On the weekend just passed, our own WYKKED and RedZedMikey competed at the Calder Rally masters at Calder Park in Vic. In vic we always hope for nice weather when ever motorsport is concerned, but most of the time we just get extremes. Either pouring rain, or in this case, blistering heat. Saturday was 32 degree's and sunday was 38 degree's.... lovely, just perfect for a day in the sun at a race track with no shade cover, perfect for drivers in their race suits and also perfect for engines which spend most of there time in the high revs..(note the sarcasm in my voice).. The weekend was broken up into a series of events, with some requiring co-drivers... Petes co-driver was Jen (Blondie), and Mikeys was Jack (zxtt-1). Well done to all.. Anyhoo, here are some photo's.. The weapons of choice. Number 3 = WYKKED, Number 32 = RedZedMikey.. One of the first events, the good ol drags.... cant remember the times, but I'm sure pete and mikey will post them here.. Yes, WYKKED did beat the porsche.... and yes, mikey did beat the suped up Capri... mikey with the thumbs up... Lots of awesome cars..... this orange monaro being one of my faves, and possibly the most powerfull.. Cant really explain these guys, but funny nonetheless... They have an XR6 ute and XR8 sedan, in police stripes with flashing strobe lights... every race, they raced with the lights on.. The good ol motorkana.... lots of skidding and sideways action... Here we have Mikey in action... Some pics from lineup area.... Absolutely loved this mustang... but it wasnt a racer... but I drooled anyway.. This baby on the other hand was a racer.... yummy..... I think its only closest rival in both grunt, V8 growl and muscle was the orange monaro... and it was powered by this baby.... Some more racing action.... In this event, you had to nominate an average speed and stick to it while fanging around the track... easier said than done considering that it included a standing start, and wierd angles on the thunderdome.. Who are these 2 shady characters? This motorkana was a little trickier, but fun nonetheless... WYKKED and RedZedMikey in action.... Mikey wanted a sun tan and hence raced sans targa tops... Some other nice cars on the day... Now, silver zeds may get panties thrown at them, but red zeds get the girls.. It pains me to say it, but here is proof.. My young nephew feeling a little embarrased... Notice his hands refusing to make contact? A great, hot weekend.. Lots more photo's, but far too many to show here.. Well done to both pete and mikey, and Jen and Jack as respective co-drivers... Cheers
Calder Rally Masters - Thanks, Jedi Master .... Pity I have to wait till tomorrow and I can see the pics on the work PC!!!! But I'm sure they are excellent as usual. I didn't take any pics over either day - save for the 2 at the end of this post. It was a great event, and one that I hope returns and grows in future years. Events like the GP Rally, Duttons etc are generally beyond my financial means, but the $350 entry fee for this was OK, and we had 10 different events over the 2 days. 2 hot days, but I am not aware of any mechanical maladies resulting on either of our cars, even though everything got worked - rev limiter, tyres, brakes. Temps stayed OK and no leakages spotted or smelt. I couldn't get near my PB of 13.62 on the drag strip, my best out of 3 was a 13.923. I was taking it too easy off the line thanks to axle tramp, and we didn't get time slips to analyse anyway. I did win my 3 races, against the Capri, an STI and a Monaro CV8. We had several different motorkhanas and go-to-whoas, with the 'khanas generally having the witches hats much tighter. I didn't collect any penalties for hit cones or missed gates, but had one spin cost me time while pushing the right foot too far in the first 'khana. Except for the drags and the last event, all events run on the Calder road circuit were run in reverse direction, so any previous knowledge was only of limited use. The mini sprint round the "Aussie Legends" sprint track using the Thunderdome pit lane and back straight was fun, I'd love another go at that with about 10 laps instead of 2 :thumbsup:. The average speed event around the Thunderdome was the first look at the Thunderdome from the drivers seat for most of the competitors, and during that event we were limited to 160kmh max, with 120kmh recommended in the turns. The last event on the second day was the one most of us had been looking forward to - a flying lap of the Calder GP circuit, in which you do 98% of the road circuit + 98% of the Thunderdome, and this time, there were no speed limits imposed on us - run as fast as you are game. The 2 circuits are linked by access roads that are opened up by removing the appropriate sections of Thunderdome wall. However, it was running behind time, and instead of a warm up lap followed by the flying lap we had a low speed sighting lap with all 35 cars, then had to wait our turn, and tackle it from a standing start. By the time it was my turn, my fried brain had forgotten the the sighting lap - I got to the turn onto the 'Dome, saw a bunch of witches hats, and yelled "which way???" Navigator Jack yelled back and pointed "THAT WAY" loud enough for Alex (Wykked junior) to have heard him in the spectator area. Thanks Jack!!!! That silly slip up on my part probably cost us 3 or 4 seconds, a bugger when you only get one go at it. If this event is repeated next year, and I sure hope it is, I'd love to get a video cam mounted in the car. The angle of attack on the Thunderdome turns is awesome, I would have loved pics of that!!! Anyway at the end of the day I finished 20-somethingth out of 35, with Wykked 4 places ahead of me, against some pretty track dedicated competition. Most of the others had R-Comp type tyres and BIG brakes, with a lot of fully caged, lightened and track prepared set-ups. Both Wykked and I had street tyres and stock size Z32 discs, and I'm pretty pleased with how my daily driver Z performed on the weekend - especially after we just packed up and drove the Zeds home when most of the others trailered out, some with pretty high dollar exotic rigs. The real good news was that I was 3rd in class, out of 5, and scored my first motorsport trophy. The fields were a bit thin, and I am under no illusions of this being a "great result", but I hope this little acorn is the forerunner of some saplings in the future. A big thanks to Jack for filling the co-drivers seat and his general assistance, to the Wykked clan for the transport to and from while the Z was left there, and to Jedi Mark, Judith, and Lui, Mim and family for the moral support provided over the weekend. It was all much appreciated.
hey great work there mikey!!.. congrats on the trophy.... sorry we couldnt stay for the trophy presentation, but judith and I were running late for our other commitments of the day... Top effort..:thumbsup::thumbsup: Cheers
Well done, Mikey (and Pete). You've done me number proud! Worked Fri/Sat/Sun nights, so attendance wasn't an option, but thanks to Mark's pics, I feel as though I was there!
Hey Mikey, you better buy a copy of Motorsport News ...>> You and Jack got a mention but they list the car as a Nissan 300ZX R32.
Yeah, thanks for that IB ... I had bought it at lunchtime. Maybe the writer was confused - there was an R33 with number 33, and an R34 with number 34 (these were the 2 cars that came 2nd and 3rd outright), and with me being number 32 perhaps he continued the theme!!!!
Great pics as usual Mark.......>> What a bloody top weekend. Shame about the heat, and the standing around for hours in it and shame I didn't push a little harder in a couple of events too, but it was still a bloody top weekend. Saturday was a blast with the drags, followed by a motorkahana, followed by the average speed on the dome, followed by another motorkahana and then wrapping it up with a couple of short sprints on the National Circuit....run backwards???? I've never seen the track from that view. Really packed a lot into the day, and there was still another day to go.:thumbsup: Started the last day in third place in the Modern Category, but after a poor effort on the second event I got bumped back to 4th by a new R8 Clubman running R-spec tires (seems like Mikey and I were just about the only cars with street rubber), but regained 3rd place when he hit two cones on the next course. With over an hour and a half from the time we did our siting lap to the time we actually got to drive the Grand Prix circuit (Last event) I was a little like Mikey, although I didn't stuff the gate getting onto the Thunder Dome, I did drive a little too cautiously in sections I wasn't familiar with, and the end result was losing third place by a pissy 6 points. Ah well, I only enter these things for the fun anyway, and I did get to pump a Porsche down the quarter on Saturday so that was just about worth it there. Big thanks go to my sexy co-driver who unfortunately succumbed to the heat on Sunday afternoon and had to miss the last event, to Mikey and Jack, the trophies are well deserved guys and I hope they are only the start. Also need to thank the pit crew of Mark, Judith, Alex and Stacey, who due to the fact that we were in Zeds didn't have to do anything more than fetch drinks and shade all weekend long. The only time tools came near the cars it was to check the tire pressures or remove/refit front number plates. Also great to see Lui and Mim (and family) stopping in and chatting. Now all I have to do is wait for next year.
Hi Ron ...... It's a low-tack transparent blue film normally used as a protective lining on stainless steel sheet or coil during the drawing process - adopted for a different purpose!
Well done guys!!! Seems like a great weekend despite the heat! Gotta love these events that go for two days or more!
