“WE won,” said Al Seaton, as he jumped down from the fence after cheering home the HyUndies at the end of the gruelling Night Rider 12 Hour at Winton.
“And we finished with the two lowest cost, lowest powered cars in the event.”
The energy was dynamic - everywhere a noisy buzz of enthusiastic camaraderie.
Lifelong would-be racer Kit Rundle put on his Nomex and helmet for a second event.
“I’ve always loved team sports, and I love team motor sport with such a great bunch of guys.”
This graduate mechanical engineer specialising in finite element analysis is now plotting his next race car – Alfa Romeo is his passion, so it’ll be quick.
There was only one drama on the night, when Brett Smith had to mend the main power supply to the ignition relays on number 78, costing the team a couple of laps.
The night racing was a new experience, for everyone.
Winton was festooned with huge light towers which lit most, but not all of the track.
Greggo Jones spun when an unlit patch made it difficult to pick up the apex.
Brett Stevens had a different issue.
“This Commodore was blocking me for three laps so I had to really bomb in and he still tried to muscle me,” Brett said.
“Obviously he didn’t like a Hyundai rounding him up.”
Team manager Dane Nye was focussed on the screen set-up by tech guru Paul Allen to monitor the live Natsoft feed.
Dane was kept constantly busy - radioing drivers in for fuel, brakes and tyres and alerting safety marshal Dave Blunden when necessary, along with refuelling team Mia Wadsworth and Darcy Kirley.
Colin Wadsworth, Stu’s Dad, was everywhere helping things work right.
Results:
The HyUndies are three old Excels bought for $1200, and make only 78 Kw.
The teams came fourth and sixth in Category Three.
However, this Category does allow for vehicles up to the value of $5000 with 130 Kw.
The winning crew was in a 6 cylinder BMW which recorded a super fast time of 1:39:8 against the best HyUndie time of 1:49:3.
The verdict in the garage was that if we’re going to win in future we need more power.
Meanwhile the donation leaderboard was a triumph for Motor Events Racing.
The 17 crews donated a total of $13,203 to the Rare Cancers charity for the Night Rider event, which shows there’s more to winning than just winning
