The Winter DTC – June 2022

By Shane Murphy. Photos: Shane Murphy, John Carson, Damion Tiernan.

The Driver Training Centre at Lakeside had recently been upgraded with a brand new super smooth asphalt surface, creating an extra level of intrigue and the promise of faster elapsed times.

Twenty-nine entrants rocked up to a chilly but fine winter’s morning. The driver briefing included a warning about the drop-off between the new and ground surface on a number of corners. “Keep it on the island,” was the warning. The first timers were in for a treat.

The morning schedule was run over the short course and after lunch the longer course was utilised.

The finish line for the morning short course and the afternoon long course were normalised, resulting in the short course being about 10 metres longer than previous events.

Once again Gideon and Paul had done a great job and the event kicked off smartly on time. The new surface was tricky in parts but seemed to offer lots of grip in the main.

Seven Sevens were entered, that’s nearly one quarter of the field – power to the clubbies – a great spectacle, almost a takeover.

As expected, the morning session was dominated by Ken and Pauline Graham in their yellow Datsun, followed closely by Gideon and Dick.

I can’t emphasis enough how well Dick drove – on the rev limiter at every opportunity, slick gear changes, hitting his breaking points to pin point accuracy – a joy to behold. And those AO48s hung onto the new surface like “you know what” to a baby’s nappy.

A curiosity, which could only be described as a cosmic intervention, resulted in all Sevens getting incrementally faster over the morning. Then at about mid-morning and with almost military precision, we all got incrementally slower, maintaining almost exactly the same margin across the rising and falling tide.

A couple of minor mechanical troubles, Ken and Pauline suffered an engine misfire. Dick had a throttle issue. Evan had a niggling smoking turbo and Damion was blowing a little oil into his breather.

Seven runs in the morning and we were ready for a lunch break. The sun was shining, the breeze had dropped in intensity – a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

After the lunch break, we set off to tear up the longer track, the layout suiting the more adventurous and more powerful cars.

The club rivalry started to bubble to the surface with Gideon, Jason and Dick all trading faster times in order to emerge on the top of the tables and claim the title “Lotus Club King of the DTC”.

In the end, as everyone tired out, and after seven more runs, Gideon emerged on top of the whole group pipping Ken Graham by 0.125 seconds.

A very sated group packed up the equipment and tootled off home. I am sure a couple of beers were enjoyed once everyone’s respective domiciles were reached.