A champion heading our way for summer

Donny heads downunder

Four times World Of Outlaws series Champion sprintcar ace Donny Schatz is getting set for his annual (US) winter break downunder. Aside from his usual racing activities Donny will be getting in some huntin' an' fishin'. Great news for Queenslanders will be the five shows at Brisbane's Archerfield Speedway culminating in the 20k to win fifty lap Supercheap Auto World Series Australian Sprintcar Open event on January 6/7 2012. With just the World Finals in Charlotte on November 3/5 left on the WoO schedule Donny goes into the race second in points behind Jason Meyers. Here are Donny's Archerfield dates..

• 26.12.2011 - International Sprintcar Series / KRE Race Engines Sprintcar Track Championship
• 01.01.2012 - International Sprintcar Series / KRE Race Engines Sprintcar Track Championship
• 04.01.2012 - Capalaba Wreckers Sprintcar Cup ($10,000 to win)
• 06.01.2012 - Supercheap Auto World Series Australian Sprintcar Open (Night 1)
• 07.01.2012 - Supercheap Auto World Series Australian Sprintcar Open (Final, $20,000 to win

Photo courtesy of Steve LaMothe.

They can't get no satisfaction..

Hey Hey Hey !!! It's the old band. I came across this bit of footage the other day from my video collection. It is the once famous Lonely Boys that I sat on the bottom of on my Squier P-Bass. It sort of fits the 'Electric Guitars and Racing Cars' theme of the blog in that in this clip we get to see a great guitar solo by Eddie Twang (nee Coburg Tipping, as his mother knows him). These lonely boys can't seem to get any satisfaction, dunno why?

EC was here

Meet the EC amp family

Eric was one of the originators of musical instrument endorsees, well in the modern era anyway. The Eric Clapton candy apple green, Lace pickuped, locked trem, V necked, TBX'd and midboosted Stratocaster springs to mind. That was a pretty mean axe and may I say, now a very collectible piece. Eric is the epitome of (British) cool. A snappy dresser, great shoes etc.. So why is it that Fender decide it would be 'cool' to release a set of large, medium and small amplifiers with the EC 'brand' in 50's tweed suitcase covering like half their other combo amplifiers?? Not that I'd like to see candy apple green Tolex but tweed? How about a Strat jack socket on the front? I'm sure these amps are awesome and will have a price to match but will we actually get to see Eric on the road with a stack of these EC's? Check 'em out here!!!
Picture by George Chin ripped from the Fender web site.

Fender does it again.. "yeah what?"

Another 'offset' from Fender

Yet again another 'offset' from those inspirational designers at Fender. First off it was the wonderful Squier Jagmaster (as you see a few posts down). Then it was the Blacktop offsets, then.. sacrilege.. Fender decided it would be cool to put a design feature of the historic Stratocaster on a crummy Squier Jazzmaster ripoff.. the sunken jack receptor. Now, what seems like just weeks later they do it again with the introduction of the (wait for it) The Modern Player series. This cross breed we see above in its wenge finish, Gibson tailpiece, bridge and P90's and once again the Strat jack socket, I have to say looks like it would be a super rock guitar. I don't think these odd-ball Fenders will ever become collectibles but as reasonably priced and playable instruments they would be pretty neat to have. Grab one while you can as they won't be around long.

Toooo hot to handle.

Lewis and Nichole in better times

Well the secret is out and now we know why Lewis has had the sour face. It has been a tough year for the young Hamilton having such a flashy girlfriend. It has probably cost him one of those eleventh tenths in the races this season. What with Jenson beating him a couple of times, Sab blowing his wheels off and beating off the Nichole oglers, perhaps we will see a smiling Lewis back on top of his game once again. "It's very tough (but) I was still able to focus at the last race and I still have that attitude." Or so you say Lewis??

Chicane, what chicane?

Team owner Paul Morris has a jovial chat
with import Boris Said BEFORE the race

V8 Supercars were once again thrown into chaos at the Gold Coast 600 on the weekend. Someone decided that rubber bollards with cute little red flags on were going to prevent drivers from slicing off half the first chicane. A couple of laps into the race it was the bollard that was sliced off, literally, or should that be litterally. Guess what? Safety car time while the bollard men bolted on a fresh one. After the restart the bollard was once again sliced and diced but luckily this time it was punted out of harms way. Then the chaos started, invited NASCAR driver Boris Said decided he was going to short cut the back stretch chicane. This went on for lap after lap much to everyone's dismay until he was eventually pinged and had to allow a few cars by. Not only did this upset the flow of the race but once the organisers found the buried electronic loop detectors were false triggering and switched the system off, eventually most of the field decided to straighten the chicanes too. C'mon V8 Supercars, how Disneyland is that? We have possibly the best tin-top racing in the world that is continually ruined by dogged rules and lack of quick decision making. Personally I'd like to see more Aussie Car racing than the V8's.
Picture: Michael Ross Source: The Daily Telegraph

Fatal wreck at Las Vegas

Wheldon's car launches skyward in left of picture

A dramatic 15-car pile-up has killed one driver and left several others with serious injuries in the finale of America's IndyCar series. Englishman Dan Wheldon was killed in the horrific incident that also ended Australian Will Power's hopes of winning the IndyCar championship in the Las Vegas season ender. Ironically, after the race was abandoned just 12 laps into the race Wheldon's team mate Dario Franchitti was awarded the 2011 championship title over Australian Will Powers who was also involved in the accident. The accident highlighted drivers' fears the Las Vegas motor speedway was unsuitable for a large IndyCar field, with pole-sitter Tony Kanaan labelling it a "potential for disaster". A sad day for racing.

Sab looses the battle but wins the war.

yes, yes, that's what I mean !!!

In a mighty race at Suzuka on the weekend Jenson Button put in a fine Sunday drive in his McLaren to hold off the flying Red Bull of Sabastian Vettel. Sab didn't have to do much more than finish the Japaneese GP to secure the 2011 drivers championship but giving away races is not in Vettels style and fought all the way to finish second in the race.
Our Mark Webber who got tangled in Hamilton's and Shuey's mess in Q3 left Mark in sixth on the grid. Mark did make up a couple of spots to finish fourth but on the tight twisty circuit wasn't able to make up further ground.

(Image from Microsoft Feed. http://microsoftfeed.com )

The Tele you have when you’re not having a Tele.

Pickguard mounted neck pickup..mmm?

The Fender Special Run Tele.
Fender has sent dozens of these FSR Tele’s to their distributors worldwide however these 2011 FSR series do vary slightly between countries.  It’s claimed by Fender Australia the FSR Tele in this part of the world has Alnico 3 pickups where I think they install the Mexican STD puppies in the US releases. There is also a nice looking FSR Strat available too and the Aussie Strat version has MIM standard Strat pickups unlike the US release which has Vintage Noiseless. Go figure?? While the guitars are generally pretty good I can’t help thinking they’re clearing out their parts bins. Let’s shake down the Tele..

Tander's Bathurst



'onya Garth

Great to see Tander and his young gun driving partner winning his third Bathurst 1000 after a monumental and narrow finish from Lowndes and Skaifie in what was a nail biting final few laps. The #2 car managed to hold off five time winner Craig Lowndes, with New Zealand's Greg Murphy in third.
The win elevates Tander to second in the V8 Supercars standings, ahead of Jamie Whincup, who finished back in the field after mechanical problems. What a pity.

One very cool Mustang

Fender Mustang 2 Review

When I bought my first ‘real’ amp it was about volume. To be heard over the screaming teenagers was the challenge. It wasn’t about tone. It wasn’t about looks though the old cream Tolex with the ox blood grill cloth Fender ‘The Twin’ certainly did look cool. Above all it was LOUD and with a fair dose of Fender treble it would cut through the rowdiest audience. So some forty years on amp requirements have somewhat changed with the emphasis now clearly on tone. I’m from the guitar-lead-amp era and to this day have never been into the little coloured boxes full of secret chips that gobble up your precious guitar tone. Having been an owner of a digital amp for some nine years the valve v’s solid state battle is long behind me. If you can’t afford one of everything then the modelling amp wins out for me. The pure guitar signal, converted to digital, processed every which way in software, then converted back into an analogue signal does it for me. No little coloured boxes, just your guitar, a lead and an amp. If you can accept a CD (or worse still) an mp3 over vinyl you won’t have any issue with a new-fangled digital modelling amp. Enter the Fender Mustang 2.