Having gotten the trolley grand prix over and done with, I now turn my attention to an aviation project. Getting my Yak 52 rating. I have just bought a share in the Te-Kowhai Yak Syndicate which owns and operate ZK-TYS. I've had a joyride in it previously, but this time I'm going to be a part owner. I'll probably be broke and disillusioned within 12 months but, by crikey, I am determined to enjoy it while I can.
Chief pilot, John Parker will be guiding me through the rating and teaching me the ins and outs of this aircraft. Can't wait. (But I will have to, as the aircraft is up in Whangarei with some of the northern syndicate members for a few weeks.)

Here are the 2005 Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix Results. Team "Four Men and a Baby" came 29th overall (or 25th according to my calculations). Our trolley was the 13th fastest down the hill but two of the judges absolutely HATED our dance number.

Well the Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix has been and gone. We didn't win, place or show.

Our race actually went really well. Thanks to a good pushing effort from Barry, Chris, Mike and Steve, I got out ahead of my opponent and took off. The trolley just flew down the course. Everything went to plan right up until the "hairpin" where I turned in a bit early and the understeer scrubbed off a bit of speed before the finish line. I didn't see my elapsed time and they won't publish the full results until Wednesday 16th Feb. However, I'd put money on it being about 48 seconds.

What really annoys me is that we put on what I thought was a great pre-race stage-show and got rubbished by the judges. One judge gave us only 1 out of 10! To say I'm a bit disappointed is an understatement. We were race team 74 out of 82 so perhaps the judges were a bit jaded by the end. Another team had done a "Greased Lightning" number and a team before them had already done a pram racer. Ours were different (and better, of course) but I'm just dumbfounded about how bad our scores were.

The event was won by the Wanganui Motors team in a machine shaped like a trollified Ford Falcon racing car. They were heavily sponsored by Ford and must have spent thousands on the build. Second place went to the Porsche International Racing Team in a miniature Porsche racing car trolley. ( ditto sponsorship and budget ). I guess our off-beat concept and miniscule budget just couldn't compete...

I think our trolley would have been competitive in the 2003 Trolley GP but we were 2 years behind the times and this one was the year of the big-budget teams. Special thanks to Team Thomas (driving a "Thomas the Tank Engine" kart and doing "The Locomotion") for their support. As team "Rubber Duck Racing" they had won they previous GP in 2003 in their rolling bath-tub. They expressed their sympathy for what they saw as the injustice inflicted on us.

Will I want to be part of another Trolley Grand Prix team? I don't know. I'll make a decision later when the all the bile I have built up has drained from my spleen.

Steve and I took the Prambinator for a test run on some deserted back roads last Sunday. Found some twisty hills out the back of Huntly (Pukemiro, Glen Afton way). Sat in, strapped on the seat-belt, took a deep breath and pushed off. The trolley handles like a real go-kart, cornering flat-out with no worries. In fact I chickened out before the trolley reached its adhesion limits. Luckily the brakes seem to stop the machine quite well.

I got up to 65km/h on the steepest bit. I could feel the wind putting the brakes on as we are not the .. ahem... most streamlined design. (Well, strictly speaking it is my bulky ass that is the biggest wind resistance factor).

We tried to pick roads with no traffic, but inevitably I met up with vehicles going the other way. Everyone smiled and waved and no cops turned up looking for us. Phew! The biggest worry was cars coming up behind, but Steve shadowed me with the van flashing his hazard lights so we were OK.

The "Prambinator" rolls
Originally uploaded by Kotukunui.

Did a fair bit of work on the "Prambinator" today. Got it all painted with primer and all the bits attached. We slide in under the 80kg weight limit by 3 kilos. Had a test attach of the bodywork but due to some shonky measurements on my part, poor old Helen will have to remake the camouflage panels.
Took the kids for a ride down the driveway. Yeehah!! We sharpened up the steering ratio and it is now about two turns from lock to lock. Handles really well. We need to test it on some twisty real-life roads.