AUSSIE ASSAULT
GRAB YOUR THONGS, PACK THE XXXX, AND GATHER A SWAG OF YOUR COBBERS, AS THE AUSSIES ARE TAKING OVER BRUCE MCLAREN MOTORSPORT PARK
With the success of Powercruise events, not just in Australia but also in New Zealand and now in the US too, it’s no surprise that people are starting to think about creating their own driving event. Over the past few years, that idea has grown, and the result has been events that are great for enabling car lovers to really experience the full potential of their vehicles. Aussie Assault, as the name may suggest, is one such event — and, no, you don’t need to be fair dinkum to enter, but you do need a car of Australian descent. Run by the team at Choice Events and Promotions and sponsored by Adens Tyres among other smaller sponsors, the event kicked off for the first time in 2017. Come December 2018, it was back for round two, which, like the first event, was a hit. If you’re into showing your ride off, then this was the place to do it, thanks to the team at Luxxio, which sponsored the mother of all show and shines, with awards ranging from the predictable Best Holden through to Best Coupe, Best Stance, and Best Female Car.
If it was cruising the track with your mates and having a few back-straight contests to solve, once and for all, the Holden v. Ford battle, then there was plenty of time for that too, with various cruising sessions taking place throughout the day. With the weather forecast to turn all shades of wet and slippery, the cars hit the track in force to ensure that they made the most of what looked like it could be a short day. As Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park now has one of the best burnout pads around, there was no way that the Aussie lovers were going to keep away from it, and, as expected, the battle on the pad was fierce. Leading the charge was Wellington’s Hayden Wilby, aka Budda, in his ‘NUTOUT’ VT Commodore. The wild naturally aspirated combo in the car has proven to be all that Hayden needs to smash the tyres off in spectacular style, and he’s become one of the lower North Island’s bighitters in the burnout world for good reason. His
cruising the track with your mates and having a few back-straight contests to solve, once and for all, the Holden v. Ford battle
performance on the pad was enough to edge out ‘ Triple J’ in his ‘MYTDOG’ XF Falcon. Come powerskid time, however, and the glory was Triple J’s all the way. The flag-drop drag racing was hard fought, but Patrick Heeney fought the hardest to take home the bragging rights in his XE Falcon over Triple J, who again showed that he’s not afraid of beating up on his machine. With Patrick’s car running 10s on the quarter, it was always going to be hard to beat. In the show arena, it was the time of young Taranaki resident, Luke Etheridge, to shine — or, rather, his freshly completed HQ Holden. The blown engine, caged interior, and tough stance drew plenty of admiring glances from judges and entrants alike, enough for Luke to deservedly take out Best Holden. While the awards are nice, the event is really all about getting out and doing what you love behind the wheel of your Aussie-built machine. With more than 100 entrants out there doing just that, the formula is clearly a successful one. Sure, there are some things that can be improved on, but, as this was just the second time the event has been run, we’re predicting big things for it in the future.