Wizard of Aus: boost, blowers, and birds

It’s been awhile since I’ve been active here on The Motorhood, but I have been busy working away in the background making sure the content you fullas and fullesses want to see gets published. This time I write to you from my home in Sydney, Australia. I’ve found so far that it’s a unique place; the weather has been beautiful, the beaches are just as you’d expect, and as I found out over the weekend of March 19–20, the import-car scene is booming.

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I’ve been working hard lately with a new contact here in Australia — Motive DVD — and they invited me along to help cover the Just Car Insurance Jamboree. I willingly obliged, charged up my camera gear, and made the one-hour trip west to Eastern Creek, where the event was held at the Western Sydney International Dragway (WSID).

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It’s safe to say that after heading to Meremere Dragway for the last 10 years or so, seeing a new drag strip — and one the size of WSID — took my breath away. It’s a sight to behold, and one that I would become very familiar with over the next 15 hours.

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After signing in as media, and locating the Motive DVD stand to house my gear, I made my way through the pits. No easy feat though, as they’re more than twice the size of what New Zealand has, and they’re a place teeming with activity, trade stands, and merchandise — something the Kiwis should learn from.

Yes there were hectic rotaries, but there were just as many straight-sixes, four-cylinder turbos, Hondas, and V8 dragsters. A great variety that would soon be pitted against each other in a lavish fight to the death.

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That was the case however, until the timing gear failed to operate, causing major delays and setbacks. The Jamboree team made do though, and prepared the grid girls for a series of drop-flag runs until the timing gear was remedied.

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After that dulled down, the Australian Drifting Grand Prix crowd sent out a few competitors for a bit of lunchtime entertainment on the skid pan, some drivers even going as far as popping a few sets of rears!

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I have to take my ‘Crocodile Dundee’ hat off to the few that took the time to repair the damaged timing cables. The lights were back online, and a few timed runs ensured the gear was operational. It was then drag racing time!

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Sixes, sevens, eights, and everything slower up to the 14-second mark caused havoc on the tarmac until midnight. I’ve never hung around at a drag racing event for so long before, however due to the timing gear issues, nobody had a choice!

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It was a unique experience shooting at night, too, something that I wasn’t prepared for, but I found my new Sigma Art lens stood up to the duty well.

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Although the drag racing was out of this world (yes, the Aussies know how to boogy), photographing drifting again after a long hiatus was extremely entertaining. The Australian Drift Grand Prix scene here in Australia reminded me of the grass-roots scene in America, as seen in Ashleigh Monaghan’s articles.

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It was casual, laid-back, and featured the occasional Nascar-powered Nissan taking on numerous school cars — a diverse range that made for an entertaining watch on the small, yet technical, drifting layout.

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It’s been a long few weeks without cars to entertain me here in Australia, but I can now say I’m fully immersed, with events rapidly filling my calendar.

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And no, I still haven’t purchased a car here yet, but more on that next time. Talk to you guys soon!