Our Dargle 2010 weekend

Created on Tuesday, 09 March 2010 13:34

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As we return from our weekend at Dargle in New South Wales we look back and realise it really had it all.

With the weather forecast threatening the east and a consistent downpour on the Friday things certainly looked a bit grim but once race day came the heavens cleared and we had 2 full days of full throttle action.

D.C, D.M & Mouse touched down at Sydney Airport to greet BNR Engines front man Brett Niddrie along with his entourage and they all began their weekend with a trip to Childspaly Marine, just 5km down the road from Dargle Valley on the Hawkesubry River. There they met up with team Unleashed who were indeed about to unleash their new 21 foot weapon dubbed 'Unleashed Again'. No practice run that day though, far too wet outdoors for any activity.

The following Saturday saw the Tuff'E'Nuff trio pitted with Shane 'Spike' Quinn and his Racecraft BNR Engines and the boys were quickly put to work. The engine wasn't 100% on the test run nor the first race but some tinkering by Niddrie and Mouse soon had the big block firing on all cylinders.

Quinn's heat for the Grandfather Bertie was a blinder and saw him qualify in pole 4 for the final race. The boat's speed was certainly on the rise after some reduction in the fuel/air ratio alongside an increase in driver confidence.

Dave Clark helped quinn suit up for the big race, a role played in reverse for the driver of Tuff'E'Nuff. The nerves may have been obvious for the veteran at that point but once the flag dropped there wasn't the slightest inclining as 'Spike' hit the right foot with force and matched the 3 fastest boats to the first turn buoy, going in alongside Liberty, Unleashed and Rythum.

Quinn then got the lead out of the first turn in spectacular fashion- the white 21 footer sat up on the plates and was out of the hole like a shot dog. After leading the race however, the output shaft on the gearbox let go and it was all over for the weekend. This allowed Brett Sheppard to resume the lead and win a major race on just his first outing with the new BNR fitted Childsplay.

Despite the incident on board BNR Engines the performace shown had the team a buzz and particularly excited was Tuff'E'Nuff mechanic Mouse. He was seemingly impressed with the look of the Evercraft style Racecraft this time around.

"You can see it, the wing just makes it sit on it's arse and hold it's head" he said.

"It has gotta happen!" (on the Tuff'E'Nuff boat).

With the responsibilities of the Tuff'E'Nuff trio hence lessened for the weekend the guys were able to let their hair down (so to speak) and enjoyed a late night drinking and talking. This followed by an early start on Sunday with the BNR entourage resulted in a slightly slower day in the pits for the fellas which was not without excitement as they watched Unleashed and Rythum battle it out in the major races while Dave Clark's friend John Cross nipped at their heels in his six litre Miscreant all day.

As the guys return to Adelaide they look again to their own B.A.D race campaign which resumes very soon- more on that in the coming days. Stay tuned!

The Tuff'E'Nuff racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors for their continuing support through the 2010 racing season.

More information & pictures can be found on the Dargle website.