-19 forced a cancellation in 2020, and come back better than ever in recent years.
“I’m amazed at how this event has grown over the years,” he said.
“I’ve been involved in it for 25 years now, and we’ve gone from struggling to get competitor numbers to now having steady numbers and seeing it grow steadily every year.
“We don’t have to go chasing sponsors these days. A lot of the time they come chasing us because of how the event has grown and what an iconic weekend on the Albany calendar it has become.
“It’s a huge effort every year to get it all set up and packed away again, so we owe so much to the local businesses who just go ‘Here, take our forklift’ and let us use all sorts of equipment and lend a hand to make sure it gets done.
“Competitors keep coming back year after year because they just adore the event, and I hope that continues to happen for as long as we run it.”
The Albany Classic, then called the Albany Grand Prix, began in 1936, Australia’s first round the houses-style race.
Albany’s town council held a bicycle grand prix in 1936 as part of a “Bback to Albany” week designed to increase tourism, and when the WA Sporting Car Club got wind of the idea, it proposed a car race.
Their idea was to hold a European-style race similar to the Monaco Grand Prix, with cars racing on a course that would encompass all the Albany CBD’s most recognisable landmarks including Stirling Terrace, York Street and the Albany Town Hall.
The big race was named the Albany Tourist Trophy, and a 4km road circuit was set out for drivers to navigate, passing right through the centre of town.
The inaugural race had an entry list of only nine drivers, and only five cars made it to the finish line.
Narrogin-born farmer Peter Connor became the first winner of the race in his lightened Rover after Ossie Cranston and Clem Dyer’s early duel ended with both competitors suffering engine trouble, and third-placer Arthur Chick was also sidelined, leaving Connor to take the lead and hold on to it.
Today, the Classic boasts a field of 150 competitors in a range of categories based on the age, style and speed of their cars, though the course has remained largely unchanged over the years.
For the 2026 event, practice laps are scheduled to begin at 8.15am on Sunday, with the first event hitting the track at 9.40am.
Action will stop for a lunch break at 12.30pm, and then resume until the final race at 3.10pm.
The pits, which this year will be behind the Premier Hotel between Aberdeen Street and York Street, will be open for spectators to walk through and see the vintage engines and their drivers up close.
The lower section of York Street will house an impressive display of vintage cars that will not be taking to the track.
The Albany Town Square will be filled with food vans and market stalls, and there will be a kids’ zone set up at Alison Hartman Gardens, keeping everyone in the family entertained between races.
The Mt Clarence Hill Climb will take place on Saturday, with vintage cars tackling the steep hill from Middleton Beach around Marine Drive to the National Anzac Centre.
The hill climb will run from 9am-1pm, and is free to enter for spectators.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails