Will this car ever go!!!!!!!!!

Good evening all,

Just back from Aladdin's cave.

Sunday we had 5 wise men work from 8.30am until 6pm getting the Crabbe car into some form of repair, well it was not to be.

All the easy to fit parts just would not go, engine had to be pulled apart somewhat to get it between the bars, the oil tank would not fit inside the frame, the radiator would not fit without being damaged due to the dry sump pump, the bracket that holds the dry sump tank in was to wide, the panels that were going to just clip in did not fit, off came the Dzus brackets to be modified and re welded elsewhere, lucky the powder coating was crap or I might have cried, each time we welded on the chassis the 3mm of powder coating burst into flames and the smoke detector went off (only kidding we don't have a smoke detector) but we certainly had plenty of flames from the coating.

The exhaust didn't fit it hit the lower frame rails, the engine breather hung to far outside the engine bay and the bonnet would not go over.

The moral of the story is use the same gear as everyone else and let them work out how it all fits, then copy it.

Well today we went back and started the process of fixing each item one at a time and by 6pm tonight we almost had it ready, just need mufflers and a radiator and we will be able to put some fire in the cylinders.

The car is off to the sign writers first thing in the morning and then to an exhaust shop to get the Gonzo mufflers fitted, they are also larger dia than the pacemaker headers we now run and they sit right in the way of the shorty knerf bar bottom mount points.

Things got that hectic and the pressure was mounting towards late Sunday afternoon as we started to realise that we were not going to get very far, most composure's were kept but my head was getting redder and the tips of my ears were going purple as the blood pressure rose faster than the temperature gauge on last years car.

After thanking the Bunbury boys for helping and urging them to go home so they did not get into trouble and so I could cry in peace, I opened up a few beers and dreamt of the easy life, Shane the new guy was wondering what he had let himself in for, like me when I started, the famous words "It will all fit no problem" were starting to sound like a politicians pre election promise, he was shattered at the thought of what lies ahead for him, but he still thinks Bunbury will be his first meeting.

Telling you guys all this has made me feel like I should go back and start again, so Thursday to Monday we will be at it again, then a photo shoot with sponsors and bring on fast Friday and Ellenbrook.

Bye all.

Hopefully some more new members.

Good evening all,

As you may be aware Norbert has been trying to sell his old JSR roller and his complete Maxim (Brooke Tatnell aussie title winning car) with the motor he purchased from Graeme Warner.

After advertising the cars in the Sunday times he had 2 offers for the Maxim, looks like the Maxim has found a new home in Geraldton and maybe the JSR is on its way back to the track, looks like we are starting to get some real interest in the club and racing.

This weekend sees the Scrutineers course run, Gavin and I are off to be trained in how to inspect a sprintcar.

Some of the committee are attending an officials course.

On the car front I have got the brake lines and master cylinder in, the torsion bar bushes in and reamed, and all the spuds cleaned ready for bars etc, nothing will be done now until Sunday when the "Crew" arrive, the sign writer has asked for the car early as a Dirt Modified he was going to do next week changed the date it was going to come in, now I need to be ready a bit earlier, not sure we can but we will give it a good shake.

Catch you.

Time to start the rebuild.

Hi all,

First some more info on my wrongly painted chassis.

Despite the people admitting they painted the chassis the wrong colour and saying they would fix it for free,when it came time to collect it they wanted full payment a second time.

Negotiated the price down and they gave me the chassis back, the job was absolute crap.

Keep clear of Canning Vale powder coaters.

On a lighter note we put the chassis on the stand ready for reassembly, got out the new magnesium motor plate and the Ti Bolts, the motor plate would not fit, can you believe it, where is the black cat I kicked?

Some quick work on the milling machine and we had an even lighter motor plate that now fits, fitted the floor and sat back to admire the start of the rebirth of the JEI from last year.

This years mission is to have a light car, that will make weight but only just, if you see me eating a hamburger after finishing a race and before weighing in you will know why.

The new panels were painted by Mandurah Panel and Paint and they look fantastic, Gavin, Norbert and Ed are coming down to give me a hand on Sunday so we can meet the tight deadline I am now running to, still pretty certain I will make Fast Friday and then Ellenbrook, Gavin assures me that if I so much as get in the way on Sunday he and his assistants will send me out for coffee and put the car back together with all the old bits, I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve, I am going to hide all the old bits.

We need to fit up the new body panels, they are slightly different from last years and look absolutely George Jetson ish (Old TV show for you youngsters that have never heard of it), it means space age if you couldn't work it out for yourself.

They came with no holes drilled or anything despite being for a JEI chassis, just another curve ball for me.

We have a new member, he is joining as I type, He, Shane has purchased the Ryan Farrell car, he has also purchased a motor from Jason Bloxsidge and it is in at Chevpower on the dyno getting sorted, another recruit, Shane is also coming down to Aladin's cave on Sunday for a sticky to see if we have more Titanium than him.

Rob Watson has assured me he is going to be at Ellenbrook for the first meeting.

Glen's car is off to the sign writer tomorrow, it will be ready early next week and then it will get its first run at Bunbury on the 24th of October, hope we can get at least 12 cars for this meeting, at the corresponding meeting last year the track was just awesome and fast, you no sooner came out of a turn and got the car straight and it was time to get back into the next turn, Todd Davis will be out for his first run this year on that night as well.

Well time to go and dream of a car assembly that may just go smoothly.

See ya.

Team Dhu almost ready.

Hi all,

Well the long weekend is over and another week closer to the first meeting.

The rumour mill is hotting up but car preparation is cooling down.

Dhuy is almost ready to go, car has an engine and is running, Dhuy went to our secret starting spot to fire his car up, I just forgot to tell him that the local constabulary were watching the area after the break in at our units, so he fired up the car and as he was doing the timing on the street up rolls Mr Plod and asks what he was doing, not sure how this one will end but a cash sponsor may be needed to assist with some costs.

The team Crabbe chassis is still on the back of the Ute, it is the nicest baby blue you have ever seen, pity it's meant to be royal blue so back to the powder coater it goes, still we can't do anything as we still are waiting for parts to arrive from Victoria and South Australia, many late nights will be needed to get this car ready, but ready it will be.

A little bird at Ellenbrook on Sunday says there is no chance that team Watson will be ready, although with the big budget sponsor they have just landed they may fly a complete car in from the US, check out the press release, they have secured 96FM as a sponsor for all 5 cars.

The correct calendars are out, I delivered some to Geraldton and some to Moora this weekend and the rest will be posted out this week.

Bye all.

Team Crabbe and Oliver nearly out for the season

Good evening again,

As you can see from the startling blog heading above there has been some turmoil in our camp.
On my way to work this morning (Yes work it is not all golf and sprintcars you know) I got a call from my neighbour at our units where we store our race cars saying we had been broken into and both unit doors were ajar, my heart sunk as I thought about new motors and Titanium that would have been stolen, a quick phone call to Janette and she was on her way to check out the scene, luckily we had had nothing removed from the units, a nearby unit had some alcohol taken and that was it, a quick trip to a lock shop was organised and some special roller door locks were purchased and installed.
The Crabbe chassis is ready for collection ahead of time and should be sitting on the stands by Thursday evening, things must be coming good as it is 2 days ahead of schedule, we will not start putting the car together until the weekend of the 3rd of October, hoping to have the car ready for sign writing on 12th October, Jason from JRH signs will have a lot of work to do that week.
Team Oliver has gotten a new striping scheme done for his car and it is looking a bit tricker than that all over white paint scheme he was running last year. The car also has the old team Crabbe motor in and is ready to fire up, at least one car is all but ready to go.
Gavin and Norbert called in on Saturday to check out the progress of our team, I was showing them the new shiny bits and a special set of bolts was missing, first I thought they were tricking me and had hidden them, but alas no, the bolts must have gone walkabout between my kitchen the day before and arriving at the storage units, if anyone picks them up they will wonder why they weigh nothing.
Glen has come up with a new name for me, Ti Man, he tells me he is going to have a characterture of me done up as a bolt, I still struggle to understand why the new car from last year with all the lightweight parts weighs more than the original car I had, Pino Priolo and Chris Pallentine must have had some serious light weight components in that car, it still only just weighs in at correct weight, Glen may be in trouble as the extractors that come with my old engine weigh about 20lbs less than his originals.

Gavin is in his shed working on his seat fitment, he has to then get the chassis painted and then start the assembly.
Todd is a little more advanced and has his chassis powder coated and ready to start the assembly process.
Watto is keeping quiet on his progress, I think he has a new motor that is making ssome serious horsepower.
Dhuy is busy getting a new fish shop ready so I have not bugged him for any updates but I would think he is going to make Ellenbrook as there is no way he is going to let Watto and I get a meeting in front of him this year, the Huey (Watto), Dhuy (No identification needed) and Lewi (Me) show will be intense this year, no beg pardons just good hard racing, we are also known as the 3 Amigos.

Michael Armstrong and Mandurah Bolt Supplies.

Good evening all

Tuesday this week I was out playing golf at The Sanctuary in Bunbury, whilst driving the cart between hits the phone rang and an acquantance of mine from Mandurah Bolt Supplies, Chris was on the phone talking to me.
Now not many of you know but another toy of mine is a Fusion coloured CV8Z Monaro, when I brought it Mandurah Holden had a set of number plates with CV8 Monaro on them, I idolised those plates but refused to pay the 5k they wanted for them, so one day while walking into Mandurah Bolt Supplies out of the corner of my eye I spied a number plate that said CV8-Zed,
they were out of place as they were on a VY SS ute, wandering over I saw Chris and we had a chat about how those plates really should change hands and go onto my Monaro, after 12 months of intense negotiation we agreed a very reasonable price and started the process of changing the plates over, so Chris had phoned me to tell me he had handed the plates in and had handed in the transfer and soon they would be mine, whilst chatting on the phone Chris mentioned our new Limited Sprintcar web site and said how the committee were doing a good job in getting the club out into the public eye.
I had to ask Chris how he got to the web site and he started to tell me about his previous sponsorships.
I already knew Chris had sponsored the Blackman team a couple of years ago but had no idea Chris used to help out Wayne Armstrong when he was down Waroona way.
Chris told me he was putting a package together to help Michael Armstrong, Wayne's son, so I thought as I had said I would start writing on this blog site about some of our drivers and cars Michael would be a good starting point.

So firstly my apologies to the Armstrongs and Rick if I make any errors but here is what I think is right.
Michael first started racing in Carnarvon in a Mini, he did this for a season and then stopped racing until the 08/09 season.
After Wayne's tragic death at the end of the 07/08 season the car Wayne planned to make a comeback in was sitting until Michael was convinced/decided to get it ready to race on the night of the Limited Sprintcar State Title.
Michael had his arm twisted while watching the Australian Title at Kwinana.
Mick Doble supplied a motor for the car and off to the Geraldton track they went on the Friday before the meeting so Michael could have some laps before the race meeting.
On the night of the State Title Michael ran 3 races with another non qualifier to get his hand/eye in and then came out the following night for the meeting that honours his late father Wayne.
There were 20 cars running that night and Michael finished a creditable 8th.
This was enough to get the bug into Michael's system and this coming season he intends to run a few more meetings, he will do a Fast Friday, the 2 night state title and 3 meetings in Geraldton culminating in the "Wayne Armstrong Cup" where he will be much better prepared than last year having 3 or 4 meetings under his belt.
Michael has not had to do much work to the car for this year, he has got a hand me down motor from Caroline, it has been rebuilt for the season and based on Caroline's car speed last season it should be a very quick combination.

Michael would like to thank his sponsor Chris from Mandurah Bolt Supplies for his help in the coming season ahead, and I would also like to say if you need bolts talk to Chris at Mandurah Bolt supplies, Chris has a full list of sprintcar bolts if you need a bolt kit put together thanks to Norbert,who put it together for me to give to Chris.
Michael would also like to thank Mick Doble who goes above and beyond to help out fellow racers to ensure we get cars onto the track each and every week.

Michael also wants to especially thank Carol, Caroline, Rick Sawyer and his wife Vanessa who help put the package together to get him on the track, the Armstrong's are a real Racing Family who could have given it all away after Waynes passing but have continued doing what they love.
Good luck in the season ahead Michael.

Maybe I can get Caroline on the phone next week and see how her car is progressing, rumour has it the car will sport a flash motor from the USA when it hits the track this season.

Blogging can sometimes be no fun.

Well when I first started this blog it seemed to be a great way to communicate and have a bit of fun.

Martin was a little unsure that we should do it and after a few months I am seeing why.

Finally got my chassis from Murphy Racecars and delivered it to the powder coaters, they will still have it ready for Friday evening so I am still on my week behind schedule.

Gavin's chassis is home in Bunbury and it should also make the powder coaters this week.

Watto's chassis is back up in the hills in the workshop and about to get put together for the first meeting.

We still only have 9 cars nominated for Ellenbrook on the 17th October, we really need to get a few more cars to this meeting guys, please get those cars ready and nominate.

That's it for tonight, we have had a technical matter raised re nerf bars that the Tech committee have to work on so that's now a priority for us.

See you.

Update.

Hi Again

Caught up with Norbert and Gail on Saturday and over a quiet beer we had a discussion about this blog site and how to keep it interesting.

Norbert came up with a fabulous idea, start phoning each driver and give an update of where they are up to with car preparation, also he coined a new term, at least one I was unfamiliar with "Shed Racer" a driver who has a car and is not racing but still keeps the car.

We have a few of these in the club so what a good idea to give them a call and see what they are up to.

So folks get ready to answer the phone as I am about to start calling each of you.

I have had a couple of calls lately with questions.

First one was "Can you run a Ford engine"? Yes you can.

Next one was "In the log book under Front End, What is meant , Axle eyes wrapped"? I would not have a clue but will find out. Late news: it means the axle beam material is wrapped or bent around the king pin eyes on each end of the axle beam, well you learn something new each day.

The Team Crabbe chassis has been straightened and Murph will have his work done by Friday, the powder coater awaits its delivery and then back to the shed it goes, the new panels from JEI are in the paint shop so hopefully I can catch up the week I have lost getting the chassis straightened.

Team Dhu is well advanced on car preparation, he will be ready to go at Ellenbrook on the 17th, not sure about Fast Friday on the 16th, will ask him over a beer in the next week or so.

Saw some members chassis still at Murphs today, Wattos red maxim is there, still has the dents where he took me out at Moora just to get the $200.00 bet four of us had on who would finish third in the feature race, still a bit of work for Murph to do on that car, Gavins Maxim that got run into at Geraldton is still there, it only needs spuds for shorty nerfs fitting and it is done.

Seems there is some unwanted twittering on our blog page, will get it sorted this week.

Well got to go keep getting enthused for the start of the season.

Update and more info.

Good evening folks,

Well another week closer to season kick off.

Stripped the chariot and sent the frame to Murph the magician to replace a few bent pieces, well it would appear that a couple of bent spuds is not all that was wrong, it appears the front end needs minor realignment, so off to Coxy's it goes for straightening, another weeks delay, not sure the old car may not be rebadged from 45 to 77 and run at the first 2 meetings this year.

All the trick bits from the US have turned up so both Gavin and I have a mission to get it all together in time, I have a fallback plan at least, Gavin rumour has it may need to lease Norby's car for the first couple of meetings, rumour also has it he is home from the bush soon, a couple of days in the shed and he may just get his own car ready.

Before you here it from others Mrs Crabbe has purchased her motor home, she sent me off for a driving test and I decided a HR license was for me, no lessons, I know trucks, well I had it shot to pieces and was taking the assessor back to the driving school when I missed a gear, no problem I thought, just stop the truck and put it in first and start again, not with this instructor, he said anyone who had to stop a truck and recover with a synchro box should not be let loose on the road, lucky I knew he was an ex copper or I may have offered him a bribe, so home I came with tail between my legs and confessed to failing, I have booked a couple of lessons for next week prior to my test.

We still have a lot of drivers with no driver profile and some we know are racing who have not paid their fees, remember no club membership no points.

For those who do not know Norbert is selling all his gear, he has numerous spares, a rolling chassis and a complete car to sell, any interest email me via the web site and I will put you in touch with him.

Keep getting those cars ready, we need more cars for Ellenbrook and if you are coming from the country then head to Kwinana for the Fast Friday the night before Ellenbrook, also note Ellenbrook is a Saturday Twighlight meeting not the normal Sunday day meeting.

Another week closer to kick off.

Good evening all,

We have just completed our first committee meeting for the 2009/2010 season and are hoping to take the club to another level.

Spirits are up and all are keen to organise some interesting race meetings and activities.

All we need now is a bit more driver support, you can do this in a couple of ways.

1) If you have not done so already then get your driver profiles in.

2) Nominate and attend the first meeting at Ellenbrook on the 17th October, this is a Saturday Twilight meeting not the usual Sunday day meetings we are used to at Ellenbrook.

The committee is going to attempt to photograph the winner of each round and their crew, we will endeavour to get the winners photo and a small story into the relevant Speedway press after each meet, this is a big ask but can be achieved if we all help out.

Do you know a photographer who can be present at a round near you? if so ask if they can attend and take some photos, we can put it on the web site and acknowledge the photographer next to the pictures, videos you may have can be put onto the web site, the sites use is only limited by our imaginations.

We also have 20 or so limited sprintcar hats left, if you know anyone who would like one let us know, they are $10.00 each.

We have been approached by 2 states to get our specs, it appears we are getting some interest, if we just could get 4 or more states involved we may be a chance for an Australian Title, wouldn't it be good to get the first ever Limited Sprintcar Australian Championship held at your home track, Geraldton with the Armstrong Cup would make for one of the biggest events I could imagine, this is my mission this year, to try and at least get the first stages of discussions going with other state bodies. I am sure there are many hurdles in our way before this eventuates.

NSW and Grafton in particular may have up to 13 cars that would comply with our rules.

The NT had a Limited division similar to ours, and Victoria has the VSCC which is also similar.

Food for thought isn't it.

Catch you later.