Cootamundra. A quiet country town with a population of approx 5600 people home to some fantastic twisty roads & vast golden fields on canola. Generally speaking it’s the not destination for petrol head, but on the beautiful day that was Saturday 26th October 2015, it was home to the finale of the 2015 Nulon Nationals.
A field of some 60 competitors over 9 clubs came from far & wide to compete with event being held at the Cootamundra airport. The overall results were based on a 400m time & a 500m trap
speed. With the surface greatly improved to previous years allowing for some very impressive times & speed to be set.
Team RTDC was ready for action! Our team consisted of:
Trent in his infamous EVO Mirage
Michael in his Bayside Blue Beauty R34 GTR
Matt in his Autobahn storming 911 Turbo
Eric in Gavin’s jack of all trades EVO V
Tristan in his NO2 fuelled Capri
The day was off to a shaky start with Michael’s GTR only managing one run before encountering a day ending mechanical issue. Thankfully Michael is no stranger to the drag strip & still managed to put down a great time of 11.3 over 400m with a trap speed of 119mph. His one run effort also earnt him the trophy for “Trailer Queen” which we know will only encourage him to come back bigger & better in the future. However, it was enough to secure him 6th place in the drivers’ championship.
Eric’s normal steer unfortunately encountered some electrical gremlins earlier in the week thus why he was behind the wheel of Gavin’s beast. Sadly, the gremlins must have been contagious as Gavin’s car also suffered issues which caused a loss of power after only one run. This didn’t stop the car from running all day long but effectively halved the amount of flat out runs. With a time of 12.5 & trap speed of 120mph it was a solid result but Eric & Gavin both know there is more in the car.
Matt was the only drag virgin in the team & with something as expensive to repair as Porsche you could understand if he took it a bit easy, especially being the only team member who drove their competing car down. Easy turned out to be an 11.7 & 129mph which landed him in 17th position for the event & 10th in the drivers’ championship. With a bit more launching practise we expect to see Matt in the low to mid 11’s in the future.
Our 4 Round veteran Trent arrived with a few changes to the car. Trent being Trent, it didn’t take him long to get used to the car again smashing out an impressive 11.2 & 131mph! This earned him 12th position for the event & also increased his lead in the driver championship where he took out the top spot! Trent & his machine have shined through each of the disciplines in this year’s Nulon National series. The team could not be more proud of him & was ecstatic to see him go home with the first ever drivers’ championship trophy.
Tristan is a new comer to Team RTDC, but he was also our secret weapon. His car drew a crowed whenever he started that glorious V8 engine & with the nitrous purging at the starting line, you knew he ment business. With a 10.3 & 155mph he was amongst the fastest on the day taking out 4th place for the event. He was also awarded with a trophy for fastest N/A Car & fastest 8 cylinder.
With the help of our secret weapon Tristan & the solid efforts of the entire RTDC team, we narrowly took out the whole Nulon Nationals series for 2015!
From winning rounds & classes out right, to Trailer Queens, the little club that could has cemented its reputation within the Club Scene taking home huge amounts of silverware. With some rule & team changes coupled with new venues, RTDC is looking forward to the new challenges ahead.
