boostinhard
21st January 2003, 10:08 PM
Hey,
just got back from The australian Drag Racing Nationals in Queensland - and wow, what a trip!
Firstly, the exaclub members I met. I met Shane (HAT) and his son as well as Guy, who is (Exa18 right???) Abd it was great to meet both you guys!
Entertainment was good. Went to a few pubs, heaps of night clubs, strippers, a club which had a "Miss tropica Contest" and even cut laps with these chicks that I swear were only 15 - but they were driving and assured me they were all 19?? None the less, all I managed was 1 pash and a lot of un-succesfull chatting up for the weekend :(
Okay, to the racing. Had mixed success qualifying 7th (out of 32) with a 9.37 seond run at 135.7 miles per hour. That was about as quick as the old girl was going to go in the heat you guys get up there It was like 40oC air temp with like a track temp of 60oC plus. We even bought a pool and had it setup in the pits to chill off! the fans loved it! Plus The run felt really good - fast and on the edge...
Won first round even thought I thought I had just lost (I didnt know he has red-lit) and chased him down fro ma huge head start. I was like 2m short of catching him whihc isnt much when your catching as quickly as I was! I've nevewr tucked down so hard in my life, I even put my head a bit sideways to try and get it further under the screen :heehee: But I sure was happy when my crew came down to tell me I had one!
Second round was up pretty much straight away and unfortunately I red lit this round (left 0.03 of a seconf before the green light) handing the other guy the win. Not that it mattered anyway as by this stage the track was actually too hot and it was loosing traction. I launched hard to the left and came close enough to the wall - so I shut her off. Pretty dissapointed wiht myself for red-lighting, but thats the way the sport goes. Still got myself to be within the top 15 in the country - which is pretty damn good seeing I've been racing for less than 10 months and that was only my second ever event on a full 1/4 mile track. (I have been doing a lot of 1/8th mile racing)
My old man blew another (thats number 9) gearbox up in his first run and we had every other gear spare except for the one we broke. So his weekend was over without even qualifying...
But by far the most exciting part of the trip was the trip home, where one of our crew members fell asleep at the wheel (everyone was asleep in the truck - including the driver!!!) and we ran off the road at 110kmh!!!!!!! The shoulder of teh road was about a 10foot drop which the truck launched down, starting to bounce and slide. the trailer broke off on impact while the truck started skipping along on 2 wheels threatening to roll. Surprinsingly, it didnt roll, even thoguh it was past a 45 degree angel (would have been around 55 degree angle - I could see the ground out my window and is was about 40cm away...) Somehow everyone was okay - apart from beeing pretty damn shaken - but teh trailer and truck was another story. We spent a few hours on the side of the raod (42oC heat!!!) repairng shit on the truck (tires rolled off rims, had to bash some suspension stuff back into shape, do some shit to the diff, while another guy went in with a passer by to get a tilt tray to take the trailer into the nearest town to get welded up.
But we eventually got back on the road - a little more wide eyed than before!!! We were so lucky - just missed a tree, a 20 foot drop that would have killed us aswell as the thougt that we could've veered onto an oncomming truck or even worse we could have hit a car and killed/injured someone innocent...
So the trip was a definate eye opener - esecially for the road trip to Adelaide this friday!!! But fun none the less (yes even the crash - it was the biggest adrenalen rush I have ever had!!
Sam :eek:
just got back from The australian Drag Racing Nationals in Queensland - and wow, what a trip!
Firstly, the exaclub members I met. I met Shane (HAT) and his son as well as Guy, who is (Exa18 right???) Abd it was great to meet both you guys!
Entertainment was good. Went to a few pubs, heaps of night clubs, strippers, a club which had a "Miss tropica Contest" and even cut laps with these chicks that I swear were only 15 - but they were driving and assured me they were all 19?? None the less, all I managed was 1 pash and a lot of un-succesfull chatting up for the weekend :(
Okay, to the racing. Had mixed success qualifying 7th (out of 32) with a 9.37 seond run at 135.7 miles per hour. That was about as quick as the old girl was going to go in the heat you guys get up there It was like 40oC air temp with like a track temp of 60oC plus. We even bought a pool and had it setup in the pits to chill off! the fans loved it! Plus The run felt really good - fast and on the edge...
Won first round even thought I thought I had just lost (I didnt know he has red-lit) and chased him down fro ma huge head start. I was like 2m short of catching him whihc isnt much when your catching as quickly as I was! I've nevewr tucked down so hard in my life, I even put my head a bit sideways to try and get it further under the screen :heehee: But I sure was happy when my crew came down to tell me I had one!
Second round was up pretty much straight away and unfortunately I red lit this round (left 0.03 of a seconf before the green light) handing the other guy the win. Not that it mattered anyway as by this stage the track was actually too hot and it was loosing traction. I launched hard to the left and came close enough to the wall - so I shut her off. Pretty dissapointed wiht myself for red-lighting, but thats the way the sport goes. Still got myself to be within the top 15 in the country - which is pretty damn good seeing I've been racing for less than 10 months and that was only my second ever event on a full 1/4 mile track. (I have been doing a lot of 1/8th mile racing)
My old man blew another (thats number 9) gearbox up in his first run and we had every other gear spare except for the one we broke. So his weekend was over without even qualifying...
But by far the most exciting part of the trip was the trip home, where one of our crew members fell asleep at the wheel (everyone was asleep in the truck - including the driver!!!) and we ran off the road at 110kmh!!!!!!! The shoulder of teh road was about a 10foot drop which the truck launched down, starting to bounce and slide. the trailer broke off on impact while the truck started skipping along on 2 wheels threatening to roll. Surprinsingly, it didnt roll, even thoguh it was past a 45 degree angel (would have been around 55 degree angle - I could see the ground out my window and is was about 40cm away...) Somehow everyone was okay - apart from beeing pretty damn shaken - but teh trailer and truck was another story. We spent a few hours on the side of the raod (42oC heat!!!) repairng shit on the truck (tires rolled off rims, had to bash some suspension stuff back into shape, do some shit to the diff, while another guy went in with a passer by to get a tilt tray to take the trailer into the nearest town to get welded up.
But we eventually got back on the road - a little more wide eyed than before!!! We were so lucky - just missed a tree, a 20 foot drop that would have killed us aswell as the thougt that we could've veered onto an oncomming truck or even worse we could have hit a car and killed/injured someone innocent...
So the trip was a definate eye opener - esecially for the road trip to Adelaide this friday!!! But fun none the less (yes even the crash - it was the biggest adrenalen rush I have ever had!!
Sam :eek: