Long after most of their contemporaries have hung up their racing boots, two pensioners are set to do battle at Phillip Island. New Zealand motorsport legend Ken Smith and his Australian counterpart, Alfie Costanzo will both contest the Formula 5000 races at the Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport, despite both being aged 73.
Smith is slated to take the wheel of a 1976 Lola T332, while Costanzo will pilot a 1970 McLaren M10B. A further 26 F5000 racers complete the grid.
Both drivers boast glittering racing careers. Smith, now in his 58th consecutive year of motorsport, is a three-times winner both of the New Zealand Grand Prix and Lady Wigram Trophy, as well as being a two-times winner of the New Zealand Motor Cup.
Meanwhile, Constanzo managed to pick up an Australian Drivers’ Championship title a record-equalling four times between 1980 and 1983, in addition to finishing second in the Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst in 1979.
Each of the drivers’ careers spanned the transition from the booming stock-block 5-litre, V8-powered Formula 5000s and the smaller, more nimble 2-litre ‘four’ Atlantic/Pacific single seaters. At the same time, the joint Australia and New Zealand ‘Tasman’ series was split into two national series.
Ken Smith continues to defy stereotypes about age, as well as continuing to raise the bar in terms of car preparation and race craft. What keeps him going? “First of all, I’m too young to retire,” he enthuses. “And second of all, I just love racing. You wouldn’t do it for 58 consecutive seasons if you didn’t, would you?”
