Touge Alliance

Held on the 22nd of May, Round 2 of the SA Motorkhana series provided great results for Touge Alliance.

The day started out at 8:00am with the club meeting at Glen Osmond McDonalds for a hearty pre-event breakfast.  Sam was the first on the scene with the red S14, settling indoors that chilly morning to await other club members.  By 8:30, the club proceeded up the freeway with a brief stopover at a service station to complete final checks on the vehicle.

Upon arrival at Monarto, registration, scrutineering and practice runs.  The event truely kicked off at 10:30 after the safety induction.  At this point Sam was pleased to run into  Kat and Justin, recent Touge Alliance additions, with their Cefiro.  Placed in classes C and D respectively, the S14 and Cefiro went to town on the courses laid out in front of them.  During a run the Cefiro experienced some smokey troubles with fears of a blown turbo; this resolved itself on its own however with the car making it through all the courses.  The 200sx was not in blissville either, a sloppy rear subframe severly hamstrung its ability to stay precise on the course;  a gradual lowering of tyre pressures throughout the day from ~38psi to ~25psi was Sam's attempts to tame the vehicle did little to help unfortunately. 

The weather conditions on the day could be best described as intermittent with light rain dotting the courses for some of the competitor's runs.  However Sam reports that he has the good fortune of getting a dry run at least each of the four courses laid out in front of him.  Despite the subframe woes Sam still managed to take 2nd in Class, a hairsbreadth in front of the 200sx in 3rd place.  Kat and Justin fared very well for their first time, with Justin pulling a DPI of over 90% (the time taken over the entire event versus the track records for each course) - very impressive and competitive!

It was the 11th of June & it was still dark outside when I set off for the wonderful land of Dyno's (was still very sleepy ).

I arrived at 7:30am to meet our gracious hosts Ashley, Mark & Paul of Classic Performance Dyno Centre.

What an AWESOME setup!!!
The remaining members arrived between 7:45am & 8am, some arrived a little later due to sleep ins (Samuel!! ) The total number of entrants ended up being an immense 12 cars.

We got started @ 8:30am & went on the dyno as follows:

1 Paul (Scoupy) - Unfortunately the Commodore was a non starter due to injector/valve issues diagnosed by the Dyno Crew. They tried to diagnose further but time was of the essence & unfortunately it was going to take too long. Sorry Paul

2 Shaun (Willy Wonka) - No problems with the 2lt CH Lancer Wagon (Manual) & pulled a respectable 70kw @ the front wheels. No bad for completely standard.

3 Cameron (Little Assasin) - No problems with the 2lt CG Lancer Sedan (Manual), which surprised Cam a little. With the extra engine work it pulled a healthy 74.6kw @ the front wheels.

4 August (Gusto) - A little oil was required for the 1.6lt AE82 Corolla Hatch (Manual), but it ended up with a strong 58.8kw @ the front wheels.

5 Alex (Charmed) - A LOT of oil was required for the 2lt CG Lancer Sedan (Auto) & after a little bit of gearbox drop down (gotta love autos), it came up with beefy 66kw @ the front wheels.

6 Michael (JDR) - The 3.8lt VX Commodore Supercharged (Auto) was the 1st forced induction car to take to the dyno & took some time to setup so they could read the psi levels from the manifold. Once set it found the same gearbox drop down Alex had until the laptop with fitted to keep it in gear. Running a VERY lean AFR it pulled sturdy 141.2kw @ the rear wheels on 8.8psi.

7 Cat (RXGirl) - The 1.3lt FC RX7 Turbo rotor (powered by hamster) was the 2nd forced induction car to take to the dyno & took twice as long to setup as they could not work out where to tie the car down. Once sorted it came up with a tyre SQUEALING 122.1kw @ the rear wheels put a HUGE cheesy grin on Cat's face!!

8 Jared (Bladeoz) - The 1.8lt Proton was placed on the dyno with a lot of hesitation, but Jared grabbed his car by the short & curly's & waited on the diagnosis. All good to run With the OK given it put out a strapping 75.2kw @ the front wheels.

This bought about our BBQ lunch, cooked brilliantly by Little Assasin, & plenty of consultation with Ashley

9 Jason (Hyperdrive3d) - The 1.2lt 1st Gen rotor (powered by hamster) rounded up the troops with the rap, rap of the exhaust & once on the dyno the guys tried to get under it to tie down. No such luck, so the dyno was shifted to raise the rear wheels on top of the rollers to tie down (so cool!!) With everything in place the hard wearing rotor (powered by hamster) pulled 69.5kw @ the rear wheels.

10 Sam (RearEnd) - The 2lt S14 Silvia Turbo was the 3rd forced induction car to take to the dyno & was setup very quickly. With a decent number expected peoples eyes moved to the big screen to see a colossal 166.5kw @ the rear wheels

11 Kat (Ceffe from 1st BDay Cruise) - The Ceffe was out of action but she bought along a 2lt Twin Cam Celica for giggles. The giggles soon subsided with a highest NA score of 80.2kw @ the front wheels.

12 Cyra (Eunos from Iggy Cruise) - The 2.3lt Eunos 800 Supercharged was our last forced induction & last car for the day . With the weather starting to change & the oil topped up the car ran a reputable 114.9kw @ the front wheels even with a child sleeping in the back seat.

Front Wheel Drive: (NA & Forced)
1 Cyra - 114.9kw
2 Kat - 80.2kw
3 Jared - 75.2kw
4 Camo - 74.6kw
5 Shaun - 70.0kw
6 Alex - 66.0kw
7 August - 58.8kw
Rear Wheel Drive: (NA & Forced)
1 Sam - 166.5kw
2 Promo - 141.2kw
3 Cat - 122.1kw
4 Jason - 69.5kw

Thanks to Kat(180Sxy), Colin(Brash), Ryan(Supermini) & Brett(Pancakes) for coming out & having a look.

In all it was an awesome day run by a remarkable group of people @ the Classic Performance Dyno Centre. We WILL be heading there again in the future!!

Photos of the event are now available over at our flickr stream.

It was a reasonably nice start time of 10am at Bunnings Mile End. ETSA park was the supposed start spot, but netball made the carparks a little tight!!

We were graced with the presence of Jason & Jared in SUS RX7, August in HACHI 2, Alex, Andy, JP & 3yr old Sebastian in Andy's Mazda 6, Kimberley & myself in the PUFFA wagon plus 2 new people in their Cefiro.

Cat (FC RX7) showed up to say hello but did not have petrol to go anywhere but home

After leaving at 11am we drove straight up Greenhill Rd to Portrush Road which we followed to the Freeway & up to Hahndorf. Gotta love going through the Heysen tunnel with an exhaust note like Jason's!!!

We made quick time & got to Grumpy's just be 12 for lunch. Just before we ordered JP got a call from the CFS to put out a forest fire. The Mazda 6 moved off with all 4 passengers to check out the fire. Whilst this was happening the rest of us ordered our food & enjoyed a couple of brews & chatted about stuff....

The Mazda 6 came back just in time for the next leg of our trip, luckily enough the fire was quite small so all 4 people came back.

We headed on a quiet journey to Melba Chocolate Factory outside Woodside. I know it's not Haigh's but the drive was nice!!

The group left here with the Mazda 6 crew & the PUFFA wagon heading to Gumeracha to view the Big Rocking Horse whereas the "pikers :D " headed left after Lobethal back down Gorge Road (Jason will have to fill in what the traffic was like).

The 6 of us had a GREAT time at the Big Rocking Horse. We started with a snack in the cafe, then Andy, JP & Sebastian headed to the top of the Horse. After this we all decided to go through the Wildlife Sanctury to feed the animals. Whilst feeding Alex ;) we had some sheep, alpacas & kangaroos come for a little feed which Sebastian found enthralling. Kim didn't like the black alpaca as it preferred to nibble on her elbow!!
We kept wandering until we found some ducks & goats which seemed happy to finished off the feed.

We then left at 4pm & headed home. Thanks to everyone that could come & make this day awesome!! Jared's put up a bunch of photos up to flickr. Head over there for a looksie!

P.S Hopefully more people can meet the Cefiro people on upcoming Friday nights.

Well i have to say that this was the most un-thought cruise i have ever been on. I'm not saying that in a bad way either... The day started out with a small meet up at Athelstone shopping centre with about 10 cars mainly consisting of rotarys thanks to our friends at FDRX7 and SA ROTORS.

First stop: Lofty Summit, I never knew that it could take so long to get there... A simple drive that should take about 30 minutes turned into a huge round about route that got us 10 minutes up the road and took us an hour to get there. Mind you, they were some of the most interesting roads i had been on in a while including a dirt road so it was great.

Once at Lofty Summit our next destination was Mt Bold Dam. Mt Bold Dam is an awesome location on a warm day, unfortunately today was not so warm and it was a little wet. By this stage we were running about 2 hours late, our noon arrival at the dam was pushed back to 2pm and we didnt know exactly how to get there as all navigation devices had failed for those organising the cruise. This dilemma meant that we yet again got a little lost taking another dirt road but this time still heading in the right direction.

We got the Mt Bold Dam just after 2pm and had a walk around, taking some photos and having a good chat. At this stage we found out that one of our other members who was meant to be meeting us had travelled all the way to myponga dam instead, what unexpected twist was next? After everyone had finally made it to the dam and had a chat we went to Kangarilla bakery to get some food for a late lunch. I think the staff at the bakery were a little surprised as about 20 people walk in just before closing expecting food.

After food some members headed off home to do other things but most went back to Iggy's house for his farewell dinner. You can see all the photos from this day out through our Touge Alliance Flickr Account.

The cruise finished at Iggy's house for a great farewell dinner with his family and friends.

Immediate attractions that drew the eye was a fantastic feeling of nostalgia for those familiar with south-east asian home design with the decor/layout of the house. Secondly; more noticable was the epic asian bidet toilet which are always a treat to see and use.

While being treated to a generous fresh bowl of fruit, the crew gathered around the backyard dining area with Sam and Jessie stealing the seats closest to the heater.

Iggy got busy as the host as more friends and family arrived, with his cousins helping to prepare the dinner to be shared by all. The dinner was a lovely cultural and culinery experience. A near bottomless supply of satay and peanut sauce kept everybody happy along with generous amounts of asian fingerfood; a zesty indo salad was also served which complimented the meal very well.

As the dinner wrapped up, Iggy gave the tour of his place; revealing a very cool games that featured a pooltable, 3DTV with GT5 attached to it and an aquarium for his pet thorny lizard!! A piano was also available in the study for those born with 6 fingers!

but as all good things must come to an end, the evening was ended by many hugs and wishes of good luck and fun times in the big BJ.

The members of T/A wish iggy a fortuitous journey to China and wishes him well in his business dealings and an eventual safe return to our great A-Town for more hampster madness in the hills!

The first Come and Try hillclimb at Collingrove in 2011 was undertaken by our newest member Karen Green in her Mazda 3 SP23, along with her husband Graeme together proudly sporting the Touge Alliance club sticker across their front windshield.

To give support and tips, Karen and Graeme were accompanied by club members with previous Collingrove hill climb experience; Jared Green and Jason Bradbrook. The rest of the support team through out the day consisted of Colin Brassington, August Boehm, Samuel Koh and another recent additon to Touge Alliance, Roger,  along with his girlfriend Tina.

Despite initially pulling the slower times of the two, Graeme managed to grab the quickest time of the pair with a 47.48 - This is not a bad time for a first timer, especially considering in their class, the heavy FF Mazda's engine capacity placed them up against Evos and Skylines.  Karen was not far behind at all, only trailing by a second (48.50) and was very happy with her time.

As an added bonus, Jason came along to the event with his new GPS tracking device he purchased earlier in the week. This was promptly placed within the drink holder of the Mazda at the beginning of the day's events, in order to record each event within the hillclimb. The device has three seperate modes, with the most important two enabling those in love with statistics, numbers and computer drawn lines to track the path of the driver, their split times and where they overall lost time. For us who like pretty, shiny drawings, there is also the ability to place the recorded path against a Google Map and to place photos where they were taken along the journey. For AU $200 to purchase and around $17 for delivery Australia wide, it was a great little purchase and will be worth keeping an eye on over the course of the year as motorsport sport events heat up for the club.

The next hillclimb at Collingrove will be on the 28th of May. If you are keen to find out more, drop us a line!

Sunday dawned a warm morning as Touge Alliance Treasurer Jason prepped his classic RX7 for the Modern Regularity competiton at Mallala Motorsport Park. With President Jared taking the event off and Andra Advisor Colin recovering from the previous nights alcohol intake, Jase set out early alone.

Practice was a challenge due to all the rubber marbles remaining on the track from the previous night's drift session. One competitor picked up a piece of scrap metal with their cooling system that the track crew missed, but they returned to the track later thanks to the help of some competitors.

As the day wore on, the higher ambient temperature caused the little rotary to get a bit hot, but ever the battler, Jase soldiered on despite one R31 competitor in front trying to cut everybody else off.

 With an early start on the cards it was obviously dark & cold.
Our meet point was McDonalds Edwardstown, where the time of 6am was agreed upon. Silly idea that!!  From there, we left at 6:20am along South Road towards our destination of Christies Beach for a 7am entry.

We arrived at 6:45am with 8 cars holding up the Touge Alliance brand. We moved into a half moon position quickly & set up our tents. We then cleaned up the cars & went to Coles to pickup our drinks for the day.

By the time 9am came around, there were approx. 400 cars & bikes plus a 454 twin turbo speed boat on the oval, and the cars varied from a 1928 Model A to a brand spankin' R35 GTR...

Link to photo slideshow in Flickr
Link to album in Facebook. There are more photos courtesy of Augustography to come in the coming days (chomp chomp).

We now have a facebook page up and running...

Check it out and like us now > Touge Alliance (facebook page)

2011 is here so most current members will need to renew their memberships within the month, a reminder has been sent out to all those who have not paid yet so you will know if its you.

For those of you who haven't been part of the Touge Alliance community in the past, feel free to contact us at info@tougealliance.com for more information on meeting dates and times. Everyone that has been part of our community in the past, we hope you enjoyed being in the club and would very much appreciate if you re-signed with us to continue our journey into motorsport in South Australia.

Membership forms can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.tougealliance.com/resources/doc_download/3-2011-membership-form.html

Once forms are filled out please submit them with payment to Jason.

~ Hyperdrive3d (Jason Bradbrook)