So after my little mechanical drama all i had left to do was give the car a good scrub up and a heavy going over with the polish and wax ( for easy bug removal )
 

 
the old girl came up good considering the age and cost of the paint job
 

Day 2 - Saturday
 
Unlike years before where we would be still making our way over to Adelaide on the Saturday, having down the full drive on Friday left us with a free day to explore the local area and drive some of the better roads the area had to offer.
 
We started our morning with the usual meet up at the local McDonalds once everyone had fueled up and sorted themselves for food.
 
Then off across the Wellington ferry which is always a bit of fun, the locals even seem to gather to see a flock of brightly coloured small fords packed on to the deck.
 

 

 
After the ferry we made our way around some of the local areas stopping off for lunch at a pub in Craffers which had excellent meals and was on the footstep of some amazing roads.
 
We arrived back at Murray Bridge early in the arvo to prepare for the show the next day. 
While the sun was still shinning a group of us made the most of the pool in the motel while the rest enjoyed some well earned bevridges.
 
Cars were washed, polished, buffed, shined, fixed
 
To cap the night off a BBQ dinner was cooked and the projector was rolled out to supply us with a bit of speghetti western styled viewing.
 
 
 

 

 

Got to get out today with the AO48s on. Was happy with how the car felt, amazed with how much grip a second hand set of decent tyres like these have after even a few years.
 

 
always nice to have a good group of people to go cruising with too
 

Agreed, great pics. Looks like a great turnout and bunch of enthusiasts. Love that yellow Sundowner...
Cheers Drew

So now onto the actual day.
 
to say that i was nervous was an understatement. i was sh!ting bricks.
i hadnt drifted on a full size track with other cars since dec 2013, with that day only last 12 laps before a box blew.
 
so this time around i was really trying the baby the box and alter my driving style to at least be about there half the day.
 
i had been told the track was a fair amount grippier then before the new surface had been layed so that really worried me as its all just more stress on the driveline. I put myself in class C which was the lowest skill based class and set off for my first session
 

 
a forced sighting lap was a blessing as it gave me a chance to not only drive the track for the first time but to also get everything up to temp a little driveline wise before being mean to it all.
 

 
im not going to bullsh!t and say i was amazing, not even close...
 
spent a whole heap of time off the track or facing the wrong direction, so much so that i got really disheartened with my driving and got meaner to the car each lap. 
 

Couldnt for the life of me work out what i was doing so wrong, as the last day i did the car seemed to fall into the drift and stay there but today was either understeering mid corner or gripping up straight after i initiated.
 
i went out each session trying new things, everybody told me faster faster, you need to go in faster. Great plan and all, but as i found when you go in faster you also come off alot faster.
 

 
the day was not without its successes though. i did manage a couple of clearer laps.
 

 

 
but as you can see the car is not sitting well through the corners, that with what we later discovered to be an open diff (lsd had lost almost all its bite) was contributing to the understeering and lack of slide mid corner, and far too soft front suspension there is alot of room car setup wise to make attempting to steer it easier.
 
may day ended one session early with my screamer pipe snapping off the flange mid drift and bouncing around under the car and later being spat out, (thanks to the marshall that picked it up and saved it for me)
 
so somehow the gearbox lives on, i didnt break anything major, no panel damage and i now have a healthy list of things to improve before i head out next.
 
off the the garage i go...
 
 

Awesome. Any more pics of the event/ cars?

thanks guys, video was a bit of a rush job, using only windows movie maker. borrowed some footage and went from there. Couldnt have asked for a better turn out for the day and better weather. good spread of cars. mk1 & mk2 escorts, mk1 & mk2 cortinas, a capri, a few lasers, a few anglias, 2 focus rs's.  all ranging from 27.5hp to 302hp.