John’s Lakester

2003 meeting report

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This years meeting was shortened by a day, to allow the move of our camp from near the lakes edge, to a shearing shed location about 10 Km around the lake. The new owners of Mt Ive station decided that they would prefer if our permanent temporary camp was further away from the public gaze. From a security point of view, this would suit us better, as we have been the victim of theft in the past. A visit from our commitee late last year to introduce ourselves, and have a chat about these things led the station to make the offer of an unused shearing shed and shearers accomodation. After a visit to the site, this was accepted, and I think will turn out to be positive in everyones view. The new owners of the station have been very supportive, and have provided a canteen service for us as the previous owners did in the past. One difference this year is that they have brought hot food, drinks and ice creams down to the pits. I can tell you that it is very hard to refuse a steak sandwich and a cold drink for $8.50, when it is offered to you on the lake. They have also offered an evening menu with a very reasonable price, and excellent departure from the usual BBQ type fare.

The new camp site has a bore about a hundred yards away, which will supply the water we use for toilets and washing vehicles off the lake. The station owner has offered to provide a track direct to the lakes edge, and we will have to find some way of traversing the soft edge between the hard salt and the solid ground. 3 of our members who did not have their car ready in time, offered to start the move of the equipment, with one of our members from Queensland who had brought a rather large Kenworth tilt tray. By Wednesday, a substantial part of the camp had been moved. Thursday saw the last of the accommodation and storage containers gone, leaving only the cool room, generator and our new water tank. The last items were carried across by another tilt tray, also from Queensland.

The turn up for this years meeting was smaller than we have been used to in the last 3 or 4 years. I can't help but think that the shortened meet, and the work needed to be done, had kept some of our less dedicated members at home. Those that did come had an enjoyable meeting, I know that I did, even we had a lot of trouble with the engine, as usual.

Once again the meeting was hard on engines. John Lynch was unable to reach his speed of 297 Mph from last year. A head gasket that let go caused a small fire, then when this was fixed, a spark plug was melted. At this point, I think they decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and called it a meeting. The repairs to last years motor was extensive, with 8 pistons and rods, welded crank and welded block. No doubt Johns pockets were much the lighter for it. Bob Ellis in his chopped Falcon coupe dropped a rod, which increased the ventilation of his crankcase. Nick Bowen, who wants to be the first production vehicle to 200 Mph, lost oil pressure on his stroked and bored 308, now 383 CI, and spun a bearing. 184 Mph was a creditable effort for the cars first meeting. Mark Dunn and Greg Hamilton had the Holden station wagon back again this year. Unfortunately, while chasing a water leak, they discovered a crack in the block through a welch plug hole. This put them on the trailer as well. We had a new car from Perth this year, which was set up as a drag car, it too had engine troubles.

Enough of the problems, let's look at the positives. Leigh Russell from Queenlsand ran his little 3 cyl Suziki again, running 115 Mph with a turbo engine. Leigh would have to be one of our keenest members. He drives the car from Qld with all his stuff, including the race motor, bolted in where the passenger seats would be. A new car for this year, an FJ Holden, ran 107 Mph with the old sideplate Grey motor. Any one who can run one of these engines, which have 5 main bearings from memory, and a bit of bent fencing wire for a crankshaft to this speed, deserves to feel very proud. I have been told that one of the tricks with these motors, is to use the crankshaft from an XM Falcon. It adds much strength, and can rev safely well over what a standard Grey motor could cope with. The Moe boys ran their XA coupe, which ran strong and straight again. Over 190 Mph in a barge like this is strong indeed. Imagine what it could do in a lakester or streamliner. One of our entrants ran over 190 on a Suzuki production motorcycle, raising the bar yet again. Maybe next year will be the one when we get our first member in the 200 MPH club in a production class. Rod Hadfield ran his Commodore again, without the mechanical problems that threw a spanner in his works last year.

As usual, we had a bit of a wind up party at the Big 4 caravan park in Port Augusta on the way back. An extremely pleasent wind down for those that choose to hang around after the meeting closes, and help pack up.