Powercruise celebrated its 10th event down at Queensland Raceway. Some 807 entrants and thousands of campers and spectators converged on the paperclip-shaped V8 circuit for the state’s biggest-ever horsepower party, despite threats of a wash-out.
First published in the November 2007 issue of Street Machine
In the week leading up to the event, stress levels were high as drizzle and forecast rain patterns looked set to cause havoc with the four-day festival but Powercruise promoter Michael ‘Gup’ Gilbert stood firm in declaring that the event would go ahead in defiance of the elements.
When the gates opened at lunchtime on Thursday, light rain didn’t stop hundreds of horsepower junkies taking advantage of the extra half-day allocated for setting up. Throughout the afternoon and night, rain continued to fall but entrants kept moving in and it didn’t take long for the prime trackside real estate to be engulfed in a sea of tents, caravans, buses, motorhomes and cars.
The sun tried to poke through the clouds on Friday morning. That meant the track was dry and the action was on!
A three-hour cruising session got wheels turning and gave entrants the chance to take the family for a cruise, hit the redline racing a mate or simply clock up some kays.
While the engines were cooling down off the track, the temperature was starting to rise at the Miss Powercruise competition, where Darwin’s Allina Leal took the trophy and prize money.
Theo Woollett’s ‘ON EDGE’ R32 Skyline span the big numbers in the Dyno Shootout. The turbocharged 2.6-litre not only took the class win for Six Cylinder Blown but also punched out the highest overall figure, at 723.6hp. Steven Hodges’s naturally aspirated big-block XC Ford pulled second highest overall and a class win with 605.9hp.
Practice for the Powerskids, Off-Street Racing and Burnouts ran well into the night.
For Saturday, the line-up of muscle cars, hot rods, imports, show ponies and cool cruisers ready to take on some of Australia’s best-known blown toughies was bloody amazing! Entrants got up close and personal with the likes of Victor Bray (’57 Chev), Ben Bray (SMOKIN Commodore ute), John Cannuli (Crossroads Racing ’53 Studebaker) and Chris Hollingworth (Commodore ute).
A handful of southerners made the trip to the ‘Sunshine State’ — Mark Yardie and his YUMMY WB ute, Tony De Oliviera’s YLD TOY Toyota Corolla, and Michael Brown’s blown Rambler Hornet came from NSW, while Steven Loader and his UC SMOKE Holden Premier represented Victoria.
Throw in some Queensland heavy-hitters such as Gup’s 1200hp turbo HQ, Nudge Peacock’s blown and injected big-block UC Torana, Mark ‘Bluey’ Arnold’s flamed and blown 500-cube HQ, Michael Arnold’s blown HT ute, Pete Karger’s blown ‘Torque’s Cheap’ HQ and John Nason’s newly supercharged Chev Camaro, and you’re looking at a total of around 20,000 horsepower! And every pony just aching to blow the doors off any challenger who was game enough to line up beside them as they rumbled their way around the 3.12km circuit.
Saturday night’s One Shot Burnout format was hard-fought, with some favourites not faring well. That gave some of the other hopefuls a real chance at winning the cash. Ty ‘Tubby’ Burley bounced his injected small-block HT Monaro off the limiter to punish the tyres all the way to a Top 10 finish and the Crowd Favourite award.
Stephan Bann’s deserved win came after he cut sick in a show of utter disregard for his show-winning V8 VX Commodore, comprehensively destroying both tyres.
Plenty of spectators stayed on to watch the Sunday finals and to get their last fix of cruising. Friday had been practice and Saturday was qualifying — Sunday was pay-day for the serious contenders.
After an early cruise session, the Powerskid finals were up and a swag of capable contestants churned out thick plumes of tyre smoke but you couldn’t go past Michael Arnold for the win. His 8/71-blown small-block HT ute spun the tyres past the 380-metre mark on pure grunt — the only person to go further was Gup. His Powercruise team wound some more boost into the turboed 540ci HQ and it let loose for an arrow-straight 420 metres that left smoke hanging in the air from the starting position well past the end of the carports.
A huge number of entrants qualified for the Off Street Racing but the field halved after each race and it soon came down to a non-V8 final between Theo Woollett’s eight-second R32 GT-R Skyline and Steve Poole’s tidy little Datsun 1200 ute. Theo had the power but the little Datto hooked up better and took the early lead. However, the hard-charging Skyline snatched it in the deep end, to take the crown.
IF YOU missed Powercruise 10 don’t worry — it’s coming to a V8 Supercar track near you. The event travels to Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane and may be heading to Tasmania or New Zealand next. For full event results and news go to www.powercruise.net.
HIGHLIGHTS:
1. John Nason placed in the Top Five with his newly blown ’72 Camaro. The beast packs 496 cubes, an 8/71 blower and runs on pump gas!
2. Victoria’s Steven Loader put his recently rebuilt ‘UC SMOKE’ HT Premier into the Burnouts for a Top 10 finish but he’s still in the process of sorting it after having a new tubbed rear end and Blower Shop engine combination fitted.
3. A new car on the scene was Luke Morgan’s mega-tough Charger. Morgan was still sorting the car on Saturday night but was cruising, Powerskidding and Off Street Racing the big Dodge the next day. Painted in ‘General Lee’ livery, Luke brought his own Daisy Duke along.
4. It was great to see ‘Bluey’ Arnold out from under Gup’s HQ long enough to put his foot on the loud pedal in his own untameable beast. The Pro Street HQ is motivated by a blown, alcohol-guzzling 500ci Chev making enough power to dust a number of the bigger guys.
5. Steve Hodges’s XC Ford is a sleeper. Under the bonnet is a 600hp normally aspirated 477ci big-block Ford capable of punting the old girl down the quarter in 10.08@135mph.
6. Darwin’s Allina Leal got hooked on Powercruise after it went to her home town earlier in the year. She was hell-bent on having as much fun as she did in Darwin, so she entered Miss Powercruise in Brisbane — and won. She was also treated to a burnout in Gup’s second HQ on Saturday night.
7. Powercruise’s own Peter Duffy took ‘Aussie Predator’ for a spin around the infield. The blown and injected 454 Chev-powered monster truck used to belong to Hulk Hogan.
8. Tony Harrison had his new wide-body VN slider out for a little bit of drifting with cool new Kumho coloured tyres. He didn’t contest the Powerdrift comp — he was just out to do some exhibition runs.
9. Michael Brown took home some new silverware in his blown 427-powered ’71 Rambler Hornet. The beast chalked up a Top Five placing in the Powerskids, was the 3rd Top Show and won the V8 Blown Dyno class with a soft 469hp run after pumping out a 633.4hp run in qualifying.
10. Boonah brothers Mick and John Nason certainly know how to build staunch American muscle cars! Mick’s immaculate supercharged big-block Impala showed plenty of heart in the Powerskids.
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