Quarter Mile Smiles

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Day 223 - Perth Motorplex

Nothing could take away our excitement this morning, we’re going drag racing and already have huge quarter mile smiles the minute we get on the road. With a journey of just over an hour and a half we reached Perth Motorplex before 8.30am, a bit early but totally in keeping with Howells tradition! Our contact here is Peter Pike, the Events Manager. but we figured he would have had a late finish yesterday so we waited patiently outside the gates until he came on site. The nice security man let me in to use the loo though so I did manage a sneaky look through the pits and boy it was looking good!

We had a very friendly welcome from Peter when he arrived and he immediately sorted out somewhere for us to put the caravan so we could camp in the complex overnight. Spectator camping is part and parcel of drag racing in England but in Australia it’s all quite different - there isn’t any so the fact we’re being allowed to stay is something pretty special. We pay our $84 entry fee (for the two of us - bargain!) and blag a programme from the lady on the gate then we’re on our way to the workshop area, our home for tonight. It’s perfectly placed, close to where the trophy presentation will be after racing and near the spectator area of the track. Awesome! How spoilt do we feel, very, thanks a lot Peter this is great.

Peter’s job is pretty full on so we’re chuffed that despite being busy he still finds time to give us a general heads up on the layout of the place and tells us to make ourselves at home. Steve the caretaker will be around shortly to throw us a power lead and if there’s anything else we need we’re just to holler. Racing doesn’t start til eleven so in the meantime we grab ourselves a shower and get ready for the day.

We get a text from our very good friend Jeff Rice at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland. Bless his heart he’s such a good guy and it’s down to him contacting Peter on our behalf and setting this up that we’re cosily camped here at Motorplex so we’re very grateful. We’re still hoping that somehow we’ll find our way back to Willowbank before we have to head home at the end of April.

The Perth Motorplex complex is awesome, a very impressive facility indeed. Purpose built and opened in December 2000 it doesn’t just cater for drag racing but also for speedway, burnout competitions and a variety of shows. As we sit gazing in awe the rumble starts behind us and the first vehicles begin to pull round and onto the strip.

We learn from Peter that the overall design of the track came from the Route 66 signage, it certainly works and we love the way the banking is stepped up for seating and easy access. You are treated to an awesome view over the track too as the banking is high and you can almost sit behind the start line as they have incorporated a bridge leading from one side to the other.

The sportsman racing and license passes really keep us entertained, the time whizzes by. Our quick trott around the pits found us the only team campaigning a slingshot at this event - Rawdeal - a beaut of a car which the driver offered us a sit in but the roll cage looked somewhat smaller than ours so we thought we’d better not!! But thanks for the offer, it was very tempting!

We’ve heard from the Elliotts that they’ve decided not to come tonight, Nige has a headache and therefore this is hardly the place to be as lets face it it’s not going to be quiet! The Reeves on the other hand are aiming to get here for 5pm so we’re very excited as this will be their first experience of drag racing and they’re liable to walk in ready for a great introduction - top fuel!

Peter had warmed us up to the fact that the spectators are well trained, the majority of them will start to arrive at 5pm ready for the 6pm ceremony in front of the 1st round for Top Fuel, he was spot on!

We were ridiculously excited when the Reeves arrived, introducing people to drag racing makes us feel very at home! There was a surprise for us though as we were pounced upon by Ben one of the track media team who was wielding a micro phone along with an accomplice sporting a video camera. We were going to be interviewed live for the big screen. GULP! Hopefully there was nobody much listening as we waffled our way through about 5 minutes of questions. We laughed a lot, needled each other about who takes the finish line first when we race, gave a shout out for the UK drag strips, the Wild Bunch and the superb team at www.eurodragster.com but mainly just chatted about how much we were enjoying being at Motorplex! It was a great experience and very surreal so our thanks go to Peter whom we are sure had a lot to do with that happening!

We had a few people come and talk to us after that and found that the family sitting next to us, Neil & Bridget Gannoway plus their lovely kids, also run a slingshot - what a coincidence! We swapped a few stories and experiences plus of course email addresses so hopefully we’ll keep in touch and see them again before we leave. Turns out that their car ‘The Duck’ is a bit of a media pleaser pulling huge wheel stands on every run …. now who does that remind us of?!

Quick as a flash it was time for the opening ceremony and it was great to see everyone on their feet respectfully listening to the Motorplex chaplain blessing the track and asking for a safe night of racing followed by the Australian national anthem which was sung beautifully in front of the large crowd.

The first round of Top Fuel went well and the Reeves were treated to side by side 4 second runs for their initiation test and they loved it, we were so relieved! Once the kids had some half decent ear defenders they were good to go and after a walk round the pits, which saw Beth get a sit in a 6 second altered (I was so envious!), we rushed back track side when I smelt a certain something hit the air - nitro! We managed to sneak our way on to the top banking behind the start line as the fuellers were going into stage so the Reeves got a whiff of the good stuff and of course got to see the action from a different angle.

At some point in the night a chap came over to speak to Darryl asking if he was the Pomme on the big screen! It turned out to be Mark Rainey who is originally from Long Eaton in the UK, about 30 miles from where we live - I tell you the world is shrinking every day. Mark was also at the soggy European Finals in 2008 where we did our infamous push drags
in the pits because we were fed up with sitting around waiting for the rain to stop (scroll part way down the page - poor Simon got a bit confused with the wording and of course Chemical Reaction is Darryl’s car not Pete’s)! Mark explains that he is a former state champion but a few years ago had a bad crash here at Motorplex where the result was an induced coma, he’s lucky to be alive and is still suffering with the effects of that day. The drag racing family rallied round as they do and Mark is returning to the strip in the not too distant future with a new car although he has had to ‘employ’ a driver this time. The new car looks great and we wish Mark every success in the future.

Through the day one car in particular had caught our attention, a pink altered driven by a girl. We’d been to have a look at the car in the pits but didn’t time it well enough to meet Michelle Osborn who is doing a terrific job in the hot seat. I might be incorrect with this detail but from what we understand she’s not long out of Junior Dragster but on most of the runs made tonight she’s gone under the records set in the class she racing in with her consistent 7.22 ETs! It was impressive stuff.

It’s been very emotional for racers here at Motorplex over the last couple of days, local hero and long time drag racer Bob St Lawrence is seriously ill. Since the 1970s he’s been entertaining everyone with his series of St Train dragsters and in return the drag racing community here in Western Australia have come together to ensure that his new project not only reached the strip but also ran a number. We missed the run as it took place last night but the car was on display again in the pits tonight and it was a pleasure to see the steel block 498ci Hemi built entirely by the man himself in it’s rightful place. The chap in the hot seat for that emotional pass was Martin Stamatis and he also took the Top Fuel honours tonight.

The last pass of the night was a fuel bike and then we made our way back to the caravan. We scoffed the left over Thai Green Curry and stood at the back of the scrutineering bay watching most of the trophy presentation which was great and very well done. Exhausted we flopped into bed safe in the knowledge that nobody would disturb us early in the morning!

A big thank you to Peter Pike and everyone else here at Motorplex that made it such a great experience for us both, our Quarter Mile Smiles will remain for sometime.

Good night

Dar and Sar

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Photos

On the big screen!
Thanks to Simone who took this snap of us being interrogated, sorry, I mean interviewed!

Being presented with our smart Perth Motorplex stubbie holders!
Thanks to Simone who took this picture of us with Ben and our new stubby holders!!