THE Sala family have been trailblazers in Australian motorsport, with Bryan and his son William set to do battle in the fearsome F5000 class at the upcoming Phillip Island Penrite 100 Classic.
All told, three generations of the Sala family have featured in F5000 equipment over the years, starting with Gavin Sala in hillclimbs.
His son, Bryan, made his F5000 debut at the tender age of 14 at the Mount Leura Hillclimb, before taking on historic touring cars in a Lotus Cortina, ultimately entering the Bathurst 1000.
To this day, at the age of 17 years, 2 months and 14 days, Bryan remains the youngest ever driver to finish the Great Race, after placing 10th on debut in the 1991 event with Graham Lusty.
That Bathurst debut came aboard an ex-Tony Longhurst Racing, left-hand-drive Wolf-built Ford Sierra, which is retained by the family.
Bryan also competed in AUSCAR and NASCAR, while the family’s competitive car collection subsequently grew beyond the Sierra and F5000, to include historic Formula Vees and contemporary Hyundai Excels.
This expansion has paved the way for the third generation of racing Salas, namely William, Brenden and Harrison, with the latter pair set to duke it out in the ever-competitive historic Formula Vee class at the Island.
While William last year debuted in the F5000 class aboard the family’s Matich A50, this time around he will be joined for the first time by Bryan, who will get behind the wheel of a Lola T330/2.
Despite being only 19 years old, William brings five seasons of circuit racing experience into the event.
“That was pretty exhilarating, with so much power under my right foot, definitely a dream come true,” said William on his 2025 debut.
“We have three generations working in our factory, grandpa, dad and myself, working and helping whenever I can with general repair work, maintenance and restoration work on the Matich and other race cars.
“I’m still learning, but being able to work on the cars to then race them gives me a huge understanding of how the cars run, giving me good knowledge on how to set them up.”
At home on the sweeping curves of Phillip Island, 15 of the fire breathing F5000s have entered the event.
The Phillip Island Penrite 100 Classic will be held on March 13-15, with tickets now available for purchase, while the event will be live-streamed for the first time via Blend Line TV.
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