as drawn by the armball

Finding that retro motorsport look

Classic motorcycle racing came to Phillip Island again in January. Being a sucker for old aircooled four stroke noise I had to be there. I thought if the racers were game to race on period machines then I should record some of the day with period camera equipment. Yes I took a Pentax K1000 with me and some print film and snapped away. the processing costs of C41 film is getting out of hand but to obtain that retro look in photos it can't be beaten. This image of Levi Day on the ex Bill Horsman Honda CB72/77 special was scanned as a greyscale from a colour negative. The image wasn't super sharp, being panned and a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, but the blurry areas take on that old grainy look. The only thing spoiling the retro look was the modern helmet and leathers. I have seen other photographers on flickr trying to get that retro black and white look but they have started with a digital camera and done a bit of Photoshop to rough it up, but it still looks sharp and gleaming. If you look at old published photos of motor racing they contain a lot of grain and look rough. I think I only got halfway there. Now I have plenty of slides from prior classic motor race meetings so maybe I'll try the same technique with those.

The Island Classic is still one of my favourite days out, wide open spaces, sea breezes, and thunderous gonad rumbling machine noise.

Next month it is the cars' turn to revive yesteryear at the island, and I will be there. Perhaps I should dress in period as well this year.

Classic motor racing and T-Rex goes bang

I went to the Phillip Island Classic races on Saturday to see old style motorcycle racing and listen to 4-stroke noises from the V-twin and singles classic era.
It was an action packed day with riders crashing on the high speed pit straight.....twice. Rex Wolfenden of T-Rex Racing (pictured) blew his motor right in front of us going into turn one. ( a short and expensive weekend for the Melbourne engine builder.) Immediately after that there was a big crash at turn one where a bike flipped in the air after dropping the rider. The rider got up, kicked his bike, lifted and inspected the bike, dropped the bike and kicked it again. It was great to see that there are other workmen prepared to blame their tools.
In the international challenge for forgotten era machines It was basically a two way fight between Steve Martin and Britain's Jeremy McWilliams. Although in heat 2 Martin went missing late in the race and McWilliams must have backed off and was pipped on the line. A much needed win for the UK went begging there. Since the UK guys have been easily beaten in prior years I decided to reflect my English heritage and lend some support by draping a St George's Cross over my car.
On Sunday I followed some of the results live at computime.com.au.
Final points were, Aus 1154.6, UK 807.7, Others 706.3
McWilliams topped the rider points over 4 races due to the Martin DNF.
Old timer, the ever reliable, Robbie Phillis was 5th in the points due to consistency despite not being at the front in each race. I remember watching him on TV racing in the Castrol 6 hour when I was a kid. He may be older but hasn't got slower.

Aussie Ashes Cricket Crushed

An innings defeat at Adelaide, and England look invincible. Well the Aussies have an uphill battle in the remaining Test Matches if they are to reclaim the Ashes. I say they when I actually mean we. I feel personally resposible, it hurts me so. I was there that day 24 years ago at the MCG when Mike Gatting's men won the Test and the Series and took the Ashes home. I was trying to play top level cricket in Victoria at the time and felt that the system (that involved me) just wasn't up to it. For the next 18 years I kept up my involvement as a player and administrator, doing my bit to help prop up Aussie cricket from the bottom. When I retired from it all we suddenly lost the Ashes in 2005, lost a series at home to South Africa, lost the Ashes again in 2009. It is as if it is all unravelling. Are we really going to return to the bad days of the mid 1980s where Australia was at the bottom of the Test ladder. It took years of rebuilding to reach Number 1. To get out of this predicament it is not just who to select in the next Test, but how to invigorate the grass roots and rebuild all over again.

I am involved again assisting with juniors, so again I feel personally responsible when our cricketing reputation takes a downturn. C'mon kids you are propping up our cricket future, give it all you've got.

Cricket's battle for the 'taches

I've just watches some of the opening session of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane. It appears to be a battle of the moustaches. Many of the Aussues are sporting half finished facial hair as part of the Movember charity. That is understandable, but what is Pietersen's excuse. He looks like a 1920s policeman with that thin scribble across his upper lip and the short back and sides haircut. I can't stop thinking of the Blackadder goes forth line about the 'slug balancer.' And does Pietersen actively maintain the 'tache so as to look like scribble or is he just an inaccurate shaver. Whatever the reason I'm sure that the ribbing he'll get from the Aussie crowd will inspire him to great feats with the bat, and give us an exiting series. Last season at this time I was lamenting the distant memory of great past Test series, but this year I have just a glimmer of optimism for big crowds and real drama in good old fashioned Test Cricket.