Edbear
19th January 2013, 18:16
Had a great day at Hampton Downs today! A petrol-head's day in heaven! Chatting to the likes of Jim Richards and Kenny Smith, (me? name drop..?:rolleyes:), I was drooling over a hugely diverse range of classic machinery worth their weight in gold!
I met a great bunch of men and women of Motorsport and witnessed some epic battles on the track. One of the highlights was watching Kenny Smith win the F5000 feature race! The guy is incredible! My son was amazed... "That 102 year old midget beat them all!" Kenny is truly a small man who barely comes up to my shoulder and looks like a strong wind would blow him away.
I was wandering around handing out flyers and a gentleman told me that one of the F5000 teams were having battery problems and pointed me in their direction. I met up with a couple of drivers and mechanics and one driver, Bill Hemming, was interested in trying out a Shorai. I fetched a 36A from the car and took it back to the pit. Now, I never tire of the reaction I get when I hand someone a battery... They think I'm joking with them as the batteries are so small and light!
So after a tech explanation Bill decided to fit it to his car. No charging up first it was straight out of the box and fitted. As he stood up he said, "The moment of truth!" Flicked on all the necessary switches and as I bit my lip in nervousness he hit he starter button. Well that 5lt racing Mopar spun over so fast and fired so quick I stood there in amazement! Bill shut it off and with a grin on his face said, "The motor's never started like that before!"
Of course he still had the afternoon feature race to do and I was on tenterhooks hoping he would last the distance. Yes, the batteries are proving themselves in all applications, but it was the first time I had tried one out in the big F5000 racing V8's and it was going to be a nail-biting race for me. I was prepared to run away if he DNF'd...
He not only made the start line, he finished the race one place ahead of his grid position, and I was stoked! We went back to his pit and we both grinned at each other as he took his helmet off, patting me on the back after I expressed my relief. He was very happy and I can now look fwd to him promoting the batteries to the class.
The day was great and my son and I enjoyed spending the day together as we don't get a lot of father-son time. It was fabulous to see such classic machinery, some almost worth Ghent weight in gold, being used as they were intended including the 83 year old driving a rare Volpino built in 1958 and in probably better condition now than when it was new. A real character too, the old man!
I met a great bunch of men and women of Motorsport and witnessed some epic battles on the track. One of the highlights was watching Kenny Smith win the F5000 feature race! The guy is incredible! My son was amazed... "That 102 year old midget beat them all!" Kenny is truly a small man who barely comes up to my shoulder and looks like a strong wind would blow him away.
I was wandering around handing out flyers and a gentleman told me that one of the F5000 teams were having battery problems and pointed me in their direction. I met up with a couple of drivers and mechanics and one driver, Bill Hemming, was interested in trying out a Shorai. I fetched a 36A from the car and took it back to the pit. Now, I never tire of the reaction I get when I hand someone a battery... They think I'm joking with them as the batteries are so small and light!
So after a tech explanation Bill decided to fit it to his car. No charging up first it was straight out of the box and fitted. As he stood up he said, "The moment of truth!" Flicked on all the necessary switches and as I bit my lip in nervousness he hit he starter button. Well that 5lt racing Mopar spun over so fast and fired so quick I stood there in amazement! Bill shut it off and with a grin on his face said, "The motor's never started like that before!"
Of course he still had the afternoon feature race to do and I was on tenterhooks hoping he would last the distance. Yes, the batteries are proving themselves in all applications, but it was the first time I had tried one out in the big F5000 racing V8's and it was going to be a nail-biting race for me. I was prepared to run away if he DNF'd...
He not only made the start line, he finished the race one place ahead of his grid position, and I was stoked! We went back to his pit and we both grinned at each other as he took his helmet off, patting me on the back after I expressed my relief. He was very happy and I can now look fwd to him promoting the batteries to the class.
The day was great and my son and I enjoyed spending the day together as we don't get a lot of father-son time. It was fabulous to see such classic machinery, some almost worth Ghent weight in gold, being used as they were intended including the 83 year old driving a rare Volpino built in 1958 and in probably better condition now than when it was new. A real character too, the old man!