John’s Lakester

2002 meeting report

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The meeting this year was our fastest yet. The salt was like concrete, and our new drag brought the best surface we have ever had, without over working it and bringing moisture to the surface.

Our little belly tank ran 130 Mph on the Tuesday morning, and we spent the rest of the week in a fruitless chase to better it. In the end, we couldn't get closer than 128. The car was over geared (underpowered) with the 3.08:1 diff. On Friday we borrowed a low profile pair of 14 inch tyres to see how we would go, but when we came to start the car to drive to the start line, there was a bad big end knock, so on the trailer it went.

The trip over was fairly eventfull as well. On the way out of Melbourne, both the radio and the cruise control stopped working, but we soldiered on. Stopping at Ararat for some breakfast, we tried to start the truck, and the battery was as flat as a shit carters hat. It seems that the regulator in the alternator had ceased to function, probably a few days earlier, and that the entire time I have owned the truck, the alternator light has been blown (I didn't realise it had one). Leaving in the dark, the lights soon flattened what was left of the battery. Being a diesel, it kept going, but with no electrics.

Meeting Highlights

This was a picture I took at the start line while we were waiting for a track search to locate a lost bolt from a car.

The Mustang runs a boss 302, at over 179 Mph. The ute ran last year, but was a push vehicle for the chopped XP Falcon coupe next to it. This was a new car and was doing licensing and shake down passes this year. The blue Holden was a new car running over 160 Mph. The Black Falcon was also new and also running over 160. The stream liner popped a tyre on the Friday morning, and took Alan for a 200 MPH panoramic view of all directions of the lake. The Torana team have upped the ante with a 202 CI engine this year, and were running 130+. Rod Hadfields Commodore was running 250 Mph on shake down runs, when the clutch let go, and put an early stop to his meeting.

Nearly all first timers were running between 160 and 170 miles per hour. I think this is due to the better preparation that can be done now, as there are more people around who know what is needed to run at the salt.

John Lynch in our fastest car increased by nearly 20 Mph to run 297 Mph (Threw a leg out of bed).

Norm Hardinge run 189 Mph in his 34 roadster (Threw a leg out of bed).

Stuart Lappin was our fasted production motor cycle and ran 189 Mph on his Suzuki.

154 (approx) Mph on a 1924 Indian (Can't remember the exact number).