POWERPLAY QLD

THE TYRE-HATING CITIZENS OF QUEENSLAND ARE LET LOOSE TO EXORCISE THEIR COVID DEMONS AT POWERCRUISE POWERPLAY

Our Queensland cousins toss COVID cares aside and go apeshit at Queensland Raceway

THE 2021 Powercruise season kicked off in hot and smoky style in mid-february as Queensland Raceway hosted Powerplay #38 for some 450 entered modified cars. Much like the Big Bash is to test cricket, Powerplay rolls all the cruising, drifting, powerskids, off-street racing and show ’n’ shine of a three-day Powercruise into just one day. It makes for non-stop action – a token lunch break of just 20 minutes highlights this – from the first cruising session at 8am all the way to burnouts under night skies.

What did we learn? Well, the track at Willowbank is a brutally hot place in February; locals come out in force, with many building cars specifically for these events; the racing action is very competitive; and the mullet has made a glorious comeback in the great state of Queensland.

We caught up with Powercruise supremo Gup (Grossly Under Paid, you see), who suggested the 2021 event’s popularity was actually helped by the pandemic, mainly because other event organisers had put mass gatherings into the ‘too hard’ basket.

“We had five events we didn’t run last year due to COVID, but we stayed on the ball and worked with the Raceway and the Queensland Government to go as soon as certain levels happened,” he said. “We seem to be the only people interested in actually getting back and doing things for the

POWERPLAY ROLLS ALL THE CRUISING, DRIFTING, POWERSKIDS AND OFFSTREET RACING OF A THREE-DAY POWERCRUISE INTO JUST ONE DAY

THE VARIETY OF OLD-SCHOOL V8 MUSCLE, HOT RODS, IMPORTS AND MODERNS AT QUEENSLAND RACEWAY WAS SUPERB

people; other places seem to only do it for the bottom line. The people who come here know we’re solid and keep coming back.”

Despite the 35-degree heat, the turnout of cars and spectators was healthy. Those watching could station at almost any point around the circuit, with QR’S grass banking crammed with utes, 4x4s and pop-up tents serving as makeshift shaded grandstands.

First up was a solid two-and-a-half-hour cruising session, which for many entrants we spoke to was the event’s main selling point – plenty of track time and a near endless stream of others to race down the straights.

“I can go out here and every single car I can race,” said Gup, who piloted either his bright green HQ or his HSV (once the older Holden’s diff – which was apparently 15 years old – fell out). “You race down every straight here in Brisbane, which doesn’t happen in Sydney. Some forget what Powercruise is about in Sydney and just do burnouts all day long; out of 1000 cars in Sydney maybe only 200 want to race. They usually can’t because some clown is doing a burnout in front of them.”

The variety of old-school V8 muscle, hot rods, imports and moderns at Queensland Raceway was superb. Most are registered streeters, although the event accepts some unregistered cars if you provide a decent reason. Entrant

MATT O’KELL’S ’64 EH UTE LIT UP TO WIN THE BURNOUTS, DESPITE THE LS BEING THROWN TOGETHER AFTER DROPPING A VALVE AND DOING A PISTON AND ROD THE PREVIOUS WEEK

fees covers your cruising, drifting, skidding, racing and burnout playtime at any of the day’s events, and it costs from $80 if you sign up early enough. It’s $200 if you leave it late, while VIP entry “for the discerning enthusiast” is from $450 and offers priority entry, inspection, track access and a reserved garage or pit area. Getting to the front of the line for events rather than sweating it up in pit lane at the height of summer made it look money well spent.

Much thrashing was enjoyed on QR’S long straights, with modified street cars baiting some high-powered imports – a Lamborghini Huracan included – in front of a packed pit wall. Diesel tuning crews were also kept busy, with GSL Fab’s 1196hp Frankenmule Land Cruiser spectacularly polluting the atmosphere while skidding down the straights.

The drifting competition was hotly contested, with Josh Lindquist in his SS-V VF ute edging Dylan Tobin’s VE sedan, while Top Judged Powerskid was Jamie Jones’s purple VS wagon with its Gtx50-boosted LS and upwards of 950hp, which successfully smoked the length of QR’S pit straight.

The off-street racing comp went down to two local bighitters in a battle of the turbo Barras: Goran Ivanovic’s

TD Cortina versus Steve Farrelly’s P1UM8 VL. After impressive runs against all others, serial winner Goran took the honours. “Too much power down low,” was Steve’s summation of his loss. “I spun them off the line; I just got nervous against Goran.”

The lingering smell of burning Bridgestones was ever-present thanks to a couple of burnout warm-up practices before the evening’s main event. The draining heat had sent many home before the 6pm start time, and QR’S floodlights on the burnout pad were far from crash-hot, but Matt O’kell’s ’64 EH ute lit up the event to win, despite the LS motor being “thrown together” after dropping a valve and doing a piston and rod the previous week.

Honourable mention to Mandy Reditt in her Ls1powered ’92 pink Triton ute in third, while second was an entertaining blown VW Beetle complete with pink tyre smoke and a bonnet-mounted skeleton with purple-illuminated ribcage. That’ll scare the kids before bedtime.

All in all, this was a welcome return to Powerplay form, and hopefully 2021’s COVID restrictions will be kinder to this year’s events. As plenty of happy Queensland customers proved, we need outlets like this more than ever.

THIS WAS A WELCOME RETURN TO POWERPLAY FORM, AND HOPEFULLY 2021’S COVID RESTRICTIONS WILL BE KINDER TO THIS YEAR’S EVENTS

1: Aaron Stubbs’s CLOUDZ Commodore was given to Hi-torque Performance with the request for 1200hp. Mission accomplished, thanks to an 8/71-blown, methanol-fed Dart Pro 440ci block. “The car’s been built for exactly what this kind of event offers,” Aaron said. “Get all your mates to jump in, do some powerskids, cruise, race, blow tyres – it’s perfect” 2: With its Barra, GTX45 Garrett snail and nitrous, Steve Farrelly’s ’88 VL Commodore has managed 1444hp on a hub dyno. Incredibly fast all day, the car was runner-up in the offstreet racing 3: Dragged out of a bush and now with a S480 turbo 5.3L, Alex Hayward’s TETNUS RX-3 lives up to its name, with the tinworm really working its magic on the old Mazda’s body. It was never going to win the show ’n’ shine, but it’s always a rapid crowd-pleaser 4: Leonardo Neves, Bianca Dunstan, Paulo Neves, Brent Davis, Goran Ivanovic, Jai Ivanovic and Benny Conissis with Goran’s Barra-engined 1975 TD Cortina. A Garrett GTX4202R turbo, CP pistons and Kelford Stage 4 cams help the Ford six produce 1100hp at the wheels on 35psi. “There’s nothing as good as Powerplay if you like street cars,” Goran said

1: Scott Hipwell’s EVIL64 Chevelle coupe rocks a twinturbo small-block, Turbo 400 and built rear end. This lowto-mid-8sec Chevy (with a bonnet the size of a pool table) remains a street car, and aside from the race seats and ’cage, it’s fairly original, with a stock dash, rear seats and carpets 2: FLAT RAT is David Power’s suicide-door HJ One Tonner. The 4in roof chop was already in place when he bought it, but he re-did the body drop, now 5in lower. The front V8 springs are standard, and David swears the diff’s never blown in all his years of using it. But at Powerplay the freshly built, 520hp, blown 355 Holden V8 misbehaved. “I did my powerskid and it dropped a couple of cylinders, but I hope it’s just fouled a couple of plugs,” he said 3: Mark Stumer’s 1973 LJ coupe packs a 6/71-blown 408 stroked out to 428ci and running on methanol, backed by a two-speed Powerglide. “I’ve been doing Powercruise since the first one,” he said. “It’s the atmosphere, being with your mates and taking people for rides that make it so good” 4: Mandy Reditt’s ’92 Triton ute with standard LS1 is her burnout special, adorned with CONTRL ME plates and ‘yeah the girls’ sticker. “I’ll show the boys how it’s done,” she said pre-run, backing it up with a solid third place after some measured tyre-smoking control 5: Aiden Maloney’s ’87 Corolla was in the middle of a killer burnout when the Toyota’s rear end went up in flames. “I don’t know what happened, but I got out quick,” he said. “There was a lot of smoke inside, and I knew it wasn’t just tyre smoke”

1: Shane Barnard’s 1971 XY Falcon 500, FUCOPA, was built with his late brother. “I’m keeping the dream alive,” he said. “It has a fabricated rear end, Turbo 400, Dart Windsor block, 434 stroker, Cleveland heads and 1150 Dominator carby. It runs 8.90 down the quarter-mile with nitrous, but we don’t run it here, as it can hurt the motor. It lost second gear today, but I could still drift it in top gear” 2: This was Gus Northard’s first time on the burnout pad with his Ls1-powered VY Calais, and he decided to sling mum Wendy in the passenger seat. “It was fun, very good – now he can’t do burnouts on the street,” Mum said. “This is the one where we just send it, so I sent it as hard as I could,” said a buzzing Gus 3: Ben Thistleton’s 1970 HG Premier runs an LS1 with ported and polished heads and a cam giving 380hp. “It’s so good here because of the turnout and the serenity. You’ve gotta love the serenity,” Ben said. “Cruising’s the best bit – racing everyone and lining them up – but it’s also done the skid pad and the drags” 4: Running a small-block 350 Chev, mild cam, alloy heads and 750 double-pumper Holley, Luke Peat’s ’72 HQ Kingswood was a crowd favourite, popping tyres for fun on the hot pad. “It’s good for us amateurs; we don’t have to get too close to the walls,” said Luke. “We can go and thrash the cars as they should be” 5: Matt O’kell’s ’64 EH ute took out the burnout comp, despite the LS being in pieces just a week before. The TUFF64 classic didn’t go out on QR’S main track (“the temperatures are too high and I’m just on pump fuel,” Matt said) so Matt saved it all – and three sets of tyres – for the pad

1: Troy Listkow gave his matte redwrapped SS VE Commodore ute a hard time in the cruise sessions. “It hasn’t got an LS in it!” Troy declared. “It’s a small-block Chev with the blower, good for 550-600hp. Powerplay’s a good day out, but it’s better if you go with VIP entry, as it’s a busy line-up and wait otherwise” 2: Shane Ardouin’s VY SS Commodore boasts giant 4in rear pipes to amplify the noise of its 800hp, 6/71-blown Warspeed 428ci donk. “No other event out there in Australia lets us do this; I love the freedom you get here,” Shane said. “I brought five sets of tyres, but I think I’m gonna need a few more now”