Our very first combined club track day was upon us and the weather had me worried. Craig and I drove out to Calder in showery conditions hoping things would clear up. Once there we were quickly joined by Lindsay, Dave, Paul, Jamie, Roger, Ben and Tiny. We got the track cars unloaded, prepped up and scrutineered while Craig, Ben and Tiny parked up for the show n' shine. Bruce and Chris arrived to bolster our representation at the show n' shine while Gary turned up to support.

I need not have worried as in no time lots of cars and people flowed in and before too long had an excellent attendance. There were all sorts of cars in the mix and would be very interesting on the track. There was Aussie and American muscle, Euro exotics and some little beasties from Japan to be put through their paces. Bring it on!!

The drivers briefing warned about the track conditions, particularly the final turn. This was narrowed down to a single lane for safety reasons. Those who had never driven at Calder were given the opportunity for some exploratory laps behind Tiny in the pace car to learn the track and conditions. Once this was done a short session was started to get everyone in the groove. It was slow and cautious, as the track was still wet and very slippery.

We got no further rain and conditions started to improve. Unfortunately a Nissan Skyline lost its sump plug and the driver continued on the racing line covering it with oil!! This resulted in a lengthy stoppage to clean up. By this stage Lindsay, Dave, Jamie, Roger and myself got in a good bit of track time.

Before long it was time for a feed and the raffle. Tiny and Dave got lucky and won prizes. Us three club presidents then had the task of judging the cars for trophies. We then chose our individual favourite car for a presidents choice trophy.

From our club well done to Craig for taking out "Best Paint" with his XC Fairmont and to Tiny for taking out "Presidents Choice " Ford Performance Club with his XC Cobra.

The afternoon session was dry and conditions were ideal. Craig got the stopwatch out. I had a rotor button break at the shaft, which threatened to end my day. Insulation tape was the fix and amazingly it held!! The car ran strongly and I got down consistently in the 1.15's and 14's with a best time of 1.14.00.

Dave had his new track car, an XD complete with bench seat and column auto!! He recorded a best time of 1.30.67 and was happy to be back on the track after the enforced retirement of the "black pig".

Jamie had the "Corolla of death" pounding around the track, which ran all day and didn't miss a beat. He got a best time of 1.26.70 and had a ball.

Lindsay didn't get a lot of laps in. His car was sending smoke signals at some parts of the track but was running strongly with no apparent issues, which was a mystery. Unfortunately Craig didn't get a time on him.

Roger was very consistent in the XB and had no problems at all. His best lap was a 1.24.02

Craig got times on other cars there as well and some very interesting figures were revealed. The fastest car there was a Yellow Mitsubishi Evo 9 that pulled a 1.09.13!!! Other quick cars there were Phil Grants XR with a 1.11.58; a BMW M3 with a 1.11.35; a White Mustang with a 1.11.10; a Silver WRX with a 1.12.36 and an R33 Skyline with a 1.13.36

The driving standard on track was excellent. Just a couple of harmless spins with no injury to man or machine. Everyone used their heads, particularly during the morning session on a slippery track so thanks to all the drivers.

This was a fantastic day out and a great success for the clubs. Big thanks to the following: 

Greg, Tony, Joe, Marie and Andrew from the Falcon Fairlane club; Phil, Chris, Melinda and Mark from the Ford Performance Club for their hard work in organizing and running the event.

Additional thanks to Marie and Andrew from our editor for help with the photos.

Thanks also to Stan Gibson and the Early Falcon Club for their attendance and support.

Well be doing this again, that's for sure!!