RUSS Pavey and KEN Lowe Race Report

Summary of our Slamfest Tasmania Race We want to start by saying a very big thanks to all of our sponsors who help us so much and

we are very proud to take their message to the FINISH line.

Race Report from Launceston Tasmania – Tarmak Raceway

Crew: Peter Richards, Brett Roberts and Geoff Stone

Leading up to the race.

We have not raced at Tarmak Raceway in Tasmania before. This will make Ken’s 83rd different race track he has raced at.

Having started racing in the mid 60’s in the USA traveling a lot following both the NHRA and the UDRA tours as well as

doing a bit of match racing on his own has taken him to a whole range of different race tracks and conditions. Even

racing at two tracks in Hawaii, one at Kauai and one at Campbell Park on Oahu near Pearl Harbor. Some more

challenging than other but they always interesting. Someday ask him about how to lift and shift to win a race in right

lane at Xenia near Dayton Ohio or ride the brake to win a race at Cordova Home of the World Series of Drag Racing in

Illinois, or do the burn out over the hump at Broadway Bob’s Great Lakes Dragway the home of the Olympics of Drag

Racing just south of Racine Wisconsin. If you want to hear the stories, bring a drink and a chair... make that a few drinks,

it may be a while.

Doing a bit of homework prior to attending the race and thanks to Google Earth Ken notices that the altitude is about

200 meters which for Australian racing conditions is a little high but having raced in Denver where the altitude starts at

1600 meters and on a hot day will correct to well over 2200 meters means that the 200 meter altitude in Tasmania is

not a big deterrent to the United Tools Top Door Corvette. One interesting observation is the large stand of trees just

north and south of the race track and this could have a bearing on the tune up. Much like racing at Reading

Pennsylvania where the large forest surrounding the race track effects the O2 reading by just a couple of tenths of a

percent but on a race car enough to change the amount of fuel the engine will need. Ken says “This could be

interesting!” while rubbing his hands together. “I wonder if we can keep the tires stuck to the track? If we can it could

be quick!” We always live in hope don’t we?

Pete and Ken use our home made clutch grinder, a marriage of an index table, electric motor, a Bridgeport and few

custom made holding fixtures, to grind up a fresh clutch for the United Tools Corvette which Pete will install once we

get there.

Brett “Robbo” Roberts flies down on Wednesday to attend to some personal business prior to the race and Russell flies down on Thursday prior to the race to do a meet and greet with people to help promote United Tools and Slamfest. This went well as the two cars of Victor and Ben Bray along with the United Tools Corvette are on display at the country club where they get a lot of attention with the intention of raising the image of Championship Drag Racing, and hopefully bringing additional spectators to the upcoming event tomorrow. The photo of the bright yellow United Tools Corvette stands out like a sunflower. Pete and Ken fly out on Friday. We

have two choices either via Qantas

and take an eight hour flight with lay

over’s or do JetStar from midday

and arrive at almost 5pm. Pete and

Ken are not big fans of long layovers at airports so the cheaper JetStar ride is looking pretty good. Only challenge is

leaves little time to get the clutch in the car Friday night, upside is Robbo should have the car up on stands so we can rip

right into it. Rusty will probably still be out meeting and greeting.

On Tuesday Ken checked the weather there for Saturday Partly Cloudy High of 19C (53f) and a low of 12C (53F)...

wonder if we can get the tires to stick.... this is going to be interesting.

Friday 17 Feb 2012

Today Ken and Pete fly out together on a direct flight from Brisbane to Launceston, the only one available each day

leaving at midday and arriving late in the afternoon. The flight was uneventful, the best kind, and Russ picks us up at the

airport for the short ride to the race

track.

Upon first arriving Ken makes a straight

line for the race track starting line.

This race track was always going to be a

challenge and although the track

scrubber is working hard when we

arrive, eventually needing a set of tires

replace on it. The results were pretty

marginal, traction was not terrific and

although contagious it has a bit of an

undulating surface. A challenge for any

tuner. A much bigger challenge for a

tuner with limited options, but more on

that later. As it turns out the wind was

not coming through the stand of trees

which might have affected the O2 level.

Often there are lots of stories happening

at the race track and all at the same

time. Some get told some don’t. In a

previous racer diary we made a

comment about the big country fair

feeling that was present. We had less of

that here but something happened here

that is extremely rare in any type of

racing. Can you imagine ALL the race

teams jumping in and spending just over

an hour of hard work to change the tires

on the track prep machine? This was

instead of setting up their own pit space

or working on their own cars, it was

impressive to watch as many hands

made less work. Previously the cycle

time to change all the tires on the track

scrubber was just over four hours, this was done in one hour and nine minutes. We have photos to show all the teams

at work, there was a symphony of air impact guns working on the bead lock clamp rings. There is a camaraderie that

exists with the Slamfest racers that only exists at Slamfest. Not that they don’t all want to beat each other, they do, and

there is no love lost between start up and the finish line but all the Slamfest competitors know that the show is the most

important feature.

Saturday 18 Feb 2012

Our day starts off not very good and it goes downhill from there. As you may know from previous racer diary posts we

are traveling with almost nothing for spare parts and a minimum of tools. We are hitching a ride for the car in the back

of Ben and Vic’s trailer and without that support well we just couldn’t be here. But you see this is different, this is

Slamfest, this is not your normal drag race. This is racers helping racers to make a better show for the clients. But here

we are giving it our best shot with our extremely limited budget. Kens earlier concern about the air is not relevant as the

O2 is still the same as the 5 mph wind is from the north and not coming through the forest, but even that little nugget of

info is not much help either.

On the warm up Ken discovers the data logger is not data logging. Closer inspection reveals that several of the data

cables are entering the data logger box at odd angles, it is surmised that when the car was packed away and we put

“stuff” inside the car during the long trip from Portland to Tasmania something must have shifted and fell onto the data

logger cables. Now we have to tune the car using the driver’s reports and the crews observations. It is 1984 all over

again. Our first pass is barely OK with a 4.60 on the board and we make a small change to the combination and run a

4.59 in the qualifying shot. Although disappointed it was good enough for fifth spot, but we know we can do better but

it is so hard without hard data. On both of those runs we smoke the tires out at the top of second gear. Yes that is the

top of second gear, not low gear.

There are several of ways to fix this problem all of them you need data and a couple of them you need some different

parts in the car. Neither of which we have so we adopt the only strategy we can and that is “calculate” where to take

the power out and where to put it back and when and how much. It is the opposite of Russian Roulette. There you have

five chances to get it right and one to get it wrong…. Ours is the opposite, we have five chances to get it wrong and one

to get it right. Pretty rotten odds but it is what we have on the day. In all fairness though we weren’t the only team

struggling but there were some pretty impressive runs. We were all impressed with Ben Bray, Peter Kaparis and the

stunning 4.07 by Zap in the final was nothing less than WOW!! An absolute jaw dropper, don’t get me wrong the 4.11 by

Kaperis in the other lane was stunning too, but come on … a 4.07 on THAT race track!!!

At this point in the story the proper comment has to be…. “you should have been there”!!

After we were eliminated we spend the balance of the race putting kids and parents in the car for photo sessions and

Russ was very busy signing autographs. We did the maintenance on the car for packing up as after this race we are out

of cash and heading back to Brisbane and put tools away but left the car out for the crowd. It was almost dark and the

race had been over for an hour and we still had over twenty people around the car. These people had been starved for

some drag race action and today at Slamfest we fed the hungry. Many hardcore fans stayed hours after the race was

over standing and talking to all of us while we

were packing up. We kind of had the feeling they

didn’t want us to leave. Taking the Slamfest

show to the regional tracks is always a challenge

but it is so rewarding to see how happy the

clients are to have us there in their own back

yard. It makes them feel special and put dollars

in the pockets of the race tracks as well so they

can make improvements for the betterment of

all the sport.

Did we mention that the head count today was

just over 6200 through the gate, damn good for

a race track that hadn’t been used in almost a

year.

Did the sums on the points and we are in fourth place now.

Sunday 19 Feb 2012

The one flight a day from Brisbane to Launceston is the same one back to Brisbane meaning we leave here at 4:45pm..

Meaning we have all day to use up. The car is packed up and in the trailer to eventually arrive back in Brisbane next

Saturday so there is no work to do there. Again we decide to act like tourists, not an option we usually have but today it

is. Russ is at the wheel and we head for the coast. We luck on to a operating steam train and have a look around. We

visit the old fort that guarded the entrance to the harbor and tour the gun batteries. As far as we know there was never

a shot fired in anger. In our wander around we found the Chocolate Factory, where we stocked up on designer

chocolates…. Hmmmm Chocolate !!!. Then The Cheese Factory where we found a cow for Pete to sit on. As we travel we

find things for Pete to sit on and take photos for our collection. We had a drink at the Cherry Shed as well. Ken tired a

Cherry Coke they had, wasn’t too impressed. Late in the afternoon we hop the plane for a uneventful ride home. At the

airport we found a Tassy Devil for Pete to sit on….. I should point out we found a Crow for Pete to sit on while we were

in Portland and took the Great Ocean Road back to Melbourne. Good to be home, even for a little while.

Monday 20 Feb 2012 Feet back on the ground today, get the Race Report done.

Tuesday 21 Feb 2012 Ken is back on the plane for Melbourne and on to Bendigo to begin a new adventure.