Sprint – Gripshiftslide

Sprintcar :: 360 Victorian Title Avalon Raceway

Grant — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 06:38:53 +0000

This is one of those fringe motorsports that I have always wanted to visit and for the longest time it had been on my list of motorsports to cover. I was inspired to cover Sprintcar because of a rally photographers friend, so I jumped in the GSS van and headed to Avalon Raceway Geelong.

I have never been to any motorsport where all the fans bring their own seating. So while everybody was busy finding a good spot to sit down, the water trucks continuously did laps to prepare the track for the racing ahead.

Soon after the trucks had finished watering down the track, the racing teams started to enter. One by one, the cars were pushed in by their support team buggy. I must say that I found it strange they didn’t enter under their own power.

The pushing theme continued throughout the day, with push starts given by various utes and 4wd’s. Once these beasts were given their starting push, every car put down a few low speed laps to warm up their engines.

Each class of sprint car had a decent number of competitors and group by group, they all put down warm up laps.

Having a dummy starting grid / second pits in the middle of the track felt unorthodox compared to other motorsports i have attended and yet I understand why they have to set it up this way.
This is the spectators point of view and I had to share this view as I didn’t have a media pass unfortunately on the day.

Siting at different points around this oval style track gave a different perspective of the corners and the cars that were approaching.

The amount of speed these cars generated in a small straight was incredible, especially while on the dirt. Not only do the cars have a crazy amount of torque, but the real secret to getting all this power around the track seems to be the super wide tyres that keep these beasts on the ground.

With three hundred and sixty cubic inch engines, these sprint cars put down between 600-700 horse power. With a power-to-weight ratio comparable to a Formula 1 car, these sprint cars are no joke!

The Front of a sprint car does not look like your average high powered race car, with its strange front spoiler and big fat tyres. The unorthodox body covers its’ super light tube race fame. Under this frame is an untamed v8 power plant that makes more noise than an angry dragon that is hooked on crack.

The urban name for sprint car racing is Caveman Drifting. It’s a dirty sport and certainly not for the faint hearted. It is really a mix of rally and drift with a bit of Nascar, all rolled into one sport.

Although this car had a substantial smoke trail following it, the car actually was not on fire. Often these cars run so hot and they have to cope with a lot of vibration, this can cause oil hoses to become slightly loose and spray oil on the headers. This is one of the main causes of smoke trails from sprint cars.

The spray of mud from the cars was incredible and not long after the first few laps it literally started raining mud when all the cars got on track. With the velocity of a paintball these clumps of mud would fire out and stick to you and everything around you.

The crowd was one of the largest that I had seen at any local motorsport event I’ve attended. With an audience this big, I am surprised you do not see sprint cars on tv more often.

Not only does the track get cut up as the event goes on, but the drivers have to cope with the changing light conditions. As the sun gets lower the track develops patches of light and shade and this definitely adds to the difficult task of driving at high speeds on a dirt track.

This car lost grip and found itself in a wall. We all know motorsport is dangerous and so it was really good to see the driver walk away from this crash.

The racing is close and furious, whether it be in dash format or main A / B racing format. The competition is always very fierce.

After each session the cars would return to the pits though a small gate in the wall. One of the best things about sprint cars is the lack of downtime on track action, it seems there is always something happening.

The time trials are one part of the sprint car format that I really enjoyed. It was great to see how each driver approached the track. The lap times the cars set, position the cars into the correct race heats based on their recorded time. Sorting the drivers by times set, made for much better competition and excitement in the final heats.

One of the biggest crashes of the night was this near flip into the wall. Lucky these sprint cars have great cages and big wings to save the driver from harm.

When there are twenty plus cars on the track, there is not much room for error and especially when these bad boys get up to speed. Being only centimeters from a concrete wall while power sliding on dirt, really takes some crazy confidence.

As the light faded and the sun went down, things started to get cold. This was my first experience with sprint cars and it is fair to say I’m now officially addicted! The sound, the speed, and the atmosphere all combine to create one serious spectacle.
Thanks for reading,
Grant

Geelong Revival :: The Speed Trials Are Back

Grant — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:27:39 +0000

It has been almost a decade since the last Geelong speed trials, the Geelong revival is the reinvention of this great event. It has returned in bigger and better fashion. With a motor show, sprint and gala dinner, held over two days along the beautiful Geelong waterfront.

Since 1956 this event has captivated young and old. It has seen its fair share VIP racing identity’s, Sir Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Bob Jane, Glen Seaton, Mika Hakkinen, to name a few.

Upon arriving i was greeted by a large group of mini car shows scared all along the shore line, up until the start line of the sprint track.

Some fantastic cars were on display, this has to be one of the cleanest fiats of the show, love the classy lines of this car.

I found this very yellow lotus 7 enjoying the sun.

Many more classic cars had grouped to form there own little show cases, this MG had prime position and lots people stopped to admire its unbelievable condition.

The fiat 500 never looked so good, these wheels set it off and make it look like a real life toy car. But this little toy car is the real deal, its the Abarth version.

In the pits the first thing to catch my eye, was these classic touring cars, in the eighties, these two dominated the scene and the mountain.

Some people needed a little helping hand to get there cars started, lucky many had a large pit crew to help out.

Im not completely sure what a PJC-2 2008 is but apparently this is it! a custom built car, mainly used for track events and club racing.

The classic mini, getting a quick fix before getting back on the track.

Slammed type 3, not your normal track car, but it was great to see a car with such character out there mixing it with the big boys.

There were plenty or replica and real cobras on show, with so many cobras together it was hard to see any difference.

These controls may look boat like, but back in the day this is what the dash of most cars would have been like.

What is a classic car event with out an e-type Jag? They always look so good and to date i have never seen dirty one.

A MG montlhery midget, it is not only a show car but also it has seen some serious time on the track.

With so many chances to mark his territory, this little dog had unfinished business and did not want to leave.

That classic shape! and those bold lines! you know it could only be 328GTS Ferrari

With more curves than a woman, this ultra rare classic car drew a lot of attention.

So many cool old school wood grain interiors around i felt the need to go black and white.

Soaking it all in, were these two blokes enjoying there morning coffee and the many cars on show.

You may recognize this car from regular rob roy hilclimbs, the Lancia Lambda Special is one large monster of a car.

This was one of the most unique cars on display in comparison to everything else

A true old school touring car, from the days when touring cars had some variety and were good to watch un like today’s v8 controlled layout. Thankfully the introduction of Nissan and Mercedes might make things a little more interesting.

This is one of only a handful of hot rods in attendance, most of these were scattered around the shoreline mixed in with many other classic cars.

Graham Alexander’s Evo was equal fastest on Saturday along with John Major in his R32 GTR, recording a time of 11.8 seconds over the quarter mile run.

A Custom built Diasio D962, i have never seen one of these before and it is almost like a small lemans style car, the best bit is its powered by a twin rotor.

Not to forget the bikes at the event, this is one of the more extreme side-car style bikes with no much to hold on to.

What i love about this event is the variety of cars, it is absolutely huge with over 200 cars across two days of racing.

Once a race class have raced on the track they are made to return on the same road, from here you can see the slight bend and incline they have to negotiate on there way to the finish.

The RED BUS racing team put on a great display, all of their cars were looking fantastic and many people stopped to have a closer look at the many fine cars they bought to Geelong.

Dont let the Showroom condition fool you!, this was one of the fastest cars to race on the saturday and the only other Nissan that came close to its time was the GTR VSpec 2 N1 2001 driven by Serge Alexander.

At the end of the straight you are forced to turn hard left and this makes for some interesting late braking.

Pit lane was almost as long as the whole track, with so many people walking around the pits it took a fair amount of time for all the cars to get on the track for their sprint.

Of the mazda’s entered into the sprint, this was my favorite, the paint job and the overall condition of this car was impeccable.

Here is another view of the cars returning to the pits, the Fiat X1/9, yet another favorite of mine because of its unique look and sleek lines.

Considering it has been at least a decade between the last Geelong sprint, this event has come together with military precision. With a massive crowd in attendance, it would have to be one of Geelongs biggest events of the year. We cannot wait until next years event if this is just a taste of things to come.
Thanks for looking,
Grant