Calder Park Raceway made a triumphant return to the Motorsport Australia circuit racing scene, with the successful hosting of the sixth and final Vic State Race Series meet for 2023.

This year, the venue has undergone a significant reworking, with improvements continuing at pace.

The latest efforts have tidied up the end of the run-off areas at the opening turn and the end of the back straight, significant works have shored up the track edges in many places, mainly in a move to keep drifters on the island, further new signage has been installed, while the overall presentation of the venue is continuing to improve.

It was noticeable that the spectator areas and the infield grass were nicely mowed, something that isn’t always replicated elsewhere.

Around the track, there were improvements too.

The fast kink in the back straight, which was artificially tightened for the recent AASA-sanctioned VMRC event, was fully finished off with a new kerb, which produced a huge quantity of action over the weekend.

While the tighter kerb aims to ultimately lower the terminal velocity of the faster cars, for the bulk of competitors, it imposes, at worst, a slight lift off the throttle.

However, the profile of the kerb is such that it can be attacked with vigour by softly sprung tin tops, producing some spectacular two-wheeling action.

The Saloon Cars and BMW E30s were particularly good to watch through this section, a subject expertly captured in Blendline TV’s excellent event coverage.

The weather absolutely came to the party, too, although Saturday’s stiff gale caused a level of consternation as cars were pushed by the big tailwind into turn one.

Across the board, there was a genuine mixed bag of results.

The Improved Production class was well supported, with Ian McLennan (Monaro) taking the win for the round by virtue of claiming the Sunday feature race, with the other wins going to Paul Cruse in his giant-killing Nissan S13, and Luke Grech-Cumbo (HSV Senator), who won the O2L season title.

Interestingly, second and third on the weekend podium went to Robert Braune (BMW E30) and Matthew Logan (VE Commodore).

Jesse Bryan was the class of the BMW E30 class, winning races one and three plus the round, with the other W going to Royce Lyne.

The Beemers were combined with the Hyundai Excels, with Conner McLeod walking away from the biggest incident of the weekend, when he lost it under brakes at turn one, before ploughing through a tyre barrier setup to protect a creek on the infield.

It was tight at the top in the Porsche 944s, with Mark Verdino securing overall honours thanks to his breakthrough main race win, although Chris Lewis-Williams was the victor in the first and third heats.

In the MGs and the best of British, consistency paved the way to Trevor Lindsay’s weekend win aboard his Triumph GT6, with Philip Chester’s (MG B GT V8) non-score in the opener critical, as he claimed the latter race wins.

It was business as usual in the Formula Vees, with Lee Partridge claiming the opening two races, and Reef McCarthy the final, as precious little continued to separate the duo.

A spectacular off by Claudia Lennox on the switchback returning to the final corner saw her Jacer launch over a kerb, from which she walked away.

While Travis Lindorff won the opening Saloon Car race in his Commodore, Anthony Beare returned to take a Sunday sweep, with the duo’s high-flying antics through the chicane a genuine highlight.

The combined field was a little low on numbers, but it was interesting to see the GT4 AMGs of Rob and Bailey Love mix it up with the MARC Mustang of William Tymms.

Stay tuned for further news on the 2024 Vic State Calendar is it comes to hand.