Event Pictures - 2012

Doug Chivas Memorial Track day 2012

Date: 19/5/2012

Photos by: Andrew Laxy and Oz Mopar

Story by: Andrew Laxy

Here's a bit about how some of the cars went  on the day - first expiry appeared to be Adrian in the 340 (416) stroker Charger when the Supra 5 speed went bang. He said he did a couple of easy laps then it died the first time he really got up it.

Then Layne's hardtop 'Greenval' split a radiator hose after a couple of laps, he had a spare on hand though. Then it turned out to be low on oil and he hurt a rocker or something, so he just babied it home (made it no worries). Bruce Hardtopman outlined his problems above which was a shame not getting to see it cut sick all day, but Jake's purple Charger sounded thunderous around the track and looked stupidly quick. You could see the smiles break out around the pit area everytime he was into it haha. Chris in the orange R/T clone seemed to have oil pressure issues when cornering and had to retire for the day, but looked promising when I was out with him on the earlier sessions, including a big tank slapper and spin! The Dodge Challenger had issues all day, thermostat, starter motor... not sure how it ended up, but it smoked up nicely when I was behind him at the start of one of the sessions!

Allan's E37 770 seemed to be going really hard all day, but sounds like he ran out of brakes eventually. Lynx's VIP was also going strong and pulled some huge skids both on the track and on the way to the track!!! We had a great duel in our final session with me trying to fend him off as he reeled me in over a few laps, then eventually got me on the main straight and nice inside drift at Turn 1! My brakes were smoking after the first session but I think I used them less after that, checked the pads last night and they have barely worn since I checked them before the event. I thought it would be smart to show off with a massive drift on the final cool down lap, well worth it but threw the fan belt then overheated immediately and later split a seam in the top tank as it was trying to cool off. Lynx and Haydn escorted me into town and some radiator stop leak at the Collie servo seemed to do the trick, drove it home 2.5 hours at 110 and didn't have a problem.

Haydn's little Hillman went well all day but was severely underpowered, he has since heard a knock in the engine bay somewhere but I don't know if this is major yet.

There was a very nice stocker beige CL770 265 4-speed that was racing all day without a hitch it seemed, it was slow but smooth, Ron mentioned that he won the most consistent trophy.

Hopefully someone recorded some lap times, I got told I did a 64.8 in the first session after Adrian timed a few of us.

Already thinking up car plans for next year!