Street Weekend 23
I’m sure that by now everyone knows were very into motorsport here at Modurstang, we will jump at any opportunity to give something new a go with racing. Drag and Drive events have long been a big thing in the USA and its spreading. These events give people the opportunity to show how quick street cars can really be and the driving between tracks element proves that you really are in a street car and not just a race car with windscreen wipers.
Somehow the announcement of Street Weekend by Santa Pod had missed us for quite a while until some friends of ours and fellow racers/SN95 enthusiasts, Sara and Steve Unsworth, told us about the event. Seemingly it missed a lot of other people too, Santa Pod had apparently expected it to be a small event in its first year, I heard they expected less than 20 cars. By the time the closing date for entries came round it was closer to 90!
The basic outline of the event is to enter a timeslip for Friday at Santa Pod, one on Saturday at Melbourne Raceway and another on Sunday at Santa Pod. You must drive the car your completing the runs in from one track to another via designated checkpoints. To prove that you’ve done it on the day you must include your Pinapple, presented to you at signing on, in a photo of your car at each checkpoint.
Our Pinapple was named Fred.
Lee and myself arrived at Santa Pod on the Thursday night so we could be ready to start early on Friday, we arrived much later than intended due to a customer job over running in the day. I had a particuarly spirited drive to get in before the gates shut after a huge detour and some closed roads.
Our team mate for the weekend was a good friend of ours, Dave, who was competing in his stealthy Caddy van, stock looking but with nearly 300hp. By the time I arrived he was several beers in and had already had a good look round at the competition.
Writing this several weeks later its difficult to imagine just how glorious the weather was for this event, but it was amazing. We started the Friday early with a cooked breakfast, signing on and into the pairing lanes as soon as the track opened. The plan for the day was to get a few decent runs in, get our timeslip in, then start the long drive north to Melbourne via the checkpoints. Google reckoned it was a 5 hour drive and then Friday traffic on top of that we thought it best to give it plenty of time.
I had got a revised tune for the car from an American tuning company, hoping I could get the car into the 14s, however, the first run was the slowest it’s been, the shift points in the tune were far too high and it was reving well past peak power before shifting and it was costing time. I put the stock tune back in it and it went 15.38, about where it should be. With a few runs in, we got to lunchtime, packed up and headed off.
Crowden Car park check point
EDA Checkpoint
The checkpoints on the way up took us via Snake Mountain… I mean Pass, to Crowden Carpark for a scenic picture. Then onto EDA who had laid on food and drink and got some of their own cars out on show. It was cool to chat to Ben, the main man at EDA, about his own SN95 build. We arrived with loads of other competitors already at EDA, it was a great atmosphere and worth hanging about for a bit longer.
Compulsary Pineapple check upon arrival at Melbourne
Our Melbourne set up
We arrived at Melbourne for early evening, the guys there had laid on a band and opened the bar to greet the Street Weekend competitiors. Dave, Lee and myself obviously took them up on this kind offer and enjoyed a drink with some of the other competitors and some of the Melbourne regulars.
The plan was the same for Saturday, get in enough runs by lunch to be happy and then spend the afternoon heading back to Santa Pod. We hadn’t been to Melbourne before and being an unprepared 1/8 mile we didnt know what to expect or what time we were aiming for. We got in half a dozen runs though, Melbourne were super efficient at getting us through and did a great job. 1/8 Mile is probably the perfect distance for my car in its current set up, its still pulling at the 1/8th in a 1/4 it feels like the last part of the track is just waiting. With a 10.39 on the board it was time to pack up again and head back south!
I love this pic by Stu Goodlad.
On the way back our checkpoints were Darkside Developments, Dave in his Caddy was keen for a look here as his van is using their performance parts. Then on to Straight to the point racing. Its an fantastic set up these guys have, with alot of interesting stuff about, I could of spent a lot more time nosing around things here.
STTP racing had a very nice New Edge with a twin turbo LS in it.
The only spannering needed through the event was at Dark Side. The exhaust came loose and was knocking about.
After some grub at a pub on the way home we got back for early evening, set the tent back up and had enjoyed the bar and bands at Santa Pod. Some of the competitors who ran all day and left late were still arriving through into the night, often being greeted by people cheering from the bar.
On Sunday we were sharing the track with the Sportsman Nationals event so there were a lot more cars to get down the track, there was also rain forecast from mid morning so we aimed to get a run in as soon as possible. We got 2 runs in the end but with long ques and imminent rain we called it a day with a 15.70.
Who doesn’t love a burnout pic
The team made it to the end of the weekend!
This is one of the most fun events we’ve done and we’ll definatly be back next year. We’re a long way off competetive but rest assured we will be faster next year, work on the car has already started with some goals in mind.
Final results
