The Tuner Invasion
With Solodex continuing to grow, it was inevitable that the Trinituner.com online community would lead an invasion. Over forty tuners gave up the beach, drags, church, and Sunday lunch to come out and either compete or support their fellow tuners.
A total of twenty-four competitors came out to battle under the blazing sun. The novice class was again the largest class, and also hosted the ever popular Wingroad Club, founded by Nissan’s trinituner.com PR man, Picasso. New to Solodex were Porsche (yes, you read that right) and Zak Waddell, in their home built Locost 7. Based on the same design as Tim Kimpton’s Caterham 7 and boasting Ford Escort 1.3 mechanicals, the Wadells’ Locost was destined to be a crowd pleaser.
Noticeable among competitor times was the number of DNFs (Did Not Finish) posted, as competitors struggled with what proved to be a rather tight course. Designed by Kirk Ho Hing, the course would claim many novices, and a few veterans in what would become known as “DNF Corner)
Returning after a one race absence was Karen Pinheiro, ready to retake her crown as ruler of Novice land. However, in Karen’s absence, Mikhail Ramadhar stepped in to take her place. The stage was set for an epic battle. After two runs, it was clear that Karen was going to have a tough fight, as Mikhail set a blistering time of 84.446 seconds in only his second run. Karen improved her time with each successive run, but at the end, had to settle for second place, finishing 1.654 seconds behind Mikhail. Unfortunately for spectators, this battle will not resume in Solodex VI, since Mikhail’s two wins now bumps him up to ESP class, where he will have his hands full against Robert Bates and Ryan Pinheiro.
The second largest class was the ES class with five competitors. The ongoing three-way battle among Ryan Ramsaran, Wayne Hutchinson and Amir (Chris) Hosein continued, leaving Kevin Singh and Clayton Jobity wondering if they should find another class to compete in. Clayton did manage to entertain the crowd as usual, with enough tyre smoke to keep Toyo in business for a long time.
Ryan recovered from his bewilderment at finishing fourth in Solodex IV, and achieved his second victory of the year. Both him and Wayne took it down to the wire, with Ryan eclipsing Wayne by 1.904 seconds. Amir had some challenges with a few unruly cones, but still managed a creditable third. Kevin Singh was seen storming off into the distance looking for his wife’s Corolla………..
Rounding out the top three in the novice class was Zak Waddell, in his Locost. Both him and Porsche demonstrated some amazing sideways action, but in the end Porsche was sidelined, leaving Zak battle on. Karl Winchester put his Nissan Wingroad to good use, finishing a creditable fourth, trouncing rival Wingroad driver Kerwyn Charles.
The HS class saw Kirk Ho Hing once again trample the competition, leaving a 2.605 gap over second, which was claimed by Shaun Pollard. Raymond Franco drove yet another Nissan Wingroad to third place. It was rumored that the Wingroad Club was spotted peering under the bonnet of Kirk’s Toyota wagon, but Picasso has denied all claims.
On to ES now, where Robert Bates and Ryan Pinheiro squared off against each other once again. Even after two DNF’s, Robert still managed to triumph over Ryan by a convincing 2.497 seconds. We have since learned that Ryan’s wife Karen gave him strict instructions to go easy on the 306 since to ensure it was in one piece for the real driver…hmmm
The final class was a combination of EP and SS, which saw Richard "shut up about the lamp pole already" Hill and Tim Kimpton. Tim managed a quick time of 81.211 in only his second run, but Richard made good use of his Evo’s 4WD and laid down an impressive run of 79.753 seconds in his final run.
On the fun run course, early action was dominated by Alan Rajkumar-Maharaj in his RWD Mitsu Lancer. Allan was quoted as saying “I not competing today because I need new suspension bushes and tyres. I do not think my car will handle the stress”. He promptly went on to complete about six million fun runs before he left. Tim Kimpton turned his Caterham into a taxi, licensed for one passenger. All of his passengers were left grinning ear to ear as they climbed out of his machine.
The fun run showdown of the day had to be Ryan Ramsaran in his Honda Civic and Duane Boodasingh in his Evo VII. Proving that Solodex is not always about raw power, Ryan edged Duane out for a win. Duane made up for it by coming back and utterly destroying Ryan, having time for a buff and polish before Ryan caught up. One can only wonder what would happen if they switched cars.
All attention is now focused on Solodex VI, which will be the final event for 2005, and where class titles will be settled.
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