Tassie Nats 2019 day one – burnouts, powerskids and mechanical mayhem!

We check out day one of Tassie Nats 2019

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Photographers: Chris Thorogood

Day one of Tassienats 2019 kicked off yesterday, the first port of call for the event being scrutineering and the cruise session.

While a good ninety percent of the event is held at Tassie Dragway, the 200 plus entrants were given the option to hit up the cruise route just down the road at Symmons Plains Raceway. This was a Powercruise-type session, where you could bring anything you wanted and cut sick on the track.

After a decent session of powerskids at Symmons, everybody high-tailed it back down the road to Tas Dragway for the burnout expression sessions. It really was a case of anything goes, with cars ranging from standard V6 VT Commodore’s through to big boys like Castlemaine Rod Shop’s WAR BIRD and LYNCHY’s Corolla.

Here’s a quick snap shot of some of the cars in action on Friday:

 Matt Watt’s BLO 202 Torana was on full song during the cruise session during the afternoon, Wattsy sending in hard on the final turn at Symmons Plains in an epic display of car control. With the old 202 screaming its head off around the track, Wattsy summed it up perfectly: “It’s better to find out you have a problem at 7000rpm than 0rpm!”

 The boys from the Castlemaine Rod Shop have made the trek down to the skid isle for Tassienats, bringing both their BLOWNHJ and WAR BIRD burnout machines. Marc Waddington was piloting WAR BIRD on the pad last night, putting on a mean 2000hp show for the fans with the new donk.

| Read next: CRS’s WAR BIRD Falcon full feature

 Shaun Leonard blew the bottom end bearings in his RB30-powered VL wagon during Thursday night testing. In the true ‘never-say-die’ Tassie spirit, the boys yanked the engine on Friday, threw some new bearings in and were in line for the expression sessions by 9pm.

| Read next: Tassie Nats Day Two

 Hammertime was shredding it up on the pad once again, having several runs with a couple of drivers including Britt Kilby. She gave the little Daihatsu hell on the pad in her run, making a name for herself as crowd favourite when she got a big cheer from the boys on the fence as she left the pad.

 Cameron’s Tapping’s VK Commodore was on song during the cruise session, before the 400rwkw Turbo-LS combo did a number on his Turbo 400 ‘box. Cameron was planning on hitting the drags with some new slicks on Saturday to see if he could improve on his PB of a 11.8 on street tyres. We’re hoping he’s found a fix and makes his way down to the track today.

| Read next: Tassie Nats Day Three

 Jason Schmidt was back on the burnout scene once again with his new 403ci VX Calais. His previous FRASHR VH Commodore was sadly burned to a crisp during a transport accident, but he carried over the plates to his new beast and let it all hang out in true FRASHR style both during the cruise session and later on in the arvo at the pad.

 Scott Sevill’s recently completed VY ute is one if the new heavy-hitters for the Tassie boys, his stonking 408ci LQ9 supercharged donk recently featuring as our Mill of the Month (Feb 19). The new car has already had a host of wins including the burnout comp and show n shine at the recent Powercruise Tasmania, and last night he sent it hard on the pad in the expression session with a flame show for the crowd.

| Read next: 408ci Blown LQ9 LS Mill of the Month

 We don’t know a whole lot about this VK Blue Meanie replica just yet, but what we do know is that the plates TREASON are very appropriate, as sitting under the bonnet is a not an iron-lion or even an LS. Nope, she’s a Barra – yep, a Barra. If that makes you mad then fear not, because this thing still gets down hard on the pad, putting on a unique show for the somewhat confused crowd.

 Today’s action includes the first round of drag racing qualifiers and the burnouts in the afternoon, so keep an eye out on the Street Machine website and our socials for all the action!

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