Benaraby Raceway had their end of season drag race meeting on 28th November with a Test'n'Tune format the night before.
Mama, Warren, some of the crew and friends decided to make the 7 hour trip to have some fun and compete at this event. Conditions on arriving at the track both days was very hot and dusty.
We had four runs of the Friday night with the first pass being rather hairy. Lots of wheel spin off the line and I was wrestling with the steering wheel trying to keep the old girl, (not me, the Rover - lol ) headed in a straight line.
Benaraby's tree reads in .4 of a second and my first reaction was a red light.
My other reactions: .470 .461 .459
Best elapsed time on this day was 11.75
Before qualifying commenced on Saturday, I pulled out the Portatree, purchased from Bullseyeracing a while back, to practice my reactions. We had 5 qualifying passes and quickest ET was 11.71
Reactions: .471 .345 OOPS! .421 .518 sleep time then .416
Racing for us commenced at 6.40pm with it being CHICAGO SHOOTOUT racing which means 3 races to determine who's in the final. We dialled in 11.76 in the first round of racing with a .482 to my opponents .678 reaction and mama being the winner.
Second round and I'm up against Australia No1... Paul Dilley. We dropped the dial-in to 11.71 and ran 11.75 with a .487 reaction to his .543 and again mama was the victor.
I had a BYE in the third round as the other racer I was to come up against (James O'Sullivan) destroyed his engine at the finish line on his last pass. Because of this style of shootout even though I'd just won 2 rounds of racing this last run would be the decider as to whether or not I'd make the final.
The rule to win this round was not to red light or breakout. I aired on the side of caution with my reaction and waited for the lights to come down and had a .594 and ran 11.76 on my 11.73 dial-in.
The word came back that we had succeeded and made it into the final. It's now around 10pm. Our dial-in 11.73 my opponent 12.27
Reactions: mama .536 Oops .... another snooze! Must be a bit late for grandma...lol
opponents .516
My run: 11.735
Opponents: 12.280 for the win and the margin was only .015
The whole team was just rapt that we made the final. I found the track itself to be rough in the right hand lane, especially mid-track, however manageable and I enjoyed racing immensely.
I also had the opportunity to have a chat over the PA System with the commentator as did other racers and the atmosphere at Benaraby Raceway was absolutely fantastic. The meeting was run extremely well by the organisers and everyone so friendly, to the extent that we would not hesitate on travelling again next year to compete.
Congratulations to Benaraby Raceway for a great meeting!
This Bracket Event was rather interesting to say the least!
After arriving at the track and unloading the race vehicle etc, I then headed to the scrutineering bay to hand in our entry form, only to be told no paperwork would be accepted yet due to a minor fault with the Christmas Tree lights. The third amber light was not working and the problem couldn't be fixed on the day.
Track management did decide to go ahead with the meeting but no points would be allocated towards the Track Championship only trophies given to the finalists.
Racers were also given the option of having their entry refunded if they wished to leave and not run the meeting.
The heat was soaring and after my first qualifying pass I noticed on the way back up the return road that one out of three heat gauges was winding itself off the clock. I pulled over to check under the bonnet.
Fans still working, no gurgling coming from the radiator and no signs of any other malfunction. I sat for a while to let the car cool then drove back to the paddock area. After inspection it seemed the gauge was at fault.
I lost by two thousandths of a second in the first round of racing.
OH WELL! There's always next time.
Track management had a minute silence for the sad loss of fellow racer - Darren Shepherd who was tragically killed in Sydney recently. As a show of support the bike riders and their crew all grouped together at the top of the lanes.
Racing continued but I think lots had problems with their reactions due to the faulty light on the tree. Quite a few were red lights or they went in the other direction and were .2's and .3's
However some racers did achieve good reactions and CONGRATS to those who made the final.
Our Mini-Field of Women event was in doubt at first as it looked very much like rain from the previous two days was to continue into the weekend.
However we organised ourselves and headed on out to Willowbank Raceway arriving around 12.30pm, Saturday 7th November 2009,
and commenced setting up.
This event was to be held in conjunction with Willowbank Raceways, Havoc Print & Sign Street Series with the gates opening at 2.30pm.
Mini-Fields are designed to pay tribute to women who have suffered from breast cancer and the planting of 100 Pink Lady Silhouettes serves as a display of support for these women and their families.
The weather was kind and the event a huge success.
I decided once again to sell Breast Cancer Network Australia merchandise and the outcome to this was astounding. On the day we raised $600, which in turn brought our total to $1500.
Prior to this we campaigned for breast cancer awareness with the selling of merchandise at the recent Sunstate Nationals at Palmyra Dragway, Mackay and the generosity of the many people was enormous to say the least.
The whole idea of Mini-Fields is to pay tribute to women who have suffered from this disease, but by selling the merchandise this in turn helps to make others breast cancer journey just that little bit easier.
I'd like to thank the Palmyra Drag Racing Club for their support and a huge thank you to the racers and their crew who attended this event and gave so generously.
Thank you to Willowbank Raceway for enabling our Mini-Field to go ahead.
Thank you to the Meeting Director - Peter Duffy. the commentator -Chris Diggles for his support during the day, the officials, racers, spectators and of course my helpers on the day.
Husband - Warren
Daughter - Janine for her massive effort. LOVE YOU HEAPS!
Crew Member - John Mackay and his daughter Briley
Friends - Debbie Mackay, Gill Johnson, Georgina Atkinson.
However a win is a win.
In the second round I did have a good .041 reaction to take the win.
Third round saw both my opponent and I with identical reactions but once again mama came out the victor.
Semi-Final and I pull a red light.
I an now tied on 2nd place, with one young gun, in our Super Street bracket for the Track Championship.
I am also currently leading the Australian Championship in our bracket.
Mama is really hoping this season's results will provide me with a championship win.
GROOVY GRANDMA STRIKES AGAIN!
Our journey began at 6.20am Wednesday 30th Sept with Warren and I heading north to Mackay, 1000 kilometres, to compete at the Sunstate Nationals and burn some rubber.
The first day was to end once we reached Gladstone for an overnight stay with our granddaughter Caitlyn, daughter Janine and her partner Ross at his home.
We were going along great guns until the inner-city bypass where we hit bumper to bumper traffic that led to an arrival at Gladstone around 2.30pm.
Departure from Gladstone was at 8.30am the next morning passing three really neat looking Hot Rods travelling in the opposite direction along the highway.
Quick stop at Rockhampton for fuel and pick up subway for lunch. Our amusement for the next 350 kilometres was the colourful language heard over the CB radio and music, arriving at Mackay 3.10pm.
The countryside was as dry as a bone and the creeks we passed along the way, were either dried up or those that had a small amount of water looked very murky. Once we reached the sugarcane fields this area appeared green.
The paddock area at Palmyra Dragway, Mackay was hot, dry, windy and extremely dusty. We had 3 runs on the Friday night with the race car running all over the place.
TIMES: 11.67 11.75 11.85 not at all it's consistent self!
Anyway we put this out of our minds for Saturday's qualifying that saw us run:
11.75 11.72 and 11.89 with the Rover wheel spinning due to track conditions. Again we disregarded these runs and now not enough data in the weather station to predict our runs accurately, so Warren and I went back to our old method of picking a dial-in by checking the humidity and relying on our knowledge of the car's previous performances.
Out comes the practice Christmas Tree to help sharpen my reactions for racing knowing this could be crucial.
With a relatively small field of only 16 cars and 4 rounds of racing to the final and being seeded from round one, I was lucky enough to be up against last season's Australian Champion and winner of this event two years ago.
I left with a clean green light and my opponent pulling a cherry thus giving mama the win.
Our dial-in for round two was 11.72 and again I'm the slower car and cut a .053 reaction to my opponents .101 and backed off to run 11.75 with another win.
Semi-Final and I'm up against twice winner of this event. Again mama's first to leave the line with a good .031 to a .097 again backing off to run 11.77 on an 11.72 dial-in for the win.
Into the final against the current Super Street Champion and the winner of this event last year and I cut a .088 light, not great but better than my opposition. With almost .1 advantage I backed down to run 11.77 on my 11.73 dial-in for the win.
The girls were on fire at this event with a Supercharged Outlaws win for Christine Steffans, mama in Super Street and two in the final of Junior Dragster.
With over 140 entrants this was the biggest Sunstate Nationals event for Palmyra Dragway to date and a huge success.
Congratulations to all the finalists at this event!
I would sincerely like to thank our daughter Janine and granddaughter Caitlyn for their mammoth effort at this meeting with our Breast Cancer Network Australia awareness campaign.
A huge thank you to the racers and their crew who showed their support as well. It was very much appreciated!
And to my wonderful husband Warren for trekking up north once again.
