Springcar Nationals – Shepparton

Springnats Part 1 – A Male Perspective

“It was sick mate!” Na seriously I wasn’t quite sure why I was asked to do a review on Springcar, since my car only did approx 30 sec worth of driving events. A joke was made that I probably saw more of the event than anyone else, but unfortunately as I drove my entered car up to Shep and the fact that I had to drive it home (and I also wanted to get some value out of my entry fee) I actually spent most of the weekend under my bonnet.

So I have decided to write not just about the Burnouts (however it was an ace one though Gordz) or the Motorkhana (which we have a person who corners just as fast as he drives straight, Cliff) or the Dyno challenge (almost King Sime) even the Go to Whoa (too many to mention in this category) but also about the comradery and the spirit of those involved in the club.

When I broke down in Shep I had no idea what had happened. I had just spent the past 2 ½ hours driving and it was purring along then suddenly about 1km from scrutineering my car went putt putt putt kerr doonk and nothing. This was a concerning factor considering I had 3 club cars on trailers right behind me. I sent the others along to scrutineer and set about fixing.

I eventually got it going and made it to scrutineering. There was a big queue and the constant start/stop had me worrying. However, I made it through, out past the gate and got about 100 metres down the road putt putt putt kerr doonk again. As it was the same problem as before I made a semi-educated guess and blamed the mechanical fuel pump, so I bought another (thank god for tucker barn!) as well as lots of rubber fuel hose (thanks for the lift Matt). Kath, Sime, Daniel and Cath came back to tow me to Deca. I had it running again by now so I drove onto the trailer however I’m not sure if Kath was too impressed about how high the SLE back end got. The back wheels were approx 2ft off the ground as I drove the Ute onto the trailer. It’s amazing how much tougher a vehicle looks on a trailer, especially if it’s not visibly broken, thanks guys.

When we finally arrived at Deca everyone was settling in and setting up – Bonnets and pipes definitely off and stocky’s on! I set about changing fuel pump and re-routing fuel lines. A few people gave their opinions and advice on possible causes and remedies, thank you.

Motorkhana under lights had begun on Friday night and all the troops went off to play. Eastside stickers and t-shirts were to be seen everywhere. Finally, I was going again and I came to join the fray. It was the first event and everyone was toey to get out there and give it hell. Ado was in fine form throwing his “blue bus” around like there was no tomorrow and the crowd loved every minute of it. All the entrants were keen to play, but even more so for the $2000 up for grabs. Slowly my turn came around so I went out and gave it hell. At the end of my run my car started to stutter again but I put it done to me throwing the car around.

I lined up again and got almost to the front when I decided to check the fuel filter again…it was EMPTY…so rather than embarrass myself by breaking down on the skid pan I decided to park back at the tent and enjoy an ale or seven. Word came that the club was doing extremely well but festivities had to come to an end and everyone slowly called it night and joined me in the drinking.

A new day dawned and Springnats was in full swing. Sime headed for the Dyno to try and take it all. He got there EARLY and was the first car (they literally set up right beside him!). When it was time, a helluva crowd had gathered round. After much f*#cking around and close to boiling the car they finally did the power run and Sime ran a hot 297kw. This went unmatched till half hour to go on Sunday when he was beaten by a V8 at 305kw, bad luck mate. Daniel Dickson also went on the dyno, he came I quote “last in the rotors or second whichever way you want to look at it”. Either way it was still a very respectable 223kw.

Another morning event was the spear a spud. A lot of the females took part in this event and held up the Eastside flag…just ask Cath who unfortunately had the bruises to show for her efforts (it’s true that Issy can throw the car around as much as Keith). Show n Shine was also happening with some of the cars getting detailed up to try and win some prizes. Dave even tried to turn the event into a swap meet.

Mid arvo brought on the qualifying rounds of Go to Whoa. It was great to see all club members out there giving it all their best. Everyone also offered rides to members and friends. Cath got out for the first time on slicks and gave the car a wailin’. A very nervous Sarah put up some excellent times but not to be outdone was Paul and Helen Dickson in the Navara. Ever the showman Quentin proved his car to be a crowd pleaser by producing smoke at every opportunity (even backing up to the fence at one stage). Keith showed how good his brakes were with his display of full noise then BRAKE on the line technique, also putting up some good times. Brett Smythe took his car out and gave it a burl; he took his sedan opting to leave his hatch at home. Maybe a smart move as a pineapple was handed out to another club member (bad luck Keith). Schubby seemed to be enjoying his weekend constantly being out and about although he seemed to be having issues with his car too. Every time I saw him he was sidelined.

The Burnouts were starting early arvo as well and most of the club went over to see our only entrant Gordz wreak havoc. He was about 6th to come out to play. There were a couple of good burnouts before him as well as a couple of duds. Finally it was Gordz turn and did he put on an AWESOME performance. The announcer screaming “Holy crap will you look at that” as the crowd went absolutely ballistic as mountains of smoke billowed from the crabbing car. Then let fly a few doughnuts and then all you could see was smoke, no car just smoke, oh and noise. When his time was up and the smoke cleared he went towards the opening – oops wrong way. Then his car stalled and wouldn’t start – bloody cars! Renee and Gordz got out of the car and the crowd arked up again. Unfortunately for Gordz, his motor had decided that enough was enough.

The Barbie trailer proved to be a huge success both with the amazed onlookers and how handy it proved to be. Many photos were taken of it and lots of interest was shown into how it was done.

Lots of other Clubs showed plenty of interest in us over the weekend some wanting us to do joint cruises with them. The VSMA (Victorian Street Machine Association) also wants us to join their association.

The cooler air of night time brought quicker Go To Whoa times as the cars performed better. Unfortunately my car was still being temperamental (I choose to believe that it was scared that I was going to break it and NOT BECAUSE IT IS A FORD!). Renee’s parents were coming up on Sunday so I decided to play it safe and got them to bring a trailer up.

Morning came and we were well and truly out of ideas for my car. It seemed to be fine for a while then it would stutter again so enough was enough and on the trailer it went. Go to Whoa finals were on and Simon would KILL me if I did not mention that not once but TWICE he beat Gary Myers (second run knocked him out of contention). One by one club members got eliminated, some getting an extra step on others but we won’t mention names just the letter Q. He was eliminated next run by Dave Mitzy anyway so….. The female event was fairly even with everyone racing hard; Sarah did exceptionally well finishing with a fourth place – more on that later.

Once finals had been decided the skidpan was opened up to grudge racing and everyone began to relax and enjoy racing before the event came to a close. However it was a different story in the burnouts with SICMA blowing his stack but he still continued to smoke it up. This meant the end of grudge racing because the burnouts were moved to the skidpan.

Finally it came to presentations. These were split this year and first set was Show and Shine. Some members went over hoping to do well, to their surprise the Best Participating Car Club trophy was announced. We won, which was a great effort from every club member. As a club we did sensational for our first outing. Next were the driving events. Simon won his class for the Dyno comp, Cliff won the Motorkhana event overall and male class, and to her shock Sarah came third in female Go To Whoa. For the few weeks after that she always received the call “Show us your T……rophy!”

All in all a great weekend was had by all including myself. I thought everyone put in a fantastic effort for our first major club event. Next year we will be bigger and better. Thank you to everyone who helped me over the weekend. Sorry to anyone I didn’t mention.

- Paul Wilbraham

Springnats Part 2 – A Female Perspective

It was with great anticipation that the Eastside Cruisers awaited the Spring Car Nationals of 2002, and it was certainly a weekend worth waiting for. As most of you will know, some Eastside members had an enjoyable and trouble-free weekend, and others endured some unfortunate mechanical setbacks which hampered their efforts. This was my debut into the car show scene as an entrant, and I was certainly not disappointed!! This article details my experiences over the weekend, from a female, first-time entrant perspective.

Friday saw an early start with the long drive to Shepparton (which seemed interminably long with the deafening drone of my wailing diff to keep me company), and the scrutineering process. When we finally arrived at DECA all I was interested in was lining up for the Motorkhana, despite the fact I had precisely no idea how the event was run or what the course looked like!!

After a long wait in the queue and many frantic questions about the course layout it was finally my turn. As the official went to breath test me it dawned on me that I was absolutely terrified!! I politely informed the official I was dangerously close to vomiting, and he chuckled and told me to keep it in the car, not on the track. Suddenly I was at the start line, and it was too late to turn back. I babbled incoherently at Dave for a bit and then before I knew it the light was green and I was barrelling towards the first marker. Halfway around the first turn I realised just how little I cared about traction, as it was far more fun sliding around being stupid! I managed to get four attempts at the course which was great. My fourth attempt was the most entertaining (for me anyway), as I had my first ever bash at ripping hellish donuts with a full carload of passengers who really didn’t trust my driving abilities!! The car emerged unscathed although the fourth orange marker pole on the course had a close encounter of the break-in-half kind with my bonnet! I’m not sure why the officials wouldn’t let me keep it as a souvenir! Perhaps they didn’t want to promote destruction of property, but I thought it was a proud moment anyway!

Saturday was another exciting day where I was able to try my hand at the Spear A Spud and Go to Whoa events, which both proved to be harder than I expected. I selected my sister Mel as a partner for spear a spud due to the long hours of practice I witnessed her performing every time her boyfriend Sam drove her up my street, where she would lurch out of the window at regular intervals brandishing an imaginary spear and practise impaling potatoes! It was quite a difficult event due to the fact that I couldn’t hear Mel’s instructions (ie Go, Forwards, I’m Falling Out etc) because I had no pipes (what a shame), but we both had an ace time and exhibited Mel’s exceptional potato-salad making skills because she splattered every potato she speared! Sam later proved that he too was quite talented at dangling out of a car window precariously while I hooned around trying to avoid seriously injuring innocent hay bales.

I was also fortunate enough to passenger in the spear a spud event in Brett’s beast and experienced the event from a crash-test dummies’ point of view. Most of you remember my affinity for hanging out of car windows (like in the Black Spur) and Brett’s affinity for trying to kill me whilst hanging out of car windows (see also the Black Spur) and this occasion didn’t differ! We finished the event with me sporting massive bruises from being bashed by the A pillar several times but sporting an even bigger grin!

I also made my first attempts at the Go To Whoa on Saturday, and was once again surprised by how difficult it was. In my first three attempts I stopped short of the line by a few inches, then finally twigged that the red light goes on when you park your tyres on the line (duh), and began making successful runs after that. I continued my efforts well into the night until they booted me off the skidpan because the venue was closing, and we returned to the hotel and sat around looking forward to watching others compete in the finals for Sunday’s events.

On Sunday morning I was in no particular rush to get to DECA until a surprise phone call from Kath came, telling me to get my ass to the track because I qualified for the eliminations for Go to Whoa. It was fantastic news for me to hear that not only had I qualified, but all of the female drivers from Eastside Cruisers had qualified! I caught up with all the girls before the finals and had just enough time to get really stressed out about the prospect of seriously competing and suddenly the eliminations were beginning. Somehow I managed to pull myself together and revved poor Marvin within an inch of his life off the start line and unbelievably I made it through to the top four in the female category. I was simply proud to have made it through the first round of eliminations, and any achievement above that for me was a bonus. Suddenly I was flung into the finals, and thank God I didn’t have time to really think much or I would have flaked out in a big way, so instead I gave Marvin a severe flogging and was competing for third place. The nerves got to me in this race, and I foolishly overshot the line, and then spent what seemed like an eternity trying to pick reverse so I could hit the line. The officials told me I had lost to the EH wagon I was competing against, and after much hollering and swearing by myself and Dave (and a minor tantrum by me) I got over my disappointment and was proud of my effort. Little did I know the shock that was in store...

At the presentations we were sitting in our group and suddenly they called my name for third place! After accidentally (and very loudly) letting everyone know this came as a surprise to me I rushed up to claim my trophy before they could take it back from me and promptly hid it behind Renee. The rest of the presentations passed in a daze and I couldn’t wait to get out of there so they couldn’t reverse the decision and take my trophy! It turned out that the officials had mistakenly told me I lost, so I wasted good tantrum efforts on nothing!

Sunday night saw a wonderful get together of all the Eastside members who stayed the extra night, and I finally fell asleep for the first time over the weekend, amidst loud calls of “show us ya trophy!!”.

All in all it was a memorable weekend and I wish to congratulate everyone who made the journey to Shepparton and supported us Eastside Cruisers, the TOP Participating Car Club for the 2002 Spring Nats!!! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Brett for all his countless hours of assistance in preparing my car, and also Dave for teaching me how to really drive.

Also a special congratulations and well done to all our female entrants who got out there and had a go, and showed everyone at Shepparton that we Eastside Cruisers girls are not just pretty faces and should not be messed with! GO GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Sarah