PINK BAT OUT OF HELL: Ray Dare who recently painted his car in provocative pink won the first saloon race of the new season at Taipa on Sunday.
PINK BAT OUT OF HELL: Ray Dare who recently painted his car in provocative pink won the first saloon race of the new season at Taipa on Sunday.
The new season of racing at Taipa Speedway got under way in fine and sunny conditions on Sunday.
A report from the event noted track conditions were excellent - while the surrounds were extremely tidy thanks to great preparations by members at the pre-season working bees - which in turnallowed some fast and furious racing to take place.
The most spectacular racing was seen, unsurprisingly, from the big cars in the saloon grade with veterans Ray 'He Who Dares' Dare and Roy 'Inchman' Walker vying for top honours from the first green flag drop. Dare held off Walker to the chequered flag in the first race but Walker claimed the next two, while Kyran Van Iperen suffered melting electrical wiring (positioned too close to hot exhaust tubing) and had to retire to the infield during race two.
Other highlights from the day included Roger Frear on top form throughout the three B-grade rounds, his 265 Hemi engine performing well (admittedly after a small crowd had gathered around his saloon in the pits early on in the day to offer valuable suggestions on how to fix a small dancing temperature gauge needle); Rex Roycroft back to full power in his production saloon thanks to a refreshed RB25 Nissan Skyline engine; club president Tony Banks driving his new Honda Civic into battle to win two out of the three rounds in the C-grade against Merie Perry in her Nissan Skyline; and Julie Graydon lapping impressively in her car 61a against the opposition in the ladies' saloon grade.
The final feature race, the saloon all-in, was again hotly contested by Walker and Dare with the former able to stay in front as the pair wove their way through the slower traffic.
Taipa Speedway's second race day of the domestic season will take place on Sunday, November 23, starting at 1pm. The club was expecting several more race cars to take part which will boost numbers as various members will have completed off-season maintenance and rebuilds by then.
