A day out at the track

Wednesday, 03 March 2010 05:00

If you’ve read my column you know I like to watch motorsport and write about it, but what you may not know is that I also participate in it.

A good friend of mine, Rob Brown, has a drag racing team and I’m part of the crew. This Team is called Humpy Racing. Why Humpy Racing you ask? Well the car is a 1948 Holden FX. I’m told that these Holdens were referred to as ‘Humpies’ because of their shape, hence the name Humpy Racing. In spite of its size and weight (which is a little over a tonne) with its methanol fuelled 383 Chevrolet small-block engine it can complete the quarter mile in less than ten seconds, with a current PB elapsed time (ET) of 9.22 seconds. The Team is currently predominantly racing in the Australian Nostalgia Drag Racing series, which is a series for pre-1972 cars held at tracks across the country.

For something a bit different I thought I’d keep a diary out at the track and write a column on it for those interested in finding out about what a typical race day involves. The race in question was a one day Nostalgia Drag Racing event held at Willowbank Raceway. I’ve included quite a bit of detail and have split it into two parts so you may want to get a coffee and make sure you’re sitting in a comfy chair before you continue reading!

The day started bright and early for the Team at 6am on Saturday morning when we began the trip to take the FX out to the track. It had already been loaded into the trailer, so all we needed to do was pack those last minute items before we got into the truck to head out to the track, which was about an hours drive away.

Once we arrived there we set up the pits before unloading the car. The FX did not need to be scrutineered but Rob still had to go through scrutineering and we had to sign up as crew for wristbands that would allow us onto the track. Once we got back to our pits I pulled out my camera and began taking shots while the guys began preparing the car for racing. Rob packed the parachute and Dan checked the tyre pressures and then at 10am they fired up the car to check it was running ok.

It was another hour until our bracket (Gas) got called to the staging lanes. We pushed the car out, hooked it on to our tow car and Rob climbed into the FX. The rest of us climbed into our tow car for the event, which was a very cool looking Kombi, named Gonzo, which Peter drove to the staging lanes. Gonzo attracted almost as much attention as the FX and made a great refuge from the sun and the rain throughout the day. As we made our way up to the staging lanes I made sure I got plenty of photos.

These lanes are usually where the real waiting begins. Sometimes the cars move quite quickly through them, other times a car(s) may drop oil and the resultant clean up means that you could be waiting in the lanes for upwards of an hour. While we waited Dan again checked tyre pressures and within twenty minutes we found ourselves at the front of the lane. At this point the car was unhooked from the tow line, Rob fired it up and the tow car made its way round to the side of the track while Dan made his way to the start line.

There aren’t many teams that can boast having two photographers but Humpy Racing can. Paul and I positioned ourselves on the outside of one of the track walls with the media photographers to get some good shots. There were gray clouds overhead and it started to spit as Rob drove the car around to the start of the track. I had the camera firing as the FX did the burnout and was guided into stage by Dan. Then within seconds Rob triggered the pre-stage and stage lights, the three amber lights were illuminated and the green light came on. Taking photos made it hard to see the run but it looked quick and straight as the car disappeared into the distance and I looked at the timing board in anticipation. It revealed a 9.28/145mph, which was only a few hundredths of a second off our PB and impressive given the car hadn’t been on track for six months.

Dan, Paul and I got back into the Kombi so we could head down to the bottom end of the track to pick up the car. Once we got down there the FX was hooked back up and we then headed back to our pits, detouring to pick up our timesheet along the way.

Thankfully the FX runs fairly reliably and so mad ‘thrashing’ is not required between rounds. In fact the only thing the guys needed to do before our second qualifying was run was repack the parachute. It was 12:30pm by this time and the chance of the event running to schedule was beginning to look slim. Further rain and a few track clean ups meant that we didn’t tow back to the staging lanes until 2:45pm. By the time we got there the lanes were full and we were right at the back of them with a couple of the other classes to run before us.

Waiting was an issue on this occasion and the line didn’t move for the next 30 minutes. There’s not a lot to do while you wait, Rob caught up with a couple of the familiar faces and I took photos of the rest of the crew who had congregated in and around what I called their ‘office’ for the day, the Kombi.

It was a further fifteen minutes before we reached the front of our lane. Peter parked the Kombi over to the side of the track and Paul and I got out and again positioned ourselves along the pit wall to try and get some more great shots. Watching from behind the lens I saw another quick and straight run from the FX. The timing board revealed it was about as close to the first pass as you could get with a 9.29/145mph.

Given how behind schedule the event was I was not surprised (and actually glad) to find out that the third qualifying round had been cancelled. This wasn’t a problem for our team as we had two consistent runs under our belt and were anxious to start racing. By Chelsea Woods http://www.girlracer.co.uk

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