Nugget Nationals 2018 – Round 2, Haunted Hills

The Nuggets descended on Bryant Park for Round 2 on an unusually nice Winter day in Melbourne.

It’s our second time running an event at this Hill Climb also known as “Haunted Hills” and it’s always an exciting event with very little margin for error.

This year we decided to change the format up and opted for the longest configuration of the track with a double loop at the bottom of the hill.

1st Place: 87.38
Driver: Mitch Gilmour
Nugget: 2003 Mitsubishi Mirage

As predicted in our last post, we knew Mitch would be one to watch this season. Mitch posted a stellar time and only just snatched first place off…

 

2nd Place: 87.39
Driver: Iain “Never Lift” McCowan
Nugget: 1990 Honda Civic

Iain only just missed out on first place by .01!

An amusing compilation of how tricky this track can be can be found on Iain’s youtube channel.

3rd Place: 88.22
Driver: Zac Edwards
Nugget: 2001 Mitsubishi Mirage

Fresh from Rally X @ Winton, Zac still had his eye and in managed to take 3rd place. Will this be year of the Mirage?

4th Place: 88.90
Driver: Liam Murphy
Nugget:2001 Mitsubishi Mirage

Half a second behind Zac was Liam in the co-driver Techsport Mirage.

5th Place: 90.57
Driver: Christian Willer
Nugget: 1995 Nissan Micra

Having a kid hasn’t slowed Willer down.

Typical Skyline driver behavior. 😛

6th Place: 91.47
Driver: Simon Landrigan
Nugget: 2006 Suzuki Swift

Due to a gearbox failure, Simon was an early exit out of Round 1, but with repairs completed managed to post a great time at Haunted Hills.

7th Place: 91.56
Driver: Josh Gellatly
Nugget: 2003 Mitsubishi Mirage

8th Place: 92.76
Driver: Matthew Doyle
Nugget: 1995 Mazda 121

9th Place: 93.69
Driver: Shannon Swiderski
Nugget: 1996 Hyundai Excel

A new year and a new Excel for Shanon.

10th Place: 94.44
Driver: Mark Van Der Veen
Nugget: 1995 Nissan Micra

11th Place: 95.62
Driver: Trevor Pooley
Nugget: 1997 Nissan Micra

Another Silver Micra and new entry to the series. Welcome Trevor!

12th Place: 95.93
Driver: Michael Stanbrough
Nugget: 2004 Holden Barina

Michael heard about our series and promptly purchased a $300 Barina to compete. It’s been a while since we’ve had a Barina in the series. Welcome Michael!

13th Place: 98.28
Driver: Matthew James
Nugget: 1991 Toyota Paseo

14th Place: 98.58
Driver: Kyle Wathen
Nugget: 2003 Toyota Echo Sportivo

Kyle entered Round 1 in a 1.3 litre base model Toyota Echo but soon realised that the 1.5 litre big block was Sportivo was the car of choice and promptly purchased one.

This is possibly the only car to ever look good on tri spoke wheels. 😉

15h Place: 98.65
Driver: Stuart Chambers
Nugget: 2004 Mazda 2

Unfortunately a very enthusiastic burn out meant that Stuart had to retire early from the day. A big shout out to Ash and Ruan for helping Stuart get his Nugget back to Melbourne!

16th Place: 99.91
Driver: Darren Case
Nugget: 2003 Honda Jazz

17th Place: 100.45
Driver: Jaron Farquhar
Nugget: 2003 Honda Jazz

The most commitment award goes to the Sky Blue Jazz!

Full Results:

Stay tuned to our Facebook Page for the next event!

Nugget Nationals 2017 – Round 2, Haunted Hills

Round 2 of Nugget Nationals saw a gathering of small cars at Victoria’s premier Hill Climb track.

This was our first ever event at this circuit and also the first time to this track for many of the drivers.

We were all pretty excited and nervous to see how the Nuggets would go.

Drivers have been awarded points on their runs in both the “Clockwise” and the “Figure 8” format and then ranked based on the total points allocated.

1st Place: Clockwise 65.11 / Figure 8 – 71.53
Driver: Liam Murphy
Nugget: 2003 Mitsubishi Mirage

Congratulations to Laim on placing first. We’re sure Zac’s going to be kicking himself that he had to miss this event!

2nd Place: Clockwise 65.41 / Figure 8 – 72.47
Driver: Iain “Never Lift” McCowan
Nugget: 1990 Honda Civic

We know Iain is going to be pretty damn happy when he sees this and realises where he has placed.

3rd Place: Clockwise 65.27 / Figure 8 – 72.49
Driver: Adam “Millsy” Mills
Nugget: 2002 Daihatsu Sirion GTVI

4th Place: Clockwise 64.44 / Figure 8 – 73.21
Driver: Viv “Vivski” Dilkes-Frayne
Nugget: 2002 Daihatsu Sirion GTVI

Viv was quicker than Millsy in the Clockwise course however his placing against others in the figure 8 course meant that he’s come in at 4th.

5th Place: Clockwise 67.03 / Figure 8 – 73.07
Driver: Ying Bot
Nugget: 2002 Toyota Echo Sportivo

She said she was going to sit this year out but the lure of the Nugget was too much for her to resist.

6th Place: Clockwise 67.09 / Figure 8 – 74.33
Driver: Daniel Jon
Nugget: 1993 Honda Civic

Fun fact, no one has ever seen Daniel’s Evo. 😛

7th Place: Clockwise 69.00 / Figure 8 – 75.90
Driver: Stuart Chambers
Nugget: 1998 Mitsubishi Mirage

Previously piloting a 2003 Mitsubishi Mirage in NugNats 2015, Stu’s decided to try his hand at something more Vintage with this lovely lilac 98′ model.

8th Place: Clockwise 72.6 / Figure 8 – 78.3
Driver: Mark Van der Veen
Nugget: 1995 Nissan Micra

Mark’s a first time to entrant to Nug Nats and this was also his first track day ever. What a baptism of fire! We hope to see this car at more events soon.

9th Place: Clockwise 71.1 / Figure 8 – 78.9
Driver: Tommy Chan
Nugget: 1995 Toyota Paseo

Tommy drove this car like he stole it, then he kept driving it some more!

10th Place: Clockwise 70.0 / Figure 8 – 80.8
Driver: Shannon Swiderski
Nugget: 1994 Hyundai Excel

Our first Korean car of the series (we’re surprised it’s taken so long for one to enter)! A big warm welcome to Shannon in and his excel.

11th Place: Clockwise 67.40
Driver: Lawrence Ho
Nugget: 2003 Honda Jazz

Another close battle between co-drivers Lawrence and Thomas.

12th Place: Clockwise 67.91
Driver: Thomas Loo
Nugget: 2003 Honda Jazz

Only the smallest margin between the two!

Full results tally:

More photos from Lawrence’s album can be found here.

Our next event will be posted in the next few weeks on our Facebook page.

 

Nugget Nationals 2016 – Round 1, Winton Raceway

On April the 3rd we gathered old and new nuggets alike at Winton Raceway for our second season of Nugget Nationals.

As the cars rolled in, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a one make series with all the Echo’s that were present around the pits in the morning!

Photo credit: Brett Swain

With drivers briefing out of the way…

Photo credit: Ajay Rodriquez

…It was time to hit the freshly resurfaced track!

Photo credit: Ajay Rodriquez

1st Place: 1:48.2
Driver: Ying Bot
Nugget: 2002 Toyota Echo Sportivo

Leaving it until the 11th hour, Ying managed to snatch first place honours on her very last lap of the day.

Photo credit: Andy Szeto

2nd Place: 1:48.5
Driver: Viv Dilkes-Frayne
Nugget: 2001 Daihatsu Sirion GTVI

Viv didn’t waste any time by setting down a stonking lap time very early in the morning. A good strategy on his behalf as the car ran out of brake pads later in the day.

Photo credit: Happiness by the Killowatts

3rd Place: 1:49.1
Driver: Daniel Jon
Nugget: 1993 Honda Civic

Dan’s D15 powered Civic was another nugget that joined the forties club. He also wins my award for best wheels on a Nugget!

Photo credit: Daniel Jon

4th Place: 1:50.9
Driver: Liam Murphy
Nugget: 2003 Mitsubishi Mirage

Itsa Mitsy! The only Mitsubishi in the field this season, Liam is getting closer to breaking into the 40Nug club.

5th Place: 1:51.6
Driver: Thomas Bullock
Nugget: 2001 Daihatsu Sirion GTVI

Unfortunately Tom’s CRX was a last minute drop out so he took the Sirion out and subsequently destroyed the remaining brake pads it had left. He also commented that the car was not very enjoyable to drive.

6th Place: 1:52.1
Driver: Blandon Le
Nugget: 2002 Toyota Echo

After competing in our final NSW round last year, Blandon had made the trip down from Sydney to compete again. When he wasn’t being rescued from the gravel trap, he set a fantastic lap time for his first attempt at this track in a small block Echo!

7th Place:  1:52.6
Driver:  Ricky Wong
Nugget:  1993 Honda Civic

Another Winton cherry popped and another nugget in the 1:52’s. Well done Ricky!

Photo credit: Brett Swain

8th Place:  1:53.8
Driver:  Hayden Ryan
Nugget:  1998 Toyota Starlet

One of our earliest supporters, it’s great to see Hayden with us again this year!

Photo credit: Brett Swain

9th Place: 1:54.1
Driver: Harry Toumbos
Nugget: 2004 Holden Barina

Nugget National’s first ever Holden entry looking super cool with a splitter and purple Sprint Harts.

10th Place: 1:54.5
Driver: Matthew Doyle
Nugget: 1995 Mazda 121

Possibly the most photographed Nugget, Matt is testimony that practice makes perfect managing a new PB for himself today.

Photo credit: Andy Szeto

11th Place: 1:55.6
Driver: Paride Palmeri
Nugget: 2003 Toyota Echo

Paride liberated this Echo from his mum and it’s never looked better (despite unfortunately hitting a kangaroo on the way to the track that morning). Fully utilising his skills from bubbleblue, Paride gets bonus style points for matching his self designed livery to his self made cage!

Photo credit: Brett Swain

12th Place: 1:55.7
Driver: Jarrod Florence
Nugget: 2005 Toyota Echo

Another new entrant was Jarrod in the Area 57 Echo.

Photo credit: Andy Szeto

13th Place: 1:56.5
Driver: Jase Quach
Nugget: 2005 Toyota Echo Sportivo

No stranger to a race track, Jase was out in his newly purchased Sportivo setting a base lap time in stock mode.

Photo credit: Happiness by the Kilowatts

14th Place: 1:58.6
Driver: David Donnoli
Nugget: 2001 Toyota Echo

15th Place: 1:58.8
Driver: James Donnoli
Nugget: 2001 Toyota Echo

In some fierce sibling rivalry, the Donnoli brothers ended up with lap times split by .2 of a second. Older brother David ended up with ultimate bragging rights as the faster of the two…but only just.

Photo credit: Brett Swain

16th Place: 1:59.8
Driver: Gabriel Perri
Nugget: 2005 Toyota Echo

A joint entry for the Area 57 Echo. Super realiable Toyota’s FTW.

17th Place: 2:01.1
Driver: Douglas Eves
Nugget: 2005 Toyota Echo

If a joint entry isn’t enough, how about a triple entered Echo? Brother from another mother Doug rounds out the Donnoli crew entry.

18th Place: 2:06.4
Driver: Jess Hoare
Nugget: 1995 Mazda 121

A joint entry for the little police bubble. Jess also took a massive chunk out of her previous PB.

Photo credit: Andy Szeto

19th and 20th Place: DNS
Driver: Seb Quirit and Iain Murray
Nugget: 1991 Honda Civic

Unfortunately new aero and colour coded streamers weren’t enough with Team Neverlift retiring early due to mechanical issues.

Thank yous:

As always my eternal thanks to EXE crew and our friends who come out to support the day, drive, wave flags and take photos for us. Honestly one of the easiest track days we’ve ever run with everyone pitching in to help and being super well behaved.

See you for round 2!

More photos:

Check out the photo albums below for all the other cars in attendance.
Andy Szeto, Happiness by the Kilowatts, Ajay Rodriquez, Brett Swain, Peter McGilvery

Photo credit: Andy Szeto

2016 Nugget Nationals Round 1 – ENTRIES OPEN

Our first 2016 round of Nugget Nationals will be held on April the 3rd at Winton Raceway

To avoid disappointment, please ensure you sign up as soon as possible as theses days fill up extremely quickly!

Date: Sunday 3rd April 2016
Track: Winton Raceway
Cost: $175 + CAMS or AASA licence if you don’t already have one.

Nugget Competitors will first need to complete two steps:

1. Fill in the registration form which can be found HERE.
2. Fill in an entry form to Round 1 which can be found HERE.

2015 Nugget Nationals Round 4: Wakefield

Due to the paper thin walls and the creakiest floor boards known to man kind, most of our cabin was up well before we needed to be at the track, which was only a few metres from our accommodation.

As we all rolled into the pits…

…it was time to get our cars ready for scrutineering.

With the last round of Nugget Nationals held in NSW we had a few Sydney Nugget competitors come down and join us.

In possibly the most hotly contested track day of the whole series, the top 4 front runners (Adam, Viv, Henry and Ying) were out setting nail bitingly close lap times.

Nugget Nationals – Session 4

Henry:  1:17.696
Viv: 1:17.810
Ying: 1:17.814
Adam: 1:17.977

After each session we came back and shared tips with each other, than got annoyed when our fellow competitors went faster after trying new techniques.

The best thing about Nugget Nationals? We’re all fierce rivals on track but good friends once the helmets come off.

In a wild last session, Ying somehow managed to take half a second off her previous time which would also ultimately deliver her the first place victory for that round!

Nugget Nationals – Wakefield Results

1st Ying – Toyota Echo Sportivo – 1:17.2
2nd Henry – Toyota Echo Sportivo – 1:17.5
3rd Viv – Daihatsu Sirion GTVI – 1:17.8
4th Adam – Daihatsu Sirion GTVI – 1:17.9
5th Blandon – Toyota Echo – 1:22.3
6th Peter – Nissan Micra – 1:22.4
7th Will – Honda Civic –  1:23.0
8th Jake – Mazda 323 – 1:25.5
9th Wendy – Nissan Micra – 1:27.2

The next morning the Nuggets and non Nuggets set off for the 700km drive back home to Melbourne.

Big thanks to EXE crew, Nugget Nationals and all the other people who made the trip out. Let’s do this again in 2016!

2015 Nugget Nationals Round 3: Winton

On Sunday the 13th of September, we tagged along to the EXE track day to hold round 3 of Nugget Nationals.

You know it’s going to be a good day, when you pull back the curtains and see an AZ1 parked outside in the cabin next to yours.

The Nugget Echo’s have been the strong front runners ensuring their attendance at every event.

Stuart was here for his first track day in the Nugget Mirage which he had picked up for $350!

Although the addition of the fancy  colour coded cage in it didn’t make it look very Nuggety anymore!

Iain was the only member of Team Neverlift to make it down for the weekend. I was sent an SMS from his team mate Seb in the morning to make sure I kept an eye on Iain.

“Make sure he doesn’t kill my car!”

Look at that sinister smirk. Iain later returned the car to Seb with it only firing on 3 cylinders…

With the Nugget competitors lined up on the grid and perfect temperatures, it was going to be a very interesting day for PB’s.

In fact ALL of the Nugget competitors PB’d.

When we first started this series over a year ago, many people had supported us and thought it was a cute idea, but I’m sure not many people would have thought that Nuggets would actually be competitive against the higher powered cars on track.

But boy, did the Nuggets bring it this weekend with FIVE of the competitors cracking into the 1:4x’s and separated by less than a second.

Yes, we’re talking cars with less than 55kw at the wheels placing well in a field of 60 cars. To say we were proud organisers would be an absolute understatement.

Thanks to Kalt, Lime Imagery and Happiness by the Kilowatts for some of the photos I’ve used below.

First Place: David Napo
Nugget: Honda Civic
Lap time: 1:48.45

Second Place: Viv “Van Dyke”
Nugget: Daihatsu Sirion Gtvi
Lap time: 1:48.76

Third Place: Adam Mills
Nugget: Daihatsu Sirion Gtvi
Lap time: 1:48.85

Fourth Place: Henry Luong
Nugget: Toyota Echo Sportivo
Lap time: 1:49.28

Fifth Place: Ying Bot
Nugget: Toyota Echo Sportivo
Lap time: 1:49.40

Sixth Place: Brendan Dutton
Nugget: Honda Civic
Lap time: 1:50.64

Seventh Place: Iain Mccowan
Nugget: Honda Civic
Lap time: 1:50.87

Eighth Place: Hayden Ryan
Nugget: Toyota Starlet
Lap time: 1:53.37

Ninth Place: Stuart Chambers
Nugget: Mitsubishi Mirage
Lap time: 1:55.12

Tenth Place: Matt Doyle
Nugget: Mazda 121
Lap time: 1:56.69

As some of the usual Nuggets were unable to attend, it’ll be interesting to see how the overall series leader board looks after this round before we head to Wakefield in NSW for round 4!

Here we have, Dan’s AZ1 which is definitely no Nugget.

In fact it was my (and many other people’s) favourite car out on the track that day.

He was running the Autozam on 165/50R15 Achilles ATR K Sport tyres and I believe he may take honours at Winton for being the fastest Kei Car(?) with a time of 1:53.14!

As always a big thanks to our good friends at EXE crew for letting the Nuggets tag along.

Well done to all the competitors who continue to surprise everyone and set some great lap times. You all earned your PB’s.

Well done little ones! ❤

KNOW YOUR NUGGET: Cain’s Mirca

One of the more popular models in NugNats is the humble K11 Micra.

Here’s a spotlight on Whio the Blue Micra, who has managed to persuade his owner into coming back out on to the track!

1) Name: Cain Tepania

2) Nugget car of choice: Nissan K11 Micra named “Whio”

3) Previous Cars: Mazda MPS3, Mazda 323 Wagon

4) How did you hear about Nugget nationals? EXE

5) What made you want to join Nugget nationals? Only way I was getting back to the track quickly

6) Why did you pick the car you have to be your Nugget vehicle of choice? It’s my daily, so ideally I can’t destroy it as then I’ll have to catch PT into the city.

7) What is your favourite thing/feature about your Nugget? Recently found the low fuel light works, its the small things.

8) A random fact about you? I don’t eat plankton

9) Funniest thing about your Nugget? Probably me sitting in it

EXE and Nugget Nationals: End of year BBQ 2014

6th December, 2014

With our track days for the year done and dusted, we thought it would be a good time to get the crew together to reflect on the year that was.

Naturally, we took the two biggest cars to go collect supplies.

Some of the nugget competitors were out and about today in their other cars, including Ying’s Starlet GT.

Some people cook with gas, Tom cooks with beer.

We purchased lots of Pork in the morning. 😉

Kam and Justin celebrate the fact that none of their Porsches caught on fire this year.

No table? Kam has a wheely good idea on how to rectify the problem.

We are totally stoked that we finally have a 121 bubble car that will be competing in Nugget Nationals in 2015!

New and old Nugget competitors discuss the upcoming season.

Henry left his echo at home and arrived in his Evo instead.

Napo’s new Nugget has it’s heater permanently stuck in the ‘ON’ position. This is particularly funny as his AC doesn’t work and we’re coming into the hot Summer months.

“So the heater always being ‘ON’ is basically like having a dual core radiator.”

Heathcliffe the Civic was sporting a new ride height.

Apparently it’s not low enough until your mud flaps are scraping on the ground.

We think JP went to almost every track day available this year. This is how realiable Toyota motors should be.

Dan’s burger socks were appropriate for this day.

Who am I kidding? Burger socks are appropriate EVERY day.

Pete’s s2k sans wing.

“Just drive the car in Ash, there’s plenty of space in the car park.”

*SCRAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEE*

Vincenzo’s Lotus always gets plenty of love.

Chris Nugget had recently come back from an off road camping expedition where it doubled as his hotel.

Ahh Nugget cars, is there anything you can’t do?

I find it hilarious that Andrew has the tiniest car in Nugget Nats (Mira) and also one of the largest cars here (GS300).

On a scale of 1 to Napo, how happy are you right now?

Cheat day for everyone.

Silas is back!

Food coma’s all around.

Thanks to Kam for hosting us and to everyone that came along to chew the fat.

Stay tuned for more details on Nugget Nationals 2015!

Round 3: Wakefield track day results

3rd November, 2014

After a night in (what felt like) the Antarctic, the first EXE / Nugget Nationals interstate track day was finally upon us!

With the Melbourne crew rolling 25 deep, we were joined by 15 of our friends from Sydney.

As the Melbourne drivers went out to familiarise themselves with the track (some for the first time), a few were caught out in the trickier corners of the circuit.

As a side serving, the Wakefield track day was also being used as our 3rd round of Nugget Nationals.

1:20.4 for Henry’s Echo.

As much as some of us would’ve liked to have been driving our other cars at this day, there was no denying that Wakefield is possibly one of the best tracks for those behind the wheel of an underpowered sub 1500cc vehicle.

1:16.6 for Tom’s civic,

1:25.2 for Jake’s 323.

1:17.6 & 1:18.1 for the co driven Sirion of Viv and Millsy.

In a very hotly contested battle between Ying and the Sirion boys, Ying came out victorious by the slightest of margins with a 1:17.2.

Chris was also still out there smashing out some solid lap time in his nugget!

1:16.0 in the little red Civic.

Here are the final results as recorded via RaceChrono.

As the day drew to an end, there were happy faces all around.

A big thank you to the rest of EXE crew for making this day possible. We’ve learned a few things (sorry about the timing) to bring back for our next track day here.

An additional shout out to the Nuggets Nat’s competitors that made the journey. Some of you guys left your actual track cars at home to bring them along so, thank you for your support!