The racing car that houses Australia’s youngest racing car formula 1 World Champion and Australian Hall of Famer Alan Jones made his 100th World Championship start, will be one of the main attractions of the World Championship 2026 Canberra Festival of Speed next weekend.
The Lola-Hart THL1 from 1985 will be one of the main attractions at this year’s event Holden Commodore where Larry Perkins won the 1997 Bathurst 1000.
The two legendary racers will be among more than 200 entries at this year’s Canberra Festival of Speed, now in its third year and taking place at Thoroughbred Park over the weekend of January 31 and February 1.
“The 2025 event saw more than 16,000 visitors walk through the gates to see some of the world’s rarest and most exotic vehicles valued at more than $100 million,” event director Peter Bakavgas said in a statement.
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“49 per cent of our participants came from outside the ACT, meaning we are a major tourism driver for the ACT.”
The Lola-Hart THL1 was driven by Mr Jones at the inaugural Adelaide Grand Prix in 1985, where he made his 100th World Championship start and ceremoniously became the first F1 driver to lap the track.
Frustratingly, he remains Australia’s last F1 world champion, having won the drivers’ title in 1980 – and Melbourne’s Oscar Piastri saw his lead in the 2025 title fight squandered by his rivals.
Bathurst fans can see the Holden Commodore VS in which Larry Perkins and co-driver Russell Ingall won the 1997 Bathurst 1000. This was the sixth win for Mr. Perkins and the last win at The Mountain for both riders.
The 1997 Bathurst 1000 attracted great attention as the final race for the retired Peter Brock, who started from pole position before his Commodore, with co-driver Mark Skaife at the wheel, suffered engine failure.
Mr Brock returned to The Great Race in 2002 and 2004 before dying in 2006.
Mr Perkins, who won three consecutive Bathurst 1000s with Mr Brock between 1982 and 1984, also won with the late Gregg Hansford in 1993 and with Mr Ingall in 1995 – all in Holden Commodores.
After switching to V8 supercars after Formula 1, Alan Jones also raced at Mount Panorama in 1997, finishing 11th after co-driving a Ford Falcon EL with Jason Bright and former IndyCar driver Scott Pruett.
Among the V8 supercars at the festival will be double Bathurst winner John Bowe’s 2001 Ford Falcon AU, which he drove in the Canberra 400, complete with the Caterpillar color scheme.
Mr Bowe – a two-time Australian Touring Car Championship winner – is also the official ambassador for the Canberra Festival of Speed.
Joining the Caterpillar Ford is another AU Falcon, Brad Jones Racing’s OzEmail race car, which Mr Jones famously rolled at the Adelaide Supercars event in 2000.
The pair will be featured alongside a range of historic Australian touring cars – and a range of machines from other parts of the motorsport world.
Tickets for the Canberra Festival of Speed 2026 can be purchased via the event website.
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