CurtIt was the 12th January 2026, I was hanging around at my mates shop working on my MX-5 for a track day that was upcoming, listening to Creed, drinking beer – you know, the usual stuff?!
I got a phone call from Adrian at Trutrack Suspension.
“Hey man, we are doing another endurance race, this time around Winton, you in!?”
“Does the pope sh!t in the woods? Of course im in!”
So, once again, we are going racing in the little green EK Civic that could. Last time I drove that car we were down at Mallala Raceway in SA competing in the 24 hours of Mallala – This time was a tiny bit different because Winton Raceway has no lights.
So, the event is split across 2 days, 9 hours on Saturday, 9 hours on Sunday.
As Winton is kind of my second home at this point, I did maybe 3 hours of Simulator practice, and previously mentioned Mx5 track day (trust me, nothing preps you for an endurance race)
Once again, I was starting in the car for the rolling start. I love doing the first stint, it give you a really good indicator on the pace of every car on the grid for the rest of the race.
I passed a slower few cars (including this absolute BANGER of a Valiant), and settled into a nice pace, absolute focus, no distractions, no outside thoughts, just drive. To me, it’s the best place in the world.
Ninety minutes of hard racing and we’d built ourselves a cushy 4-5 lap lead over the closest competition. First stint in the bag and I smashed out a PB in this car of 1:44 with a stock d16y4. I climbed out of the car feeling pretty chuffed.
And then I immediately undid all of that goodwill.
In my post-drive hype, I managed to pop the boot latch as well as the fuel hatch.
And, well, no one noticed until Justin was already back out on track with the boot bouncing merrily in the wind. Drive-through penalty. Deserved. Hilarious. A rookie mistake. What can I say? You win some, you lose some.
Step out of the race car, and what greets you? Lawrence, already deep into a full BBQ operation. Not even a little bit surprised. Christian’s on seasoning duty, and naturally, Vegeta was being applied with reckless abandon and no f*cks given.
If you don’t know Vegeta, let me introduce you to the cornerstone of Team TruTrack culture, a cooking stock that somehow makes everything taste like it was made by someone who actually knows what they’re doing. It’s a problem how good it is. I grabbed a steak sandwich, declared the day a success despite everything, and went on my merry way.
For all my finest attempts at self-sabotage, we somehow ended Day 1 sitting on a 12-lap lead. Not bad at all!
But here’s the thing about endurance racing: 12 laps over 9 hours is basically nothing. A rounding error. A false sense of security wrapped up in a number. In a race like this, the universe has a thousand ways to humble you
A mechanical issue that turns a minor fix into an hour-long nightmare or some obscure rule you didn’t even know existed suddenly costing you a stack of penalty time.
But that was a problem for tomorrow. For now, it was back to the AirBnB, cracking open a cold beer, and sitting down to a bowl of Lawrence’s homemade pasta sugo (made with love, according to him, of course.)
12+ hours in the making and worth every single one of them.
I can never thank the guys enough for making these events so darn good. Always, without a doubt, good food, good company and a heap of laughs.
Day 2. The lead was ours. The car was solid. The brakes were singing. Everything was in place, now it was just a matter of bringing it home.
We kept our noses clean through what was a chaotic day on track, incidents in abundance, fatigue setting in. For a while, two teams pushed us hard, keeping us honest right until the final few hours. Then, one by one, the race did what endurance racing always does, it found their weak spots. One was swallowed up by a mechanical issue, the other simply ran out of answers on pace.
Funnily enough, one of those teams was the exact same bunch of guys and gals that pushed us deep into the night at the Mellala 24 Hour, right until a brake failure took them out of contention there too. A mechanical this time, brakes the last. Unfortunate, they’re clearly quick enough to be right in the fight. But that’s endurance racing. It giveth, and it taketh away, often in the most brutal fashion.
WE CROSSED THE LINE. P1. TWO IN A ROW. GET IN SON!
Honestly, what a race. What a team. But let’s give credit where it’s due:
Lawrence: head chef, chief entertainer, and the glue holding this whole shitshow together (honestly).
Mark: race engineer extraordinaire, Horner wished he had someone this good.
Adrian: for trusting me with the keys, sorting every single detail, getting the car setup phenomenally, and letting me show up ready to drive. Absolute legend.
Roadrunner: the Kanye-BEST fueler to ever grace a pit lane.
Justin: the lone Aussie bloke amongst the Wogs, who somehow also found time between stints to completely transform his driving over a single weekend on a brutally technical circuit. Honestly, holy crap.
And Christian: a man who went off-track more times than I’ve had warm dinners and who absolutely, categorically, did not lose the lap timer mount off the windscreen and have it wedge itself under his pedal….
Two in a row, baby! 🏆
Unreal weekend. The car delivered, the team delivered, and the vibes were through the roof. A huge thank you to Motor Events Racing for putting on yet another brilliant event and doing it for all the right reasons. These events aren’t just about racing; they’re about getting out there, having fun, building a car with your friends and raising money and awareness for Rare Cancers Australia, with all teams encouraged to get behind the fundraising effort.
If you need any work done to your race/street car, hit up Adrian at TruTrack Suspension, the best in the business baby!
Can’t wait to do it all again. 🏁
