Muscle Car Masters

[nafe!]

The weather was so dissapointing but at least it made for lots of power slides and spins.

I wish more of the group a and group c guys had come with wet weather tyres, i would have loved to have seen the djr sierra out on track.

Still it was an awesome group N field and seeing the Group C cars, for the first time in a long time was great. I hadnt ever seen A9x's racing so that was a thrill for me, jason richards drive in the 2nd race was stunning, coming back from the stop go to take the win was great viewing and the spectators agreed with there cheers.

I believe if it had been dry there would have been even more people there, i was so surprised to rock up in pouring rain to see the entire grand stand full and plenty of ppl on the inner side of the circuit.

Great day despite the weather, lets hope its better for next year.

[GTRMagic]

I wonder if the crowd next weekend will be bigger?

[Schrodes]

The crowd next Saturday might be bigger than next Sunday as they were giving away tickets for next Saturday in the showbags today.

[Monaro]

Originally Posted by David Towe

In the Group A/C combined races there are 6 Toranas, 3 Skylines, a couple of Celicas Corollas and Geminis, 4 Commodores, a Mustang, my ex JPS BMW 635 and a few others I can't remember at the moment. It will be fun to race in and a spectacle not to be missed. 48 Group NC cars as well.

David with regard to your ex JPS BMW why no JPS signage.I noticed the ex HDT cars at the Creek today all ran with theirs.

[bathurst77]

Fabulous day. got soaked, couldnt stop smiling.

Lots of heros there, Moff, Goss, Brock, Bond, Morris etc. Even "Young Glenn Seton"
Lots of famous cars, Brocks "6 lap" A9X, and l34s and Commodores.
Moffats 77 Falcon, Mustang and a "Moffat Cobra" replica.
Morris had 2 toranas, grices torana, Goss had Bathurst XA, XB and Jag.
KB had his 9/6 Camaro. Bob Jane Comaro, Geoghan Chargers and stang.
The "Army Reserve" XD, Richards JPS BMW and Skyline the list goes on.
A couple of very intersting cars were "Allan Moffat's" XE he never raced. I had a good chat to the driver, (Kirkham) a nice bloke, told me the story.

And in the Paddock not one, but TWO Force7Vs!
I took heaps of pix I will have to find somewhere to post some.

Jason Richards Was driving the brock A9X like he stole it!, He got black flaged for jumpng the start, did a stop go, came out in 5th with about 4 laps to go and won by about 10 seconds.

The other fast car was that "Moffats white XE Falcon". Started from last (naughty boy Mr Kirkham) finished 4th. Kirkham was drifting like crazy in the wet. I thought that would have been some weapon if Moffat had of kept it...

The best thing was the friendly openness of the day, yuo could go everywhere, ther was no passholders corporate only. You could walk into the pit bays and stick your head in the cars. Everyone in the crowd (which was huge considering it P!$$@d down all morning) all teh organisers and drivers seemed to be really enjoying it and having a great time.

Fabulous day!

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by Monaro

David with regard to your ex JPS BMW why no JPS signage.I noticed the ex HDT cars at the Creek today all ran with theirs.

Easy, the signage was removed for the last round of the Touring Car Challenge and would again have been removed for next weekend at Wakefield TCC round and I've tipped every cent (and a few the wife doesn't know about) into the engines of the 635 and the M3. The gold signage gets a little expensive to keep applying and removing.
Did you know that the JPS logo was never surrounded by the wreath on my car? So the signage that is on it was wrong when I bought it.
Just let me get over the engine bills and I'll get it right next time.
You probably noticed the car was a little off the pace, well I can report the tyres had gone off, in fact last night after the meeting the team celebrated the "coming of age" of the tyres they were that old and hard.
I had a great weekend and consider it to have been an honour to have driven the car in anger now. We still have a few issues to get over such as a charging problem, and a seat position problem (it's a little uncomfortable with your head tipped to the right permanently because of the roll cage) but apart from that I was happy. In the dry it was much better and with a few more laps under the belt it would be a lot closer to the pointy end.

[Monaro]

Thanks for that David.Why was the car on the end of the tow rope??

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by Monaro

Thanks for that David.Why was the car on the end of the tow rope??

Alternator failed and no warning light was on, with the requirement to run headlights as well as wipers and fuel pumps the battery couldn't keep up.
We were late out for the 2nd race while we were stealing the battery from my tow vehicle and pushed it from garage one to the dummy grid to preserve as much power as possible. New alternator and warning light fitted today, no problem now.

[Kerri]

You don't have much luck do you David

Will you be racing next year and if so, where?

[johnny yuma]

Big pat on the back for all drivers,crews,officials,organisers for top entertainment on such a crook day.The XU1s looked pretty stable on turn 1, the bigger cars seemed to be moving around a bit! Any comments from behind the wheel?

[gruncle]

Hi everybody.
all the crew of the Karadimas/ kirkham falcon had a great time. And would like to pass on their thanks to the spectators who turned up on such a dreadful wet day to watch.
Standing in pit lane watching the activity both on and off the track, with the enthusiastic spectators photoing everything in sight, flocking around the cars and crew was an experience that the teams young crew had never had before
and was a delight to watch. and the noise generated by the crowd in the grandstand as Jason and phil tried to outdrag each other down the straight during the race 1 , well, what can one say!!
Thanks are due to Muscle Car Magazine for promoting the day, and if the car comes back from overseas, (which is unlikely) the team may be pursuaded to run it once more, but that is it for the White XE falcon.

[Robert Ryan]

What was the crowd...number estimate?

[rdmdog]

Where is the car going Gruncle? And will it be appreciated there as much as here?

[miata]

Rumdog, I think Gruncle will need to make sure his passport is up to date. I know I'm looking forward to shopping in New York and a few of the other 50 states plus Mexico and Canada. Oh that is if they let me carry their bags.

[fpvba2]

Originally Posted by miata

Rumdog, I think Gruncle will need to make sure his passport is up to date. I know I'm looking forward to shopping in New York and a few of the other 50 states plus Mexico and Canada. Oh that is if they let me carry their bags.

Miata I hear that gruncle is looking forward to catching up with his old yankee racing mates, and he has been heard to mutter something about running at snetterton in a tintop if he makes it as far as england

[miata]

Yes I think that Gruncle will be showing the boys around some of his the old haunts from his youth. Don't know if they will be able to keep up with him!
He will certainly deserve a good break when he has finished sorting through all the chaos that has been thrust upon the team.

[Grimace]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Fabulous day. got soaked, couldnt stop smiling.

Lots of heros there, Moff, Goss, Brock, Bond, Morris etc. Even "Young Glenn Seton"
Lots of famous cars, Brocks "6 lap" A9X, and l34s and Commodores.
Moffats 77 Falcon, Mustang and a "Moffat Cobra" replica.
Morris had 2 toranas, grices torana, Goss had Bathurst XA, XB and Jag.
KB had his 9/6 Camaro. Bob Jane Comaro, Geoghan Chargers and stang.
The "Army Reserve" XD, Richards JPS BMW and Skyline the list goes on.
A couple of very intersting cars were "Allan Moffat's" XE he never raced. I had a good chat to the driver, (Kirkham) a nice bloke, told me the story.

And in the Paddock not one, but TWO Force7Vs!
I took heaps of pix I will have to find somewhere to post some.

Jason Richards Was driving the brock A9X like he stole it!, He got black flaged for jumpng the start, did a stop go, came out in 5th with about 4 laps to go and won by about 10 seconds.

The other fast car was that "Moffats white XE Falcon". Started from last (naughty boy Mr Kirkham) finished 4th. Kirkham was drifting like crazy in the wet. I thought that would have been some weapon if Moffat had of kept it...

The best thing was the friendly openness of the day, yuo could go everywhere, ther was no passholders corporate only. You could walk into the pit bays and stick your head in the cars. Everyone in the crowd (which was huge considering it P!$$@d down all morning) all teh organisers and drivers seemed to be really enjoying it and having a great time.

Fabulous day!

It was indeed a fabulous experience- I watched my old hero Moffat handling his many fans, he had that trademark wry smile as each of us (me included) had the chance to talk to a true Touring car legend - The way we people wandered in and out of garages etc was a fantastic-nobody really kept fans out in fact most were pleased with the intrest from fans- the best day at the track in a decade!

HOW DO I PRESERVE THESE PRECIOUS PICS FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE?experts please!

They are on memory sticks till i find the ultimate way of preserving them! how long will they last on a burnt disc?

is there any better method of keeping them-

I have a great 5mp closeup of Bartlett in his Camaro and Moffat next to his Boss 302 Mustang etc!

[MRJUCY]

I'll add that it was a great day despite getting soaked. I had to buy a new t-shirt & jacket half way through the day but it was still worth every cent. I can't wait for next year hopefully it will be bigger again, I'd love to see Dick Johnson & a few others bring there old cars out for a blat. Seeing all the old cars out in the rain made it an even more memorable experience but hopefully next year we can get some good weather & even more fans & a few more of the cars out as a few only brought slicks with them so couldn't go out or get in to it.

[David Towe]

Originally Posted by Kerri

You don't have much luck do you David

Will you be racing next year and if so, where?

I'll be back in the Touring Car Challenge as I really enjoy the concept and professionalism of the series. I'll also do selected Group A/C races where I think we'll not be treated as the time filler on a programme by the promoters.
Of course the Muscle Car Masters was great and I'd love to do it again next year, the Touring Car Festival at Oran Park was a great meeting as well and should kick on to be even better next year. When we went to Clipsal in March we were definitely made to feel most welcome as well.
The atmosphere at these meetings has been far more firiendly than a meeting conducted by one or two of the "Historic" promoters where not only have we (Group A/C competitors) been treated like leppers, but they can't even get the administrative aspect right causing me grief at a couple of meetings.
I would have loved to have had the M3 ready and on new wets for the Muscle Car meeting, especially in the rain, I think it would have been right up there challenging for the lead. The 635 was fun and will only get better. It has been 10 years since it last raced, I think the plug leads could do with being replaced...ooops more money.

[gruncle]

Originally Posted by rdmdog

Where is the car going Gruncle? And will it be appreciated there as much as here?

rdmdog,
nick karadimas and the team are in the throes of preparing to send the white falcon to the states where it will run in a series against the local cars of the same era. It is not set in concrete as yet as to the series happening, but it has taken 3 years to set it up to this stage.

To answer the second part of your question,
Since the team asked me to assist them just on 12 months ago, I can only answer it this way, The teams dedication in overcoming the obstacles put in their way has been nothing short of amazing, this, by the way, is my own personal opinion
In my long, 40years plus, involvement with motor sport of all kinds both as an official, and competitor in both australia and overseas I have never seen a team treated in such a way that Nick Karadimas and his sons have.

I could expand on these remarks, but I do not wish to, as there will be , in all probability, action taken in another place to resolve this matter. So until total resolvement is obtained I am given to believe that the car will never run again in australia.

[Robert Ryan]

Just a question was this a fair comment from Peter Mckay on the event...how many fans on a good day.? seeing a crowd of 30,000 is almost a complete failure at Eastern Creek.I would guess looking at some of the photos you would have had about 6000 there.
"Despite pouring rain, an impressively large crowd saw and met the legendary names, many reunited with the cars in which they achieved touring car and Bathurst 500/1000 successes. The turnout drowned suggestions that Sydneysiders don't like Eastern Creek - they'll come if the show is appealing enough. Next year, organisers hope to stage the event in July, in winter when Sydney is drier"

[rdmdog]

Gruncle,

sounds unfortunate, especially as the later model historic cars are coming out of the wood work now!!

I hope they find the right reasons to come back, oneday.

[Group'C']

Gruncle
I dont know if I have missed something on here, but Is the problem with the Falcon that it was only a spare shell and had never had a log book issued, The car never raced as a Group 'C' ?
If this is correct the car does not comply with the Group'C' rules
Am I correct in asuming all this ??

[gruncle]

Originally Posted by Group'C'

Gruncle
I dont know if I have missed something on here, but Is the problem with the Falcon that it was only a spare shell and had never had a log book issued, The car never raced as a Group 'C' ?
If this is correct the car does not comply with the Group'C' rules
Am I correct in asuming all this ??

Hi group"C"

here are the answers to your multipoint question

1.true.
the car was built from a spare shell set aside for allan moffat but never used by him.
2. false.
the car was issued with a group c logbook which i have in my briefcase at this moment, and if i could manage to work out this computor system properly would be quite happy to publish a high resolution scan of it on the web. just ask the CAM$ stewards what they saw last sunday at Eastern Creek.
false
3. the car was entered in events, and raced at calder raceway and winton between august and november 1984. the last dying moments of the group C era.

hope this answers your questions

[DAVID PATERSON]

If the car has a Group C logbook and took part in a Group C Touring Car race in 1984, what's the problem? If it is still in that specification, there shouldn't be any dramas.