Not an average day

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Day 45 - Willowbank Raceway
We just can’t drag ourselves out of here … get it …. drag ourselves! Ho ho ho! We heard what we thought was a fuel bike fire up last night but we must have got that wrong because we’re sure the teams have gone home already … we’ll have to double check!!
Today is the Vicious Rumour teams second test day and they’re up and at it early this morning. They had problems yesterday, it’s difficult to write word for word what the problems were and get it spot on but the up shot is they were breaking springs on every run, which isn’t good, so they’ve rebuilt the engine overnight. New cam the lot and now they’re back chasing the 6 they did yesterday or, if the head wind would drop, perhaps their first ever 5 second run. The team have been working together for years and this isn’t their first car by any means, infact they’ve had it a while but they’ve had some serious issues with it and last year put it on it’s roof. They’re from Melbourne so they’ve got a long journey home today but the team will fly and Steve Saunders who drove his own doorslammer 67 Camero at the event this weekend will drive the rig home. We didn’t think to ask Steve how his own car got back to his place, presumably he lives closer than Melbourne!
Anyway, we were on our way over to see the Vicious lot when Jeff gave us a shout from the tower to say that the fuel bike of Athol Williams would be firing up in a couple of minutes and that we should get up there to have a look! We both giggle thinking “so we did hear right last night”! Well it would have been rude to dismiss the opportunity to watch the fire up so we jumped in the van and got ourselves up there! What a great bunch these people are, so friendly and welcoming and only too happy to try and make us jump using a little twitch of the throttle! Well it didn’t work, we didn’t jump but my eyes did run quite a lot and yes Roger, I should have tightened the mask more! It was really interesting being in the pit with the bike stripped down and being that close when it’s fired up. Dar was on the video camera but there are no photos from me, I was too busy gripping the ear defenders and the mask! Lordy lordy, 94% CH3N02 indeed! Thanks so much for the experience guys!

Before we can make it back to the start line, Vicious Rumour completes the burnout, a good launch but then comes off the throttle so it looks like they’re still chasing the changes after the rebuild. We head off to check through the photos and footage we’d managed to get yesterday. There are some good bits and we’d like to put them on a DVD for the team in case they’re of any use so we nip out to the local Dick Smiths to get what we need. We’ve also melted the 12v laptop charger that we brought out with us so we need a replacement to be sure we always have a way of keeping the batteries charged especially as we’ll soon be heading for more and more free camp sites (not that any will ever beat Willowbank!)

Photo’s and footage downloaded we make sure the team get a copy and then wait for their next run whilst chatting to the fire crew and paramedic! Peter, the fireman, is attached to the Queensland Rural Fire Brigade which is a self financed fire service. His full time job is with the National Parks and if we’ve understood correctly we believe that he and his wife take in injured Koalas found in the local area. He’s another fascinating character doing a lot for the local community, we’re meeting so many.

The day stayed warm and bright but the head wind didn’t drop so it was looking unlikely that the team would make the 5 second pass. It wasn’t their goal, it was ours but they were doing their best anyway! There were several hard launches but the tyre shake caused Tony to come off. The penultimate run brought the best of the day with a 6.11 whereas the last run looked good at mid track and then I swear the whole front of the car lifted clean off the ground with the force of the blower going caboom! That was them done for the day and it was just the packing up to do. We spent time with Jeff in the control tower on one of the rare occasions when he was in the same place for longer than 5 minutes! All the stories and the history of Willowbank is great to hear and our walk down the track doing the shut down of the timing system was great too! Thanks for getting the last of the boxes Jeff, your balancing technique over the wall is better than mine by a long way!!

On the way back to the caravan we wander over to the Rumour boys to wish them a safe journey. They’re packing everything away so we take another couple of snaps of the car before it gets completely de-shelled! Steve comes across for a bit of a chat and offers us a sit in the car! Now Darryl was stood next to the open door but who do you think clambered their butt in through the ridiculously small gap in the roll cage?! Wicked! Steering wheel back in position and I’m ready to go!! Not too difficult; forward and reverse gears are in easy reach, shift lights at eye level, two knobs to hit to change up, fuel shut off overhead, parachute button by your thumb and two pedals, one of which makes it go rather fast! Just one thing to overcome, the dirty great engine and the huge blower which means you can’t see a fat lot through the window! How the heck do you stage this thing from the left hand lane!!!! I eventually haul myself out of the driver seat and we’re given a couple of caps by the team! Wow, cheers guys, thanks loads for your time and the seat!

We ran into Nick, the Shannon’s promotional driver and got together for a bit of Kangaroo dinner. He’s another fascinating chap with the most amazing stories! He’s a taxi driver / chauffeur by trade and for many, many years was heavily involved with the Formula 1 teams when they shipped into Melbourne for the Grand Prix. We talked about the Footy, Melbourne, our trip, and then of course talked all about Formula 1 and the personalities it has! Fascinating!

We were aware that Roger, crew chief for the top fuel bike, was still on site and working hard on taking the pit to pieces and packing up the trailer so we all took a trip up there to see if he needed a hand. He was pretty wacked when we got there so we talked and had a beer and wandered into the trailer and then the jaw dropping conversations started! This guy is from Pokeno in NZ (same place as Daz) but he’s rarely there. If he’s not in NZ then he’s in Australia and if he’s not in Australia he can sometimes be found in America. Sounds fantastic right? Well it’s tougher than even we’d imagined. Not that he was complaining, he wasn’t but it opened our eyes a bit more! So, why is he sometimes in America? Have a look through the list of the most fantastic and fastest fuel bikes on the planet and then focus on the one at the top - Larry McBride. Roger, this quiet spoken chap is now a very large part of their crew. His focus is exceptional and his drive is second to none and he clearly knows what he’s talking about. The things that he’s made from scratch and the way that he’s proved himself so capable has obviously impressed those at the top of the sport, which is where he is, at the top of his sport. We leave Roger with his favourite ‘list’ on the wall (!) as he’s making a call to the states at ten. We wave him goodnight and tell him that we’ll be back in the morning to help with the clear up. We spent a little more time with Nick and go through his itinerary of shows to see if we can catch up at any point, it may be possible you never know!

Away to bed we go, what on earth will tomorrow bring! Sweet dreams of doorslamers and fuel bikes going vroom!

Dar and Sar

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Photos

We're going in!
The Top Bike of Athol Williams with Roger in the background

Comments

[darren selwyn]

daz
Thats so unlike you to be the first to jump into a strangers race car Alice. got me a new key board, eh!

[Tony Lawton]

Living the Dream
Reading this blog and looking at the photos is like taking 2 youn g kids into the biggest sweet shop in the world. Living the dream fast cars, fast bikes, beer and most of all no work in the morning !!