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Club Motori Italia Baskerville Supersprints - March, 2020


For me, this Sunday's CMI Supersprint series was, well, super-sprinty, as I crammed in a very brief attendance between the Shannons Take Your Tops Off car show on the lawns of Hobart's Parliament House and Dear Mother-in-Law's 80-something-quite-a-lot-th birthday celebrations later in the arvo.  Those of you that follow the southern Tasmanian car scene might notice that The Shannons event was actually on Saturday and conclude, as I did not, that I was a full 24 hours late for the former.  Oh well. 


And my faecal timing didn't end there, as my very brief interlude at Baskerville coincided with three fast and furious laps by the Triumph Dolomite Sprint, MkIIA Austin Healey Sprite and Phil's Fiat Abarth OT-1600 replica photographed above and below, perhaps another one or two three-lappers featuring some different cars, and the event's official pizza lunch!  I'd like to think I might try to be better organised next time but fear that even attempting to do so will only set me up for inevitable failure.  

















I had a good chat with the owner / driver of this lovely Datsun-powered Sprite.  He believes that the shell may be one that he owned a long, long time ago and sold in Brisbane.  The car he had back then was equipped with a 1310 BMC motor and featured a GT Cortina diff, amongst other mods, but all that gear's gone now.  It now has a one-piece bonnet / front guards and an exhaust that's been plumbed through the passenger's side interior and that exits just ahead of the rear wheel.




  

If I overheard the owner of this Datsun 1600 correctly, it's powered by a Nissan EXA / ET turbo motor (please feel free to set the record straight, Michael).  Either way, the car's beautifully presented and although it was suffering from some overheating issues, it was apparently performing quite well.






As a new member of CMI, I probably should've photographed a few more Italian cars.  However, as a not so secret 1970s Japanese hardtop and coupe tragic - with a particular love of Mitsubishis of that era - I could never not include this street fighting LA Lancer.  It's badged as a 2.0 litre but reference to the entrants' list states it's actually a 2.6!  My own GC Galant hardtop features the 2.0 Astron and benefits quite nicely for the extra 400 cc over the standard 1.6 offering, so this car's going to fly, given that Lancers were adequate in stock 1.4 litre guise and quite gutsy when fitted with a 1.6 or 1.75 litre variant of the Saturn power plant.  












U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

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