Although a little limited in numbers, the entrants for our recent Club Day were greeted with the “best racing conditions I have ever seen” as quoted by the Officer of the Day, Rick Howard, in reference to the millpond like water on Lake Budgewoi.

It was great to see so many club members come out to Toukley to assist in any way they could. From manning course boats, to hitting the microphone, it was great to see so many members there on the day.

Each of the race entrants had various goals for the day’s
running, ranging from a return to racing, or simply the
never ending elusive goal of more speed.

Kel and Anthony Toms brought out their 5litre hydro, Intimidator, after a number of years off the water. Most of that time in the shed was spent on modifying the sponson designs to assist the boat to break free from the water. Even after just the first practice run of the morning, the boat popped up out of the hole and showed plenty of speed. Essentially just a shakedown day for the team, the Toms’ went home with smiles on their faces even though some minor gremlins developed before the day was out

Paul Vella’s Impatient made it to Toukley for its first race since the Bridge to Bridge in May. This time out, Paul had a smaller 4.2 litre motor that boat used to run before stepping up to 5 litres. Unfortunately,the fast red hydro only made a lap or two before some major mechanical damage.

After a couple of cracker race meetings for Rob Chadban in Shockwave, Rob was trialing a new carby and intake manifold on top of the 4.2litre. The boat did not seem to like the new fuel system as much as previous set up. Some tuning between races throughout the day did help, but not enough to being back to the ‘out-pacing a 6litre log boat’ speed.

The Bug turned up with a new triple Weber set up in place of the previous SUs bolted to the side of the hot 202 straight 6. Andrew Petty had to work quickly in the lead up to the day to get the throttle linkages and initial fuel mixture tuning before the last Sunday of the race season. Judging by the initial test laps, the tuning was pretty damn close to spot on. Plenty of speed and a big rooster tail indicated that The Bug was here to race. The first race saw a near miss for Andrew, as the boat dove into the first left hand turn, the sponson hooked in and nearly spun the boat around - and almost into the path of Shockwave. Andrew was able to straighten the boat out again and give chase. Andrew was concerned about higher than normal water temperatures and pulled out of the last race of the day to play it safe, rather than cause any damage.

Toukley saw the second ever circuit race for the recently rebirthed Miss September. While Nathan Mills and the team were happy with the previous power set up, the little classic hydro was using a new 6% step up in the box, after finding a chipped tooth on the 11% gears after the demo run at Forster a couple of months earlier. Some great speed was shown with the new gears early in the day, but one race was missed completely due to a
complete lack of fuel pressure. After checking the fuel lines, some fiddling with the regulator saw the return of the required PSI. Another propellor was tried later in the day, but while the taller pitch saw greater top end speed, it was to the detriment of acceleration.

Team Beasley Racing flew the flag for the outboards, showing plenty of pace and reliability all day. The father and son driving team used the day as a competitive test day. The engine getting tweaks throughout the day and even swapped gearboxes on the bottom of the leg.

The sole log boat for the day was the local 6litre carby powered, Marineline. The all red boat showed good speed and outstanding acceleration, but the boat was another to fall to major mechanical damage. A couple of con rods managing to break free from the block.

The wash up at the end of the day saw the smallest capacity hydro, Miss September, come out on top of the points table for the hydro class. The clear result of consistent running throughout the day, as the little red rocket only finished in first place for the final race of the day.

Again, the day would not have happened if it wasn’t the help and assistance of the club members before hand and on the day itself. From former racers in race control to our freshly discovered star commentator, the day was a positive experience all round.

See below for some great racing action shots from the day’s racing. Photos courtesy of Terry Paull and Sam Tuckwell.

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