ToyoShow History: 2006
2006 was the first year for ToyoShow, and to be honest, it was some very stressful days. Sean Basford had done the organisation for the entire show by himself; I had no idea what was happening, when or how. I was very fearful that the event would be a nightmare.
Ties to the Classic Celica Car Club were lost, with a meeting several months before the show, where by ToyotaCarClub.net would take the show on, on its own. My stress and Sean’s work load both grew 10 xs. Also it's worth noting that it was not an easy decision to take the show on as a 1 club event, and welcome the Classic Celica Club to the show (who took out the best club display in 2007!)
Weeks went by; The show got closer...
In the weeks leading up the show Sean gave us 'tad bits' of information, and lead the push - really stepping up to the plate and taking a huge workload on his shoulders. We had decided on the highly regarded Birdwood car museum for the event, and all was booked in. The sponsors were in, cruise route had been planned and all was ready...
Approximately a month prior to the event our club president declared he was out of the state when the show was on! However, he asked that I take his car to the show ("I have to miss the show, but my car doesn’t!" - Jordan). As such, on the morning of the super cruise, I travelled to his parent’s house. Unfortunately Jordan had forgotten to tell his parents that I was taking the car, but not only did they not ask/question or think otherwise, they also helped wash the car for the show! They didn’t really know who I was, were I was from and they still let me take the car... freshly washed...
We set out in the GT4 for the super cruise ;< br>
The super cruise started in the Bunnings hardware store just out of the city and then travelled south, going via Castle plaza and Seaford as the final destination. With a turn out of 30 cars for the first ever ToyoShow it was looking good. The day went perfectly smooth and was all good.
On the Sunday I headed up Gorge road to get to Birdwood... anyhow, I digress from ToyoShow, here are some of my thoughts on the way there...
I've never driven a Celica GT4 before this, and loved it ... to start with. The car isn’t the most powerful, and you'll soon get bored with the lack of speed, the car doesn’t handle exceptionally well, and the interior is definitely nothing special... but the way it takes the corners is so much fun. Got 4 wheel drift?
All you need to do to drive a GT4 quickly is keeping the car on boost before the corner, Turn into the corner then apply power as needed. Miss the power, miss the corner - it'll understeer right off the road but keep it on power and turn.
As I headed up gorge I did this technique over and over, all the time the tyres were yelling out for a saviour. It came at the top, where by sheer luck a member of the local law enforcement had already pulled over a car. As I cruised past, slowly, the police officer gave me a warning to keep a better eye on my speed, I think that’s what he meant by 'Watch your f*n speed.' The rest of the trip was a lot more mundane, which didn’t bother me, as doing the same thing over and over was getting old, fast.
We arrived at the Birdwood museum and proceeded to setup around the huge open grassland behind the Birdwood museum.
The day saw a total of 44 cars enter as competition cars and 200+ spectators.
Not bad for a first year. Good work Sean Basford you started the ball rolling and we haven’t looked back since.
Thanks to our sponsors
Become a fan!
