First published in the June 2007 issue of Street Machine

What better way to spent the Easter break than three action-packed days cruising the track and burning copious amounts of rubber? This year, Repco came on board as the naming rights sponsor of the 11th annual Easternats and event rescheduling resulted in additional cruising time, popular among the majority of drivers.

Unlike last year, police presence was minimal, helped largely by a sensible agreement from all parties that unregistered vehicles could be unloaded in a specified zone outside the venue.

Easternats organiser Jon Davison is very proud of the event and rightly so; it’s the biggest of its type in Victoria. Entrant numbers were a little down over last year but it didn’t hinder proceedings as some 660 entrants and around 30,000 spectators packed into the user-friendly venue.

“Easternats has the biggest choice of events and enables entrants more track time than any other event,” Jon claimed.

The event includes burnouts, street drags, a dyno challenge and go-to-whoa on top of the cruising, offering something for every kind of petrolhead.

Glenn Eastwood has won a few burnout competitions in his time but the Easter weekend was his first big win in his black Torana hatch and ‘Easty’ was appropriately ecstatic.

“It’s been a hell of a weekend. We had the diff out Friday, and then on Saturday I had to replace the head gaskets. I only got around six laps of cruising time but it all came good on the Monday,” he said. “There’s a fine line between digging a hole on the pad and really hooking into it and I must have got it right on the day. I even forgot to tighten the radiator cap properly — of all things — so she was spewing a bit of water out. I nearly had a tear in my eye when I’d heard I’d won.”

Over in the dyno cell, the team from Mike’s Dyno Tuning took care of running the Dyno Challenge and the boys had also entered a few of their own cars for some on-track fun. Dyno operator Tim Jetson went out cruising the track on slicks in his 10-second EA turbo six but after just a few laps he was back in — to fit some longer-lasting street rubber!

Darren Maxwell’s single-turbo 2JZ-powered straight six Toyota Supra pumped a stout 767hp at the rears to take first place on the rollers, not too far ahead of Mick Voase’s LX Torana on 718hp aspirated. Darren lowered the boost a bit in the street drags and did well there too, considering he was on street tyres.

David Mizzi’s V8-powered RX4 has proved to be the dominant force in go-to-whoa competitions around Victoria and he continued his winning ways, though this time he had to share first place with Tim Schefman’s VL Commie. The pair were wanting for dedicated competition however, as a huge number of entrants simply used it as another opportunity to toast the tyres, much to the amusement of the crowd.

For the second year running Daniel Nunziante took top honours in Monday’s street drags. Early rounds saw Daniel’s GASDUP Cortina cruise through but the later rounds tested him and he faced off against Chris Kurumolla’s 378ci Cleveland-powered XE Falcon in the final.

“My car hooks up pretty well so I gave it a 175hp hit of gas straight off the start-line. It smoked ’em hard but still got away well,” Daniel said.

Meanwhile, there was a lot of speculation in the paddock about the future of Easternats. Jon wanted to assure everyone that it’s unfounded.

“The event is certainly here to stay,” he said. “We are, however, looking at the possibility of changing to a two-day format for next year. I’d just like to commend the behaviour of entrants and spectators. It’s a real shame than anyone with a nice car is now labelled as a hoon by the media as we have less trouble than other sporting events.”

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Burnout winner Glenn Eastwood. His LX hatch makes smoke through a Fisher 4/71-blown 308 that’s good for 500-odd horses.

2. Peter Grmusa’s blown XR Falcon was a crowd favourite. A new two-colour paint-job stood out this year but cruising the track proved to be a thirsty exercise, with rumours of 40l per lap alcohol consumption flying around the pits!

3. Mick Voase’s big-block LX performed consistently in a number of events and the man could count himself a touch unlucky not to take home a first-place trophy, scoring runner-up in the Dyno Challenge, 3rd in the Street Drags and another 3rd in the Go-To-Whoa.

4. Ken Hibbert’s 350 Chev-powered VK had a few spectators coming back for a second look. The custom two-door will soon be powered by a blown 308 donk.

5. Michelle Hufer and her neat 360ci LJ are regulars at street and drag events. Michelle and friends made
the trip up from the Mornington Peninsula.

6. This air-bagged Fairlane also featured a funky interior that included a very cool custom wheel and shifter.

7. Steve Koukouletas had just picked up this turnkey 8.7-second Camaro from the States. Smaller 12-inch tyres were fitted for the event. The 540ci big-block makes 1000hp.

8. Shane Stephenson’s V8 Supercar-themed XD runs a 408ci MoTeC-injected Clevo, big brake upgrade and BA interior. He won 2nd Show ’n’ Shine, 3rd Show Vehicle and Top Engine Bay.

9. Sash Dukic’s immaculate SUSPECT VL has been around the traps for a few years now. The twin-throttle 355 stroker regularly laps in the 10.8-second region.

10. Michael Schendzielorz brought his blown 454-powered Statesman up from the coast. A broken blower belt kept him out of the drags but not before he’d shredded his fair share of tyres.

11. Allan Blitz’s appropriately named BLITZ8 Holden ute. Determined to have a blast at the Easternats, the boys dug deep, painting and assembling the 496 big-block Chev in one monster 70-hour week.

12. Daniel Nunziante took out the Street Drag event for the second year running. With his Cortina a proven 9.4-second machine, he was always going to be hard to beat with a fresh 396-cubed Windsor under the bonnet.

13. Shaun Woodhouse loves nothing more than blowing the tyres off his Gemini. A switch to alcohol before the event ensured there would be no overheating problems. The 304 Holden donk screams out an easy 410hp by way of a B&M blower that’s 50 per cent overdriven. Shaun took equal-4th in the burnout finals.

14. Mario Mangion’s tough blown HR ute suffered a water leak late on Sunday, forcing him to whip the blower off. All went well and Mario and his son were able to repair it in time for the street drags.