Khanacross
I had just spent my evening working and planning how I was going to DIY some mudflaps for the Pulsar (both my daily driver and comp car). After spending some hours on it, I eventually gave up on the rear mudflaps. It was half past midnight and sleep was realistically the priority. I set the alarm for 7:15am, aiming for a 9am arrival at scrutineering.
I woke up at a quarter to 9. In an absolute panic.
I showed up 15 minutes after scrutineering had closed, however, all was not lost because, Bob - the head of scrutineering & absolute champ wasn’t fussed about the situation.
With that out of the way driving became front of mind.
The conditions looked decent. There had been a bit of rain the weekend prior, but it was mostly dry with the exception of two large mud puddles. A nice breeze was sure to keep the dust away as well. It looked set to be a fun weekend.
After sitting through the drivers’ briefing and getting our numbers, it was a frantic scramble to get first in the queue for our sighting lap. The first track was nice and fast, with the puddle coming in at two corners. It felt very slippery — I could feel the understeer at 40 km/h. The concept of taking it at 80 made me slightly nervous, and I’m sure everyone else felt the same. But overall it was fun and flowed nicely, except for those two corners.
I quickly located who was in the same class as me. My 98' 1.6L Nissan Pulsar was far from fast and was deserving of the 1400cc–1600cc class. As for the competition, A girl called Naomi, who was racing an early 2000s Hyundai Accent.
Not a bad match up being in the same boat: road tyres, small engine, bugger-all power. Grassroots motorsport...
The first few runs felt pretty slow (rusty). I gradually remembered what I had forgotten since the last event. I grew braver and braver. My times and Naomi’s danced around each other. I’d go a couple of seconds faster, then she’d go a couple of seconds faster. I’d lock up and miss a corner, and she’d do the same. Run for run, we were level pegging for most of the day, within a second of each other, until one run when I looked over and saw a crowd of people gathered around her car - the bonnet up.
It turned out the lovely soft dirt roads had gradually formed a swept line, revealing a very rough and rocky surface below. The little Hyundai Accent had eaten its water pump belt, so Naomi was out. Or so you would have thought.
Fortunately she was with the Walkerville Car Club’s rally school program, and there were plenty of cars for her to use — some a little quicker, some a little slower. She jumped into a Mazda 3 sedan for the rest of the day while she sourced a new belt for the Hyundai.
The pace felt like it was getting better and better. I became so much braver in the corners — just send her in and go full gas. First gear off the limiter, second gear the rest of the way. I was fighting the car for the most part, as it kept getting knocked out of second gear. But I was getting faster and faster, and I wasn’t even thinking about Naomi anymore. I'd made the assumption that her car change meant a move to the 1600cc–2000cc category.
Lining up before one of the last few runs of the day I spent some luck catching a flat tyre before setting off that if unnoticed was no doubt would have been a recipe for disaster.
But as the day went on luck was running low, I could hear a worsening exhaust leak from under the engine bay. At first, I thought it was something like a failed exhaust manifold gasket. But it got so incredibly loud that it had to be something worse. Upon a quick inspection, I found a giant crack in the pipe just below the flange leaving the exhaust manifold. It kept getting worse and worse as the day progressed.
As the day wrapped up, I got prepped to drive home to gear up for day 2. Driving off in the "competition" car, I made sure to limit rev's (& noise). The last thing I needed was to get defected and ruin a maiden class victory for the little Pulsar!
On the drive home, I noticed the car felt substantially worse in handling. It felt bouncy, and the body roll at the front was insane. It turned out to be worst-case scenario: both front shocks had blown their seals. There was no shock absorption at all, and they were spewing shock oil with every bump. Not good at all.
Dad told me it was a bad idea, but nah, mate. She’ll be right.
I told myself I’d drive slow. All I needed to do was stay ahead of an older dude driving 10 seconds slower than me per run. I had plenty of wiggle room, not to mention the car needed to survive in order to get me to work on Monday.
Rest assured, I did not take it easy on Day 2. Naomi was back in her Hyundai Accent, and I felt faster than ever — even with blown front shocks and carked suspension.
I was now consistently faster than Naomi. Every run was a few seconds quicker, and I was having too much fun. Sure, there were a few moments where I under-steered into a bank or it popped out of second at the worst time, sending me into a bush. But I could feel the pace, and my god, was it fun.
There was also another bright red N15 Pulsar (sedan) competing on Sunday. It’s always nice to see the same car as yours on track, especially in the same "go-fast" color.
I also got to chat with a guy racing an N14 SSS Pulsar with his son. That thing was quick. We talked about the upgrades I had planned for my little shitbox, the prices of parts cars, and how my dad would kill me if I dumped another broken car in the driveway. It was great to see Pulsars out and about, especially in Khanacross!
Back to the racing. On one of the runs near the end of the day, I nudged a dirt bank with the front left tyre right before the finish. It set me a timer, as it pushed a whole bunch of rocks between the rim and the sidewall.
A couple of runs later, I noticed the tyre was really deflated. I didn’t want to jack it up and chuck my 14-inch spare on (the car usually runs 15s), so I just put air in it and hoped for the best. It seemed to have a slow leak from the rocks, but it held pressure for now.
As the day dragged on, I kept overhearing more and more stories of other people’s cars breaking. Someone’s diff exploded, and another car snapped a rear axle. The conditions were certainly tougher than day 1.
Eventually, it was time for the last run of the day. Every run before this, I had been so worried about the car. The shocks were long gone, the course was so rough, one tyre was beyond bald, and the other had a slow leak. I was trying to be careful, but apparently not careful enough.
There was a massive front impact, and suddenly the suspension sounded proper fucked. Then, I saw the battery & handbrake warning lights pop up on the dash, oh and the brake pedal went straight to the floor.
My mind was racing (the car not so much).
I knew something with the alternator had gone wrong, and clearly, the suspension or tyres had also given up. I had to go so slowly it hurt my soul.
When I eventually finished the stage, I ran out of that car faster than I ever have before. Thankfully, it turned out it was just the front tyres.
Thank the lord! I had exactly two 14-inch front spares. I drove back to the pits and started inspecting the car. At this point, I wasn’t stressed about my class position anymore. Naomi had raced in another car the day before, so my logic had her competing in a higher class.
It turned out the battery light was because the alternator belt had failed. Thankfully, it only ran the A/C compressor and the alternator. After consulting with a few people, they concluded it would get me home. Thank goodness my battery was new. I just let the car sit, cool down, and rest while waiting for the presentations. time to get that maiden class win (and drive home of course).
I had a chat with some of the guys about the rally skills program and considered it while we waited. It seemed like a good idea — provided I could swing the hard sell of getting my parents to pay for it (unlikely).
Eventually, they started the presentations, congratulating all the rally school students and how far they’d come over the year. Then they got to my class.
1400–1600cc.
I wasn’t super psyched about a trophy, but I thought it would’ve been cool to take home a maiden class win. But they never called my name. Instead, they called out Naomi’s name.
At first, I was kind of taken aback. How had she gotten it? Didn’t she use a faster car for part of the event? How was that fair to the other class competitors? But I got over it quickly. I could probably have appealed it, but at the end of the day, it’s grassroots motorsport. Everyone is here to have some fun, and it shouldn’t be taken too seriously (point in case: they gave the trophy to someone in a higher class).
At this level of racing, there’s no ego. It’s all fun. At the end of the day, you win if you had a good time. The entry fees are low, and the expectations are low. Just come out and get sideways.
It did help that I had found all that extra pace. I felt fast, and I was really keen for next year when I could do more. But unfortunately this recap doesn't end there.
It was time to go home. I started the car, and all I could hear was belt squeal. I peeked under the bonnet, and the power steering/water pump belt wasn’t turning at all—it was just slipping. Oh no.
It turned out that massive impact had knocked the nut off the water pump belt’s tensioner, so the water pump wasn’t being turned.
Thankfully, Andrew Gleeson and Nick White stuck around to help me out — they are proper legends. They had the tools, and Andrew had a nut that fit perfectly. We sat in the dusty wind for a good hour, fiddling with our hands in a gap that we had no right to be fitting into. Eventually, we got the belt tensioned and I was ready to drive home.
Between the missing exhaust, the lack of an alternator belt, the broken indicator, the dust, dirt, and debris — it was a walking cop magnet.
On the drive home, it also became apparent that I had killed an engine mount and the shifter linkage bushing. Somehow, I made it home without getting pulled over.
Fast forward a week and the event times were released. I now saw that even with Naomi’s faster car, I had lost it all in the final run when my front tyres went flat. I had so much fun, and that’s all that really matters at the end of the day. If you have any questions sing out in the comment section below.
And that’s my recent Khanacross event experience.
- Felix
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