Category: On The Street

The biggest burnout competition to smoke out Victoria has finally arrived with a bang!
Tonight is the final qualifying round for all competitors to prove their worth and gain the crowds respect and cheer.

Finals are set for tomorrow which will see over 8,500 in cash and prizes up for grabs as cars get put to the ultimate test of endurance and high RPM punishment. Burnout demonstrations will be performed on the day thanks to Peter and Debbie Gray.

Gates open tonight from 6pm, cars hit the pad from 7. Sunday will see the gates open at 11 am with burnout action commencing at 1pm ‘till 10pm.

Category: Motorsport

Some days you are just best of staying in bed, and it’s what Matt Mingay should have done leading up to the fourth round of the Drift Australia series when his VY Stuntz Inc/Capa Drift Team VY Commodore suffered a myriad of mechanical setbacks.

After suffering chronic clutch slip in the practice round, only to later suffer a complete failure, the team stayed up all night in an effort to replace the clutch on the stricken 454-powered dedicated drift VY. After the whole clutch was replaced, problems persisted through Saturday which saw Mingay bite the bullet and sideline himself for the weekend.

"I'd had enough, my hands were black and sore and we were all fed up with ripping that darn box in and out - all I wanted to do was watch the boys with a nice cold beer in hand," Mingay said.

"Luckily for us Peter Haylock from Textralia Clutches came to the rescue and found the problem and at 6pm on Saturday night I was ready to race."

After finally getting the problems sorted, the VY returned to the track in the final heats to secure an impressive 11th overall for the entire weekend.

"I’m happy with my result considering I nearly didn't even compete. It was a good chance to play with the guys and have some fun hopefully as time goes on I can get the big girl more sorted and become more competitive," Mingay said.

"To qualify and finish ahead of many of the top drift guys this weekend means Im steering the Holden in the right direction."

Category: Street Commodores

Our GM brothers over in the US have released a series of renderings that show the high tech direction dash infrastructure is heading in the future which include integrated LCD instrumentation which can be fully customised.

The initial thought of the designs revealed that they could be on to a good thing, however me personally, I just can’t go past the good old standard gauge. Fixed rear measurement, easy to see needle, and a tacho that goes far higher than any manufacturer had ever intended you to rev.

While these designs are still many years off seeing operation in any production car that you can buy, it is clear that GM have been doing their homework and are trying to shake that ‘low tech’ connotation associated with domestic gas guzzlers.

Category: Street Commodores

It’s been noted that a few complaints have started to circulate where the VE range of Commodores, from the Omega to the Grange, has suffered a power failure as a result of the vehicle not being operated .

The complaints out lie that when their vehicle was left for a period of time (that seems to range from one day to one week), the vehicle looses all power as a result of ancillaries draining power.

The validity of these claims is unclear at this time, but for those VE owners out there, something to keep in the back of your mind when leaving you car unused for an extended period of time.

Category: Street Commodores

It’s always great to see a cover car getting out there and doing what a car was meant for, and that’s taking it to the drags and giving it the thrashing of a lifetime! Carl’s issue 130 cover car, the deadly looking black ute, re-visited the 400m blacktop last night for WSID’s Wicked Wednesday night off-street drag meet and despite slippery track conditions, managed to put down a very respectable 11.4 second pass.

Not only built to go, but this very same ute also managed to take out four trophies at the South Coast Nationals held in Moruya over the weekend which saw Craig take out best Paint, Best Body and Best Ute.

Keep an eye out in future Street Commodores Live! DVD’s for video of Craig’s quarter mile passes.

Category: Motorsport

The seventh annual Dutton Rally is hitting Victoria this weekend and if it’s anything like last year, it’s going to be one hell of a show! An estimated field of around 100 cars will be put to the test and compete in 29 separate driving tests.

Some of the venues that will be used in the rally include Shepparton Airport, Driver Education Centre of Australia, Winton Raceway and Sandown International Raceway.

Entries are still being taken for the Victorian leg of the Dutton Rally so hurry and get your entries in ASAP for your spot in one of Australia’s quickest road rally series.

For more information and cool Dutton multimedia, visit the official Dutton Rally website at http://www.duttonrally.com