Bent Sprint,  Pebblebrook,  June 2004

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 Timothy and Troy both competed in this event using the teams Subaru (the only remaining vehicle available after Timothy damaged ME8579 at Snooks Road and Troy blew the engine in SO863 on Targa Dash).  Luckily the Subaru did survive the day (eight runs in total,  four for Timothy and four for Troy plus the reccy run).  Troy drove the car to and from the event but as it only has one seat in it Timothy was given a lift by Chris Subrtizky who pulled his Escort out of retirement.

The weather was a bit on again off again really and this made the first runs of the day quite interesting as the road was extremely slipper and the top third of the road was quite badly rutted.  Once the road dried out a little later in the morning the first two thirds of the road looked to be in excellent shape but the last third remained tricky.  The road did get a lot faster as the day went on though,  despite the occasional shower.  

The teams first problem upon arriving was the discovery of a missing wheel nut.  Timothy ran around borrowing wheel nuts or stealing them of trailers etc.,  but none of them fit the Subaru so in the end Troy phoned Sean (who had been storing the car) and asked if he had any spares.  Sean found some and got Trevor to drive them up to Pebblebrook so we could compete.

Sibling rivalry had not decreased any since the last event with Tim and Troy competing fiercely against each other.  On the first run Troy proved to be about ten seconds faster.  The second run saw no change in the gap between Tim and Troy as both drivers improved by around a second.  On the third run both drivers pulled finger and cut between seven and eight seconds from their times,  Troy getting down to around 2:22.  At the end of the day Timothy had managed to narrow the times so he was only about 7 seconds behind Troy.

This was the first time either driver had competed both up and down the hill and it made for some interesting moments.  Timothy put one wheel up a bank and just about went over as he came down the hill.  His reaction upon his return to the pits was quite amusing (given he and the car were ok).  He was talking about twice his normal pace (seemingly impossible we know) and volume,  shaking a little bit,  and breathing hard.  We're not quite sure how but Timothy also returned with bits of Toi-toi wrapped around the spoiler after his very first run,  but there was no damage to the car from either incident.

Troy was not without his moments either.  On his first run he just about lost it twice,  although he didn't hit anything the car kept turning in when he wasn't expecting it and he ended up very close to some banks.  Troy's only major incident was on his second or third run where he was turning around in the quarry.  Troy came round the corner that enters the quarry in a slow,  controlled power drift but accelerated too quickly into the beginning of the exit road.  Troy hit a bump at great speed and the car skipped sideways towards a bank hitting something before straightening up and struggling up the hill in second.  We're not quite sure what Troy hit as there weren't any impact marks on the car,  so we suspect it was a tyre lying next to the bank.

There were several other incidents during the day.  Most notable were one of the Englands sending their Starlet down a bank and leaving it resting against a Punga tree that creaked and groaned with the weight.  There was a fifteen foot drop behind that tree we're told,  but the occupant got out ok and the car was rescued fairly quickly.  The other notable incident was an orange Mazda 323 that rolled down a bank and ended up looking very sad as it had no cage and the roof didn't take it well.

The event was well organised,  except that it may have been advisable to have a second vehicle and first aid person in the quarry at the top of the hill.  This would ensure a car could be sent from the bottom or the top depending on whether or not a car had gone off going up or down,  and this would prevent the possibility of head on collisions if a car gets going again.  As it was first aid was held back until a Marshall or spectator could get to the scene,  which didn't prove to be a problem (particularly since no first aid was required),  but may not have been the best plan.

Chris and Jeff fought it out in the Escort but eventually Chris came aware as the clear winner with a lead of six to seven seconds.  Jeff unfortunately owns Chris a new wing mirror as he broke the glass on the drivers mirror on the Escort.

All in all it was a good day and our team enjoyed themselves.  Thanks to the volunteers,  organisers and club. 

TCS Racing is sponsored by :
TRIPLE D CONSULTING