Some good spots to watch from. The first long straight, alongside the railway line, is always pretty popular and has some nice jumps, etc along it. There are are few areas towards the end of the lap as welll that are pretty good, though not sure if all of them are accessable to general public or not.
Is there a track map or something I can download. Don't know the area but having seen some footage from the railway jumps that looks like a good place to be.
I will be there. Will let you guys know what I can on Sunday after the race, or tomorrow night if I can be bothered getting the laptop out and on the internet
Around the start area is pretty good, a few jumps, etc, and close to a number of other areas that you can travel to within a few minutes to watch from some good spots.
If the the hair pin is just befour the stars line again its great to watch the fast guys come through there as it was bitchimin last year and watching them try to pull up made for great viewing the sound of 4 grand of tyres and seven hundred horses trying to gain traction on a fourign surface was a sight to behold
I am pretty sure that Jamie Robinson, in the SR20-powered RV2 won the event from Darryl Nissen in the 3.5 litre Sore buggy. Not 100% sure of third place.
Greg Gartner was out out in the first few km's of the event with gearbox failure. TOm Dixon didn't start today, I believe due to the engine mis-firing consistently and being unable to fix it.
As mentioned by DRE, the race was shortened to 8 laps of the approximately 14km long prologue track due to a fair bit of rain.
Jamie was getting congratulated in the pits after the race and one of the guys helping in the pits said he had won, not sure on the rest of the results. Gartner hit the jump hard first time around, was disappointed he didn't get another go with a full run up!
Cold and windy day but at least there was no dust. Would be a great track to race on for sure.
Some video soon, just getting it on computer now!
Where were you situated Sean, I probably saw you but didn't know it.
In a few spots along the railway line yesterday and today, and also a spot out about just before the end of the lap... have a fair few shots I am just going through now.
I must say congratulations to the township of Donald and this is a great event to watch. I drove about 3 hours either way, I was disappointed the race was shortened but there are few things they have done that other events could look at.
1. I loved the way this event started in town. A run around the edge of the footy oval to start things off is great. Reminded me of Baja videos where the start on the streets then head out. 2. The pits were 100% open. I didnt personally know any of the competitors, did not have a pit pass but I still got to have a good close look at the cars. I know there are safety factors to take into account here, but worth consideration. 3. Easy spectator access to other areas of the track. Seeing groups of people gathered along the railway line on the side of the highway watching the cars fly past was great!
I know off roading is not really a spectator sport due to distance and location but if you get spectators it is easier to get more people involved and get sponsors. So overall well done to the organisers. I am hoping next year it is national again, either way I will more than likely be there again.
I was hoping to have my pictures up on my website later tonight, however after taking my laptop with me to work today to do some sorting out etc, which I did at lunhctime, I then got home and realised that I had left the laptop under my desk at work. Oh well, a night off for me tonight, and more work to do tomorrow. From looking through them, there are some reasonable photos there, so keep an eye out, hopefully by late tomorrow night they will be on the site.
Any feedback, comments, etc gratefully accepted as it is always good to hear what people are looking for,e tc. Also, please note that the images have only had very minimal processing, so if you are looking to purchase any they will be fully processed and look a lot better then they do on the site.
Photos look great. The angles & attitudes some cars are getting is amazing.even the pancake landing, how low can you go?
Congratulations to Jamie on a great job.
Jamie's RV2 , The Coolman's RV2 have come home to win at Major events, Jamie at Donald this previous weekend & Travis up at Goondiwindi the end of last year. Dale Chadburn debuted his RV2 at round 2 of the NSW Championship at Crookwell and won that event 2 weekends ago. A great achievement for the RV2's and the drivers, even more amazing is the fact that these cars are Australian made & there is only three of them so far.
Peter Calvert ( Mr Super Boot Australia) is the designer & builder of the RV2 along with Dale Chadburn.
No website but you can ring Pete on his mobile 0407 023 669 ,maybe get his email for more info on the RV2 Buggy & other specialised Transmission Drive Train and Suspension Components