Danny Board’s super-cool VK ute
jagged a couple of trophies in
the show ’n’ shine, then Danny
threw some stockies on it and
ripped a killer skid in the burnout
comp. His daughter Chloe is a
chip off the old block, scoring
runner-up Queen Of The Mount
in the burnout comp, as well as
Champion Female Competitor
overall in her own VK
Panorama can provide remained
alive and well, and while the sound of
highly strung V8 engines ringing out
across The Mount is nothing new, the
opportunity to take part in our own
unique breed of motorsport in such a
sacred place feels like a real privilege.
Like many of these types of events,
the skid comp is quite central to the
goings-on at Bathurst Autofest. The
chance to turn tyres on hallowed
ground appeals to a broad spectrum
of our nation’s skidders, and this
year’s comp was hotly contested
by an impressive and varied range
of vehicles. Purpose-built skid rigs,
low-buck junkers and street cars
alike queued up to leave their mark
on The Mount.
Some of the more fancied
competitors included Phil Kerjean’s
TUFFST wagon, Matt Power’s
T4TUFF HQ Holden one-tonner,
Mark ‘Milfy’ Montgomery’s newly
revamped VL Commodore, Adrian
Cuthbertson’s SKIDMA Sigma,
and Dean Patterson’s TYRH8R
Fairlane. But there was a swathe
of determined local competitors on
hand to keep them honest, including
Blake Lobley’s SHORTY Land
Cruiser and Danny Board’s VK one-
tonner, to name a couple.
Held over two days – Saturday 11
March and Sunday 12 March – the
competition saw each entrant perform
one burnout per day. At the end of
the weekend, the scores were tallied
to decide the winners in each class.
This meant that if you under-delivered
on Saturday but had a blinder on
Sunday, you were still in with a shot
at the podium.Ultimately though, the winners
performed cracking skids across
both sessions, with Adrian
Cuthbertson taking the Pro class win
from Matt Power and Phil Kerjean
with a manic display in SKIDMA,
fully laden with passengers!
Dean Patterson had his Powerhouse
Engines-built, dry-sumped Windsor
singing a sweet tune all weekend,
taking a resounding win in the
Naturally Aspirated V8 class.
Away from the pad, Ross Mayes
had a blinder in his beastly flamed
’32 Ford tudor, BURNT1, claiming
Top Hot Rod, Top Custom Paint and
Quickest Eight-Cylinder Pro Class in
the Super Sprint. The blown 468ci
Chev-powered beast also finished in
the Top 10 judged cars, and between
his efforts in the show arena and on
the track, Ross accrued enough
points to be declared Bathurst
Autofest Grand Champion for 2017.
Needless to say, any day that you
get handed a trophy with the words
‘Bathurst’ and ‘Champion’ etched
into it is a good one.
“It was absolutely awesome; I’m
rapt,” Ross said. “I’ve won Grand
Champion at Spring Nats a couple
of times, as well as Mount Gambier,
Albury and now Bathurst Autofest, so
it’s more or less a full set.
“Bathurst Autofest is a great
weekend, because there’s so much
action and so much to do. You can
just go and run on the main straight
all day, which I did. I lost count of
how many laps I did; probably
around 50 between the Go-to-Whoa
and Super Sprint. It’s probably my
favourite event.” sMOUNT PANARAMA78