RADIAL PUNISHMENT

It might have appeared to be a standard Kiwi burnout comp, but Lack-A-Traction's Burnouts Taupo was a well-oiled machine harbouring professional level involvement

opening the gates for professional-level competition. Of course, despite the focus on burnouts at the top tier, the grass roots can’t be forgotten, and Burnouts Taupo provided the perfect melting pot of professional-level and amateur-level cars and drivers. The characteristic Taupo fog was still hanging over Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo as the machinery began rolling in. Despite diversity in the style and calibre of the vehicles, the badges were predominantly either Holden or Ford. This is, after all, a Kiwi burnout competition. The competition format kept things simple. With more than 40 competitors and two main rounds, the action would be near constant, with entrants lining up and doing their thing in numerical order. This gave everyone’s equipment a chance to cool down, while keeping the downtime to a minimum. With the competition split into V8 or six-cylinder classes, the five top-judged competitors in each class would go on to the top 10 final round. However, the judging format gave substantial weight to driver skill, meaning that there was more reward for demonstrating vehicle control than for displaying bulk horsepower.

By early afternoon, the field had been whittled down to those who’d be making it through to the final round, and, with some solid performances all round, wouldn’t be as easy as it might sound. The V8 class saw Paul Drew, Liz Gracie, Jonathan van Beynen, Ian ‘Sambo’ Smith, and Fraser Macaree through to the finals, while the battle of the sixes produced Brayden Woodmass, Phillip Morris, Isaac Carswell, Warren Shirtcliffe, and Mark McNaughton as finalists. While the final round had its ups and downs for those good enough to make it through, there is absolutely no question that it also hosted the most epic showdown we may ever have seen on a Kiwi burnout pad. Liz Gracie and Paul Drew went head to head, both exhibiting textbook burnouts that,

IT HOSTED THE MOST EPIC SHOWDOWN WE MAY EVER HAVE SEEN ON A KIWI BURNOUT PAD

when the smoke had cleared, saw identical scores across the judging table. In pursuit of the fairest way to judge the two heavy-hitters, judging went to the scores of the earlier two burnouts. Even then, the consistency of quality displayed by both Paul and Liz meant that Paul squeezed through to first place by only the tiniest of margins. It was a truly spectacular way to finish off a competition like this, and the perfect outcome for an event that the Lack-A-Traction team should feel very proud to have pulled off. The wheels are in motion, and big things are happening in the local burnout scene — just you wait and see. Above: It looks like a V6-powered Commodore wagon, but Jonathan van Beynen’s skid hack gets ’em going with an LS1 and T56 six-speed manual box. He’s awesome behind the wheel as well, easily placing in the V8 class finals. Unfortunately, a fried clutch paved the way to an uncharacteristically mistake-riddled final round — although the strength of his first two burnouts set him apart as a definite crowd favourite.

Ian ‘Sambo’ Smith’s supercharged LS-powered RX-7 is one of the toughest cars out there, and his right foot is the definition of mechanical abuse. He smashed the limiter all day for some crowd-pleasing shenanigans, and, although it sounded as if his power-steering packed a sad halfway through his final skid, he still did well enough to finish in third place.

Left: One of the clear favourites, Braden Smith found his day cut short in the second round as the blown and injected 468ci big block unexpectedly purged itself of several rods and caps. Until the disaster occurred, Braden was looking like a certain finalist. However, although it’s a big and expensive misfortune, Braden has been skidding for long enough to understand that shit happens.Right: Fraser Macaree isn’t known for taking it easy on his Holden HZ One Tonner, and he wasn’t displaying much in the way of taking it easy at Taupo. Fraser’s performance in his tidy street car ensured a top-five placing in the V8 class, and he narrowly missed out on third place to Sambo.

Left: Concrete barriers don’t forgive mistakes, which Wayne Tangney found out the hard way, as the sticky, rubbercoated pad caused his Chev Monte Carlo to take an unexpected hard left straight into the wall.

Warren Shirtcliffe’s Sunbeam Rapier is a bit of a weird one, but, with a turbocharged Holden V6 providing the power, there is no doubting its ability. Warren knows how to drive it, too, thrashing it to a well-deserved third place in the six-cylinder class.

Ricky Ireland went so hard that he got lost in his own tyre smoke in the first round — but there was no denying how much the crowd appreciated the combination of coloured tyre smoke and screaming blown big block soundtrack.

Left: In the interests of impartiality, Arnie Donaldson — one of the event organizers — opted out of competition, handing the keys of his chopped XC Falcon to Aussie import Paul Drew. Not only is Paul a good mate of Arnie’s but his family also owns Avalon Raceway in Geelong, so the boy knows how to pedal a car. The methanolfuelled 410ci Gaerte Engines small block was on song all day, but the real spectacle was the way Paul effortlessly chucked the Falcon around the pad, giving a triple display of some of the most impressive burnouts to have been seen on New Zealand soil. Paul took first place by the narrowest of margins, barely beating Liz Gracie, who also provided three near-perfect displays over the course of the day.

Right: LS power! Darren Roberts is pretty damn good behind the wheel of his VT Commodore, with some fine car control enabling him to use the entire pad surface while keeping it off the walls.

Right: Dave Hunter’s blown Vauxhall Viva is one of the original heavyweights of the local burnout scene, and, although the Viva hasn’t been seen on a pad for a while, David has lost none of his ability behind the wheel.