The Copper Coast 500 Sprint, now in its third year, is put on by the Leukaemia Foundation by way of its Aussie Muscle Car Run arm to raise funds and have fun at the same time
Copper Coast 500 Sprint, Vic
If you can’t afford to break it, you can’t afford to race it; that’s a mantra I live by; hence why I haven’t raced a car for about 15 years. So here I am at the starting line of the Copper Coast 500 Sprints in my Holden VY SS Sandman, waiting for the flag to drop.
The Sprint, now in its third year, is put on by the Leukaemia Foundation by way of its Aussie Muscle Car Run arm. Headed by the inexhaustible Kevin May and the uncompromising Rachel Carson, the AMCR now hold a series of events across Australia with two aims; raise funds for The Foundation and have a bunch of automotive fun while doing so.
Previously known as the Kadina Muscle Car Sprints, Kevin, Rachel and local man-on-the-ground Bill Clarke elected this year to open it up to anything and everything, just so long as it was deemed interesting enough to put on a spectacle.
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If you can’t afford to break it, you can’t afford to race it; that’s a mantra I live by; hence why I haven’t raced a car for about 15 years. Actor Eric Bana then added another layer, bending his XB Falcon in Targa Tasmania before realising, publicly via his movie, Love the Beast, that for him the emotional cost far outweighed any dollar loss.
So here I am at the starting line of the Copper Coast 500 Sprints, waiting for the flag to drop. My Holden VY SS Sandman was purchased new in 2004 at great expense and has been an inextricable part of my family ever since; if I break it, it can be fixed. If I bend it, tears will be shed and a dear family member lost. Fortunately this is, in theory, a straight-line event. Select first, drop the clutch, give it the beans and hold on.
Ah the clutch; the 140,000km-old weak spot in my Purple People Eater. It wasn’t happy with my conduct first run, allowing the revs to flare and stinking up the start line before biting and getting a boogie on.
Seconds later, 16.502 to be precise, it’s all over and I’m mid pack. But I live to fight another day, unlike the old boy after me, who cooked the clutch in his stick-shift BMW 1M and set off home, barely even bothering to stop after his run before bolting for the gate. German cars. Hmph.
The Sprint, now in its third year, is put on by the Leukaemia Foundation by way of its Aussie Muscle Car Run arm. Headed by the inexhaustible Kevin May and the uncompromising Rachel Carson, the AMCR now hold a series of events across Australia with two aims; raise funds for The Foundation and have a bunch of automotive fun while doing so.
Previously known as the Kadina Muscle Car Sprints, Kevin, Rachel and local man-on-the-ground Bill Clarke elected this year to open it up to anything and everything, just so long as it was deemed interesting enough to put on a spectacle.
There aren’t many events you’ll see a current-model C7 Corvette form up next to an FD Mazda RX7, a HSV Senator and an old Dodge truck with a 440 cube twin-turbo big-block!
All have an equal chance of taking out the prize, which is precisely nothing; just the fun of giving your machine a good, hard caning the way you can’t do on a public road.
“We’re here to have fun, raise a bit of money and not worry about sheepstations,” Kevin explains between bursts of radio communication with the start line. “The proceeds help out the Leukaemia Foundation, Royal Flying Doctor Service, Kiwanis and the Moonta Aeroclub, as well as go back into facilities here,” he continues, gesturing to the Kadina Airfield which is closed one day per year, just for this event.
The track’s dual status as a runway means no tyre-warming burnouts, which worries some of the more drag-orientated participants, but not me; stickying up the rubber will just cause my clutch more anguish.
I decide it’s the tyres that must die; wheelspin is acceptable and the track is a bit loose; Willowbank this ain’t. As I idle out to the start line with the rest of ‘Group C’, I still detect clutch odour. It smells exactly like Wynard Station.
Second time out, I lay a fair snakey and drop it hard into second, chasing the tail at it slithers behind me. I reckon I changed into fourth last time, but realise as I approach 500m that the VY’s lusty LS1 will charge into the redline and allow me to forgo the last gearchange. I’m deep in the red when I cross the line for 16.281.
Despite the relative straightforwardness of the event, the big starts have taken their toll and the field is already thinning out; I’m advised I can line straight back up for another go. Back at the start line, the flag drops and I get what is the perfect combination of spin and forward motion; at least, that’s what I thought. Again, I can smell clutch and I’ve done a 16.698.
The thinning crowd means Kevin and Bill can take their cars out for a belt; both are true muscle car fanatics, although from opposite sides of the scale; Rachel’s a Holden girl, while Kevin is a Ford man.
“Want me to take you for a run?” Kevin asks. Hell yeah! Don’t let the white hair or aging machinery fool you; the 70 year old laid down a searing time; his XW Falcon Phase II 1970 Bathurst race replica showing my VY Sandman a clean set of heels, despite a clunky 2-3 gearchange.
The whiteboard shows a 15.393; “What did you think of that?” Kevin asks with a cheeky grin. I’ll be honest, charity never felt so good!
If you want to get involved, please contact Kev or Rachel through the website at: http://www.aussiemusclecarrun.com/
[It’s Mine] – (189 words)
Malcolm & Josh Beattie
2014 Chevrolet C7 Corvette LT1
Malcolm bought the Corvette new in 2014 and had it shipped straight to Shogun Vehicle Conversions in the Philippines. He was keen to know what it would do down the half-kilometre, so entrusted his son Josh with the task.
“It’s all stock, aside from the right-hand-drive conversion,” Malcolm informs us. “It’s got launch control; you put the feet hard on both pedals, lift off the brake and it sorts itself out,” Malcolm continues, “but the lad forgot all about it!”
Josh interjects, “Nah, I forgot on the first run, but remembered to turn off the air conditioning, then I used it on the second run but left the aircon on! Still, I knocked off 0.04 seconds in climate controlled comfort!” he laughs.
“I’ll be selling this soon,” Malcolm advises, gesturing to the yellow missile he’s barely run in. Whipping out his phone, he scrolls through a bunch of tasty jpegs, “I’ve actually ordered a new one; it’s supercharged and knocks about 0.8 seconds off the 0-60mph time!” At a flat 3.0 seconds to the metric tonne, it’s certainly not sitting around, and we’ll expect better than 14.4 next time!
[It’s Mine] – (186 words)
Rob Wann
1974 Dodge D5N twin turbo
Aside from the Air Tractor AT-502 crop dusting plane in the show and shine, Rob’s Dodge truck was surely the standout heavyweight at the Copper Coast 500 Sprints.
Built from an old ETSA truck, the flatbed was binned in favour of the custom step-side tub, scratch built aside from the factory Dodge wheelarches.
“We’re still getting it engineered so it hasn’t seen a weighbridge yet, but it would have to be about two tonne!” Still, motivation is no problem for Rob’s truck, which has had the 245ci low-compression Hemi binned in favour of a 440ci big block force fed by twin Garrett T3/T4 turbos.
“We’re only making about 7psi of boost and we’re having some problems,” Rob admits, speculating that the boost-referenced pressure regulator isn’t keeping up with the Demon carburettor’s demands under extreme load. “I’ve had a fiddle and turned it up; we did a 16.695 before with me backing off, then getting back on it, then an 18.1 just rolling through the traps.
“But I can’t diagnose it properly here and now; if I tear up the runway things will get emotional!” he laughs.
[It’s Mine] – (194 words)
Brenton Pollard
1977 Holden LX Torana SLR5000 replica
“I’ve owned the Torana for 22 years,” Brenton tells us of ‘TUFSLR’, his black-over-white LX SLR500 replica, “It started ‘fire extinguisher orange’ with a bog stock 253 V8 and a ‘Traumatic’. I rolled it into the shed and five years later, it came out like this!”
Brenton’s tuff Torrie now sports a 350ci Chev V8 backed by a Ford Toploader gearbox. “I’m spewing I had to put a Ford part in there,” Brenton concedes, “But the diff is Ford too so there’s that!”
“I’ve done all the work myself excluding the engine and the interior; the bodywork, paint, diff, all the customising under the bonnet and underneath is all mine,” Brenton explains with pride.
A Copper Coast local, Brenton runs Prominence Engineering in Moonta, fabricating anything and everything, especially for fourby owners. “I do drawers, tool boxes, enclosed trailers, boat trailers; you name it,” he gestures to the functional drop tank. “I made that too, but I don’t fill it up very often!”
Brenton’s Torana had my VY SS Sandman well covered; at 15.606, he bested my modern metal by over half a second and at 187km/h beat me by over 20k’s an hour!
[It’s Mine] – (194 words)
Rachel Carson
1974 Holden HQ Monaro GTS sedan
“I was worried about thrashing her out!” Rachel yells over the cacophony of Bradley Hicks’ A M/D modified dragster. “And she’s only an auto!”
Rachel needn’t have worried; her Chrome Yellow Monaro GTS was treated to a full rebuild in 2014, including a freshened 350 Chev and driveline.
Still as one of the organisers, Rachel’s main directive is to ensure the event runs smoothly and everyone has a great time; a few turns down the runway merely being the icing on the cake.
Being both a diehard rev head and the Event Manager for the Foundation’s Aussie Muscle Car Run arm, she’s had plenty of opportunity to spin the Monaro’s wheels over the last couple of years while acutely understanding the gravity of the Foundation’s work.
“When blood disorders are diagnosed, treatment has to be administered quickly; the 2013 Muscle Car Run helped us build the Bridgestone Australia Leukaemia Foundation Village for country patients to stay in free of charge; we’re very proud of that, and this event, which has raised over $11,000 today already will help put solar panels on the roof, reducing running costs.”
Who says old cars cause too much pollution?
[It’s Mine] – (186 words)
Kevin May
1970 Ford XW Falcon GT Phase II Aunger replica
Kevin was president of the Falcon GT Car Club of SA when it came up they should support a charity. After some discussion, the Leukaemia Foundation became the prime candidate, with $40,000 being raised by the Club during the 2009 Falcon GT Nationals in SA.
After losing two club members to blood disorders, Fonz Spirelli and Gary ‘Mr XR GT’ Watson, as well as his own sister Pam Thompson, Kevin kicked it up a notch; he founded the Australian Muscle Car Run, surrounded himself with a team of like-minded individuals and proceeded to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Foundation and its projects.
Three years ago, Kevin and Copper Coast local Bill Clarke started the Sprint as an interim event, with a view to raising money for the local Aero Club, Kiwanis, Lions and the Foundation.
And just because he’s running the show doesn’t mean he can’t give it a punt; his Walker/Aunger XW Falcon GT Phase II replica is built to race specs and ran down the track in a decent 15.821 with a dicky gear shifter and 105 kilos of freelancing ballast!
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Here’s just a sample of what showed up and keep an eye out for the full story on the event in an upcoming issue of Unique Cars magazine.
Photography: Darren Gerlach