There are two modes to winter: that brief moment when the snow is fresh, the holidays are upon us and you welcome a bit of bite in the air. Then, winter sours quickly as everything becomes a cold, damp, gray wasteland punctuated by soggy, marshy lands, skeletal trees and short days. Unless you’re running a cheap car race or live in Florida or Arizona, winter is supposed to be the time to rebuild what you broke or to finish up what you started three years ago.
In Australia, however, it’s summer time and the tracks are open and running strong. Events like Summernats are going strong and even basic test and tunes offer us Northern Hemisphere dwellers a relief from staring out into a Tim Burton landscape. From the local units that we’ve been drooling over for years to the few American ex-pats that have made the trip across the pond (a Maverick? Really?) to turbocharged Japanese rockets, all manner of wicked machines descended upon Heathcote Raceway for some runs down the quarter. Sure, there’s nothing like the moment when you drop the hammer on the Christmas tree, but if you’re not going to be racing for a couple more months, at least watching the Aussies having some fun dulls the ache just a little bit!
