LARDNER PARK MOTORFEST
The biggest little show in Victoria raises over $65,000 for charity
Brett Niddrie from BNR Engines has made the move from blown racing boats to burnouts. His blown small block-powered ute is cranking out some serious power and it managed to punch out some pretty serious flames as well. One to watch in the future!
WITH the world becoming increasingly narcissistic and all about me, me, me, it’s refreshing to see a bunch of community-minded people coming together to raise money for charity – which is what Lardner Park Motorfest is all about. Well okay, it’s also about having a lot of fun smashing tyres, but by the end of the weekend-long event each year the Gippsland Tough Streeters and Drouin Rotary Club raise a lot of moolah for those in need. We’re not talking about chicken feed either; this year they raised around $65,000!
Lardner Park isn’t a town; it’s an agricultural playground where the locals from Victoria’s Baw Baw shire show off farm machinery and enjoy other rural activities, but it’s also got a burnout pad. It is a little bit south of Drouin and Warragul and about 100km east of the Melbourne CBD – an easy hour-long freeway drive. The local council took a bit of convincing that the area needed a show like this, but with the involvement of Rotary, the guys from GTS were given the green light to kick things off in 2010.
Now in its seventh year, the Lardner Park Motorfest has become one of the best little shows in Victoria. It’s a scenic location with a decent pad and plenty of room in the show ’n’ shine for those who don’t care to burn rubber. But there’s no denying that most people are there for the burnouts. They line up along the fences four- and five-deep to watch their favourites make clouds of sweet, sweet tyre smoke.
Entrant numbers at this year’s Motorfest seemed to be down slightly on previous years, but that didn’t seem to make much difference in terms of outright quality. When you’ve got guys like Peter Grmusa, Steve Edsall, Paul Cook, Adam Slorach, Ross Heasley, Rick Fuller and Chris Genter, along with Summernats 29 Burnout Master Andrew Pool and Burnout Champion Darren Bromage lined up, you know you’re in for a decent show.
IT DIDN’T MATTER IF IT WAS TYRES, ENGINES, COOLING SYSTEMS OR BODY PANELS – THE MODERN BURNOUT COLISEUM TAKES NO PRISONERS
Michael Schena’s HQ Monaro is one of those cars that does well in everything. It’s a trophy winner off the pad with neat purple paint and a custom interior, but there’s a tough 500ci+ big-block up front that fries treads with ease LEFT: As with just about any burnout show these days, there were plenty of opportunities for the fire brigade to do their thing. Don’t play with fire, kids BELOW: When Chris ‘Big Red’ Tanner passed away in mid-february his mates banded together to finish off the LS1 conversion in his VS Commodore ute, and skidded it in his memory. RIP Big Red
THE FANS LINE UP ALONG THE FENCES FOUR- AND FIVE-DEEP TO WATCH THEIR FAVOURITES MAKE CLOUDS OF SWEET, SWEET TYRE SMOKE
The organisers trialled a new format this year; qualifying was still on Saturday, but the top 10 qualifiers went into a Saturday afternoon shootout for $2000 cash, as a little more incentive to perform strongly in qualifying. It was a good idea. The spectators stuck around to see the top entrants let it all hang out again, and those 10 competitors got the chance to have a little more track time, and maybe score some extra cash.
At the end of Saturday it was Mick Hughes in the 5MOKEM Torana hatch who took home the two grand, and he definitely needed it by the end of the weekend after punching a rod through the sump during the finals on Sunday.
Sunday lived up to its name with a whole bunch more sunshine than Saturday, and a crowd hungry for destruction. It didn’t matter if it was tyres, engines, cooling systems or body panels – the modern burnout coliseum takes no prisoners.
Senator Ricky Muir from the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party came along with his wife Kerrie-anne and their kids to check out some of the action – and he revealed that he was actually building his own Commodore burnout car.
“I’m just glad that Parliament doesn’t sit until Tuesday, so that actually gave me the opportunity to be here,” Ricky said. “I went for a ride in the RUTHLESS ute with Johnny Pilla and I was warned that he wasn’t going to back off, so I was expecting a bit of fun and there was a little bit of a kiss on the wall.
“The really strong message to come out of all this is that it’s on a track; keeping it off the street is something that I’m very passionate about, and what better venue than this?”
Senator Muir was there at the end of the day to hand out some trophies too. The top gong went to Ross Heasley in MRBADQ. He
WHEN YOU’VE GOT GUYS LIKE PETER GRMUSA, STEVE EDSALL, PAUL COOK, ANDREW POOL AND DARREN BROMAGE LINED UP, YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN FOR A DECENT SHOW
took home $6000 for his trouble, while runner-up Rick Fuller and his LSONE Commodore pocketed $4000, and third-placed Mick Cleary with GMHAZD scored $2000. Not bad for a weekend’s work, and the organisers paid prize money right down to 10th place.
At $150 (early-bird pricing) it’s not even that expensive to enter, so if you’re keen to help raise money for charity while having fun with your car, mark Lardner Park Motorfest down for next year as a low-stress, fun event for the whole family.