The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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My mate dennismo and I are in Australia at the moment. A long life dream to go to summernats has come to fruition this year! Will try to keep the report up to date and mostly (retro) car related. Left on 31st December and had a long layover in Tokyo due to the happenings in Europe the plane needing to avoid certain parts and thus messing up our schedule a bit. Decided to take advantage of it and spent some time in Tokyo, also a bucket list country!  We're in Tokyo! First proper car we saw out of the metro to somewhere I can't pronounce  Picture definitely made in Japan, and not on some European junction.  We also saw this London taxi looking car, made by Toyota, called a jpn taxi. Definitely shows where they got the inspiration.  After this we went back to the airport for our connecting flight to Sydney, but first we pulled some drinks from the vending machines. Another one of my weird bucket list thingies...  After our flight to Sydney we took a train to Minto where our steed for the trip was waiting for us. We where looking for something a bit more retro than what we ended up with, but it seems that good Toyota Lexcens (basically a Holden Commodore with different logos) are hard to find. My mate always wanted an Australian car to take home and after years he now wants to make it reality. The Lexcen was just to annoy the members of our Dutch Toyota club, so we could rock up to events with a 'real' Toyota made by GM. Apparently not a lot of people bought them when new and cared enough about it to keep it on the road. So enter the next best choice:  A 2004 VZ Commodore SV6! After some paperwork we drove off back to our Airbnb. 2 days and 1 hour after it started our roadtrip finally could really start!  Not all was well and an O2 sensor needs replacing, so it went back to the dealer today to get it fixed. We need it in good condition for the 4500 km trip we've got planned,starting with a 300 km drive to Canberra on Thursday to Summernats, Australia's biggest car event there is. We've made some contacts the last few months and it look like to be a brilliant weekend, with famous burnout master Lynchy being so stoked that people from the Netherlands are coming to see him that he promised to give us a ride in his burnout car! Also the driver of CLIKB8 promised us a ride, but not sure if he still remembers that. We'll definitely try though! I'll try and get keep this topic up to date as we go, especially this coming weekend! LYNCHY  CLIKB8  |
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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 This is the route we mapped out, roughly. Doing a big part of the Targa Tasmania as well as Bathurst. Even though it's riddled with speed cameras so you can't even think about going over the speed limit, we have to take the Commodore through the iconic corners of the track! |
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I'm here for this  |
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If you get a passenger-skid with LYNCHY I may never speak to you again.
(joking obviously, have an AMAZING time)
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I'm so so jealous! Lynchy is my hero, I've had his merch shipped over and chat everyone once in while. Enjoy!!
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Just because there's a rulebook doesn't mean you have to read it.
cpt.braithwaite on the Instagrams
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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I'm so so jealous! Lynchy is my hero, I've had his merch shipped over and chat everyone once in while. Enjoy!! Where you the one who was wearing a Lynchy t-shirt at the Retro Rides Weekender? I saw someone wearing a t-shirt from him, but was in a hurry to try and fix a car, otherwise I would've said something I bought some of his merch and told him of our plans. That's what started off this wild happenings for Summernats. |
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,840
Club RR Member Number: 174
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This sounds like it's gonna be a epic trip already.
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Awesome!!
Looking forward to updates
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I'm so so jealous! Lynchy is my hero, I've had his merch shipped over and chat everyone once in while. Enjoy!! Where you the one who was wearing a Lynchy t-shirt at the Retro Rides Weekender? I saw someone wearing a t-shirt from him, but was in a hurry to try and fix a car, otherwise I would've said something I bought some of his merch and told him of our plans. That's what started off this wild happenings for Summernats. That would have been me yes! I'm determined to make it out there next year and meet him and all the burnout masters drivers as well as get as many photos as possible for research to help my UK burnout car build. I tend to wear that lynchy t shirt to most shows so if you see it again, say hello! |
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Just because there's a rulebook doesn't mean you have to read it.
cpt.braithwaite on the Instagrams
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Where you the one who was wearing a Lynchy t-shirt at the Retro Rides Weekender? I saw someone wearing a t-shirt from him, but was in a hurry to try and fix a car, otherwise I would've said something I bought some of his merch and told him of our plans. That's what started off this wild happenings for Summernats. That would have been me yes! I'm determined to make it out there next year and meet him and all the burnout masters drivers as well as get as many photos as possible for research to help my UK burnout car build. I tend to wear that lynchy t shirt to most shows so if you see it again, say hello! Thomas, are you coming to either of the RR shows this year? I know last years budget all went in to the 'Straya pot. I'll introduce you if you're both there  Also, I was chatting to my pals in Melbourne (mainly about how jealous I am of your trip) and they said to let them know if you want to meet up for a hoon in their Corollas  Lmk & I'll put you in touch |
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Last Edit: Jan 4, 2023 12:58:50 GMT by HARDCORE
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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I've asked for time off for the gathering, so there's a good chance I'll be there. Weekender is not looking like I can make it. And deffo up for more fun! |
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I've asked for time off for the gathering, so there's a good chance I'll be there. Weekender is not looking like I can make it. And deffo up for more fun! Awesome! I'll put you in touch |
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tofufi
South West
Posts: 1,454
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Fantastic. This thread has mostly made me miss Japan, but looking forward to seeing your adventures |
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That would have been me yes! I'm determined to make it out there next year and meet him and all the burnout masters drivers as well as get as many photos as possible for research to help my UK burnout car build. I tend to wear that lynchy t shirt to most shows so if you see it again, say hello! Thomas, are you coming to either of the RR shows this year? I know last years budget all went in to the 'Straya pot. I'll introduce you if you're both there Also, I was chatting to my pals in Melbourne (mainly about how jealous I am of your trip) and they said to let them know if you want to meet up for a hoon in their Corollas Lmk & I'll put you in touch I can't make the weekender but will aim for gathering, I'm definitely on a saving spree now, after the passing of Ken Block, life is too short to say some day!! |
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Just because there's a rulebook doesn't mean you have to read it.
cpt.braithwaite on the Instagrams
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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 We definitely made it, but if you think that getting in to the gathering can take time... It took us an hour just to get to the camping check in gate. Where they had to check our car, then a line to get the wristband. And then on to the next line to our camping spot... Guess it's not easy hearding over (allegedly) 100.000 people into a venue. |
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Sweeeeeeet! I'm along for the ride, keep the pics coming!
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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Day one done! It's as good as it is overwhelming. There's a lot going on. Standing 1m away from a big blown V8 shredding it's tires or everything that happens on Tuff Street, Skid Row and Main Street is a lot to take in. I'll upload some videos when I've got WiFi again, but here are some photos from today.      The quality of the cars in the show hall is amazing, but it was very crowded, so we'll get back there on a quieter moment. |
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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Day 2 started with some of the qualifying for the burnout champion, which is the lower class, all the big boys are in the burnout masters, which start tomorrow.    Still fun to watch, but the difference with the masters is visible. We saw some wildcard qualifying for the burnout masters yesterday and they definitely where more spectacular. Can't wait for tomorrow! After that we watched some drifting.   Saw some shenanigans on Tuff Street and Main Street    We also went round the show fields. Outside the cars where beautiful, but inside are Australia's top 60 best cars and it showed... Perfect cars in every way possible. Inside and outside, top to bottom.    Had to take the inside pics with a wide angle lens, as it was very crowded inside. So some might look a bit weird.     And then the weirdest thing I could've ever imagined happened. Lynchy had a meet n greet at a booth in the traders Hall, so we lined up and got to chat a little. But the first thing he did was take out his phone to take a selfie with US... I thought he was the famous one, not us! . We also got interviewed by a media team. Almost felt like a celeb!   And finally, this is for me the car that describes the ozzie car scene best. Immaculate paint, big engine (rotary in this case, but a V8 will do as well) and MAHOOSIVE 5 spoke wheels with mega dish at the back and still a full interior.  More tomorrow! |
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As amusing as the Lexen would have been, I think you got a far better car in the slightly newer SV6. As far as I recall the Lexen was only available in the late 80s/early 90s Commodores as a badge job, the VT is meant to be a much nicer thing to drive.
Holden didn't mind sharing with other brands in those days. The VL Commodore ran a detuned Nissan 6, then the following Generation they swapped to a Buick V6 and badged some as Toyota Lexens while getting the Toyota Corolla as a Holden Nova. They also had the Drover (a Suzuki Sierra), the Jackaroo (Isuzu) among others
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Remade In Australia
thereimaginarium.com.au
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The Doctor
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 3,434
Club RR Member Number: 48
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Don't forget the Holden Barina! Which could be a suzuki swift, a vauxhall corsa or a Chevrolet spark! The VZ is a nice car, you're right in the Lexcen being only in vn, vp or vs commodore flavour. Ours is not without problems though. It started with an O2 sensor which packed up, and now the alarm is playing up. |
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Lmk & I'll put you in touch
