Yet another fantastic event under the command of Scott Spedding and all of the North Eastern car club.
For us the weekend started with the arrival at our new holiday house (I wish, and it was on a nice winding dirt road) this place had it all, and was massive with the most amazing view in the morning of a almost dried up lake Eldon
. The morning we awoke to a mild day with just some stickers to slap on the short drive to the start. All lined up there were these shiny clean cars with one dust encrusted grot machine in between. Well I had spent hours polishing it spotless but all for nothing as the dirt road and dew made that a waste of time
Stage 1,
Aim= Flat out from start and make the most of new tyres. So this is what we tried and wow this stage is so much fun with grip. After watching last year’s footage one other aim was 5th gear flat out over one of the last crests. All was going well until that little bit of brain (fear part) at the last minute baulked and we cruised over with a little bit of air. We finished the stage =1st with Nathan Reeves only seconds after starting, well 4kms in 4th and 5th gear feels like it.
Stage 2,
Aim= um well fun and fun. All was going well until the second bridge when we came across blue smoke then the Subaru of Matt Swan on its side. Crew were out and all ok just some extinguishing to do, so pushed on to the finish.
Stage 3,
This is a fun stage to start, gentle uphill climb long enough to wind it up through the gears. It would be a great place to sit at the end and hear the cars up the hill. The stage was much the same as last year but the rough section was smother. Made the speccie point without a problem, well this time, second pass was a little sloppy
.
Stage 4,
This is the best piece of road in the world!! Well Carl's world! Even with new tyres the climb up the first half of the stage was a struggle for the Datto and I’m sure any 2WD, but plenty sideways for all
. The flowing cambered road was once again fantastic and the flat out 5th gear finish is such a thrill.
Stage 5,
This has to be the most grippy stage in any event. So many of the corners are exited without any over steer. It is a weird thing coming from the previous stage of maximum oversteer. A fun quick blat then back for service.
At this stage were leading the event by over 40 seconds. I must say this is a cool feeling and I can see why others put so much in to their sport to be there. The only flip side is the constant thought of who or what is going to take this position away. Unfortunately for me there was just one man, Nathan who had partly fixed the leak in the turbo and put in a fantastic drive to take back the 40odd seconds and add a further 45. Try as we may nothing could stop him, even puckering up and holding 5th gear over the crest on the 1st stage second time to launch about a foot in the air resulted in 5 seconds down
Well done mate
.
At the end I knew I could not have pushed any harder and was happy with my, Deans, and the rest of the team’s efforts. I will just have to try 4th time lucky next year
Thanks go to,
Michelle and the boys, after the stress of moving house and two young kids stretching her to the limit and I’m sure the husband as well, Michelle still had a smile on her face. Thanks Hun.
Dean for a fantastic calm and motivating nav job, the help with when and when not to push was a great. Cheers Mate.
Service crew massive/spectator team, Lobby n Shell, Trav, Ryan n Hill thanks for driving all the way to the event and helping to get the result we did, and for helping me enjoy the sport I love. It’s you guys that make this sport the amazing thing that it can be. Thanks a million.
Russ Taylor for the use of his good Peltor helmet, thanks mate I have cleaned all the cooties out of it.
Event directors, all the officials, road closures and behind the scene people that make this event one of the best. All of you NSW/ACT people you are missing out on such a fantastic event that runs from a competitors view without fault.
To all the VCRS guys thanks for letting a NSW bloke come and play in ya back yard, it’s a good yard, and I hope to come play more often.
The weekend was finished off with a climb to the summit of Mt Buller with a great bunch for friends and a Spew from Wes on the way up. Anyone want to sponsor a Blue and Yellow Datto to race up there next year???? What a road!!!
Cheers,
Carl Stewart
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