2009 GAZZANATS
Another long drive down South, 3 days, 40 hours, 3300km I arrived in Adelaide. The drive from Darwin to Alice ran smooth. The next morning around 6am on the road to Pt Augusta we hit a large roo which damaged the side of the truck, denting the front left panel, breaking the petrol cap door off and creating a dent in the petrol tank.
Past Coober Peedy we hit strong side and head winds that slowed us down to a pace of around 80 kmh. This lasted for the next 600km and added 2 hours to the journey. The strong winds also caused the truck to lean on the left side and start rubbing tyres. A bit of equipment movement within the pan and all was good again.
About 20 km out of Pt Augusta the temperature gauge started fluctuating and I heard a hissing sound. Arriving at the hotel and tired from the drive I turned the truck off and went to bed to face the problem the next morning. I discovered the overhead radiator hose had broken a strap and was touching the water pump bolts resulting in a small hole. I fixed the problem and arrived in Adelaide around lunch.
Scud was unpacked and set-up close to the main marquee on Friday afternoon. Saturday was packed will all types of metal being unloaded. I met many drivers, Grunt File organisers, Modified Car Forum guys, the track manager from Heathcoat Raceway, the promoter of Ingham Car Show and many more.
About lunchtime I took Scud for a drive and cruised the track to warn up the driveline. There were 192 competitors for the burnout competition, with only 50 places available in the Sunday finals. The blown group started with 23 entrants, only 19 contending on the Saturday. Around 8.30pm Scud finally lined up on the pad and ran well for 2min 10sec, popping both tyres, still running cool and driving off the pad.
On Sunday I took Scud out again for a warn-up checking all the vitals. At 4pm the final 12 blown cars were unleashed. I gave Scud a bit more stick , finding the rev-limiter a number of times. After 1min 30sec a tyre blew and a few seconds later Scud came to a stop. After being pushed off the pad I checked the car and found that the main kill switch had failed stopping all power to the car.
Presentation took place about 8pm and I was awarded with Toughest Ride and 2nd in the Burnout Competition. I took home a large trophy, cash, oil, harmonic balancer, chamois and other valued items.
After a good rest I drove 700km to Melbourne and left Scud and the truck with a mate. When I move down mid November I will be geting ready for the Springnats, Summernats and Taz Powercruise. After those 3, there is the Ultimate Burnout Competition and many more.
View the semi-final and final of the Burnout Competition on the Gallery page.