Limestone Coast Off Road Club held a Khanacross at the Mount Gambier Showgrounds on Sunday, in weather conditions that made the event a lottery as to whether the course had plenty of grip or resembled a skating rink.
As this event also scored as Round 5 of the South Eastern Automobile Club Khanacross Series, the usual suspects were keen to take part in this event to gain some more points and maybe improve the tally for the year.
This proved to be a huge challenge and considerable luck needed to get a dryish track to get a quick time, as Mother Nature threw a few curve balls at the group through the day.
Course layouts were not forgiving and had plenty of penalty markers to get in the way if the driver erred in speed or direction, with more than the odd one or two cones being taken for a ride down the track, at a cost of 5 seconds each, added to the guilty driver’s time for his/her run against the stop watch.
Wrong directions were also listed across the day, with some wearing the penalty for running out of track to drive on and others got a little lost on the way.
Early test runs, most drivers were cautious and drove with some care to feel out the grip level that varied across the layout in texture as well as moisture.
Those that threw caution into the wind, paid the price for a cone or two, as loss of control on the hot mix in the middle became evident as the surface had little to no grip when any moisture was present and this is where luck showed with good runs or wet runs.
Ken Trimnell took fastest time in Tests 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 in his 4WD Subaru WRX and got the points for Number 1 spot with his tally of 376.64 seconds and free of any penalties all day.
Damien Wilson got the chocolates in Tests 4, 9 and 12 with the Nissan Silvia S13 enjoying some grip in these tests.
Phil Wilson’s Soarer found some traction in Test 5 and 11 for quickest time in these 2 tests.
Bailey Perryman brought out his Hyundai Excel and proved to be competitive all day, with fastest times in test 6 and 10 and at the pointy end in a few more.
Suzanne Crowe – pedaling her beloved Rexy with enough enthusiasm to be consistently quick – ended her day out in second spot with a total of 385.81 seconds also penalty free for the day.
Bradley Harry returned to the action after some time away from competition and drove the Toyota Starlet faultlessly all day to be rewarded with third outright spot with a penalty free tally of 387.59 seconds.
As previously mentioned, Bailey Perryman’s Hyundai did the job all day and he made the fourth outright spot with his total of 393.64 seconds.
Struggling for grip all day, Phil Wilson drove well in the big Toyota Soarer to keep to the track, with only a pair of cone penalties added to his total, 403.09 seconds resulting in 5th outright.
Murray Height has been gaining confidence in every outing and exploring the limits of the Toyota Corona.
This outing he drove well in the tricky conditions to list at sixth outright with a penalty free total of 411.49 seconds for his day out.
Toyota Corolla pilot, Curtis Boyd enjoyed the smaller car around the course layouts to the max, with his total time of 419.05 seconds including a couple of cone penalties good enough for 7th outright points.
John Whitehead took to the track in his neat Toyota Celica Hatch and showed good speed in the tricky conditions to finish his day out with eight outright and a total of 423.13 seconds including a couple of cone penalties.
Another one that drives hard all day, Lindsay Beare pushed the Commodore every outing to the max to come home in ninth outright with a total of 429.54 seconds for his penalty free day.
Rounding out the top 10, Damien Wilson’s effort got the points with his total of 432.97 seconds including a few penalties along the way.
Next event on the SEAC calendar is a day/night Autocross at SEAC Park on Saturday, November 20.
After a reassembly of the track layout from the “Legend” Hill climb, the park track will be ready for action Saturday afternoon, running into the evening.
