Festivities were under way in the early afternoon, and continued in earnest when the bar opened, finger food came and went, tall stories were swapped. It had been decided to hold the Motorkhana in the "sheep toilet" as young Marshall Robson quite rightly described it, actually it was the paddock next door to the restaurant.
Breakfast was bright and early at 7am (well most people shuffled in at about 7:30) and then moved their cars 50 metres to the scrutineering area, and subsequently on to the sheep toilet Motorkhana ground for two runs at four tests. The ground was very loose, due to the absence of any grass, and the moisture held down the dust. Due to the loose ground and ruts it was nearly impossible to improve your time on the second run. The courses were not difficult and there was no reversing. The competition was tight at the front of the field, but Murray Atkinson (SI Civic) with some help from LSD (maybe we should have drug tested his gearbox) got a jump on us and Mark Warner (EB1) was just plain quicker than Kevin Johns and me in our respective Hondamatic Preludes, I managed to beat Kevin by a short-half pile of sheep droppings for third in class and third outright. Thanks go to John T. for letting me keep my record of never letting the sponsor beat me.
The Observation Run was difficult (as usual), it's amazing how much cultural and logical difference there is between states, needless to say Queensland logic doesn't overlap much with NSW, and John and I finished about 3rd last. Kirsty and Malcolm Thomas (virtual novices) walked away with the event, and they went into shock when it was announced, because they gave themselves no chance of doing well. The results are not announced till the presentation, so everyone had to wait a day. It is has been customary for the organisers to photograph the answers to appease everyone's disgust at not finding things, but there were no photos this year, so we are still wondering where we went wrong.
Late Saturday afternoon we were treated to a sheep dog trial, a guided tour of a sheep, and a shearing demonstration which was most entertaining. The Saturday night buffet was devoured and the bar was well attended. The restaurant is built from local timber, in the local style with exposed beams and a big stove in the centre to keep everyone warm. Our accommodation was the shearers quarters with a common room and spartan 4 bunk rooms for sleeping. The amenities block is a few metres away with nice hot showers. The common room had non-stop videos running of Japanese street racing videos (home made) and various other car themes, and housed the computers and organising stuff.
Sunday morning we cruised (100m) to Wakefield Park, and watched the heavy metal unloaded from the trailers, and scrutineered for the Super Sprint. The entrants chose someone to pair up with to do their runs, and up to three pairs were spaced around the circuit, The timing was started halfway around the first lap, then three flying laps were recorded and half a lap was used for cool down back to the pits. The event ran smoothly, and no-one came to grief, but some gardening was done from time to time. The timing was handled by an independent group, which took the some of the hassle out of the event for the organisers.
The Presentation Dinner
had trophies being awarded between courses, which certainly speeds up the
process, and gives everyone something to chat about, then the major awards
were handed out and raffles drawn etc. I don't know that many legends were
created this year, but everyone vowed to come north and annoy us next year.
Some of them will be up for the "Club Car" round later this year, and others
for holidays, so we'll get them hooked on the weather before next Easter.
