Down the Track

Anyone that has ever raced a car over some distance knows that between the start and finish is where all the fun is, it's where the heart ache is, endurance, speed, and all the "woooo whooo's" along the way. It's not often I would compare golf to motor sport, however, there are a couple of comparisons. 

In golf, you can buy all the gear, look like a pro, and still play badly.

Motorsport, "Just because you drive a Ferrari, doesn't make you a Ferrari driver" (Allan Moffat, 1994 Northern Territory Cannonball Run, verified by Ron Conrad who was there when Allan Moffat said the words. Ron Conrad is the overall winner of the 1994 Northern Territory Cannonball Run  )  and some people can make a 'bucket of crap' go like the clappers.

In golf, you can drive that perfect tee shot... that drive that seems to sail down the fairway like you have the golfball on remote control. The ball seems to rise and rise, staying straight and true down the middle of the fairway. It's a beautiful sight as the golf ball seems to hang in the air for as long as possible; you even have time to reflect on the sound the ball made as it left your driver while still holding your pose after the follow through with the driver. It's just "beautiful".

 

This one drive down the fairway, can have you coming back to the golf course every weekend for six months, just to try and replicate it. 

Motorsport: From the line, the car is poised, you're locked in with one hand on the wheel and one hand on the gear stick. You're dialled in, focussed down the strip as you watch out of the corner of your eye the lights go down the tree. The stutterbox is holding the car at the perfect launch revs (5200 rpm), you're so zoned in you can't hear a thing, the lights are now at the second last yellow light, you drop the clutch, the bonnet rises, and you glide away from the line. Effortlessly, the car is in second gear, you can see out of the corner of your eye the other car you're racing has just entered your vision, 6200 rpm, you engage "no lift shift' and you're in third gear like someone just kicked you in your back from the back seat, you can't see that competitor anymore, he's either bailed out, broken down, given up, or... who cares, enjoy the moment. You cross the line... the run felt good, you won, and you know you didn't break out too early.

In the return lane on the way back you get handed the slip. 11.1 second 1/4 mile.

"Damn.... 0.2 seconds and would've been able to say I had a 10 second car.... Still, not bad for a 14.7 second car out of the box." You say

You line up again, 11.8, and again, 12.1, and this one just didn't feel right, no gliding, just making the old girl work. 

"Next time.... I'll be back after a few more mods." you hear yourself say again, just like last time.

Golf / Motorsport... Maybe I need to take up fishing (hahahaha.. then there will be the one that got away)  

 Down the Track, would've had that feeling. Can you imagine taking your car to plus 240 and holding it there. I know at 220km's an hour in my youth while driving my Galant VR-4 that wind noise that is getting louder and louder seems to just disappear. I never really knew if the sound actually went away, or if my focus was so intent that I didn't hear the noise anymore.  I do know that at 240km/h, that broken white line in the middle of the road became one solid white line. 

As a spectator, given the sheer distance of the Northern Territory 1994 Cannonball Run, all we could really do was watch the start and the finish. 

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The pictures below came from the people in the race.  The drivers, navigators and pit crew on the road - or, as the Darwin locals call the Stuart Highway "Down the Track."