Back to Events Classic Cars Track Day - Sunday 22 October 2006
Venue: Killarney Race Track
Reportback by Tim Cruise
The sun shone out of a cloudless blue sky, and I joined an enthusiastic crowd of close on 50 drivers early on Sunday morning for the drivers briefing before being let loose on the track!
The day was billed as a fun day, not a race day, but nevertheless there were some serious tar-burners in attendance, including a Porsche GT3R and some GT2's, as well as a Noble and a new Aston Martin Vantage (is the guy crazy or what???)…
The Scoobies (Subaru's for the uninitiated!) were also out in force. These cars never cease to impress me - they look like nothing, yet go like stink, and give much sportier-looking cars a good run for their money!
Our own Nerina Napoli was out on the track in hubby Mike's Alfasud, and she impressed with her performance! As for me, I tootled around the track in the GT6, and felt quite slow - but I must say, she is a wonderful little car, with excellent roadholding (she was one of the 'last of the line', hence has the Mk.4 'floating spring' suspension) and a strong engine. Considering that she is still original, and has never been rebuilt, she did exceptionally well…
Quite a few drivers turned up late, and consequently missed drivers briefing, so there was quite a bit of quasi-racing going on, which inevitably led to a few mishaps. A couple of the sports car drivers managed to spin their cars (including the Noble going into turn 1 - in front of the whole assembly!!!), and poor Bruce Valentine (who is a member, but took along his newly restored & souped-up mini for it's christening) first had brake problems, and then lost a wheel! Nevertheless, he (and we) had good fun,and I took him out for a 'consolation' run in the GT6 towards the end of the day!
We eventually left at around 4.30pm, having spent a most pleasant day in the company of fellow classic car enthusiasts. My thanks go to Neil Cameron (who came to watch with Genevieve), Bruce Valentine, Thinus Kruger and Richard Graham for making the effort to come along and be part of this special day!