Season Preparations are going slow.  We have the new engine from Mark Brew and are waiting on bits and pieces to get it all running.  We have two displays / start ups to do before the season starts so now the rush is on.

This months featured sponsor is LA Motors.  This business run by brothers Lawrence and Anthony Coppola has operated from its Crittenden Road site for many years.  The main bread and butter activity is general mechanical servicing but Lawrence is known around the traps for his engine building prowess.  While Anthony, Robbie and crew focus on all manner of auto work, Lawrence can often be found tinkering with an engine from our Jason’s Pallets Outlaw, Dale Clothiers Doorslammer or some other enthusiast’s engines that we or others have recommended Lawrence to.  He just loves tinkering.  In the meantime the boys do the hard work and earn the money – you can see he didn’t write this.

The connection with Lawrence goes back a while.  He built Gary Busch’s Ford Big blocks, first of all for his beloved Cortina and then his Altered, both campaigned with much success.  From there he started with Greg Brown and his Chevys in the Pantera & the Statesman into the Hemi powered Camaro and now the Firebird.  What we like about the very affable Lawrence is if he doesn’t know he finds out from his vast array of contacts, particularly in the US.  Mistakes can be very expensive and B/S is no substitute for knowledge and experience.  That’s why we recommend him and don’t try to do it all ourselves.

We have updated his page with some photos.  Check them out.

We had the Hudson’s, Clive, Allan and Roy & the rest of the Bad Attitude Team in town from WA for a couple of days doing over the speed shops and enjoying some good times.  We wound it up in country Balaklava with a huge bonfire and many good laughs.  In particular it was good to catch up with Jeff Beacham and marvel at his progress recovering from that broken leg – he didn’t once try to even up by running over one of us, but the good natured sledging had everyone in stiches.  Looks like we’ve still got a clutch man for the coming season, although for some reason we haven’t had anyone show interest in what otherwise might have been a vacancy on the team.

The long long ever so long off season has seen us move our race team into a separate shed from the crash repair business and prepare another shed for Trevor Birrell and his Dutch Master team to move into.  His operation was getting too big to work from home.

All that activity and fishing have filled in the boredom waiting for the new engine to arrive.  With still no 1/4 mile track in SA and a new fishing boat in the yard, a life other than drag racing is beckoning over the horizon.  We could get used to it,.  Nah, I don’t think so, what would we do with the new engine and all the nice bits and pieces we have been buying.

Our replacement engine is about to be despatched to us from Mark Brew in Brisbane.  A new engine deserved a new shipping crate and stand which has been despatched to Mark to make sure it gets here okay.  We’re anxious to get our hands on the engine as we have some displays and start ups to do at sponsors premises.

It’s now certain we wont be racing again until after the Winternationals.  With no track suitable for testing in Adelaide we will have to wait for the season opening, most likely in Perth to do the necessary tuning & bedding in of the new engine.

In the meantime the transporter has been undergoing minor modifications and finishing touches after its first shakedown season.  Most of the effort has been focussed on easier loading of the car and better utilising the storage areas with a proper place for each item.  The elevating room still needs some fine tuning and we have a couple of mods in mind for the kitchen lounge to make life away from home a little easier.

As always we are on the lookout for more backers to have their logo associated with the team but with no racing in Adelaide it’s a slog with little reward in our home market.  However the good news is all our current team are still with us and we urge our supporters to think of them when they may be able to use their services.  To that end we will over the coming months feature a sponsor in our blog, starting with the Naracoorte Holiday Park.

Featured Sponsor.

Naracoorte Holiday Park.  The park situated in a manicured tree filled parkland setting on the edge of the city centre is a member of the Big4 Group.  It’s a short walk into town to visit the shops and eateries.  We began staying there more than 10 years ago when we were racing at Coonawarra on the 1/8 mile track.  The site was a natural for us as it was short trip to the track and importantly could accommodate trucks and car & trailer combinations with ease.  It has an extensive choice of basic to luxury cabins, on site caravans and many excellent camping spots able to take the biggest rigs and groups of racers.

We quickly struck up a friendship with Mick and Marj Sanderson and help them gain the custom of other racers and the rest is history.  Officials, racers and spectators now use the park when the racing’s on and many stay on to use it as their jump off point to enjoys the south east of the State, particularly the Coonawarra wine region, historic Penola and the world famous heritage listed Naracoorte Caves.  Mick & Marj have been known to put on an after race barbecue and stoke up the tiny tots train rides for the kids so it’s no wonder we have racers thank us for introducing them to the park.  The kids love the towns adjoining swimming lake with its sandy beach, lawn areas and diving platform.  The less interested partner and kids can always stay home from the races and spend the day lakeside and enjoy nature’s plentiful birdlife or use the games room.

Don’t be surprised when visiting the park if it’s being used by other groups of hot rodders or car clubs for an overnight stay and vehicle display or as a transit point on a tour – it’s a car & motorsport friendly place.  The park is big enough to hold such events without crowding out and yet provide seclusion for those holiday makers seeking it.

Mick & Marj choose to advertise with us but irrespective of that, we unreservedly recommend their service and the Naracoorte Holiday Park itself.  It’s a great spot to stay at during a visit to SA’s wonderful South East Region.

Disaster!  After top qualifying at the Western Nationals, we dropped a valve and detonated the engine at 1050 feet (5.5 secs) into the run.  The block, pistons, rods and valves, crank and numerous other bits are scrap metal.  Little can be recovered, so a new engine is required.

After a season where we top qualified 5 times from 6 appearances and made 3 final appearances it was a sad ending.  With 20 wins from 27 runs it has been a highly succesful season and given our supporters great exposure.   The Perth based season has prematurely ended and plans to run in Victoria, NSW and Qld shelved.

Now we pack the transporter and head back home to regroup for next season.  We’ll be asking our supporters to dig deep and hunt for more companies wishing to advertise their products or services on SA’s most successful Supercharged Outlaw team running on the national stage.

Checkout the VIDEOS page for footage of the incident.

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