Mark Webber too slow for duo's EH Holden

HERE we all are at the Jack Brabham theatre and auditorium in the global headquarters of Prestige Motoring.

The 1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta is perfect for Christmas. Picture: Hugh Hamilton

HERE we all are at the Jack Brabham theatre and auditorium in the global headquarters of Prestige Motoring.

We have assembled here in Sydney's Surry Hills for the first annual PM sports star of the year award.

Well, we're actually in the ladies' lounge of the Aurora Hotel, but let's not worry about little details like that.

There are a host of contenders with a sensational late run from our very own Mark Webber who, while missing out on the F1 championship, got the motoring iron person of the year trophy for revealing he had driven has last four races with a broken shoulder. Can't imagine little Sebastian Vettel doing that.

Another surprise late nomination was all the drivers in the Sydney Telstra 500 at Homebush this month. The weekend of V8 racing made the Melbourne F1 look like a Dinky Toy race. Of course, it shows that you don't need to spend millions of taxpayers' money bringing a middle-class-women's talk show host to Australia to show the place off to middle-class-women in Utah and Idaho.

Instead, move the racing from Sydney's greatest white elephant, the Homebush Olympic Centre, to Sydney's greatest attraction, Sydney Harbour. Imagine serious cars racing around the Opera House and over the Harbour Bridge. Real people with money who have passports would watch that.

However, the judges have unanimously awarded the trophy to 78-year-old Peking-to-Paris rally winner Gerry Crown and his co-driver, 33-year-old Matt Bryson. Crown and Bryson were driving a 1964 EH 179 Holden.

Of course the usual suspects have protested about Crown's win, suggesting that the judge was biased because he raced a 179 Holden many years ago. This is completely fallacious. It was not a 179 Holden. I had simply nicked the badge off another car and stuck it on the back of mine.

Surprisingly, given Chairman Mao was ruling the place when he was 82, the Chinese decided Crown was too old to be given a driving licence so Bryson drove the first few days of the rally. Crown and Bryson drove for the Principality of Hutt River Royal Rally Team.

I first remember seeing Crown demonstrating kitchen gadgets at Myers. He then went on to start the game company Crown and Andrews, which brought the world the Australian-invented Sketch-A-Graph, which sold eight million units. Gerry's other big game, Test Match, would not be on the top of any kid's Christmas list this year.

There was a huge response to the column exposing how far down your pocket the government and the car industry has its hands when you buy a car.

Perth's Gerry Burke even did a great piece of research that shows you just how much you are giving to these needy chappies.

Burke reminds us Britain used to be called Treasure Island by the big car manufacturers.

"There were huge discrepancies between UK and European prices for the same models. For a long time the big makers argued this was all down to the extra cost of building right-hand drives," he says. "Finally the EU got involved and found that was total rubbish, the additional costs for engineering and manufacturing RHD models compared to left-hand drive models was not significant, and in any case should be shared across the models. That let British consumers start importing their RHD cars from dealers in Holland and Belgium at the same price as the local model. The EU still had to bring in new laws, and hand out a few hefty fines to stop car makers discouraging mainland dealers from taking British orders and let British consumers enjoy the same market conditions as the rest of Europe."

Finally, if you want to show your appreciation and buy me a Christmas present then head to Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa when RM Auctions holds its first event of the year. The one you need to bid on is the 1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta.

Writing in Automobile magazine Dean Batchelor says, "The real heart of the Ferrari mystique has always been that blurry distinction between racer and road car; the 166 MM was the model that started the magic."

We can celebrate your gift at the Outback Steakhouse after.