(words by Sean Power. Photos from Pat and myself)
Sunday’s 6 Hour event at Mallala was quite a day. The weather Gods did smile on us in some ways – it did not rain and although the morning was freezing, there was bright sun for the main part of the day. It was cold if you did not prepare well, and I was grateful for lots of walking around and winter woollies underneath the jeans.
What a day – 2 composite teams entered for the first time in 10 or 12 years for a team of 5 (Red Heiffer) and 4 (We’re in it for the Beer) cars respectively. Red Heiffer originally had 6 cars but we gave Rob van Wageningen in his Nissan 370Z to a Victorian Sprite Car ClubTeam to help bring them over for the event. This kind act would rebound on us later!
Red Heiffer Driver Gerard Miller had problems from the start of the day with his beautiful old Buick race car. Usually faultless, it play up from the start and ended with a cannibalised battery from Dean King’s car and another devious electrical capacitor to keep it running, but only for short times. Eventual withdrawal in the final moments of the day. The rest of Red Heiffer just kept circulating. Dean’s car would be further cannibalised to keep on of the Victorian Spridgets racing. Hopefully he can piece it all back together again!
Most of the drama was with the “Beer” team. One of Dave Tye’s Lotus was not entered, blown engine from the Historics a few weeks ago. This left a starting pool of 4 cars. Things started well, then late in the day, Pat Mullins in the Tye’s Lotus Cortina, lost 2nd gear and had to retire. The gear is yet to be found! Shortly after, the Clubbie of John Coker lost a fan belt somewhere out on the track and he had to retire. Bugger! Rod Hammond (Puma) and Davin Umlauf, Kestrel Twin Charge), were left to continue and finish off the day. Lots of laps and close calls for this small team but we made it in the end.
I wish to thank the great volunteer group from both Clubbies and Sprite clubs, their partners and their friends and some other people I had press-ganged into helping on the day. It was a huge, long, tiring day but we managed to complete the day safely. On behalf of all the drivers, I thank all those who helped make the day such a success. Our club members really stepped in and ran the teams so well, from the Hill, timing, to managing the pit wall and form-up. With two teams entered, there is a lot of work managing the day. Next year, I will buy more two way radios, as the lack of comms equipment this year really showed.
Now to Rob! The Victorian Sprite team (Team Goblin) he was given to had, with him included, 4 cars in total. Rob had replaced both discs and front brake pads of the 370Z two weeks before yesterday. A warmup up stint and then an extended drive and he was back in the pits having had a total loss of brakes. Examination revealed complete wear of pads but no serious damage to rotors. Car withdrawn.
Today, a call to Rob found that his Victorian Sprite team (Team Goblin) had come third and he had been given a trophy. He was so proud. That hurt. In all the 20 years we have entered, our teams have never won anything, in fact we have always figured down towards the bottom end of each table. Even when we had entered 4 teams many years ago, we got nowhere. We have had fun with most drivers content with having fun and not always sticking to their stated times.
