Australian National Motorkhana Championships – 4th October 2009
GO ACCELERATE, TURN, BRAKE, SKID, ACCELERATE, TURN, BRAKE, SKID, GO! GO! GO! BRAKE, SKID, STOP, FINISH!!!!
The 2009 Australian Motorkhana Championship is only held once a year. It moves between the States each year giving those who aren’t able to travel interstate the opportunity to compete in, and possibly win an Australian title. The 3rd and 4th October saw the 2009 AMC being held in the car park located at the rear of the Narimba Tafe complex, on the Western outskirts of Sydney. Renault Australia put their hands and secured the naming rights for the event, and even brought out a selection of cars for people to touch and feel.
Saturday saw 68 of the 69 entrants arrive for registration and scrutineering. Two drivers from South Australia, five from Queensland, eleven from Victoria, three from Western Australia and the rest from NSW. Also worth a mention were the six junior drivers who were spread throughout the field.
Only one competitor, Craig Williams, failed to turn up, as his tow car blew a turbo 400 k’s out of Adelaide. But for those who did make it, Peter Bat, our capable Clerk of Course had three practice tests set up for all who wanted to test the surface, find the optimal tyre pressure, practice their driving, or just blow out some of the cobwebs.
I have is on very good authority that the junior drivers, at least the 14 & 15 year olds that I talked to, had an absolute ball! These kids regularly compete, but have never before had the opportunity to hone their skills with run after run at the same test. Both Billy Burns and Emma Goldfinch could be seen talking to every mini driver they could. Asking questions about where do I aim the car for this test, and how the hell do you do that! Both Billy and Emma successfully completed their first ever front end throws, but this was more a matter of Emma doing it accidentally and Billy not wanting to be outdone by a girl!
As far as I’m aware the only issues at the practice were related to a lack of electricity in a few of the cars. The weather was OK, unlike what was to come on Sunday.
Sunday morning. Where do I start? The sun came up an hour earlier than it did the day before thanks to the start of daylight savings. We couldn’t see it however thanks to the rain which blessed us with its presence. It could have been worse. It could have been bucketing down, blowing a gale and battering us with thunder and lightning (like it did the last time the AMC was in Sydney!) No it was just a cold, miserable, on and off again drizzle, oh well, at least our moke had half a roof on it.
The drivers briefing was held, where Mr Batt assured us we would be able to complete our one and only competitive (for some) run at each and every one of the twelve tests he had selected. The masses all agreed that he was nuts, and it wasn’t gunna happen! But Mr Batt also planned to have a run off between the fastest competitors from all of the classes in a side by side run on identical tests, just for fun.
Twelve tests! Yeah, right!
Manoeuvring, Pentagon, Reverse Garage, Gables, Top Hat, Hopkirk, Bowler, Paddy, Tripple Loop, Star and finally one of the longest tests in the book, the Crossover. Yes Mr Batt does like a challenge.
Not a lot I can say about the event. It’s difficult to put into words some of the things people can do with a car. Be it a purpose built Motorkhana special which can stop and turn on a dime, or a thirty year old bucket of bits. But there were a few highlights……….and lowlights.
Roger Tite – Super quick red Clubman, with it’s V8 Supercar wiring loom and ignition system, stopped. No power out of the coil pack, and now way of fixing it on the day.
Warwick Butt – Ran out of oil pressure, (or more correctly had an oil pressure sender fail, had pressure just didn’t know it). Full credit to Bruce Antaw for letting Warwick finish the day in his special after Mr Griffith withdrew from the event.
Wayne Griffith – Uncharacteristically WD’ed (wrong direction) the first test, and considering he was there to challenge for the outright win, he elected to withdraw from the event as there was little point in continuing.
Gary Kotzur – Ran out of electricity in the moke. Car stalled when he pulled a handbrake turn then wouldn’t restart. (slipped out and bought another battery, but the damage was done)
Phil East – Completed the day and didn’t break the special. Special mention to Phil as he has competed in every AMC since Noah was a boy.
Emma Goldfinch – Beat her brother Matthew and quite a few others on the three loopy type tests! Pentagon, Bowler and Tripple Loop. Go Emma!
Generally the weather played havoc with some competitors completing their runs in relatively dry conditions, notably the specials and others in the rain. But, that’s the luck of the draw.
Due to the relative closeness of the event to the presentation venue, some of us elected to book a room at the same hotel to ensure we got to dinner on time, and also to prevent any of the who’s drinking and who isn’t so they can drive, arguments.
The event drew to a close as it started, in the rain, so we packed up and squished our way back to the hotel for a hot shower. All eager for a hot meal and a cold beer, wine, orange juice, diet coke etc, etc, etc.
The evening started with an open bar, and finished after an awesome buffet dinner provide a fully belly for everyone. There was even an Australian Championship trophy for a deserving few. The results are elsewhere in the magazine, please take time to peruse them as there are some great times on show.
A short note thanking the Organisers, the Officials, the Caterers, Renault Australia (the sponsors), the spectators and the competitors.
Oh yeah, we get another chance to do it all again next year. Rumour has it in rural Victoria.
See you all there!
Kelvin Goldfinch