The day after Boxing Day dawned bright & sunny as we continued to make our way to keep “she who must be obeyed!” happy, off on a jaunt to buy herself, I might add, a new unit for the lounge
This man of mine sure was keen!
I now know why
“Whilst we’re here shall we just whip into check out the race suits”
Luckily Revolution Racegear Springwood, was only a few blocks away
We looked, we tried on, we ordered, & just as well we did for 6 weeks later it is finally ready

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s great when the man in your life likes to be budget conscious BUT budget should not in the vocabulary when one is talking race suits, there are some really very nasty looking models out there
As any good husband/wife team knows a compromise must be meet & it was!
Middle of the road was chosen NOT as I had wished the u beaut model but the next one down
The package in the black & yellow Driver Kit Bag
“big enough to keep your entire race gear together in one safe place.!!”
Not just a suit, oh no all the works & jerks, the puller inner a, the lifter upper a, the pusher outer a, Christ are we in bra’s & things! No just kidding
We are talking fabric that is fire resistant, excellent at removing perspiration leaving you comfortable while still retaining a vital insulating air gap for heat protection
And here we have it, double & triple layers of suit, underwear, Balaclava, gloves, socks, & boots all for the princely sum of $ 1,425.00

Ease on down the road

“We need a trial, a practice run”

Too bloody right, thinks I, you needn’t think I will be getting in there & driving off cold turkey!!!

“To see if all is right with towing”

This takes a good few hours of doing what!
Beats me.

Finally slowly Pinepac II is inching towards the ramps, he’s head down arse up, checking, rechecking, I feel I should be singing a rendition of old Mac Donald’s farm, “with a look, look, here & a look, look, there, here a look, there a look, everywhere a look, look!
Now run up to the front of the trailer, lowering the jockey wheel, hooking on winch & up she goes, now the tying down begins, a bit of a push to the front, a bit move to the rear, run down to the wood pile, grab wood, measure, run to the saw, wedge that wood in there, no need for a 14k run tonight sweetheart, you have already run a marathon today

& finally easing on down the road
Thankfully all is well with the world

Throw out bearing

" Did you hear THAT? "

"What?" says I

"That squealing, grinding sort of noise!
SHIT! what’s that noise when I push in the clutch"

What!! You are asking me? I think

"I better get that fixed, don’t want to be on a track somewhere & it goes, down the gurgler would go $150 for the motel & $100 track time to be let down by something that I knew in my mind was faulty"

Ahhh excuse me would that be such a wasted time!!! Motel room! meals out! visiting places new!!

That’s my boy, always thinking, light bulb goes on in his brain

"I bet it’s the throw out bearing"
this man of mine should really have been a mechanic

Hallelujah! the hoist has now come into its own, see it was a good investment after all says he.

He removes the bearing & takes it to the bearing shop & bought the appropriate bearing. Home he trots & installs the said part. Enters mate chriso he’s come around to help refit the gearbox as an hour has gone passed & the #$%^&* THING won’t go back, another 3 hrs later & they discover the internal diameter of the bearing was wrong. Bri takes the bearing back to the shop, “wrong bearing you have given me here mate!” They then discover it has been machined out! 3 shops later Bri’s finally told "they don’t make a bearing like that" he will have to get it machined. Lots of stress later, as at this time he is at week 5 of giving up smoking!! Another 4 days of ringing around trying to find a machine shop that could do the job, no luck. Chriso comes to the rescue once again & knows a guy that could do it, fingers crossed the ceramic cutting tip doesn’t shatter as that would be an extra $200.
All was done without any mishap & the insides of the bearing were machined out 3 mm, wait for the best part, it for free
Oh & Bri got a spare done at the same time, good thinking Watson

Hoist!!!

I need a hoist now!!
Lord give me strength, what? What now? how do you fathom this, this car is perfect in every way a complete rebuild back to original was done a few years ago in NZ, what exactly do you need to do to it!!

Huston we have lift off!

Trailer

Is the expense over yet, not likely, this new baby needs a Trailer to reside upon & the ute can’t really tow it so we need a 4x4 also!!

Shall we just get the basic tyres?? as the mags will cost another $500! asks he. Yeah right!!! we're spending this amount of money to NOT get mags, says I. Ohh that Man knows how to play me for sure. Well off you go then & get it organised!

The Change over

“Listen, my Son, be wise & keep your heart on the right path” Proverbs 28:19
It really is amazing the things, people & situations God puts in our path.
He really must have put the Pinepac II Mustang in Bri’s path at Eastern creek, where he saw it was for sale. The day of the swap came tuesday before Bathurst 2008, we girls thought that this swap over would be all very traumatic, which thankfully didn’t happen, perhaps because the Cobra went & the Mustang now stood in her place.

What the @#%^

Idealic setting, warm barmy evening

ARE YOU FOR REAL!!!!!! I say after he nonchalantly mentions in between a gulp of wine & a drag on a ciggy that he wants to sell the Cobra & buy a Group A Touring car he has seen down at Eastern creek for sale. He runs it by the Children who are all for whatever dad wants to do, it’s ok by them. Well really what is one to do, this man has been good to me, and I really do owe him my life, so the decision is final , the call is made, and the deal is done. Swap cars & a healthy wad of cash in our bank, what more could one ask for! Too easy, so this is ment to be.

Bri enjoys the fast lane!

Yeah well alright,
I did know he loved Motor racing, as in the early days in NZ we always followed them, annual trips to the Mount. Then in Oz in the 70’s Jody grew up with the race track banks of Surfers paradise & Lakeside Raceways as her weekend backyards. Have child, can travel, load up with dolly & pram, colouring books & crayons.
I read it just like everyone else in the House, the neighborhood, in the Community did,
“I haven’t done serious full-on racing, but I want too”
“I’m going to build myself a car" (to race with)
Build,
BUILD!! I think was the operative word here
WHAT happened to build!!

I'm sooo over this

“We are troubled
by every side,
not yet distress,
we are perplexed,
but not in despair”
2 Corinthians 4:8

Well stretching the truth here a little bit, but certainly a bit troubled. Despair did indeed set in when we were thousands of miles from home & the first of the pushrods shit itself! in Bathurst. The only positive thing was it didn’t happen whilst cruising around the track during the Parade laps yesterday at Eastern Creek Raceway, this would truly have been mortifying. We drove over the Blue Mountains on the Monday, taking the baby back home & driving her around the Bathurst track just like she had done in 1978. She had lead the cars out as the Pace Car then, what an amazing feeling to be at this hallowed place after seeing it on TV for so many years. On route to Tamworth she throws another rod!! Yeah right, here why don’t you!! way back yonder in scary barren country. Something out of a Hillbilly American thriller, tumble weeds, crows flying overhead, we had just passed Dead man gully, for God’s sake!! Pulled up on the side of the road at dusk awaiting a car load of rapists & murderers to pull up at any moment & ravish us both. But in record time my Hero aka Bri threw this baby in within 35 mins & off we cruise to our hotel for the night.
Number three goes an hour from home!! We limp down the highway, as 10mins away is our darling daughter Jody’s home, ring & tell of our pending arrival. Stevie has the shed door open ready for us to drive down into. Within breakneck speed the new pushrod is in place, an art perfected with so much practice & taking about break! broken, you say, yes well smashed as he mounts the culvert to go down Jody’s drive way, the spoiler! Just rip that sucker off, we are shattered, the rot has set in. This car really must go, he is over it!! The dream is about to become real!

Parade lap!

The rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the thousands of people from all over Australia & New Zealand that turned up in droves to watch the historic races at Eastern Creek, & soon the day cleared. All the legendary greats of the racing world were there, happily signing autographs & happily for a chat, the occasional kiss even! Allan Moffat, Harry Firth, John Goss, Kevin Bartlett, Fred Gibson, John French, Barry Seton, Leo Geoghegan, & Bob Morris just to name a few autographs I got. I missed out on Dick Johnson BUT had been shoulder to shoulder with him the night before in the bar of our hotel. I stood in line for an hour with the Cobra’s glove box door under my arm, waiting to have it signed by Alan Moffat, something Bri had always wanted was achieved.

The high lite was Bri driving our Cobra, leading out the anniversary cars onto the track behind the safety car, where we did 4 laps at a good speed, too nerve racking for me!!!

The Dream is instilled

Bri readied the Cobra for the trip & we were off & racing at 4am in the morn, down the highway off on our adventure. We wanted a leisurely trip or rather I did, taking in a few sights on the way. We stayed the first night in Port Macquarie, & then went via Newcastle. I found the driving into Newcastle so very moving & cried all the way in to the City. I was remembering from my Childhood how my beloved Dad had always spoken so fondly of Newcastle where he had spent time pre World War 2 & during. He had joined the Merchant Navy in 1939 as 5th Engineer in the SS City of Delhi & served on her until February 1940, then sailed on the SS Wairuna from 26th Feb 1940 and sailed in her until 13th Nov 1941, then onto the SS Waitaki from the Nov 1941 to Feb 1942. They sailed Auckland to Newcastle to take on coal, then to Sydney, New Yolk, Boston, Montreal, US, Canada coast, Wellington Dunedin, Fiji, Tahiti, San Francisco & Vancouver Island, continuing along the coast to Powel river, up to Ocean Falls, back to Vancouver & down the coast to Eureka in the state of Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tasmania, Napier & Rarotanga, not necesalily in that order. In May 23rd 1942 he applied for enlistment in the Royal New Zealand Air Force & trained as a Fitter Armorer & spent his War years in the Sth pacific rim mostly Bougainville & Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrites, now Vanuatu until ceasing to be a serving member of the RNZAF on the 6th July 1945.

Well enough of the history lesson!

We headed away just as the rain started to fall & this continued on all the way to the hotel arriving at 5pm. What a treat this was it was a trackside suite, yes indeed, looking out over the Raceway, couldn’t have had a better spot. Saturday the rain was still falling, we took the Cobra over to its designated area, all in all 14 Cobras had made the trip. This is the day the dream really took hold, when he spied the Group A touring car for sale!!!!!

Here we come Eastern Creek raceway

The idea was born in the mind of this man of mine apparently when we tripped off to join in the celebrations for the Muscle car Masters in September 2008.
Each year they acknowledge the dedication, enthusiasm & passion of muscle car owners & showcase particular makes & models of muscle cars celebrating special anniversaries, this year it was the 30th Anniversary of the Falcon Cobra.
And we did just that, we drove Bathurst Cobra 21 to Eastern Creek Raceway. Up hills & down dale we drove whilst feeding our Souls with the sights of this beautiful & awe-inspiring Country around us. Us! throwing caution to the wind & spending money willy nilly, which is so unlike us!
I could get very used to this life style