Takapau – Paddock Trophy - 25 September 2005
Words and pictures by Mike Pollard

Takapau – Paddock Trophy - 25 September 2005
Words by Mike Pollard and pictures by Mike Pollard

Takapau - Paddock Trophy - Sunday 25 September 2005

After having heaps of fun at Ohakea at the end of last season, courtesy of a drive in the Beatle Tarrant car, I was invited to have a go at paddock racing in a meeting organized by Beatle at Takapau.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the field came as no surprise! The portaloo's and sausage sizzle were a welcome sight. However, I was'nt expecting the twisty turny "road course".

Now I have to admit that i have done quite a few laps around Oulton Park in a previous life ...... but I was rubbish!! But hey, this is dirt, so I should be o.k!

The cars were a mixture of Derby cars (at least one old warhorse from the Tournament of Destruction was present) ...... warrant of fitness (MOT) failures (many complete with all the glass intact) and what appeared to be dedicated "paddock racers".

It was definately a case of "race what you bring" with a 600cc Suzuki mixing it with the big Holdens and 4 litre Falcons!! This was grass roots racing at its greenest and finest! That being said, there was a lovely trophy on offer for the fastest car of the day, and had visions of it sitting on my mantelpeice when I saw the #42 Nissan Bluebird that carried me into a 2nd place at Ohakea! It was then that Beatle introduced me to my drive......... a banana-shaped car that apparently used to be a Honda Accord way back in 1972 and was a former winner of the event!

In fairness the car drove quite well ......the back end was all over the place.....but followed a path that was roughly in line with the front!! I also managed to do a few circuits in my favoured #42 car, but actually preffered the front wheel drive of the banana!!

It became obvious to me early on that my Oulton Park days were going to come back and haunt me, as I never really got to grips with the course. Another diver who found the track hard going was Barry Read #44 who actually managed to roll his XD Falcon!

After the morning practice races came the 2 x time trials to decide who would win the trophy. As expected my 1st run was nothing special, and my 2nd run was even worse!
Some cars looked to be extraordinarily fast, as many considered this to be the event they wanted to win! Apparently one year a guy wanted to win the trophy so much that he turned up in a mega-buck Subaru WRX car!

A quick look through the time charts confirmed by "bottom half" finish in a time of 55.xx seconds. I didnt feel too bad when I noticed that most drives were in the 54 ..55...56 second range. But then I noticed the winners time of 49.xx seconds !!

Congratulations to the local winner Jona Moulder from Ashley Clinton in the Mitsubishi Tredia, it was well deserved.
1st Jona Moulder
2nd Doug Moulder
3rd Charlie Jones

The Junior section was won by Randal Tarrant in the #42 Nissan!! Jona gets to keep the trophy for a whole week(!) as apparently this was a preliminary event to bed the track in prior to the double header next weekend, when racing takes place on both Saturday (lunchtime start) and Sunday (10.30am).

So if you are in the area(!) you could do a lot worse than take a drive down Ashcott Rd near Ashcott, Takapau.

Many thanks to Beatle Tarrant for the loan of the cars, and for putting on the whole show. It is much appreciated.
Cheers mate!