Just a quick one for those that are snow locked. Travelled up to Gunnedah which is a 4 hour trip for the weekend drags. As I've posted before, this is a really good, low key weekend run by the Tamworth Drag Racing Club. Anyone who turns up with an enlarged ego soon realizes that up here it doesn't wash. On the way up Friday night we were hit by a clanger of a storm but come Saturday the skies were clear. A little mopping up and we were right to race. I was trying out a set of 1 1/2" SUs instead of the usual 1 1/4". Barely was able to get it to run good enough to get it off the trailer but ran a 9.3 eighth mile. This ended up being the best of my runs for the whole weekend. Between fuel leaks, slipping linkages and the throttle getting stuck on, I was ready to put it back on the trailer and be a spectator. My wife suggested I just persevere as the next 3 runs were 9.5s. Track was shut down early as a bank of black cloud and lightning was heading our way. Sunday morning , blue skies and racing again. Yee-hah! Still had linkage issues but it was manageable. After doing the 'burnout', the throttle would get stuck on about 3,000 revs. A couple of 9.5s again so dialed 9.45 as the first couple of runners broke-out because the wind had dropped off a bit. I wasn't hoping for great things but managed to win the first elimination with a backing off 9.6 on the 9.45 as the other bloke was nowhere to be seen. Second run was another win with 9.489 on a 9.45. By then I'd got the reputation as a Ford killer but was up against a Holden Commodore V8 on a 8.86 dial-in. My reaction time was a bit tardy but so was his and he snuck in front of me at the line. He ran a 8.869 on his 8.6 and I ran 9.58 on a 9.45. Good close racing with handshakes allround at the end. He earn't the win. Back on the trailer for me but he went on to be beaten by another Holden in the final. This is the last run for me, one video by me, one by my wife. Gotta go to bed now as I start work in 4 1/2 hours time. Maybe more tomorrow. Peter
Here we have the first elimination run. Sorry if the car camera angle is a bit weird, I didn't realize that my wife had bumped the camera when she was holding the umbrella to shade me. Here's one to show you how anyone is welcome to race anything.
Still with the leaks and linkage probs? You do know you're supposed to wrench on'em between meets, right? And cocking the camera a bit's cheaper'n re-mounting the mill upright, yeah? Great stuff, warms the heart of one who's eyebrow deep in Rose Parade crap right now. Thanks.
I was wondering if it would go any quicker with a 'leaning tower of power', Holden style. I hadn't had a chance to trial run the larger SUs. No quiet back streets around my place, so it was a case of 'suck it and see'. I had the smaller ones with me to change back to, but persevered . They ended up being consistently shithouse, but consistent none the less.
Ah....But the question remains, "are you having fun?" If the answer is yes, it was a successful weekend.
Actually Tom, my wife asked me the same thing on the trip home. The answer was a resounding, shit yeah! She asked because she is the one who stands out in the sun holding the brolly over me, puts up with me ranting at myself for doing something dumb and switching on the car camera ,then hurrying over to the start line to film with her camera so you blokes have something to watch. If I wasn't enjoying myself she wouldn't do it. Neither would I. I might add, it got that hot at the weekend at the track, my wife had a slight collapse but told me to get in the car and race. Far be it for me to go against her so I did. (I made sure one of the officials was keeping an eye on her). Yes, I was having a blast. Peter.
Thanks for posting looks like a nice little strip must try and get there some day my last run was a Wilby a month ago also a fun strip with some fast locals Colin
That sums it all up Peter. If we didn't have wives that supported our crazy ideas we would probably just sit at home and drink our lives away. I don't think I could ever find a better "crew chief". We'll be 48 years in January and it still amazes me all the crazy stuff we have done together.
Yes Colin, I recommend getting there if you can. It's a real 'run what you brung' type of place as you can see by the videos I put up. I'm not into that Facebooky thing, but if you Google Tamworth Drag Racing Club you should get some info on upcoming race dates. All you need for most street driven cars, including Hotrods, is an approved, current helmet. I think the street cars can use open face helmets.
Peter, thanks for giving all of us some looks at the different drag strips you guys have to run at. You put in some real miles to race, but I know it is all fun making passes with you buddies. Keep the pictures coming. Tom
I thank you all for the encouraging words regarding the race reports. I've actually found that I enjoy doing them as it gives me a chance to use the skills that my teachers tried to belt into me at school 43 years ago. My wife is a High School English teacher who went to school with me. She likes to remind me what I was like in class. You know how it goes, "what do we have to learn that crap like essay writing for?" Now she looks over my shoulder sometimes and shakes her head and says "Mrs. Morris, the English teacher, would be proud of you", and make sure you put a comma in that sentence. Things might be a bit quiet for a while as our race season slackens off because it gets too bloody hot down here. Don't despair as I'm going to try something arty-farty over the Xmas break, camera-wise. I'm going to try combining 2 videos onto one screen, I just have to change a camera format. Can't be any harder than changing a spark plug can it? Anyhow, to all you silly buggers on this forum, have a really nice Xmas and a racing Good Year. Peter and Rhonda.
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