09 August, 2009

Race 22, Grizly Adams Had A Beard

Back to one of our favourite tracks this season, and no-one called the law this time. It's a good, long road with a terrific gradient and some great curves ending at a bridge that has a troll living under it.
You can't see the troll, but she's down there.
Despite being jammed in the centre of the starting grid, Kymbo methodically overtook everything and blasted into first place. Cameras are too slow to catch it. Lucky for him, Quicksilver didn't race this month.
A shiny new yellow paint job and straight into the lead for Chariot of the Dogs. It was soon hunted down by the heavier supercarts. Looks cool but.
Obsession flies straight and true, overtaking Inspiration with it's sights firmly set on Bootylicious and Ton O' Fun to second place.
Inspiration is the sister cart to Obsession, but 67 times its size. It's bigger than the real car used to transport Chariot of the Dogs. However, it seems to handle and go brilliantly in the skillful hands of its pilot.
That bridge is narrow, and Inspiration is massive! Deft driving by the ladies meant impressive footage but no incident.
Pink as ever, Bootylicious had a great race and was just pipped for fifth in a very tight finish.
The Force debuted at this track the first time we ran it, so is fully aware of its nuances. Nothing fell off it this time, which is always a good sign.
This is where Old 47 usually hangs out. Like a 747 in an aircraft hanger.
And this was it on the track. It missed the previous race even though it was there, when it blew a tyre while still on its trailer. No such problems this time though, although seventh is a bit further back than it's used to.
Some good maneuvering got Enterprise out of a tricky grid position and into some open space to run a strong race to get a top four finish. Those big rear vision mirrors were certainly full...
...mostly of Death Machine. This track suits DM and a top five finish off the front row of the grid was a certainty.
This didn't fool anybody.
Ton O' Fun was back after a break and ready for business. From the last row on the grid it stormed into an impressive third place, leading a tight pack of four behind the first two.
This track is in a remote, heavily forested area notorious for drop bears. Unfortunately one of these fearsome creatures performed its signature attack from a mighty eucalypt over-hanging the road, right in front of Dogmatic and Flash. Flash crashed as a result (nothing to do with the swinging front axle) and it was only the quick thinking of Dogmatic's pilot headbutting the terrifying beast as he went past and scaring it back into the dense bushland that saved both their lives. Unfortunately, this tricky manoeuvre cost valuable speed and is the reason for Dogmatic's uncharacteristic low placing.
Official results:
  1. Kymbo
  2. Obsession
  3. Ton O' Fun
  4. Enterprise
  5. Death Machine
  6. Bootylicious
  7. Old 47
  8. Inspiration
  9. Chariot of the Dogs
  10. The Force
  11. Dogmatic
  12. Flash (DNF – Crashed)
Awesome job by our dedicated support crew – thank you as always! Check out the movie here.

05 August, 2009

Race 21, The Hamptons

A brand new track, in a nice secluded spot, mostly tar (rough in places), finishing in gravel.
Perfect!
This is the view from Kymbo as he took first place and crashed into the grass embankment at speed. Some would say 'driver error'? Others would say 'gravel finish-line'.
As you can see this bent the wheel a bit for the next races, but didn't seem to effect top speed at all. It was still bloody quick.
This was almost Dogmatic's day, except for getting caught up on the start line. A quick rescue by Death Ray and he was off into second place!
However, by the second race things weren't going so well and for the want of a split-pin, a wheel was lost and it was time to get out and go home.
Trollywood got away to a great start and led for quite a way until being reeled in by Kymbo. It still managed to hang on to third. That's damn good for a loner cart!
Pretty in pink Bootylicious positively hooked down the hill to storm into fourth place. The track seemed to suit it off the line and the big balonies helped the handling.
Death Ray was back and in-form to pick up a top five finish. It's team mate, Death Machine, did not fare nearly so well.
This track didn't seem to suit it and it struggled to get up to speed. A knock at the finish didn't help and it ran the next races seemingly without brakes. Not that he uses them anyway...
Chariot of the Dogs couldn't improve on its previous standing but enjoyed the outing and featured in some close back of pack duels that are a big part of what makes this racing so much fun.
Despite reaching a top speed of 54km/h...
...Enterprise couldn't make it to the pointy end of the field. However, the wheels all stayed on this time which is more than can be said for some other carts. Development is coming on nicely and it's only a matter of time before results improve.
As usual, Quicksilver did a mostly ceremonial race. But in a dramatic turn of events in the second run, its pilot was momentarily blinded by the dust at the finish line and stomped on the anchors to produce a spectacular spin. Unfortunately, he's not used to anyone being behind him...
...and so took out The Force who was minding his own business having a leisurely turn at a more sedate speed.
Of course The Force is well engineered and quite robust so escaped unharmed and will live to race another day. And maybe even win.
Official results:
  1. Kymbo
  2. Dogmatic
  3. Trollywood
  4. Bootylicious
  5. Death Ray
  6. The Force
  7. Chariot of the Dogs
  8. Enterprise
  9. Death Machine
  10. Quicksilver
Thank you to all our support crew who trekked out to the middle of nowhere to set us on our way, drive us back to the top of the hill, and take some awesome footage while they were going. Watch the fruits of their labour here.