I must ‘fess up. Despite the <tongue in cheek> air of culture and sophistication</tongue in cheek> I try to exude, I’m a petrol head.
This afternoon friends are coming around to watch the V8 supercars (Oz’s premier sedan racing class). We’ll have a meal (Chris’s putting the final touches on it now), a few drinks, cheer the Holdens, and boo the Fords. We’ll have a good afternoon as always.
But yesterday a mate and I went to the tractor pulls. It’s a great day, and it’s what motor sport should be. You get to stand a few metres from all the action. Just a light courtesy fence that a five year could cross without difficulty between you and the action. The noise, the smell of high octane fuel, the excitment of big block Chev’s running at the limit while travelling at a snail’s pace right in front of you….
It helps a rural community, struggling with the drought. We come, we see, we eat, we drink. We pay our admission fee. But it’s not a rip-off. A full day’s entertainment, some Jim Beam, steak sandwiches (with real steak) and I didn’t spend over fifty buck! THAT’s value.
The commentator walks up and down between the tractors, wisecracking in a way that everyone wants to but can’t, becasue they want to be politically correct. I mean, the whole concept of a pulling competition is open to the lowest form of puns, but this guy knows where the line is. He crossed it 5 minutes after he started so he has you in stitches for the rest of the day. And, he knows his stuff. Like why the 327 sounds different to the 350 Chev. Why Chrysler (Mopar) gave up motor sport dominance overnight. All the things petrol heads love and everyone else says “So what?”.
And then there’s the Merlins. And sisters to the Merlin, the Allison and the Meteor. These are motors from the 1930s and 40s. They put them in the front of Spitfires and other legendary fighters and bombers. The meteor was the same thing driving tanks, or side by side in patrol boats (remember McHale’s Navy?). Over 1700 cubic inches of v12. We sometimes go to the aviation museum’s engine runs, just to haer a Merlin idling…
There are tractors with these beats as well. That’s what I go for. They sound magnificent. But its not only the sound, its the vibration. You can feel these beasts as they try to drag the sled for the fullll pullll….
…When’s the next one?