Preparation began a week earlier with the swapping of engines in the 73a machine. The original Chevy V8 was removed as it is getting a bit tired and a freshly rebuilt engine was dropped in the car. This new engine, while not really ‘new’, has a bit of history and can be traced back to its use in one of Darren Gray’s cars. While not high on horsepower compared to today’s power plants according to the dyno sheets it still dishes out over 360hp and more importantly plenty or torque (pulling power).
The low hp figure can be explained by the fact that the engine doesn’t rev past 7800rpm, and horsepower can be measured by the amount of fuel the engine can consume. So the higher the revs the higher the horsepower, but not necessarily the higher the torque.

Anyway because of a few required minor alterations the car never made it to the night of the Huntly champs, and with being told we were not allowed to use the Auckland track to do some proper testing. The car and engine were going to travel all the way to Palmerston North without being tried. It wasn’t planned like this, but there were many doubts.

Not until a day or so before the weekend did we find out who was actually going to be racing for the Auckland Allstars, and everyone had to deal with the rumours and being told that the Auckland team would be rubbish and probably would lose every race.

The trip down started with the long early Friday morning drive, heading off from home at 5:45AM. The truck was loaded the night before and headed off followed shortly by a support vehicle. There were 4 of us making the trip down, Bryce (the driver 73a), Dad (pit boss), Lance (crew), and I (crew/courier). Bryce and I pretty much sat behind the truck most of the time and we all got to Palmerston at around 1.20pm (yes that’s a 7.5 hour trip). We found the hotel and unloaded the gear then headed off to the track.

The Auckland Allstars Team members were:
11a Gary Ellis
73a Bryce Marx
13b Mad Marty (13a)
28k Grant Mytton (28a)
97p Graeme Ward (6a)

And the team manager was Warwick Ansty, who would have normally been racing in the team but his own car had engine troubles.

The atmosphere at the track was very cool and there were heaps of people walking around and the sound of these speedway beasts driving around and forming up for vehicle checking was immense. Of course while the public is walking around past the cars you can always hear the remarks from the crowd about how rubbish the cars are etc, but all the drivers and crew just laugh these off as they just come from people who we all know do not have the dangly bits between their legs to actually race. We all know and take the banter, however there were a couple of young girls who must have been colour blind from the remarks they said, which was a bit sad but it was probably the best they could muster for their level of intelligence.

Oh and to all those people who called out friendly remarks to Mad Marty, I think you should probably be quiet now as he made you all look stupid.

Before I go much further I must thank the drivers of 13a, 28a, and of course 6a. Without their support there would not have been a team and they showed tremendous dedication to a club/team that until Friday they had no connection with. It was a privilege to have them in our Auckland Team. We also give our thoughts and hopes to speedy recoveries for any injuries received. Get well soon guys.

(I will do my best to remember what happened in the races; hopefully it’s pretty close to the truth)
FRIDAY NIGHT – Race 1 Auckland Allstars vs. Rotorua Rebels

Auckland Team: 6a (Ward), 11a (Ellis), 13a (Mad Marty), and 73a (Marx)

Unfortunately due to a tire infringement the 28a car was not allowed to race on the first night, but that’s another story.

After the hot laps we could see that the new engine in the 73a car was going to perform well and is an improvement over the old engine.
The team lined up and off they went. In the confusion off the start Gary Hunter took off to an early lead with Bryce following closely. He followed Gary for a lap and a half, and then on turn 4 he took Hunter into the wall. The hit backwards into the wall must have stalled the Rotorua car as it never moved for the rest of the race. Then as Bryce came back down to earth from riding up the wall, another Rebels car drove into the back of Bryce and got his bumper caught between the rear inside wheel and Bryce’s rear bumper. That was it, 2 Rebels cars out, and not even 2 laps completed. Gary Ellis (11a) resumed the runner position while Mad Marty (13a) and Graeme (6a) dished out punishment to the remaining 2 Rebels cars. At one point 6a had tied up both remaining Rotorua cars giving 11a and 13a a clear track. Then with 11a begin held up and attacked, Marty took the lead of the race. Meanwhile Bryce had switched his engine off and was standing hard on the brakes as the Rotorua car tied under his rear bumper was charging forward and back, tearing the rear bumper supports and bending the diff suspension arms. Once Marty crossed the line for the win, Bryce fired the Chevy up, broke free and crossed the line to take 4th place earning the Allstars the maximum 185 points.

What a massive team effort, for their first outing, I think most of the crowd were still in shock! Of course people started saying that the Rebels team was soft, but I think they proved in their race against the Palmerston North Panthers that they were not a soft team.

Back in the pits there was a frantic rush to remove the rear suspension arms and the steering arms as these were all bent. Lance got stuck in removing the hot exhaust as I got the rear wheels and steering arms off. Once removed Dad went to work with the repairs. At this point the rain was falling and we were soaked and covered in mud, and the meeting got postponed. So the car was put back together enough to load it into the truck.

Saturday Morning started at around 10.30 with taking the cars to Mainfreight where they were washed so the crews could get to work on the repairs. Then it was off to a workshop for the use of power and a welder. I don’t know who to thank for the use of the workshop but it was greatly appreciated by the team. While the car repairs where going on I drove back and forth a couple of times getting extra fuel line, STP oil treatment and of course a new fuel pump for Marty (13a) as his had failed.

Saturday Night
Continuation of the Friday nights meeting was one not to be missed. We saw huge hits, a car flipping and awesome teams driving.
The first race of the Auckland group was between the Palmerston North Panthers and the Rotorua Rebels. What a race that was, Rotorua did a brilliant job and if it wasn’t for Kelvin Gray restarting his car later on in the race Palmerston could have been in trouble. There was so much carnage, out of the 8 starters only Kelvin Gray actually finished.

This meant that Auckland was now 85 points ahead of Palmerston. The showdown between Auckland and Palmerston would come down to the number of cars either team could get over the line. The points for finishing the races were:
1st = 100, 2nd = 40, 3rd = 25, 4th = 20, 5th = 10
So doing the maths, with Auckland’s 185 points and Palmerston's 100, if Palmerston were 1st and 2nd and Auckland filled the last spots the teams would have equal points. But Palmerston would get through if they had 2 wins. All Auckland had to do was finish 2nd to win the group, and with the big $$$ machines in the Panthers team it was probably going to easier to just ignore the runner and just stop 3 Panthers cars.
Although the aim is always to win, but because of the way the points are given out in Palmerston, other options for wining can be considered.

Race 2 – Auckland Allstars vs. Palmerston North Panthers

Auckland Team: 6a (Ward), 11a (Ellis), 13a (Mad Marty), and 73a (Marx)

The race started with the normal confusion with the Panthers 1st (Gray) and 2nd (Hemi), 73a (Marx) in 3rd. The 3 other Auckland car were busy dealing to the 2 other Panthers (Rees and Miers). Near the end of the 2nd lap Gray was held up by 11a (Ellis) which let 73a go past to take 2nd place, with Hemi in the lead. Half way through the 3rd lap 73a was held up by Rees, which then let Gray back through into 2nd.
There was so much action it was hard to know where to look.
After 73a (Marx) chasing Gray for a couple of laps, Gray was held up again by 6a (Ward) and 73a was back into 2nd, with Hemi a long way in the lead. The next lap Rees tried to hold up 73a but with a busted outside front wheel Marx just pulled away. Then in a great display of driving 6a (Ward) was holding up both Gray and Miers giving 73a a chance to extend his 2nd place gap. However the temptation of a passing Hemi proved too much, and 6a (Ward) accelerated after the flying Panthers runner, which Miers following close behind. Unfortunately heading into the pit bend Ward half spun and Miers took the chance to put away the amazing Auckland blocker. Miers pushed Ward backwards into the wall, which then flipped the 6a car over onto its roof and the Red lights came on.

With the car put back into its wheels and removed from the track, the lights went green again. From the start Gray powered down the straight over taking 13a (Mad Marty), then for some reason Gray’s car slowed and Mad Marty saw the chance to take out the Terminator. With his foot hard on the floor and the Holden tearing at the ground, Marty caught up the Gray and served him a boomer. Considering that Gray was the only other Panthers team car up on laps, this was a huge turning point for Auckland’s chances. Rumours have it that people in the Grandstand could actually hear Marty yell out "Hasta la vista, baby" just before ramming Gray.

This hit brought out the red lights again and both cars were removed from the race. So people also say that as Marty was being towed off the track he called out and said "I'll be back!". This left just Marx and Ellis for the Allstars, and Hemi, Rees and Miers (but I don’t think his car was going anymore) for the Panthers. Not long afterwards the race ended with Hemi wining, but more importantly 73a (Marx) was 2nd and 11a (Ellis) was 3rd, with possibly Rees crossing the line for 4th.

But that was enough points and the Auckland Allstars had made it through to the semi finals after all the experts had them pegged as coming last. Both qualifying races where a huge team effort for a group of guys who had actually never raced together before. Special thanks however must go to 6a Graeme Ward, the amount of work he did behind the wheel of his car all weekend. It was a privilege for Auckland to have him racing for them.

As that was the only race for the team on Saturday, the cars loaded up and headed back to the Hotel. With plenty of work to do on the cars an early night was had by most. Sunday morning and everyone was awake early and packing up to get out of the Hotel. However the crew of the 73a car were busy at work removing the gearbox and checking the clutch plates. Bryce was complaining of the clutch slipping and loosing acceleration. Working in the cramped space in the truck the crew did well to get everything back working by the time we had to head off to the track.

Continued Next Update......