Good Luck in the Dutton Rally

[Duncan]

Just thought I'd mention the variety of courses, it just blew me away:

Circuits - 2x Eastern Creek, Wakefield short circuit, Wakefield Long Circuit

Hillclimbs - Wakefield hill climb, 2x Sutton Road Hill climb

Motorkhana - 2x Goulburn police training skidpan, Goulburn main street special stage (soooo tight )

Drag - 800m at Goulburn Airport

Wet Skidpans - 2x Eastern Creek, 2x Eastern Creek Figure 8, 2x Goulburn police wet handling circuit, 2x Sutton Road wet handling circuit.

It was a great event, and for the price, I'd definately recommend it to others who want a cheap weekend of motorsport on a huge variety of courses.

[Duncan]

Oh, and particular congrats to Dominic who came home first in the 4wd tubro class, and also top effort by the z boys who came in 7th outright on the back of top performances in the various wet skidpan stages.

Go the Nissans

[fatz]

dominic tops effort mate

there was some very over seriouse people at the competetion, and it was good to see someone like yourself haveing a go and haveing the time of his life (thats the way all competitor should be in the dutton me thinks).......you the man!

good work on the first place m8

"get on the cans like a mungrel" as they say

dutton rocks

i cant remeber singing elvis?

and that falling of the balcony wasnt a fall, it was a dismount with a double pike in the flat spin position

lol

[Kel]

Sorry Pete- you were singing your very own special version of "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"- very impressive :singer:

[Bonkers]

What happened Pete did you miss the 10 o'clock bus back from the club?

Duncan do you think it was the extra power from the apexi or Pete's driving style that fryed the tyres so quickly.

Well done blokes!

[Dominic]

I HAD A GREAT TIME.

Pete I need some drinking and driving lessons.. It should be illegal to have as much fun as you did.

heres my story

A tough decision had to be made. Do I enter the 2003 Alpine Classic or the

1st NSW Dutton Rally. $400 worth of fun or $4,000 worth of frustration.

So the Dutton we entered. Welcome to the world of prestige racing, my 1995

$30,000 GTR was totally outclassed by magnificent vehicles such as the

$500,000 Gemballa modified Porsche Turbo 4WD. My "brake when I see the

corner" and "take it easy" driving against the "win at all costs" skills of

professional drivers such as Steve Burke and David Cuffe.

Scrutineering was held at The Porsche Centre Sydney, where the surrounds

exceeded the cars being sold. Competitors were each given a weather jacket,

polo shirt and cap each.

All meals were included which made for great camaraderie. Starting with a

lush breakfast at the Norwest Hotel we made our way to Eastern creek where

Driver and Co-driver had two runs each of a wet then dry Eastern Creek laps,

the exciting figure 8 circuit and a difficult autotest on the wet skidpan.

The Gtr went well except for a flat tyre and the one hour delay to have it

fixed, a burst turbo hose, brake failure on turn 1 (due to an air pocket in

the lines) the breaking off of the fuel lines (causing a tank of gas to be

spilled on the track) the loss of a windscreen wiper at high speed on the

track, the cracking of the front spoiler due to the flexing of high speed

turns and other minor anomalies that are to be expected in a cars first

outting.

Cars such as the Gemballa, a number of GT-3s and purpose designed vehicles

like the Mitsubishi Evo, Mitsubishi Mirage with Evo 5 running gear and a

beautifully prepared Lancia Delta Integrale HF (WRC winner 87-92) shone in

these events. Unfortunately the Mirage blew its engine after a few laps and

a very kind fellow competitor allowed the driver to continue the event in

his tow car (an XR8 utility). A WRX, three Skylines, assorted BMW's, the new

Mini Cooper S, a capably driven 350Z, some Rx-7s and a few Falcodores made

up the 50 entrants. In all events the driver and co-driver individually

completed the

course (twice in most events)

After these events we made our way to Goulburn and dinner at a restaurant

where sizeable trophies were awarded to the winners of the 6 events held

during the day. The Lancia picked up two.

Saturday started with a breakfast at the Goulburn workers club followed by a

45 minute drive to Sutton Road driver training complex where we utilised at

circular track at high speed and a narrow winding circuit across a hill top.

This was considered by many to be the high light of the event. After lunch

we went to Goulburn Airport where an 800 metre sprint saw the supercars

revel in flat out speeds well in excess of 220 kilometres an hour.

The Goulburn Highway patrol driving centre was the afternoon venue for a few

flat out laps in the dry and wet on high quality tracks that have never

previously been used by the public. A twilight Motorkhana was held in the

main street of Goulburn where a few hundred spectators cheered on the

powerful cars trying to navigate the tight turns.

Dinner was at the Club and trophies and awards were handed out including

another for the Lancia and suprisingly some to the borrowed XR8 ute.

It was obvious that some competitors had more on their mind than competing

the following day as we were woken by the swearing of someone drunk who had

fallen after trying to climb a downpipe at 3.15am, as he had left the keys

in his unit and the balcony door open.

The surprise of the morning was seeing the Mathew Freeman Lancia with 3

trophies mounted (using fishing line) to the roof top spoiler. If you got it

flaunt it.

After breakfast at the Club, we made our way to Wakefield where we had laps

of the short circuit, the long circuit and the hill climb. Some spectacular

fishtailing by the cheapest car in the event (a Mitsubishi Starion) put a

smile on all competitors faces except the Skyline driver directly behind

this joker. ME.

A 3.00 pm finish allowed people to go home or attend the final presentation

back at Goulburn

All in all a great weekend for the $2,000 entry fee for two, plus

accommodation, plus tyres, plus brake pads, plus petrol.

Further details and full results on www.duttonrally.com

How did I go?

3rd in class (but Im sure there were only two vehicles in my class!!)

[Duncan]

Nice coverage dom.

But you are being too modest, you scored 1st in class and 11th outright, top effort against the competition....

[GTR032]

You guys did great!

I'm definitely entering something similar in the future! The mate of mine Richard Whitehead and his brother Daniel were stoked with their results in the 350Z, came away with quite a few trophies. Richard has done a few rallies before, east coast classic etc while daniel hasn't ever done anything competitive before.

They finished 7th overall, but before wakefield on sunday they were in the top 4.. those damn porsches killed 'em.

Cheers, jono

[Majanal]

Bonkers, start saving your pennies for a father and son team mate... that sounds like a blast. Just don't tell Jody!

Team Dunkanfatz and Dominic, well done... shows there is some talent amungst the ranks of SAU... and I thought that we were all just choppers that occasionally got together at EC for some fun! You guys certainly set me straight!

Dan.