Update!

Ok, my sincere apologies for the lack of updates. However, as Pikes Peak gets closer again we'll be bringing the regular updates from our adventures leading up to and including all the happening from Pikes Peak 2012.

In the meanwhile, now for some updates of late.

First we need to wind the clock back a bit. December 2011 to be precise.

We got talked into entering the last round of the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship at Lake Mountain in Victoria.

We packed the car up, loaded the Isuzu truck and towed ole' faithful evo down to Victoria for the event.

Car was minimally prepped, but with the same old tyres that have been on the car for, oh, about 1.5 years!

Anyways, got there and got into a sweet little house rental we inherited from a fellow racer than cancelled their entry due to confliction of events. When we got there we got a new house with a nice kitchen, bedrooms, and fireplace and stereo. We were met by a sweet little parrot that showed up and greeted us, no doubt expecting some goodies in return.

A few recce runs to check our old notes and we're good to go.

It started pretty average with the intense rain that never seemed to end, but within a short burst of time we found ourselves running 3rd overall. However a spin costs us heaps and dropped us to 5th. Despite the rain, we made some minor suspension changes and set fastest times on the stages.

Back to the really nice place we rented for the weekend, Cath redid her notes, our sponsor, Marc Hammond from iautosport.com was outside washing the cars, and I was on kitchen duty making some spicey bolognaise with Placido Domingo on the stereo. Wine was corked, the evening was being settled into just fine.

Sunday rolled in and Cath did her calculations and found that if we can work our way ahead by the end of the day by 21 seconds we stood a chance of a good podium.

Well, it all came together quickly and following the doctrine of 80% speed and 100% accuracy we got our 21 seconds on the FIRST stage, pulling us ahead and immediatley to the front.

Nicely, we held that position for the rest of the day, fighting to keep the car on the road in the wet slippy conditions which saw many people have offs and spins.

At one point we went across the finish line in the pouring rain and tapped the brakes which sent the car sideways, this was about 200+kph. Not something you want to happen much.  Below is a video of the fight back run.

The last three runs were done in drying conditions but with a damp road however. But we still ran fastest stage times all day, and on the last run with the last half of the stage dry, we crossed the last stage foot down maxed out in 5th gear at 7000+ rpm, almost top speed, through the trees on a narrow road. Sweet, if not a bit scary at times when you see the road run out of room.

Skelta takes it to Porsche GT3

Remember below when I said the Skelta caught and passed Targa Tassies' # 1 competitor and most prolific winner Jim Richards?

Here's the video and it was done in the wet.

click here >Enjoy.
No wonder they banned it, can't have an aussie made and engineered car beating an established marque like Porsche on an specialised aussie event, let alone catching and passing it on a Tarmac stage. Yes, that was a bit of fun-poking sarcasm...

We're heading back to Pikes Peak!!!!

Yep, that's right! We're heading back to Pikes Peak in 2012 this time in a magnificent Skelta, Australia's own Porsche killer!

Weighing in at only 780 kilos and with a nominal 300 hp at the rear wheels from it's supercharged F20C Honda S2000 engine, the power to weight ratio is enough to scare the likes of Lamborghini and Porsche.

The car we'll be using is the same car that came 2nd on Targa Tasmania this year, loosing out to the top spot by 63 seconds due to running on JUST 3 cylinders on the final day. Not too shabby, huh!

But sadly the Targa Tasmania organisers got taken on a nice little junket by Porsche to Europe, got given nice vintage Porsches to drive in the Lemans 'classic' event, and around Europe, and a Porsche to drive at the Nurburgring for kicks, and when they flew home they immediately re-wrote the rules to stop the future entries of this magnificent Aussie built car into further and future Targa Tasmania events at the stroke of a pen. I guess it had something to do with the video image of the Skelta catching and passing the Porsche GT3 of Aussie race legend Jim Richards on one of the stages in last years event. I know Jim and if he found out why they banned the Skelta he'd be really upset.

Makes you sick doesn't it! An Aussie made car taking on the world in an Aussie event and the organisers are so wrapped up in a gravy train the refused to allow it future entries to please the gravy train from Porsche. The amazing thing is I like Porsches, having raced them in endurance events in the US, and I like the Targa Tasmania event too, but I also like the Skelta.

Anyways, so now we're not welcome here, (which may sound famialir to my friends and fans in the US) so we'll go to the big show across the pond and compete there...

Hey, does anyone know how Porsche got their start...? Wasnt it building lightweight small capacity cars that kicked the big established guys - ie: other motor manufacturers - butts in motorsports in the early years earning a reputation for well engineered and lightweight cars... Im just saying!

The nuances of life...

Life's perplexing at times. How can it be that there is so much going on, yet nothing happening?

How can it be that I feel like Im running in circles putting so much together, then I sit back and see that actually nothing has come together? Is this going to be like a big rubber band that's being stretched and stretched and as you keep going stretching it you start to wonder if it's ever going to, A: snap, or B: pull you back so quickly your head spins. My life would 'A', then. And when it does snap, you wonder how things could all be happening at onc.... oh, never mind, I guess I just figured it out!

So we'll keep running in circles and wait for the rebound coil, I'll be the one in the heap on the floor.

Doing a photo dump!

These are some images of my past life. Hope you enjoy them.