In early August we ran the second of our Venturer Motorsport events for the year. RallyVent attracted 40 drivers from nine different Venturer Units from Perth and the southwest. Some teams were returning whilst two new units entered, keen to get in on the fun.
As everyone arrived and set up camp on Friday night one of the leaders snapped a brilliant photo. It summed up the evening; starry and clear. Saturday morning we woke to a blanket of fog in the still conditions. The paddocks giving off their moisture as the sun rose from the east. 
Andrew set about checking the cars and gear for scrutiny as we went through the paperwork. It was at that time that Bunbury discovered they had a failed strut top in their Minions Excel. Luckily we had a wreck nearby for spares and some deft turns of the spanners soon had the broken machine ready to race. It was good to see only a couple of minor tweaks were required on some other cars and everything was set.
Starting off
Neil called shotgun on this year’s RallyVent and held the reins as Clerk of Course. He started everyone on a nice open figure eight track to ease into it. Many Venturers had never driven a car before and it helped to sort clutch control, positioning of the car and braking. With the first eight tests run, we moved down the back of the farm to tackle more. Next we used our most popular Khanacross track that we call “Interesting Lines”. With flowing corners it should have been pretty quick. The young drivers however were taking it easy and the pace was steady.
Keep on line
By early afternoon we’d got through another block of tests and Neil set up “Keep on line” for the last runs of the day. All of a sudden a switch had been flipped and the pace hastened. When we originally built this test, mounds of dirt were created just off the track where we emptied the bucket of the machine. This is how we named the test as if you didn’t stay on the racing line, you’d end up beached on a mound. With the new pace, several teams got off line and found the mounds. Luckily there were plenty of bodies to help push and soon cars were underway again.
With 19 tests completed including a couple of leader’s races, we called it a day. After dinner, a couple of hay bales and a pile of old wood took the chill out of the air with a large bon fire. Many didn’t stay around the fire long, preferring to head to bed and get a decent sleep to race the next day.
Day 2
Sunday dawned clear and we headed toward the back of the farm again. This time we started with “Pepper Bush”. This is a tongue in cheek name based on the large amount of saltbush planted around the test. Many of the native shrubs have been planted by Venturers over the last four years. Name aside, the race was on from the word go. Very few cones if any were knocked over and racing lines were neatening. Even for those that hadn’t driven before, there was a huge improvement from just 24 hours earlier. With another four tests down it was time to move onto the last track for the weekend.
Saltbush
“Saltbush” was next up. Winding its way around a decent stand of the shrubs, the track has many twist and turns. Near the start/finish garage was one muddy puddle. Keeping in tight you could miss the puddle, however after a few cars had gone through it the mud was spread further out. Ash on her last Venturer motorsport event found out how slippery it was. She came in a little too hot and spun just in front of the garage. The spectating crowd gave a loud cheer.
The top ten
After 29 tests and two days of racing the results were in. The good news is that everyone had a top ten finish!
Salter Point (team 9) took their white Mazda 323 to ninth place on their very first event. Carramar (team 7) drove neatly in their Daewoo Lanos and finished eighth on only their second event. Canning (team 8) were on their first event as well and finished seventh, driving their well used purple Hyundai Excel. The second Warwick team (2) took their Blue Astra to sixth place and Bullsbrook/Salter Point (team 4) bagged fifth in their Mitsubishi Lancer. Fourth place was taken by the “Minions” Hyundai Excel of Bunbury (team 6). Running on three cylinders all weekend, Leschenault (team 3) made the podium in their Maroon Nissan Pulsar in third. Rockingham/Whaleback (team 5) drove their tiny white Suzuki Alto to a well deserved second place. That left Warwick (team 1) out in front in their Hyundai Excel winning the event.
A special thanks to all of our officials, helpers and leaders who helped make RallyVent 2016 such a great weekend.
Karl Drummond
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