[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

top work, rather dramatic transformation from it’s humble beginnings – I like the colour too
you said in the description that you fit a Quadrajet, but picture of the engine bay looks like a Holley ?

I’ll also be hanging onto my VH until they bury me ;) I can totally relate

 

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

ajvx01 wrote:

as always love the car dazz! I’m surprised the t5 has taken all the use on track days?!

thanks AJ, love your VC as well
The T5 isn’t anywhere near as fragile as people tend to think.
Much of it comes down to how you treat it. You can drive it hard without hurting it, just don’t abuse it I guess. I don’t get into the burnouts or smashing gears, so it has served me well. I have no doubt it will eventually give in, but considering it’s now done around 150-160,000kms of medium to hard driving, I think I’ve more than got my moneys worth

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

Jaba wrote:

Beautiful car mate, VH SS is one early girl I certainly wouldn’t complain about having in the garage, love the track orriented build too!

thanks mate, it’s a big compliment to know others can appreciate all the work & passion gone into this car.
I first started watching motor racing back when Brock was racing the VC. The Marlboro VH was my favourite. Sat in a brand new red VH SS at the Brisbane Motorshow when I was an 11 year old kid, vowed to my old man that I would one day own one. Not only have I accomplished that childhood dream, but I guess I’m also trying to re-live a little bit of the Grp C days in this car. The ‘XV2’ SS was the lightweight ‘performance taxi pack’ car built specifically with Bathurst in mind. I still get goosebumps watching and listening to that awesome sound of the Holden V8 in the old footage of the Grp C’s at Bathurst. Setting this car up with some similar specs as those cars and taking it to some of the iconic tracks they raced like Lakeside & Bathurst is my way of reliving those memories

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by  Darren.

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

Vkbt1 wrote:

Mint vh daz. Has the 5 speed given you any trouble at all?

it’s been gold!
I actually bought it brand new nearly 20 years ago now for my previous 308 VH
It did around 60-80,000km in that car. I then swapped it into the SS when I bought it in 2001. It’s done around the same in this car. It’s killed a few clutches in that time, but the trusty T5 has held on without as much as a complaint. I’ve changed the oil a few times, that’s about it.

So yeah, no complaints, it’s been a really good box. If I ever kill it, I’ll go with a TKO

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

VRSenator065 wrote:

Driven not hidden, used but not abused, exactly how a car should be!! Great stuff (and welcome!!)

thanks mate
yeah totally agree with your philosophy. It’s no longer my daily drive, but it regularly comes out for the fun stuff and isn’t shy of a drive. Stone chips all over it from track days and general driving, but I’d rather that than just sitting it in a garage looking pretty. We’ve got to enjoy all the time & money we put into our cars!

We did took it out for  a good drive through the mountains with the car club about a month ago, the ‘All Aussie Day’ happy laps at Lakeside a few weeks ago, out to Morgan Park raceway for some more serious laps last weekend, and on Sunday we are off to Byron Bay for another car club cruise. Fuel bill is starting to kill me, so she might have to get parked up for a short while again ;)

 

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by  Darren.

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

a couple of videos from a ‘Sports Driver Training’ day at Morgan Park raceway last Saturday

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

I’ve done a bit of everything
* 4 apprenticeship + another 7 years as a qualified car mechanic
* lugging produce into shipping & aircraft containers for a perishable logistics company
* computer consumables salesman
* worked at a dealer as a clerk ordering new cars/organising accessories to be fitted etc
* Australia Post/Decipher sorting business mail at stupid early hours of the morning
* Motor Assessor at NRMA

And currently (for the last 7 years) work for Department of Transport as a ‘Transport Inspector’. Yeah yeah…. I sometimes defect cars. But our region mainly concentrates on heavy vehicles

Was this the job I thought I’d be doing when I was at school ? Not even close
Although I did want to work as a mechanic. Believe it or not my dream was to drive and work on Commodores.  So I achieved that, and soon realised being a mechanic was a dead end job that payed shit – hence I eventually got off the tools and tried just about every other job….

 

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by  Darren.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by  Darren.

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

Jaba wrote:

I usually shoot at around 1/60 – 1/80th of a second to get a decent amount of motion blur. F stop around 8-12 to get the whole car sharp. And ISO depends on the light at the time. Hardest part of panning shots is getting the car in focus. If you have an entry level camera the auto focus can struggle to focus quickly. Shoot in continuous mode for best results. Shutter priority is probably the best mode to shoot in to begin with, rather than full manual. However SP mode usually drops the F stop quite low, meaning it’s difficult to get the whole car in focus. This was shot at 1/80, f 5.0, iso 100, shutter priority.

that’s the sort of shot I was going for thanks
I haven’t got an SLR (didn’t want SLR) but have a good Canon ‘bridge’ camera with fairly much all the settings of a SLR. So will have a go with those settings as a starting point and see how it goes.

 

[DarrenParticipant Toowoomba Qld82 VH SS Commodore 89 Yamaha FZR1000 View build HERE Member since: March 4, 2015 Posts: 33]

ok first question

Motorsport events ie the racetrack
I want to shoot cars in action on the track
What sort of settings should I use to capture a clear photo of the car, but at the same time ensure the background and wheels are blurred so it looks like the car is moving rather than stationary.

Fast shutter speed of course will give me a great still, but the wheels will also appear stationary as will the background. Aperture settings maybe ?

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by  Darren.

[Author]

Posts