The HQ National Titles are heading back to Western Australia after an absence of almost 10 years, and they’re not making the trip for a token appearance. The category will stage a double-header across two of the state’s better-known venues: Wanneroo Raceway and Collie Motorplex. For a class built around old Holdens, close racing and a healthy disregard for glamour, that’s a pleasingly old-school way to do business.

A welcome return for a stubbornly popular category

HQ racing has always occupied a peculiar and rather lovely corner of Australian motorsport. It is deeply competitive, gloriously mechanical and refreshingly unpretentious. There are no aero tricks, no haloed carbon-fibre drama and no marketing department trying to sell you an image of rugged individualism while the car is still in pre-production. Just a field of hard-fighting HQ Holdens and drivers who understand that place is often won on commitment, not horsepower.

That is part of why the National Titles matter. They give the category its annual focal point, drawing competitors from around the country and, in this case, returning the show to a state that has been waiting nearly a decade for another turn. Western Australia has a proper appetite for grass-roots circuit racing, and HQs suit that crowd neatly: simple, noisy and close enough to the road cars they’re based on to feel like a punch in the ribs from the past.

Two tracks, two very different tests

The double-header format is an appealing bit of structure. Wanneroo Raceway, north of Perth, has long been one of the state’s key circuits, with a layout that rewards rhythm and bravery in equal measure. Collie Motorplex, by contrast, is a different sort of challenge altogether, with its own character and its own demand for precision. Put the pair together and you get a properly rounded Nationals, rather than the usual single-venue tick-box exercise.

That matters because HQ racing thrives on variation. The cars themselves are mechanically straightforward, but the racing rarely is. Reduce tyre grip and aerodynamic fuss to near-zero, then add a field full of drivers with an appetite for a late-braking scrap, and you tend to get the sort of racing that makes you remember why touring cars were once such a wonderfully blunt instrument. It is not elegant in the modern sense. Thank heavens for that.

Why WA hosting matters

Bringing the titles back to Western Australia is more than a line in a calendar. It gives local racers and supporters a proper national event on home soil, which is no small thing when logistics, travel and freight costs can make the difference between a healthy grid and a thin one. Australian club and one-make categories have learned, sometimes painfully, that distance is a hard master.

It also gives the HQ scene a chance to show off its strength in a state that has always been a bit happily self-reliant when it comes to motorsport. WA does not need much encouragement to turn out for a race meeting, and a Nationals with a double dose of local venues should provide the kind of old-fashioned atmosphere that suits the category down to the ground.

The appeal of HQ racing, still intact

Part of the charm here is that HQ racing remains exactly what it says on the tin. These are Holden HQs—big, square, and blessed with all the aerodynamic polish of a brick wearing a flat cap. That is precisely the point. They ask drivers to get the basics right: braking, car placement, patience, and the willingness to lean on a rival’s patience just enough to make them uncomfortable. Racers love that sort of thing, even if their panels occasionally disagree.

The category has survived because it offers something many modern classes do not: accessible, recognisable machinery and tightly packed racing that can entertain without requiring a degree in data analysis. There’s a purity to it, but not the polished, museum-piece sort. This is dirt-under-the-fingernails purity, the kind that tends to leave a little paint on the front bar and a good story in the pits.

What to expect from the Nationals

With the titles spread across Wanneroo and Collie, the event should reward the sort of competitor who can adapt quickly. The best HQ drivers are usually the ones who know when to attack and when to leave the door half-open for later. In a class like this, the margins are tiny and the consequences of a poor start or a sloppy restart can be brutal. If nothing else, that should keep the racing lively.

For spectators, the attraction is simple. You get a national-level meeting built around one of Australia’s most recognisable historic racing formulas, staged in a part of the country that has been waiting far too long for it. No gimmicks required. Just old Holdens, good circuits and a weekend that ought to be nicely uncivilised in the best possible way.

And really, that is the point. Not every motorsport event needs to arrive with lasers, branded hospitality and a 17-page sustainability statement before the first car leaves the pit lane. Sometimes all you need is a grid of HQs, a decent circuit, and enough drivers brave enough to throw a square-shouldered sedan at the apex like it owes them money.