| GRUMP2 |
|
|
|
|
Grump2 is the flagship of the McKern Racing Banner and is owned by the principal of McKern Racing, Damien McKern. Here is a brief history of the car and an insight into how it became the icon it is... The Story of ‘GRUMP2’ formerly known as ‘GRUMPE’ GRUMPE is a 1970 RX2 Capella that in 1994 under the ownership of Pete Harmston, became the first rotary powered car to win the Summernats burnout contest previously won by V8’s. Under his ownership, the car appeared in magazines such as Fast Fours, Zoom and Hot 4’s predominately due to its bright colour.
As a result of the crash, GRUMP2 underwent a 3 month rebuild which included a fresh paintjob complete with custom airbrushed flames, a new 5 speed Lenco transmission and bigger tyres under the rear end, converting from the previous 26x8.5 inch to 28x9. It also was taken to Wizard performance for some stronger roll cage work to be done, as well as rebuilding the rear end and parts of the engine bay damaged in the crash. In July 2006, Grump2 made the trip south to Padstow to a little place called PAC Performance. While there, Grump2 had a complete overhaul of parts which included a PAC spec 20B methanol engine, similar in setup to the almighty PAC MX6. Everything on the car was checked or replaced in preparation for an all out assualt on the 06-07 season. Along with the new engine, an all new aluminum diff was fitted along with spindle mounted front wheels, Magnum pro wheels, all new interior and various other component changes.
On debut at the East Coast Nationals of 2006, Grump2 became the first competitor of the newly formed RRR/API class of Super Stock, allowing EFI rotaries to run for the first time in the class. Grump2 not only made the very difficult field but also won its first round with a new record setting pass of 8.202@164mph becoming the quickest and equal fastest untubbed rotary in the world. The title was very short lived as the incredible 12A from Craig Wasson drove past and took the record by 6 one thousandths of a second with an 8.196@164mph but still, only 4 passes into the new setup, Grump2 was ready for action. Then at a private test day a week later, Grump2 recorded two 168mph passes to capture the fastest untubbed rotary tag in the world all by himself. At the 16th Fast Fours Jamboree three weeks later, Grump2 again emerged as a car to beat with also newly formed Sports Compact Group debuting its series and classes. Grump2 competed in the Street 289 class which allows cars to run a maximum of a 28x9 inch slick. First pass off the trailer, Grump2 registers an 8.23@159mph which would prove to be good enough for top qualifier for the class.
The Fast Fours Jamboree proved to be Grump2's and McKern Racing's most successful meet ever with an 8.23, Top Qualifier, Round 3 contender, Street 289 ET and MPH national record holder and Best presented crew award some of the achievements from the team. So with now 24 completed passes with the new 20B setup, Grump2 has run an amazing 17 eight second passes with 13 being 8.50 or better, the lowest MPH run has been 137mph with 21 passes being over 150mph and 12 of them being over 160mph. Watch for Grump2 at the Boxing Day Top Fuel and Summerslam and stay tuned to www.mckernracing.com.au for updates. Some Achievements of Grump2 (current at 2007):
Round 2 of the 2006-2007 Sports Compact Group championship took place at Victoria’s Heathcote Park Raceway, 2 hours north of Melbourne. The McKern Racing team continued their impressive record of having run at a new track every season since 2004 (2004-WSID, 2005-Meremere NZ, 2006-Heathcote). Having secured top qualifier and 3rd round elimination points, the team were looking for a good showing at the rural Victorian track to move forward in the inaugural championship race. Heading into qualifying, the team struggled with the hot blustery conditions. However in winning the first round match up, the team proceeded to the final due to a sad run of mechanical failures from 2 of the semi finalists. The final saw Rod Spannenberg’s “7Sins” RX7 against the Grump. Again, a similar round of event s proceeded and the Grump wheelspun the whole track to hand the win to the RX engineering car. However, with the runner-up trophy in hand, the team headed into the next round as joint championship leader with the Heatcote winner.
During the 2006-2007 season, ANDRA were also running a 2 round Sports Compact series to which the team had always run in Oz Modified. However the rules as they stood prohibited the use of spindle mounted front wheels. So the team lodged a rule submission with ANDRA National Control Council to have the rule amended and while this was taking place were forced to run in Sports Modified against ¾ chassis cars. But this didn’t stop the team taking Top Qualifying honours in both the events held at WSID. However with traction problems plaguing the team, Grump didn’t venture past the first round. Leading into the 3rd round of the Street 289 championship, the team took the time to run a Test ‘n’ Tune at their home track to try for a setup on the car prior to the crucial round. It paid off with the Grump returning to form with an 8.32@166mph pass that had the confidence of the team at its peak. Mini Jamboree took place at Willowbank Raceway on March 2007 and formed as round 3 of the Sports Compact Group championship series. The Grump in qualifying ran consistent 8.4’s and 8.3’s to qualify second behind stalwart and rival Wayne Dyson. Although fierce competitors on track, the two racers share a special friendship off the track that has grown in respect over the years. And as luck would have it, the number 1 and 2 qualifiers met in the final of Street 289. In what was to go down as the best race seen for the entire Sports Compact year, the McKern team changed their dial in to match Wayne’s to ensure a head’s up final. The crowd was treated to a special race where the winner was determined by 0.003 of a second! On a holeshot win, Grump’s 8.27@166mph pass was no match for the slower 8.29 second pass from Wayne. However with yet another runner-up trophy in hand, the team headed into round 4 with the sole championship lead. A few National events followed with the McKern Racing team making appearances at the Tin Top Titles in April and Snap On Nitro Champs in May. Soon to follow this was the 4th round at the Compak Attak at WSID. Having struggled with the WSID surface on their last few meetings, the team were determined to have a good showing to extend the lead in the championship. But only managing mid 8 second passes, the team struggled their way to a semi final berth to lose to the eventual runner-up for the event. Wayne proved his racing credentials yet again by winning the event, making it two in a row for the Dyson Rotary runner and bridging the gap to a mere 40 points heading into the final round at the Fast Fours Jamboree 17. However this season saw: 50 x 8 second passes (out of 73 passes run), 25 x 160mph passes (plus more if weren’t running in DYO racing), racing at 17 events across 3 tracks in Australia. Although the 2007 year lived in the shadow of the extremely successful 2006 racing year, the team learned a lot about themselves as a team this year and still competed to the highest level at events attended. The year started off with a fresh livery that blew the Sports Compact scene away. The Custom Bodyworks designed “Lime Green” paint was a fresh new look for the team which had adorned the “Barbados Lime Green” for many, many years. First event at the AC Delco East Coast Nationals saw the team testing the new 33 inch ladder bar rear end setup. The 17th Annual Castrol Edge Jamboree graced the Willowbank surface, however due to some torrential rain in the days leading into the event, it was postponed until October 2007.
The next event on the calendar saw the team attend the ever growing Boostcrusing.com/McKern & Associates Drag Time event. Although the team used the event as a test session, the crowd were treated to some big burnouts, resulting in some more tyres heading to “tyre heaven”. Following this, was the postponed Jamboree, dubbed Jambo 17 ver. 2. However, in the first time in 5 years, the Grump2 machine ran without long time crew member and crew chief Arron Skillen…but reinforcments flew in, in the form on Shane Flabian’s crew chief Anthony Faro. But the car performed faultlessly in battle, claiming the world record MPH speed run by a small tyred rotary at 170.87MPH. Also making the semi final, saw the team claim the 2006-2007 Street 289 National Championship becoming the first ever winners of this Championship in the process. Season results for the championship included: Round 1 – Jamboree 16 Quarter final appearance, TQ, Street 289 ET and MPH record holder Round 2 – Summerslam Street 289 Runner-Up Round 3 – Mini Jam Street 289 Runner-Up Round 4 – Compak Attak Semi Final appearance Round 5 – Jamboree 17 Semi Final appearance, reset MPH record (now back to back) Starting to now get a handle on the new rear end, the team made its second appearance of the season at a Willowbank Saturday night Test N Tune running an 8.39 which was the best run so far this season. The following week saw the team attend yet another, but severe wheelspin caused by the excessive torque figures pushed out, resulted in a change in turbo spec in readiness for the first round of the 2007 Sports Compact season…Toyo Tyres Summerslam. The change in turbo seemed to work, with the car producing a gearbox splitting burnout to claim “Biggest burnout” award at the event, and also recorded a new PB speed on 172.61mph and new quickest time of the season in 8.23, but the Lenco was in dire need of upgrading. So it was taken to Shane at Thunder Road to weave his magic and upgrade the box to “Pro Mod” specifications. The NRMA Summernationals was the next event on the calendar at WSID. The event held special significance as Grump2 became the first car in Australia to run a Toyo drag racing slick. Toyo are keen to break into the drag racing market and the team was used to test the 28x9 inch slick on the sticky WSID surface. A couple of 8.2’s later, the test was a success and the team were starting to find some of that 2006 form again. But the next three meetings were not kind to the team. At a test and tune, the gearbox had again had an issue which was resolved again by Shane at Thunder Road, the following meeting, a wastegate had failed as well as a coil pack resulting in the loss of power and the following meeting, the Tin Top Titles, the clutch had burned itself to smithereens.
But in keeping with the tradition of the past 3 years, the team raced on yet another new track for the season (2004 – WSID, 2005 – Meremere, NZ, 2006 – Heathcote Park) being the Kwinana Motorplex in WA. As special guest of the track, the team ventured across the Nullabour to Perth to compete at the season ending Hi Tech Titles. But as luck would have it, the team’s bad luck followed them across for the 4th meeting in a row, the team struggled with a little issue, this time, blistering tyres due to wheelspin.
But all in all, another 32 passes over 13 events for the season sees the team as still one of the top profile and top attended teams in the Sports Compact scene. The team still hold the Street 289 National ET and MPH records. The first event of the 2008-2009 season saw the Boostcrusing.com/McKern & Associates Drag Time take place again at Willowbank Raceway for the 3 consecutive year. Having rested the team and car since May, it had been 4 months since the team took to the track so a few half track runs were exactly what the doctor ordered for the team. And didn’t the doctor deliver…. In his first ¾ track pass, Damien and the Grump recorded a PB MPH to half track of 139.84MPH. So with the go ahead, the next pass was run ‘out the back door’ and a new PB (which had been almost 2 ½ years since the last) was recorded…8.15@168mph. The team remained relatively contained considering and ended the event with confidence that they were back on track. Heading into the 08-09 season proper; the team set a few goals. 1. To win Street 289 class at Jamboree 18. 2. To win an ANDRA Gold Christmas tree (which is possible now thanks to the new Group 2 ANDRA class – Super Compact) and 3. To be a major player in the 2008-2009 Super Compact Championship. As Jamboree 18 rolled around, the team were buzzing with the addition of the new ANDRA Super Compact eliminator. It had been a long time lobbing for a bracket for Sports Compact to race at the bigger, National events and now all set, the team headed into Jamboree 18 with the anticipation of a good event to get confidence heading into the first round at the Australian Nationals at WSID. But first things first, the Jamboree had been relatively kind to the McKern Racing team since 2006. And 2008 was no exception. Proving that the 8.15 run at the previous meeting was no flash in the pan, the team ran another 8.15@170mph in qualifying to set the scene. Even qualifying 3rd didn’t phase the team as they knew that the car and crew were ‘on their game’ this weekend. Having won the first round against perennial contender Rod Spannenberg, the team headed into round two against the eventual 2007-2008 Street 289 winner Pat Long. However, the green machine cruised through to a semi final match up against either Wayne Dyson or 2008 Mini Jam winner Darryl Parker. With the match up set if Wayne won, the veteran gave it all and ran a new world record 7.90@172mph pass that saw the crowd go off. However due to the DYO format that exists in Street 289, he broke out setting the scene for the Mckern team to take on the Mini Jam champ. But another victory saw the green machine advance to yet another final against the 2JZ powered Datsun of Gary Halpin.
In an act of pure sportsmanship, the Mckern team sat on the start line idling away waiting for the Halpin Datsun as he was not to be seen. It was only the starter who called the Grump to stage but in a complete last minute appearance Halpin drove quickly through the water and into stage to set the final up. But due to their haste, the bonnet was not secured correctly and the McKern Racing team took an easy win to win their first ever Jamboree and first event since 2004. Achievement 1 ticked off! Anticipation was high heading into the Fuchs Australian Nationals at WSID. The first ever round of the new Group 2 Super Compact eliminator took place and the first ever pass run in qualifying of Super Compact featured the Grump2. Index racing is much more complex to DYO, but much better. The fixed index for Oz Mod (the class that the Grump runs in) is the National Record time + 0.5 second. As this is a new class, a minimum time of 8.000 seconds was selected giving the index 8.50 seconds. In qualifying, not only did the team record a new PB, but they ran the minimum time right down to the 10/1000th of a second with an 8.000@171mph pass. At the conclusion of qualifying the team were sitting in second position behind Rodney Rehayem’s CC/SM RX3 who ran 7.48 on a 8.00 index. But due to torrential rain, the meeting was abandoned so the chance to win the first Super Compact gold Christmas tree was put on hold till the Summernationals in February. 2 weeks following the Nationals, round two of the Super Compact championship took place at the Spring Top Fuel championships at Willowbank. However only 5 cars made the venture compared to the 18 that were present at the Nationals. Every car that qualified for the Nationals received 20 points for the rain out. So heading into the Spring’s, the McKern Racing team were the only car entered to have already secured points in the National Championship. Qualifying didn’t treat the team well, qualifying 5th out of 5 cars and with a first round match up against the quickest Evo in the world: Nick Zervos. But come race day, the team had the eyes on again running an 8.28 on an 8.50 index to move into the second round against Tony Wedlock’s TRD Aurion. In a very much “David vs Goliath” battle, the little RX2 held its own running an 8.12 on a changed 8.39 index to record a massive win and move ever so close to becoming the first ever Super Compact winner. The final saw the Grump take on Kiwi and friend Rod Harvey in his 6 second 2JZ Celica. But having smashed the index around in the first two passes, the path to victory was tough for the green machine having to run on an 8.26 index. And it proved too much to catch with the 205mph Celica cruising home in the deep end to record the win and becoming the first ever Super Compact victor. But having made so many finals recently, the McKern Racing team were ecstatic with the result and head into round 3 as joint championship leaders with Harvey. Also in the process, they set the AA/OM National MPH Record (becoming the first competitors to do so) and also the AA/OM Willowbank Track Record.
The following six months saw the McKern Racing team venture the length and breadth of Australasia. Firstly, the Perth Motorplex have invited the team again to travel to the Kwinana track to race at the Goldenstate Titles and then two weeks later at the Hi tech Titles. Once the car comes back from Perth, it is then loaded straight away into another container to New Zealand with the PAC Performance MX6 to compete as special guests at the 4 & Rotary Nationals in Auckland and then 1 month later at yet another new track (5th season in a row) at the 4 & Rotary South Island Champs at Ruapna Raceway, Christrchurch. The Goldenstate Titles are Perth’s 2nd biggest event attracting over 300 entries and 15,000 spectators. The McKern Racing team used the Goldenstates as a marketing tool to attract spectators to the Hi Tech titles as well as a chance to get some laps on the board for the Hi Techs. Over the two events the team ran an impressive 11 passes, all at over 160mph and all but two 8.4 second passes or better. Heading into 2009, the team currently holds the following achievements:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated ( Friday, 30 January 2009 ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Next > |
|---|
