Sorry for not writing for quite a while. I have a few excuses – I am a lazy bastard, my wife had a baby and been busy with work and play….
I guess I wasn’t really enthused to write about our performance for 2009. We junked three motors in 3 races. It was a very frustrating bad time for me and the team. In support of Top Doorslammer 1/8 mile efforts we slapped together an old engine and headed to Mildura for the first ever Slamfest in March 2010 with very low expectations due to our recent poor form.
Mildura was hot (40 degree) the flies were bad BUT the racing was great. We opted to go for a test run on Friday afternoon. The track looked fairly slick and that was demonstrated to me perfectly in the burnout where i lost complete control and nearly smacked both walls. Needless to say I was very embarassed and disappointed with myself. I didn’t make a run becuase I was a bit unsettled after that wild moment and I didn’t think it was a safe choice.
Saturday the main event. Due to the heat, racing was set back to late afternoon for the first run. Which saw Maurice Fabietti plough into the wall with huge force all but destroying his car which didn’t leave me or the other drivers I suspect with much confidence for our first run. As it turned out the Racetech Steel Statesman hooked up and launched harder then it has ever launched before. We had backed the power down as much as we could and ran a 4.24. This run was top qualifier and quickest for the round until Scott McLean picked us at the post.
The second round we made no changes and fronted up with a 4.20sec run. Taking out low et for that round and top qualifying. We were to run the secondest quickest winner from the second round in the final. That put us up against Mat Abel.
The final was run late in the night at about 11pm. The air had got better, but the track had cooled off. We miss judged the setup slightly after a poor reaction time we shot out with another personal best 60ft .99 but it was too little too late as Mat Abel had reacted quicker to the starting light and got away from me. At half track I got a little loose and backed off and coasted thru with a 4.4 something.
We were estatic about the weekend. The result, the track, the Mildura people/fans, my crew made it one of the best events we have ever attended. A big thanks to Victor Bray, Peter Kapiris, Maurice Fabietti and everyone else who helped get this event up and running including the mayor for supporting the event.
about Mildura Slamfest (our last race).
