Motorcycle Maketplace Magazine

By Steve Green
www.workshopmanuals.co.nz

On Wednesday 13th of January I was one of the large crowd at the Wanganui Speedway for the Totalspan, Balls of Steel, Speedfest which was nominally a Speedway Sidecar challenge between new Zealand and Australia. The actual event included much more, both on the ground and quite literally up in the air.
The entertainment started off with a trio of Freestyle Motocross jumpers who had a launching and landing ramp set up out on the infield where an impressive display was put on by Ryan Laskey, Nick Franklin and Mitch Machardy. The one trick performed by the Encounter FMX team that really got the crowd’s attention was a back flip by Franklin which he repeated a couple of times later in the evening. It was very strange to see a motocross bike flip completely upside down then rotate around and land back on its wheels as if it was perfectly normal to be flying through the air completely upside down twenty meters above the grass. Both Laskey and Machardy also did a number of unusual midair tricks which impressed the crowd.
The other interesting object in the air over the speedway was one of the New Zealand airforce’s helicopters which came in and hovered over a Honda Big Red off roader at one end off the field, hooked a strap to it, then proceeded to lift it into the air and deposit it at the other end of the track. Very impresive to watch, and good to know that however tiny our airforce has become, at least they are still highly skilled.
As well as the Sidecars there were Solo bikes and Dwarf cars which are powered by 1000cc and 1100cc motorcycle engines.
The main events of the evening were the Sidecars which saw some truly amazing cornering, especially in the first corner. One of the riders I spoke to said that one race he was on the outside closest to the Pit wall and as they went into the corner he found that his fairings where touching the guy next to him who was touching the guy next to him and there was this wall of sidecars five wide going into the corner as one. Fortunately the group broke up before he was pushed out into the wall but it clearly showed the calibre of riders competing as in most races the whole pack of six bike were virtually side by side right up to the first corner. There were a few incidents over the evening with one roll over, one bouncing off the pit wall and a couple of big wheel stands away from the start line. The sidecar challenge was based on six bikes for each team and run over five rounds with two races per round and six sidecars in each race. Overall points accumulated over the five rounds determined the winner which at the end of the night was the Kiwi’s who won by 119 points to the Australian’s 73 points. Top Kiwi team was John Hannan and Tony Hinini with 27 points and right behind them was the top Australian team of Darren Treloar and Sam Plaisted with 26 points.
For more information about the Wanganui Oceanview Speedway visit their Website: www.oceanviewspeedway.co.nz and for photos of the event visit www.sportsimages.co.nz

By Steve Green
www.workshopmanuals.co.nz

As part of the action at the Drag Race meeting at Hood aerodrome on the outskirts of Masterton, January 9th, the organizers held a burn out competition on their purpose built concrete pad. There was a large turn out of spectators in the grandstands and an equally big field of entrants in a variety of vehicles from standard street cars to purpose built vehicles.
There was plenty of tyre smoke and a few smoking cars providing the evenings entertainment, in fact a couple of cars even went so far as to actually catch fire. Others simply made some loud and rather expensive noises before they stopped moving, one rear diff was so badly damaged that the rear wheels would not even turn around when it was being towed off the pad.
Although some of the smaller Japanese cars were falling by the wayside, the big V8′s were thundering away until their radiators started to boil. One old V8 Holden kept producing huge clouds of smoke from the rear tyres until both had popped and ripped to shreds, then it went out and found another set for another go.
The Ford Econovan of Peter Clark from Upper Hutt was a clear crowd favorite producing huge clouds of tyre smoke every time it came out and when he clipped the concrete safety wall the crowd were in an uproar yelling their approval. It’s popularity was also in part due to the massive, 408 cubic inch Cleveland V8 that now resides under the front seats in place of the original four cylinder engine. The Van now has a Ford C4 automatic transmission and a Ford nine inch diff to handle all the extra horsepower.

By Steve Green
www.workshopmanuals.co.nz

The first Drag Race meeting of the new season at Hood aerodrome on the outskirts of Masterton was held over the weekend of January 9th & 10th, with a couple a warm Summers days. Competitors came from all over the lower North Island and as far South as Upper Moutere in Nelson which was where Chris Gaines came from with his Harley Davidson V-Rod Destroyer, a Factory built Drag Bike. Matt and Vicki Gibbons from Wellington had a shorter trip to bring their 1968 Dodge Dart Replica to the track. Under the bonnet is a large 426 cubic inch Chrysler Hemi V8 topped off with a pair of 780 Holley carburetors mounted on an unusual cross ram manifold. A three speed automatic transmission drives the Chrysler Dana 60 rear diff and a pair of large Drag Slicks.
A couple of drivers I met at the Mawley Park camping ground came all the way from Taranaki to race their cars, Peter Stanford drove all the way from Waitara on the other side of New Plymouth to be there. His car is a 1978, Oldsmobile powered by a 383 cubic inch, Chevrolet V8 with a single 850 Holley Carburetor, Turbo 350 transmission and a nine inch Ford diff.
Andy Maddox of Stratford had a slightly shorter journey from Stratford to race his unique looking Reliant Scimitar which was powered by a 383 cubic inch Chrysler V8 with a single 750 Demon carburetor, 727 Torque Flight transmission and Ford nine inch diff.
Walking about the pits on Saturday I came across the biggest Nitrous Oxide bottle I have ever seen in a street car. This gas is the same stuff your dentist uses when drilling holes in your teeth, since when breathed in by a human metabolism the gas makes you feel all happy and peaceful, and feel no pain. Feed the same gas into a 308 cubic inch Holden V8 in the front of a VL Commodore Stationwagon and it makes noticeably extra horsepower instead. For Matthew Crook of Lower Hutt, feeding it into his cars engine certainly made him happy and he was feeling no pain at all.
Two drivers with plenty of automotive horsepower available to them were Otaki driver Rex Duckett in a 1988, Chevrolet Corvette which is powered by a 540 cubic inch, Reher Morrison V8 engine and Alex Hogg in his front engined Rail Dragster. Alex is a Levin Dairy Farmer who took time off from milking the 130 cows down on his dairy farm in favour of some American horsepower. His Dragster is powered by a very rare SOHC, 427ci, American Ford V8 that was built in 1966, and has since been fitted with fuel injection and eight shiny intake tubes. The gearbox is a Powerglide filled with aftermarket gears and driving the rear wheels via a nine inch Ford Diff.
In the bike class there was plenty of horsepower, just packaged in smaller capacity engines like the Suzuki Hayabusa of Aaron Monty from Wellington and the TL1000S of Mark Mulholland of Wainuiomata. For Jeff Godden of Carterton on his 1450cc Harley Davidson, he may not have had the high horsepower numbers of some of his competitors however at the end of Sunday he came away as winner of the bike field, closely followed by Mark Mulholland in second, Chris Gaines in third and Waitarere Drag Racer Steve Green in fourth on a Yamaha TT500 Drag Bike.
Although generally, lots of horsepower is a good thing for a Drag Racer, there were a couple of cars that found they had too much power for the drive train, notably a twin turbo, Corvette that ripped the end off it’s drive shaft along with a bit of the diff. Watching it as it launched, there was a roar from the engine followed by a loud and very expensive sounding bang from the diff, then a six inch long section of the drive shaft rolled out from under the back of the car and a small pool of oil started to grow on the track under the diff.

Over the weekend a few cars blew up and left oil on the start line or down the track, one even had a small engine fire further down the track which unfortunately burnt for a short while before anyone realized that there was a problem. By this stage a number of cars had already failed and rolled off the track so it took a couple of moments before the fire crew got under way in their full sized fire engine. The Burn Out competition on Saturday night added a few more mechanical casualties to the weekends list, however no one was injured in any of the incidents over the weekend and all the mechanical parts can eventually be repaired.
The next meeting at Masterton is the Central Nationals on February 20th & 21st which will see most of the countries top Drag Racers descend on Masterton for the meeting. For more information on the Masterton meetings visit their website: www.mastertonmotorplex.co.nz