The Ice Man cometh..

He's back after two years of rallying and a dabble in NASCAR to take the seat of the 'still not up to it', Robert Kubica. The new Lotus/Renault team used a loop hole in the rules to get Kimi a few laps back in a Formula One car in Valencia earlier this week. Apparently testing is okay outside of the allotted test days if the car is two or more years old which worked out just fine for Kimi and the team to get a feel of what's to come. Laps times were kept under wraps but these runs weren't about setting records, hey this is just the old dunger after all. Kimi's only concern seemed to be the Perrelli's. "It takes a little bit of time to get used to it, but the main bits of driving - braking, turning, the normal things - don't take many laps. But learning about the car, the team and the tyres will take time" he said. It's great for F1 and for the fans to have Kimi back and who knows just how quick the new Lotus will be with a champion on the pedals, especially after he nails the main bits.

Loudoun wins the Classic

Magnificent !!

Young Sydney sprintcar pilot twenty seven year old Ian Loudoun wins the 14th running of The Classic at Sungold Stadium in Warnambool last night. Loudoun left the other 84 contenders in his wake in what was a massive two nights of sprintcar racing.
Our lad James McFadden started the A main out of 12th but suffered mechanical damage producing a fire and had to retire.
Read all about it in the Warnambool Standard here..

Okay, so what's this ??

Nice back, how about the face?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a pawno special from Fender for the retro nuts. Sporting a massive 15" speaker and 13 watts of pure valve tone this amp will blah. The Excelsior houses a two part chassis with the pre-amp section bolted in the usual place and the power amp laying across the floor of the cabinet, how oldy '50's wireless' used to be. The only give away to question the vintage of the amp is the modern IEC socket and the tube cage of which neither would have been seen in a very old steel guitar amp as this is probably modeled on. There are three input jack sockets for guitar, microphone or (wait for it) an accordion. There is no tone control, just a bright/dark slide switch. There is a one knob (speed) tremolo that I suspect isn't tube driven and it all comes optimized. There is the much asked for extension speaker socket so you can jack it up your quad box. Why? I will never know. At best the Excelsior will be a great one-sounding amp with creamy distortion and will possibly become 'the' happening blues-harp amp to have. Check out the Pawn Shop Specials here..

Little did you know..



Having always liked to know "where things come from" Google's Patent search is an endless source of fascination. Now we all know of the locking nut system found on guitars with a whammy tremolo capable of those 'dive bombing' string bends. But.. do you know who invented this string lock system? You would be excused for thinking it was Floyd Rose as the system is most commonly seen on FR trem equipped instruments but you're wrong. It was none other than old Clarence Leo Fender himself and it's just one of dozens of patents Leo holds for his myriad of inventions. You can check out the whole nine yards here at Google Patent Search

The Kurtis Offy



The 1947 Kurtis Kraft Offenhauser

Maybe this glorious midget racer will help you decide what those lotto winnings could go towards. You can pick up a beautiful example such as this 1947 model at auction for around 50g's.
A number of Midget car constructors emerged, though none dominated this field like the legendary Frank Kurtis. From the late 1930s, Kurtis-Kraft produced an estimated 550 complete Midget cars, with over 550 more examples produced in kit form. Kurtis' approach to design has been aptly described as '...intuitively elegant and efficient', and was the standard by which the work of other manufacturers was judged. 
Midget racing, the oldest continuous form of motor racing in the United States, originated in the early 1930s in California, and spread rapidly throughout the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Scaled-down versions of the 'big cars' of Indianapolis, Midgets competed on smaller dirt or paved tracks. While small in size, their high power-to-weight ratio, speed and thrilling wheel-to-wheel action continue to draw enthusiastic crowds even today.

And remember, all the images in this blog are clickable to show their full size versions.

Rnd 9 goes to Shatz.

James and the team put up a great battle in the two-nighter WSS round 9 at Archerfield for the 10g's to win show. After an ace performance in the qualifiers James sat on pole alongside WoO multi-champ Donny Shatz. Donny got the jump at the green and stayed there for the entire 50 laps. Robbie Farr slipped by on lap 13 to finish in second place which has bought him back into points contention. As the teams move on to Western Australia via a one nighter in Adelaide this weekend for the first of the remaining six rounds James holds on to a healthy lead on 2752 points, 455 points ahead of Robbie next on the ladder.
Earlier in the week at the running of the Capalaba Wreckers Sprintcar Cup James finished in fourth place.

Are Fender this desperate?

Modern Player - Marauder

We all love new model Fenders but have they gone a bit tooo far with these recent releases.. the Modern Player series? IMO-the most important issue for me is Fenders integrity. This is the first time FMIC has given the use of the Fender name to instruments manufactured outside of continental America other than those made in Japan for the local Japanese market. The Modern Player series come from the same Chinese chippies as that of the Squier Classic Vibe series. I don't see why this series couldn't have been badged Squier? Fender may be a giant in instrument and amplifier marketing but by producing so many guitar (and basses) under the guise of 'modern', 'vintage modified' etc., are they designing (sic) and moving wood at the expense of their credibility. If they didn't have the Fender Custom Shop then I'd say they've gone nuts.

Getting an early start in racing

One for the kids and one for the slightly bigger kids. Mum can give the little guy a few hot laps with Lightning McQueen for just a couple of bucks at the mall.

Or Dad can buy Junior a 'Mini Wedge', a kart that has been morphed into a Late Model for not much change out of a couple of grand. It could only happen in America and it happens at the grownups dirt tracks all around Ohio.

The James Report

Well the sceptics can no longer say James fluked his Australian title and was in the right place at the right time, this kid can do the biz. With everything in place with the Totally Workwear Racing team and Glen Beaton coming on board as Crew Chief James has the backing and the speed to win the series. With six wins from eight starts James now has a great buffer over his next four rivals some 459 points behind him. The week of speed which was Speedweek, the five World Series Sprintcars rounds down here in the southern states James won four of the five races loosing only to Gary Brazier at Murray Bridge. It's on to Archerfield for the 10g's to win show this Wednesday and the two night WSS Rnd9 this Friday and Saturday.

Avalon WSS Rnd7

Preparing for battle

We made it out to Avalon Speedway 'the Place for Pace' last Friday for my annual methanol fix. We must have been among the first to arrive for the open 'Pit Party'. Some party but quite a few fans turned up for the hour (3-4) for a look-see. I did manage a few snaps but being the photographer I am I won't bore you with too many, just one of the 25 car, well some of it looking pretty quiet while being prepared for battle.

How cool are these ??

The Jazzbastard

As the search goes on for the ultimate Strat I stumbled across these.. Rock N' Roll Relics. Being a bit of a rock and roll relic myself, I just had to take a look. Could this be the future of electric guitars? Guitars 'assembled' using the best of reddily available parts of which there are plenty these days. The Partscaster is becoming a big hobby with the garage builders and these guys are taking the concept and puting together quality parts and finishing them in reliced nitro custom finishes and making a business of it. Personally I prefer a nice new shiny instrument and any relicing done would come over years of natural wear and tear but there are guys that can't wait. Some of these relic finishes can look so fake yet the fakers from Rock N' Roll Relics manage to create an instrument to make Mike and Frank, the 'American Pickers' salivate. They really do look like they have lived in a dusty old barn in Iowa for 40 years (yes of course, without a case). I love this Fiesta Red one pickup Jazzbastard with the GT stripe.

http://www.rocknrollrelics.net/