LIZ GRACIE – 1969 CAMARO

THE most Summernats-seasoned of the four visitors, Liz has dressed her EV1L69 Camaro in a colour-change wrap as a play on the JDM style that’s huge in NZ’S North Island car culture.

Welcome back, Liz! I’m told you’re no stranger to the ’Nats.

No! I’ve been here six times, and this is the car’s third time here. Before that, I had a manual small-block Chev Torana; my first time was in 2004.

Run us through the Camaro build.

It’s been campaigning for six years now. We do keep changing it, but it’s the typical recipe most people run. The engine’s a small-block Chev – none of this LS rubbish – at just over 410 cubes, with a Powerglide and nine-inch. The blower’s an 8/71 Teflon-tipped TBS with a couple of APD 950s we got over here. It’s dedicated to E85, but we run X85, as we’re proudly sponsored by VP Racing Fuels. I’ve heard you had a bit of a drama in the Wildcard show.

It doesn’t matter how well prepared you are, you can always have a mechanical demon. To be fair, we’ve had a ball; we managed to get out on the pad for the Wildcards on Thursday, as we just missed the rain. I got down, did a decent tip-in, was just heading up the chute through the smoke, and that was it. Let’s say I had a very spectacular fire!

Ouch! Have you got a read on the damage yet?

It isn’t terminal, we can still turn the engine over; we’ve just lost the ends of a couple of sparkplugs. Something’s not where it should be.

Being a ’Nats regular, how does this trip compare to other years?

It’s actually very different! I’ve enjoyed it because I haven’t had the pressure of needing to be at so many places at certain times. The atmosphere has certainly changed, which is not a bad thing at all; the calibre of cars is outstanding as always, and I actually think the show has progressed from 2004 to now. It’s just a whole other level.