Adelaide’s own racing specials on track in Historic Sports & Racing

The new Historic Sports & Racing category, bringing vintage open-wheelers and sportscars from the 1950s and 1960s back to life and to the track, will celebrate Adelaide’s own car builder, inventor and driver Eldred De Bracton Norman with examples of two of his creations in the category at the 2026 Repco Adelaide Motorsport Festival.

Born in 1914, Norman opened an engineering workshop and car dealership in Halifax Street, Adelaide, in 1938. Following World War II, Norman travelled to New Guinea to gather up discarded war surplus which resulted in the creation of a classic Australian racing special.

Dubbed the Double 8 (pictured below), it was powered by two Ford side-valve V8s mounted line astern, tuned to fire as a V16, coupled with twin-row industrial sprockets hooked by a large drive chain. At 7800cc, the Double 8 pumped out around 200 horsepower, with the twin engines propelling the car to over 200km/h. Its chassis was from a Dodge weapons carrier - its aluminium body derived from aircraft fuselage panels. Other features included multiple radiators, all-round independent suspension and a system to cool brakes.

The Double 8 was regularly tested around the Adelaide Hills and raced by Norman in the 1950 Australian Grand Prix at a road circuit in Nuriootpa in South Australia and in the 1951 Australian Grand Prix in Western Australia, leading the race early before a technical failure.

Victorian Darren Visser channelled the spirit of Norman and has produced an extraordinarily close tribute to the famed Double 8, which will be on track at the 2026 Repco Adelaide Motorsport Festival.

For the 1955 Australian Grand Prix at the Port Wakefield circuit in South Australia, Norman conceived and built a radical new car in just ten weeks – a Zephyr Special (pictured above). It featured a modified Holden suspension bolted direct to the front of a supercharged Zephyr engine with a tube carried through to the back of the car and a rear mounted clutch and transaxle gearbox from a German Tempo Matador light truck.

Norman finished in eighth place at Port Wakefield, up against formidable opponents that included the Maserati A6GCM of Reg Hunt, Doug Whiteford’s Lago Talbot and winner, Jack Brabham’s Bristol-powered rear-engined Cooper T40 bobtail.

The Zephyr Special remains noteworthy for the revolutionary use of the engine as a stressed chassis member. Owned long-term by the Snape family from country New South Wales, the Zephyr Special will also feature at the 2026 Repco Adelaide Motorsport Festival – a unique acknowledgement to the genius of a South Australian legend, Eldred De Bracton Norman.

The 2026 Repco Adelaide Motorsport Festival will once again feature various categories, ranging from Formula 1 cars, V8 Supercars, sportscars, touring cars, motorbikes, drift cars and more with the action non-stop without a break in track activity at any stage of the day. Off track there will be car displays, kids' zones, bars and food trucks, exhibitors and traders, activations and more, in a picnic in the park setting. 

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to the 2026 Repco Adelaide Motorsport Festival (February 28 to March 1).