Drag racing in South Australia.

[COUPE 72]

There are two 1/8th mile tracks in S.A. one at whyalla and a temporary strip at an airstrip in the south east at coonawara, they are part of the tri-series of events with the mildura track. Raced there bacck when it opened when i crewed for Ricky Monserrat, not a bad track but the braking area is a bit short for super charged cars Rick found it a bit hard to pull up even with twin 200mph shutes.
Idiots racing past police stations in Adelaide and taping it what a bunch of tools, they are not helping our cause. they are only anding to our woes.Mr Rann must be loveing this, more justification for his knee jerk policies that bring the heat on the modified car scene, and more revenue.
As for a championship level drag strip in S.A. where are all the drag racers these days, they need to keep the need for a track in the public forum constantly. Alot of dont even realise therbe is no track. When racing stopped 8 years ago the drag racing clubs of S.A. had a cruise to bird wood mill to raise awareness and sausage sizzles to raise money and displays at car shows. Where are they now. I havent seen any effort for long time, have they given up? Their Back on Track annual dinner raised much needed funds from their auctions but now yhe dinner is more of a S.A. pressentation dinner.Its time to get back on the band wagon. maybe car clubs and forums like this should take charge and do it for ourselves because , im sorry their dropping the ball.
Go hard or stay home, whatsay you all. Im in!!!!!!!!!

[blackxrsix]

Im in to,we badly need a track some where.I use to crew for rod burton bb altered we raced against you guys those where the days. :

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by blackxrsix

Im in to,we badly need a track some where.I use to crew for rod burton bb altered we raced against you guys those where the days. :

glad to hear it we need all we can get i miss the good ol days

[PALE ALE]

I too have heard all the rumours that have turned out to be BS. I have heard rumours about Tailem bend as well, but wont even bother repeating them here. Another rumour going around is of a protest out the front of Parliment house, I think it would be a step forward if its true. It should of been done not long after the display at Port Adelaide. Continue to do rallys/protests and lobby the government until they do something about it
MAINTAIN THE RAGE! nothing will happen, until Drag Racers get off their collective backsides and do something about it

Sure would love a home track so we could test this thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj3vweLTe20

[blackxrsix]

I was thinking the same thing about a protest out the front of parliment house we should get all the car clubs and forums to attend and show them we mean businsess lets fill north terrace with modded cars and bikes.The only problem would be that there is allways one clown that would do something stupid and all the media would jump at it and we would be back to square one.Even a sticker on the back of everyones cars could get our cause out there.Bring it on people.chears Danny : and this is to rann :

[les adams]

Re problems with Hoons
And why Dragways are Needed

Heres a start of something that i beleive needs to be done, add your thoughts and once we all agree we then send it to all Ministers etc.
Or am i just wasting my time?



I’m a 49 year old car enthusiast that has been involved in the car industry since the 70s and have seen these idiots cause that much damage to our sport / hobby that I started a concept in the early 90s whereas to give these guys an opportunity to be able to compete with there piers in a control environment. Since that inception in Shepparton Victoria and with local police and council approval we are now in our 17th year and what started as an organized day for these guys to let of some steam has grown into country Australia’s largest event of its type with around 800 competitors and approx 40000 spectators attending each year.
After seeing the success that this event brought in dramatically reducing Street Racing and Burnouts from surrounding districts we started the same concept within others States that include Murray Bridge South Australia, Corowa NSW and Mount Gambier South Australia, and after also being backed by local and states authorities these events have also shown strong signs of being successful.

I believe these events and others similar need to be understood by the State and Federal Governments and urge both Local and State Ministers to take time and effort to come along and actual experience what these events have to offer to the greater communities that they Govern.
I believe that without continued Government support for these and similar events that so called “hooning” will continue to become a bigger and bigger problem and hence driving these people back to the streets, maybe by working with these “hoons” and give them some where to “hoon” within a controlled and safe environment may solve some of these problems and give even better pr between the authorities and the true enthusiast.


Regards Les Adams
springnats.autofest@bigpond.com
www.autofest.com.au

[blackxrsix]

Good work mate,sounds like a good idea.I think now is the time we start doing something about this problem as the way its going we wont even be able to have a nice car to take out for a cruise for the fear of being impounded or crushed.Ive been to all the gazzanats in adelaide and the number of cars there is on the up all the time and the crowds are huge.I will be there this year and i am entering your show at Mt gambier as well the more of these type of events the better.cheers Danny :

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by les adams

Re problems with Hoons
And why Dragways are Needed

Heres a start of something that i beleive needs to be done, add your thoughts and once we all agree we then send it to all Ministers etc.
Or am i just wasting my time?



I’m a 49 year old car enthusiast that has been involved in the car industry since the 70s and have seen these idiots cause that much damage to our sport / hobby that I started a concept in the early 90s whereas to give these guys an opportunity to be able to compete with there piers in a control environment. Since that inception in Shepparton Victoria and with local police and council approval we are now in our 17th year and what started as an organized day for these guys to let of some steam has grown into country Australia’s largest event of its type with around 800 competitors and approx 40000 spectators attending each year.
After seeing the success that this event brought in dramatically reducing Street Racing and Burnouts from surrounding districts we started the same concept within others States that include Murray Bridge South Australia, Corowa NSW and Mount Gambier South Australia, and after also being backed by local and states authorities these events have also shown strong signs of being successful.

I believe these events and others similar need to be understood by the State and Federal Governments and urge both Local and State Ministers to take time and effort to come along and actual experience what these events have to offer to the greater communities that they Govern.
I believe that without continued Government support for these and similar events that so called “hooning” will continue to become a bigger and bigger problem and hence driving these people back to the streets, maybe by working with these “hoons” and give them some where to “hoon” within a controlled and safe environment may solve some of these problems and give even better pr between the authorities and the true enthusiast.


Regards Les Adams
springnats.autofest@bigpond.com
www.autofest.com.au

I read in street fords or extreme fords (I will try and find the article) that the cops hang out on the route to the Shepparton event and defect every modified vehicle they come across regardless of their behaviour, this not the way for them to win the hearts and minds of the people. The fuzz should embrase these events and use them to educate the public and build freindship which further encourage the modfied car enthusiasts to take part in safe and controlled venues. hopefully we can convince the powers that be to support this in S.A. Hopefully this will help seperate the modified car enthusiast from the bogan hoon. we have to find a financially sound venue that we can stage events at on a regular basis.How come the small country town councils can see the light but the cities cant. Maybe its the smog ha ha. good work Les.

[cob115]

I believe these events and others similar need to be understood by the State and Federal Governments and urge both Local and State Ministers to take time and effort to come along and actual experience what these events have to offer to the greater communities that they Govern.
I believe that without continued Government support for these and similar events that so called “hooning” will continue to become a bigger and bigger problem and hence driving these people back to the streets, maybe by working with these “hoons” and give them some where to “hoon” within a controlled and safe environment may solve some of these problems and give even better pr between the authorities and the true enthusiast.


Regards Les Adams
springnats.autofest@bigpond.com
www.autofest.com.au[/QUOTE]
well said Les,never meet you befor but completly understand what your saying,unfotunatly media retard mike rann and the labor party in south australia do not give a rats bum bout helping in any way shape of form,but are happy to push up rego and all other taxs they can get there grubby hands on,sorry im so negative ,keep up what you and others are trying to do cheers grumpy pat

[xalent]

As someone who has participated in as much legal drag racing as I can afford, both here when AIR was running and for the last few years at Heathcote in Victoria, it saddens me to constantly see the media connecting 'hoons' and 'street racing' with the sport of Drag Racing. Does anyone actually believe a drag strip will stop these people from racing on the street? Sure they might attend a 'Street Class Meet' at the dragstrip but after they pull a 15 or 16 second quarter in their under prepared street car, they won't come back, mainly due to embarrasment, that is, there 'high powered fully sick road car' just won't cut it on the strip. These people have not got the money or inclination to develop their vehicle into a fully fledged drag racing vehicle. It will always be much easier for these people to 'perform' burnouts on the street, or participate in 'illegal street racing' with their mates. The media does not seem to understand the difference between 'illlegal street racing' and drag racing which occurs at a track under controlled circumstances. Until they begin to change their terminology to one which actually reflects what they are talking about, these 'hoons' will always be put in the drag racer category. Which they are not.

I appreciate events like the Powercruises, do their bit in giving some of these people an alternative place to do their hooning and burnouts, but it is not Drag Racing. I believe that most of the activities occurring on the street have more in common with circuit style street racing, such as the Clipsal, than drag racing, yet we are continually fed this BS about them being frustrated drag racers. More needs to be done to distance Drag Racing from these 'street racers' as I feel using them as a leaverage tool in getting a drag racing strip will only end up damging the reputation of Drag Racing in this state even lower than it already is.

:

[FreddyDUZ747]

yeah its a pitty it takes 2 guys from interstate to make the effort to bring us something,oh well more money back to Victoria.Bring on the Gazzanats im itching at the bit.26 years old and have a VH that took me 6 1/2 years to complete before key was turned and now unfortunately because of her build purpose i can no lomger enjoy her unless i venture interstate.This car consumed 30+k and my social life when was young(not that im complaining).I know i probably should of made it more street orientated but at the time legal racing was readilly avaliable so i thought do it once,do it properly.

I totally agree with your first sentence in your last paragraph xalent,as good as it is it still dont feel the void.Nothing compares to looking at the sky when launching.lol

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by xalent

As someone who has participated in as much legal drag racing as I can afford, both here when AIR was running and for the last few years at Heathcote in Victoria, it saddens me to constantly see the media connecting 'hoons' and 'street racing' with the sport of Drag Racing. Does anyone actually believe a drag strip will stop these people from racing on the street? Sure they might attend a 'Street Class Meet' at the dragstrip but after they pull a 15 or 16 second quarter in their under prepared street car, they won't come back, mainly due to embarrasment, that is, there 'high powered fully sick road car' just won't cut it on the strip. These people have not got the money or inclination to develop their vehicle into a fully fledged drag racing vehicle. It will always be much easier for these people to 'perform' burnouts on the street, or participate in 'illegal street racing' with their mates. The media does not seem to understand the difference between 'illlegal street racing' and drag racing which occurs at a track under controlled circumstances. Until they begin to change their terminology to one which actually reflects what they are talking about, these 'hoons' will always be put in the drag racer category. Which they are not.

I appreciate events like the Powercruises, do their bit in giving some of these people an alternative place to do their hooning and burnouts, but it is not Drag Racing. I believe that most of the activities occurring on the street have more in common with circuit style street racing, such as the Clipsal, than drag racing, yet we are continually fed this BS about them being frustrated drag racers. More needs to be done to distance Drag Racing from these 'street racers' as I feel using them as a leaverage tool in getting a drag racing strip will only end up damging the reputation of Drag Racing in this state even lower than it already is.

:

I agree totaly no race track will totaly get rid of hooning but it will get the sport going again and increase state economy and help local motor sport support industry and create jobs.dont get disheartened xalent your one of the few S.A. drivers still keeping the dream going, keep it up, dont lose the passion.I was with Phil at the ford forum nationals at heathcote watching you and ya brother, how did your engine pull up after that last pass?

[montyv8]

some interesting reading from a non-car related forum in Adelaide..
http://www.sensational-adelaide.com/...=1393&start=30

'sir lustalot' makes some damn fine arguments..

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by montyv8

some interesting reading from a non-car related forum in Adelaide..
http://www.sensational-adelaide.com/...=1393&start=30

'sir lustalot' makes some damn fine arguments..

Ya not wrong monty. Seems to know what hes talkin about. Iwonder who he is? I doubt that that project will get up and running. Its a same nice and close for us eh.

[jf100]

The guys dead right, and writes with that real drag racing passion. Drag racing is in the enviable position of actually paying it's own way, when properly managed albeit with huge expenses picked up by the racers, the facts are there. With the hoon aspect, a drag strip puts that back into perspective, and shows a lot of these guys just how weak what their doing is, some of them would actually get involved, and all of them would attend and hope to get involved, drag strips take it off the street, not all of it, but it will quickly become apparent to these guys that watching a dead stock v6 comodore doing a line lock burn out just isn't that special. Anyway dealing with any government body takes a lot of time, with the north arm/garden island proposal my concern is they'll knock it back because mangroves and noise, last time i heard a nitro car or even an open exhaust rotary they were pretty loud, reckon you'd hear them 10km. away, i wouldn't because i'd be standing next to them.

[montyv8]

I went to a car club meeting tonight and there was a bit of discussion on the subject. I know we've all heard stories/rumour etc before but i hadn't heard this one before so i thought i'd add it in to the mix..
A member - who actually mentioned names - said that the Port location is a definite no-go. The government has decided that the land is worth more to them from other developments than what they'd make from selling it to the consortium.
There were four very-interested parties in the Tailem track, the consortium - again, names being mentioned - being one of them.

Who knows if any more will come of that. Guess time will tell?

[5L]

if you give it you gotta be able to take it

so whens it opening phil? :

[montyv8]

Originally Posted by AUXR8220

so whens it opening phil? :

well, according to my mates mates brothers aunties cousins girlfriends brothers mates mates source, i'm not supposed to tell anyone ;)

hey, i'm just doing my part to add to the rumours, stories, speculation etc

[xalent]

Yeah bring on Tailem. Hardly rains there, good location for interstaters as well. I'd think it would take a fair bit of work and coin to get it up to scratch, but it would have to be worth it.
As for my engine Coupe72, needs new valves, new pistons, and some welding/machining done to one head and one side of the block. Not pretty : Oh well, play with fire, gonna get burnt sometime

[COUPE 72]

Originally Posted by xalent

Yeah bring on Tailem. Hardly rains there, good location for interstaters as well. I'd think it would take a fair bit of work and coin to get it up to scratch, but it would have to be worth it.
As for my engine Coupe72, needs new valves, new pistons, and some welding/machining done to one head and one side of the block. Not pretty : Oh well, play with fire, gonna get burnt sometime

Ouch thats gotta hurt the hip pocket mate, hope your back on track soon.
As for Tailem Bend, The research ive done over the last 3 years on the facilities it would be good for what the consortium want to do but to be successful with council it will have to be community friendly and very helpful to the town. Getting power to the site could be a drama because there is only an 80 amp single phase service onthe property and the industrial park with any decent power is quite a distance away. hope the gov can help with that, i know council will go into bat for em.

[cob115]

more i read n think bout it tailem bend would be a top place to have it,certainly be a boom for the township witch is over looked compaird with murry bridge

[COUPE 72]

Apparently we will have to wait till after Dec 5 for a decision on Tailem Bend from my source. I hope it can go ahead, its far enough away to not be a pain to the public and has a good quality highway to get us all there. The track will need to be fully resurfaced to meet ANDRAs current specifcations. A new track must be minimum of 18.5 metres in width for ANDRA championship events but an existing track can be min of 15.2m. Ithink the existing track is over 16m wide but under 18.5 they might be able to get an existing clasification temporary and run 1/8th mile for a while but putting permanent concrete barriers along the existing surface temp is not cost effective. The existing track could be used as a return road instead of sacrificing it through resurfacing. The outer edge on both sides of the track have aboout 500mm of diff grades on bitumin along it. Mitsy used this to test road noise ondiff surfaces against vehicle and tyre models. The existing surface is very flat and smooth, smoother than A.I.R. in my opinion anyway. The old mitsy workshop is awesome and would make an excelent area for officials and emergency services.
hope it gets up, i had massive plans for the place. The consortium could get that place up and running very quickly with coin they have.Hope drags can run there.

[montyv8]

pics of the first meet at riverbend raceway in Tailem bend, 1979. Photo's from 'sponge' on the SMASA Forums. L'il bit of SA's motorsport history here..

[montyv8]

also from the smasa forum

Originally Posted by quarter mile from SMASA

Some history on River Bend Dragway as taken from Nitro magazine about Roly Leahys life.
"Roly Leahy and Terry O'Toole opened the track in 1979. But after that first meeting the accountant appeared with only a tiny fraction of the money that was known to come through the gates, and then disappeared. The next meet was rained out and the next two struck by violent winds and the promising venture fell into a hole."

[COUPE 72]

Excelent pics Phil, what a shame the track didnt develop we could hace been rid of bob years ago. Ive also got an article out of Dragster Australia about the track and a couple of pics . Ill bring them with the dvd when i come over.

[xalent]

I like this one!



I'd love to see Tailem get off the ground. Freshly layed strip would be great

[COUPE 72]

Heaps of spectator cars in the carpark. There is alot of infrastructure thats not there any more ie: guard rails, power poles, debri fence and fencing between carpark and pits.

[cob115]

Originally Posted by xalent

I like this one!



I'd love to see Tailem get off the ground. Freshly layed strip would be great

1970s drag raceing masive masive rubber love it

[jf100]

Hey guys, you know your old when someone posts pics from 1979 and a car you ran is in it (the natural gas anglia), lotsa fun that car, especially later with a super charged engine. The old pro power coupe, i believe was the first aussie pro stocker running a full tube chassis, used to go like hell, it had some handling issues, it actually wiped out ( roll over) at talem bend,

[COUPE 72]

Im realy interested in any information on Tailem Bend, was it a good track or was it still too green? I knew that the pro power coupe crashed but didnt know it was at Tailem Bend. Looked like the track was well supported with the ammount of spectators in the photos. Are you still a racer jf100?