Nulon Nationals Round 1

27 January 2017 / Words by Scotty Gibbs, Photos by Rob Wilkins & John Karayannis

Nulon Nationals got off to a very early start this year with a motorkhana at SMP Skidpan on a scorching Sunday on 8th January 2017. Keith Monaghan had decided to step aside as captain of the team for this year and when I was offered the opportunity, it didn't take much convincing! The club has had some great results in the past which left some big shoes to fill.

In taking on the role I had three main priorities;

• Reward club regulars with invitations to events,
• Try and use the events to get new members
• To stay true to the club brand and only use MX-5s at every event.

When selecting a team for the first round, I looked at some of the great drivers who had displayed their skills at our club Motorkhana days. It was hard to go past the enthusiasm and finesse of two of the regulars at the top of the scoreboard and the first invites went to John Karayannis and Gus Elias. Having won the 2WD turbo class in both previous years, I was always going back to try and make it three in a row. When looking at the final spot on the team, I was reminded of a member with similar years of experience to myself who wasn't been able to compete at the club series as, by definition his car is a Motorkhana "Special" and Wade Rewell was added to the team. I can't stress how hard it was to pick a team for this event having seen so much talent at our club events, I really wanted to front 10 cars!

The competition got underway and all four of us had a quick loosener as is very common in Motorkhana and all of us would struggle on our first run as we got our head around the very slippery surface which is different to any road or track you will use anywhere else. Immediately all of our team was in the top half of the field and as the temperature rose, so did our team and we marched up the leaderboard.

 

The two classes we were competing in were the 2WD turbo and Naturally Aspirated under 3.4L. Gus and John would have their work cut out for them in the Naturally Aspirated class with Club Deutsche hiring a seasoned Motorkhana veteran in an M3, and the best drivers from the 86 Club having amassed plenty of experience at the venue. There were many other clubs entered in the class, but few would pose a challenge to our boys! Wade and I would be fighting in the 2WD turbo class and much to my surprise we didn't have it all our own way, with several of the teams having done alot of events since last year and driving really well.

Coming into the final test, all of us were having alot of fun and taking in the whole experience. With the wall along the skidpan packed with spectators, photographers and like minded club motorsport folk its easy to see that this is the biggest Motorkhana event. And I've seen several CAMS National Championships!

After a solid drive, John took out third in class (only half a second off 2nd!) closely followed by Gus in fourth. A very impressive effort considering their class had the most entrants out of any with 22 drivers. In the turbo class, Wade finished 11th and first of the first timers to Nulon Nationals, and I went on to make it three from three and won my class. The strong results from all of us means that the MX-5 Club tied for the series lead! We finished on the same score as the WRX Club, who only entered two WRXs, so in my opinion, they sacrificed their integrity to try and win!

I'm very proud of our team and how we drove on the day. The competiton has really hotted up amongst all clubs involved and this event proved over everything else, experience is the only way to get to the top of the leaderboards. I highly recommend getting involved in our Club Motorkhana series this year and getting some tests under your belt and who knows you could be part of next years representative team!

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