Ever wondered what it takes to transition from the waves of offshore powerboat racing to the straight-line adrenaline rush of land speed racing? Join us as we chat with Andrew Sinclair, a racing enthusiast from New Zealand, whose narrative is a tapestry woven with the threads of his father's legacy, personal perseverance, and a love for speed. From exhilarating beach buggy rides to powerboat triumphs, Andrew's journey into racing is nothing short of inspiring. You'll hear about his family's racing traditions and how economic hurdles shaped, but never extinguished, his unyielding passion for the sport.
Andrew's story takes us deeper into the world of racing when he shares how a serendipitous meeting at a powerboat event led to new endeavors on the track. His adventure unfolds with thrilling tales from the Bonneville Salt Flats, where the mystique of land speed racing captivated his imagination. Andrew and his team embarked on an ambitious project to transform a beloved Valiant Charger into a racing marvel, tackling the challenges of car fabrication and navigating unexpected detours like the global pandemic. As they faced each obstacle, the spirit of teamwork and community within the racing world shone brightly.
Our conversation not only explores the technical intricacies and logistical feats involved in racing but also delves into the camaraderie and resilience of Andrew's team. From the meticulous process of transporting a racing car across oceans to the trials on the track, Andrew's experiences reveal the highs and lows of their racing endeavors, including a dramatic 250 mph spin and a triumphant return to the speedway. This episode is a profound look at the passion and dedication that drives motorsport enthusiasts to push the boundaries of what's possible, bringing home lessons on perseverance and the power of dreams.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:01):
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast talking to
the men, the women, the legendsthat make land speed racing
great.
Discover the stories of theseordinary people whose passion
for land speed racing has madethem legendary.
And now here's your host theBonneville Belle, the High Boy,
(00:23):
honey, the salt princess, alisonVolk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean (00:30):
Okay, so we were talking about we had the
legendary Andrew Sinclair, whowants to be called a land speed
learner, not a land speed legend.
But I was saying it's prettylegendary to come all the way
from New Zealand to race at theBonneville Salt Flats and it
takes a lot of work.
But you were telling me youfirst started racing in the
(00:52):
beginning when you started kindof like 18, not with land speed
racing but with some other typesof racing.
So what was that?
Andrew Sinclair (00:58):
Yeah.
So thanks, alison, for givingme this opportunity, and I am a
learner for giving me thisopportunity and I am a learner.
My journey with racing started,obviously with lots of people,
with my dad, and he had raced inthe late 60s and early 70s,
firstly in offshore powerboatracing in New Zealand and then
moved on to circuit racing withan outboard-powered hydroplane.
(01:20):
In actual fact, he was thefirst one to successfully go 100
mile an hour with an outboardin New Zealand.
A guy did it about five minutesbefore him and flipped as he
went through the end of the kilorun.
Um, so dad did it successfully,um, and so, yeah, so so from
that we uh I think I was about,yeah, 18 and you know you're
(01:41):
getting a bit bored and you'resort of playing with cars and
you're and you're doing stuff.
We we built a beach buggy andthen we had another VW car, so
we used to swap engines out andhot them up and went to the drag
strip a couple of times with itand just sort of fun stuff.
Allison Volk Dean (01:55):
Now, when you say beach buggy, what do you
mean by that?
Volt-tweak and power fiberglassbody?
Andrew Sinclair (02:00):
Okay, and so we cut to about and Dad was still
friends with a few of the guyshe'd raced offshore powerboats
with and I sort of come home onenight and said, look, we've got
to do something here.
You know like we're all gettingitchy feet and business was
good at the time.
So yeah, we convinced Dad tobuy a boat and we started
(02:23):
Offshore Powerboat Racingseriously again.
It was about 1983, and we racedreally continually probably the
family for another 10 years.
I went into a boat with Dad,then I had a boat myself, then
my brother got a boat and Dadgot a bigger boat and you know a
(02:45):
bit like land speed, howeveryone gets a car and stuff
Went to the world champs in 88in Sweden, two-liter, and the
European champs on that sametrip, two-liter.
Not my boat, I was crewing foranother guy.
So yeah, we had sort of 10 goodyears as a family and different
.
You know, I was involved in theclub and the committee and that
(03:07):
sort of thing and runningevents and stuff like that.
So we were the 1.3 litre champstwice, the 2 litre champ once
and the 6 litre champ once.
Allison Volk Dean (03:18):
Wow.
Now, what kind of speeds arethose when they're, what kind of
speeds are those when they'reso?
Andrew Sinclair (03:23):
my little 1.3 was a little 65 Yamaha and I
think, I did about 60 mile anhour on a really good day, up to
the six-liter boat, we weredoing just on 100 mile an hour
racing.
Allison Volk Dean (03:38):
Is that drag boat racing?
Andrew Sinclair (03:40):
No, no, this is where you start out in the
ocean and you head off and youmight do three laps for a
100-mile race.
Oh, okay, and the spectatorsnever see you and you're out and
it could be flat, calmconditions, or it could be
20-foot waves, you know sort ofdeal.
Allison Volk Dean (03:53):
Yeah, wow.
Andrew Sinclair (03:55):
So yeah, we used to wreck some gear A bit
like land speed actually.
We used to break a lot ofcomponents.
But then, yeah, had dad hadthat with bigger engines on and
for a couple of years andrunning the, we had the world
champs down in new zealand so wehad a number of american boats
come over um and he run that.
That boat averaged 100 mile anhour in one race so he was
probably running 120 sort ofthing.
(04:15):
So that's the sort of speeds wewere doing.
Allison Volk Dean (04:16):
So, yeah, not like they do now, but um yeah,
but that's still, and it's kindof almost like maybe like racing
, kind of like fit out on thewater type thing.
Andrew Sinclair (04:25):
For sure, I was six foot three before I started
racing.
Oh, that's funny.
Allison Volk Dean (04:33):
And so you guys were doing that like in 88,
you said right, yeah, that'swhen you kind of….
Andrew Sinclair (04:37):
Through to sort of early 90s.
Yeah, I mean what happens withus?
We were in the constructionindustry back home and it's very
up and down, it's so lumpy, andso we sort of go.
We have a few good years, 10good years, and we race and then
the economy turns to custardand we have to just pull our
horns in and just stop and justwork, you know, and to make
(05:00):
enough money again.
So that's sort of how we've runon these cycles.
But of course you have familyas well, you know, when you
start having kids and that sortof stuff, and so it's hard to do
everything at the time.
Oh yeah, so, yeah.
So we didn't actually startback again, so we had a sort of
a 10-year break in early 2000s,about 2002, started getting
itchy feet again, work had comeright, we'd got through all the
(05:29):
bad periods, the GFCs and whathave you, and so, yeah, we went
to Lake Taupo, which is ourbiggest lake in New Zealand, and
actually Mandy's brother wasracing, as my wife and her
brother was racing a car, and soobviously all the cars we run
New Zealand and Australian carswas a smattering of American.
So he was running an XA Falcon.
Oh, sorry, no, that was the XE,sorry, xe Falcon in that time.
(05:54):
And there was an offshorepowerboat race at the lake at
the same time.
So we went down for the weekendand we got right.
Are we going to go back to boatracing or are we going to go
car racing?
Allison Volk Dean (06:06):
Big decisions ?
Yeah, it was actually.
Andrew Sinclair (06:08):
But we went to the lake and they were way short
on numbers and there wasn'tmany big boats there and it was
a bit of a flop.
And we went to the racetrackthe road course, what do you
call them and it was great thenoise, all the V8s and the cars,
the type of cars we loved.
So it was a no-brainer.
So you know, I went out a weeklater and bought a car and
(06:29):
started my car racing journey.
Allison Volk Dean (06:31):
It was 2002.
Now, what did you say?
You call it, and what do wecall it?
Andrew Sinclair (06:34):
We call it just a track and I like to call it a
track, but you call it a roadcourse.
Allison Volk Dean (06:38):
Oh, a road course.
We obviously don't have anyov's in New Zealand.
Yeah, okay, all our tracks areroad courses.
Okay, okay.
So this is like road courseracing and this is like in 2002.
Andrew Sinclair (06:49):
Yep 2002 we started Yep, yep, so yeah.
So I bought a car, sort ofabout six months later my
brother bought a car.
Probably another six monthslater we bought a car for Mandy.
Allison Volk Dean (07:03):
So did you meet Mandy at that race?
Andrew Sinclair (07:05):
No, so the meeting of my wife was we were
powerboat racing and her dad anduncle actually bought an
offshore powerboat Previous tothat.
We didn't find out until afterwe'd met that as little kids we
were down holding our dad'sboats in the water because,
obviously, circuit boats, youlaunch the boats and you sit
(07:25):
there waiting for your next raceto occur.
So we were kids holding ourdad's boats.
You know pretty much at thesame time, if I'm not
interesting.
Intro (07:33):
But, anyway.
Andrew Sinclair (07:34):
so they bought an offshore powerboat and we
were racing offshore then and wemet at Wellington for the first
time at a race.
She'd bussed down to be withher dad and uncle and we were
there and love at first sight.
Allison Volk Dean (07:45):
Two racers yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (07:48):
So, yeah, their family, and obviously you'll
see as the story goes on.
It's really important becauseMandy's family is full into
racing as well.
They'd race cars and boatsprevious to that time as well.
Allison Volk Dean (08:00):
Yeah, and so her brother was there racing a
car, and so you're like okay,alright, so yeah, what are we
going to do?
So we did it and so that's, andthen so her brother was there
racing a car, and then so you'relike, okay, yep, all right, so
so, yeah, what are we gonna do?
Andrew Sinclair (08:06):
so we did it and so we got into it and, yeah,
we sort of jumped in, um, rightinto it and we had a track day
in it with, you know, with twocars in the, in the, in the
trailer, and a big warning thatcame out that we fit five cars
under.
And we had, we had a whole.
At one stage we did have fivecars, which was getting to be
logistically quite a trick.
Allison Volk Dean (08:25):
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (08:26):
Between all the family members.
So yeah, two brothers me, mybrother Mandy and my two
brother-in-laws, so there's fiveof us operating out of it.
Allison Volk Dean (08:34):
And you guys all were driving.
Yes, we were all having cars.
Andrew Sinclair (08:39):
Yeah, we sort of formed about a third of the
class sometimes.
But it was great awesome time.
That sounds like a blast, yeah,but it was great, awesome time.
That sounds like a blast yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (08:44):
Yeah, and what kind of car?
I mean, what were the carsagain that you said?
Andrew Sinclair (08:48):
So yeah, easiest way, like the most
similarity is there was quite afew 69 Mustangs, 69 Camaros at
that time, but we had local cars.
So we had a General Motors.
It was called a Commodore, sowe had a few of those a
four-door sedan running anywherefrom a five-liter to a
six-liter engine, depending onwhat the rules were at the time
(09:10):
and what we could afford, andthat sort of stuff.
And then the Falcon series, theFord Falcons, which were
Australian designed.
So right from XA through to XE,that 70s through to mid-80s.
Allison Volk Dean (09:26):
And is that like the same Commodores and
Falcons that we have here?
No, it would be different, yeah, quite different Okay.
Andrew Sinclair (09:33):
So we have a smallish four-door sedan running
that size engine, so we're amuscle car.
Class is how we define it overthere, which we're still running
now today.
Allison Volk Dean (09:42):
And so how long did you guys do that?
For which?
Andrew Sinclair (09:45):
we're still running now today, yeah, and so
how long did you guys do thatfor?
So we started in 2002 and we'vebeen racing pretty much full on
up until last year, sort ofthing.
Okay, I haven't run theCommodore because in the
meantime I bought a TA2 as well.
Just that's another part of thestory.
So the muscle cars have sort ofsat there in the last 12 months
(10:06):
, sort of thing, but before thenwe've run them.
Allison Volk Dean (10:09):
Okay.
Andrew Sinclair (10:10):
And sometimes two different classes, one based
in Auckland and one based incentral New Zealand.
Allison Volk Dean (10:15):
Okay, and Auckland's a part of New Zealand
as well.
Andrew Sinclair (10:18):
Yeah, Auckland's our biggest city.
Allison Volk Dean (10:19):
Okay yeah, just because Auckland's a city.
Andrew Sinclair (10:22):
Yeah, it's Oakland with an A, not O-A-K.
Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (10:26):
And that's the only other racing that you
guys were doing was, or did yousay there was another type in
there as well?
Andrew Sinclair (10:32):
No, no, just the road course racing Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (10:35):
And then you guys, what got you interested in
land speed racing?
Andrew Sinclair (10:40):
Well, it was probably.
You know, we always knew aboutit because we're petrolheads,
you know, but really it wasprobably the movie you know,
2005, and it was like, wow,we've got to go and see this
place, you know.
Allison Volk Dean (10:57):
And you're talking about the world's
fastest Indian, of course.
Which he was from New.
Zealand.
Andrew Sinclair (11:05):
Funny aside, I've got a couple of little tin
boats, aluminium boats, so we gofishing in and one's called
Burt with an E and he was afamous New Zealand guy, but for
the wrong reasons.
And then the other boat is Burtwith a U for Burt Monroe.
Allison Volk Dean (11:20):
Oh cute.
Andrew Sinclair (11:23):
Standing family joke.
Yeah, for Bette Monroe.
Oh, cute Standing family joke.
So, yeah.
So we first came in 2008 with agroup of guys that we were
racing road course racing with-Just to check it out, check it
out.
It was a trip to, yeah, amotorsport trip.
Allison Volk Dean (11:36):
Like a bucket list trip kind of thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (11:38):
Huge trip.
We drove into Vegas and I thinkwe had Mandy and Lisa's 40th
birthday the night before weflew out, so we had about two
hours sleep that night, and thenwe got on the plane and we
enjoyed ourselves socially allthe way here and all the way to
Vegas.
So by the time we got toWendover I think we'd probably
had about 10 hours sleep inabout four days, but anyway it
(11:59):
was great.
Allison Volk Dean (11:59):
That's a brutal drive too.
Andrew Sinclair (12:01):
Lucky, we were a lot younger then.
So we came up with the guys andwe watched the event and just
you know, for me personally itwas the sound, you know, the
sound of those big cube carscoming at you at 7, 8,000 RPM is
just like wow, I've got to dothis.
So I don't know how I can, butI'm going to try and do this.
Allison Volk Dean (12:22):
So you weren't coming out as like to
check it out, to see how to doit, you were just kind of coming
to check it out, but then itwas like the bug bit you right
away.
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (12:31):
It's funny.
We've got a friend of ours fromdown the middle of the country
and he had this special skill hecould stand on because we were
all RVs, so he would stand ontop of the RV and he would just
get the speed within five milesan hour of every run.
It was just incredible, it wasgreat.
So, yeah, we had a really goodtime, lots of fun and said,
right, we've got to do this.
Allison Volk Dean (12:49):
And this was 2008.
2008.
And did what?
Any cars or anything?
What meet was it that you cameout to?
Was it Speed Week?
Andrew Sinclair (12:56):
Yeah, it was Speed Week.
Allison Volk Dean (12:57):
Okay.
Andrew Sinclair (12:57):
Yep, and I think we did about three or four
days.
You know sort of I can't.
I also remember whether it wasthe start or the or the or the
last bit, or whatever.
Allison Volk Dean (13:06):
Where you're at in the.
Did any cars stand out into youin particular that you can
remember it was cool.
Andrew Sinclair (13:11):
Then it was Got Salt, I think was the was the
the Leicester.
Allison Volk Dean (13:17):
Yeah, that's a great car, yeah yeah.
So that was probably the onethat that stands out for me the
most, and their shirts are great.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, still got it.
Andrew Sinclair (13:25):
Oh, I see, Mandy, she chucks out my good
shirts.
Allison Volk Dean (13:28):
You need to keep them and make quilts out of
them.
You can make those quilts outof them.
No, it's like oh, you'll haveto get Frank to get you a new
one, so the salt one wasn'tgoing on.
That is a great one to standout.
So you get the bug.
And Mandy, you were there atthis event wasn't you?
Andrew Sinclair (13:45):
No, no, it was a boys' trip.
Allison Volk Dean (13:46):
Oh, it was just a boys' trip.
Andrew Sinclair (13:47):
Boys' trip.
Allison Volk Dean (13:47):
Okay, okay, okay.
So you just had celebrated yourguys' birthday.
Andrew Sinclair (13:51):
Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (13:52):
And so you come out and it's like, oh man,
I've got to do this yeah got todo this.
Andrew Sinclair (13:55):
And then, of course, we get home and we're
still cars at the time and, uh,you know, 2008, 2009, 2010 was
shocking.
It was, you know, um theeconomy and back home and so and
so we just had to.
Even even running our roadcourse cars was hard enough and
and we probably dropped, youknow, didn't do full seasons and
(14:17):
stuff like that um, like I said, you know, so, so lumpy our
economy.
Um, and yeah, it wasn't untilsort of about late 2010.
We actually had an Australianmate who has since been out here
with us at Speedweek and wewere drinking red wine one night
at a race meeting and sayswe're going to stop sitting here
(14:37):
just talking about this stuff.
We've got to actually do it,you know.
And so we shook hands andbecause when we shake hands on
something, it's got to be done,no matter how, when or why.
Allison Volk Dean (14:47):
That's the legendary part of it.
Right there, you guys, youexecuted it.
Andrew Sinclair (14:53):
Yeah, shook hands with Paul Stubber, and so
we started right and he said,look, I've got a and there'll be
some Australian terms here aone tonne, which is a pickup a
small pickup, quite a robustlittle truck.
He's got one of those.
He's got a HQ Monaro sittingthere, he can make up all it.
He had a whole lot of SB2.
(15:13):
He was one of the first ones torun SB2s in New Zealand in our
class, and so he had a whole lotof those spare laying around
and he said I'm going to buildup this car, what are you going
to do?
And I said, oh, I love myMopars, I'm a Mopar guy.
So what do we have in NewZealand that fits the bill?
And so we only have.
Back in the 70s they wouldbring in in kit sets Valiant
(15:37):
Chargers into New ZealandChrysler and they were
assembling them in Wellingtonand then selling them into New
Zealand as a family car.
So I said, well, that's got tobe one of those, you see.
So that was how the decisionwas made to get a Valiant
Charger and stick a Hemi in it.
Allison Volk Dean (15:55):
Okay, so now you weren't looking at classes,
you were just looking at carsmore, and then how to fit it
into.
You fit it into class later.
Andrew Sinclair (16:02):
That's right, it was probably completely back
to front, I mean if I was smart.
Intro (16:06):
I should have looked at records and started working
backwards, but we're not thatsmart.
Andrew Sinclair (16:11):
So, yeah, we wanted something a cool car, you
know and something thatreflected New Zealand and
something that had some historyin New Zealand and stuff like
that.
So that's where we started.
Allison Volk Dean (16:20):
Okay, and your Australian friend is Paul.
Andrew Sinclair (16:23):
Paul Stubber yeah, and that's who came out.
Yes, the Speedway yeah, withthe rat rod, he finally got it
done.
He finally got it on the tracktoo.
Allison Volk Dean (16:32):
Yeah, it was a fun car.
Yeah, okay, so you got theCharger and then what did?
So?
You decided to build that or torestore that or buy it.
Yeah, yeah, you already haveone.
Andrew Sinclair (16:44):
Yeah, we started hunting and I knew what
we were going to do.
Our initial thought was this isthe whole rookie thing.
Right, let's just build the carand then, when I'm finished
land speed racing, we can turnit back into a road course car.
Allison Volk Dean (16:58):
So that's how the journey started.
Now he's over here justlaughing.
Andrew Sinclair (17:02):
Yeah, it morphed it definitely did morph.
So, yeah, and I didn't want todo that to really because
they're quite valuable back homenow, you know, like any classic
car is, and so I really didn'twant to do it to something nice.
I thought that would just besacrilege.
So we hunted around forsomething, ended up getting one
for 1500 New Zealand dollars,which is about you know, 800
(17:23):
American at a barn in Taupo.
That had been, someone hadattacked it with all sorts of
things, there was rats living init.
It was.
Yeah, it was.
It was the perfect startingpoint.
Yeah, just except for thebodywork.
They were.
They were made at the time.
Yeah, just except for thebodywork.
They were made at the time.
They came out originally with aSlant 6.
And so to get them to becompetitive for racing in New
Zealand back in the day inproduction racing, they were
(17:45):
very light.
They were a really light car.
So you know better on tyres andbetter on fuel and stuff like
that for the long distance races.
So they were quite thin.
Intro (17:54):
So they didn't age at all .
Well, oh yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (17:56):
So they were quite thin, so they didn't age
at all well, oh yeah, so gettingguards and stuff like that was
a real problem, but anyway, wemanaged it.
Allison Volk Dean (18:03):
Yeah, and then you decided to pick a class
from there.
Andrew Sinclair (18:07):
Yeah, that was really difficult actually.
We sat around with the rulebook for lots and lots of times
and when you first start reading, it was all the different
categories and everything likethat.
The first thing, like cool,it's got to have a Hemi and want
to be 500.
So okay, let's put it justunder the 500.
And so, okay, it's going to bean A car.
Then it's going to right whatare we doing for chassis?
(18:29):
And we did kick around that forages and ages to look at it.
And when I tell people whatclass I'm in, they go oh boy,
you've really jumped in there,haven't you?
Allison Volk Dean (18:40):
Yeah, well, I didn't know what I didn't know
did.
I no, and so what class did youpick?
Andrew Sinclair (18:46):
So we're classic blown fuel altered.
Yeah, that's tough, but ofcourse we know there's a really
good car in that class.
That's set a lot of records too.
Allison Volk Dean (18:58):
And good car in that class that set a lot of
records too.
Andrew Sinclair (18:59):
So uh, and you're running a a yeah, okay,
yeah, and who?
Who is it that you?
It's, the beast has got well,the beast is like he's got all
the el mirage records.
Yeah, yeah, like it.
Yeah, yeah so the less.
Allison Volk Dean (19:08):
Less like it, not the not the photographer
leslie like it yeah yeah, okay,so, yeah, so Leslie Leggett and
right, yeah, that's a solid yeah, that's fast car record.
Andrew Sinclair (19:23):
So yeah, so we started building it okay, well,
how did the build go?
so that was so obviously MikeAnderson pick in the
conversation.
He'd built.
He'd been over in Americaworking IndyCar teams and then
Le Mans prototype teams cameback to New Zealand to raise his
family and he was actuallyworking for a guy I know in
(19:45):
terms of the local, our localtouring car scene and he'd built
a couple, three cars for him,was running his team and then he
went out on his own.
So his first job when he wenton his own after I'd met him,
was my first car that I gotbuilt for road course racing.
Up until then we just boughtother people's cars and raced
them.
So yeah, so Bic built thatfirst Commodore for me and then
(20:07):
over time he built quite a fewother cars you know hot rods and
stuff like that for us and thenwe're, you know, crew chief the
car at race meetings.
So yeah, so it was him.
I mean, he went to Taupo andpicked the car up and started
cutting it up straight away.
So yeah he was the one who hasdriven the whole fabrication and
(20:29):
build of the car.
Allison Volk Dean (20:31):
And you were working with him when you were
like picking the class, yeah,together.
Andrew Sinclair (20:34):
Yeah, together.
Allison Volk Dean (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, you guys were kind of like
looking over it, okay, and thenum, and is he your?
Is he your engine guy too, ishe?
Andrew Sinclair (20:43):
yeah, yeah, so he builds the engine, yeah,
being with us since, yeah,basically we started at 2002,
right?
Allison Volk Dean (20:48):
right on road course racing, right, right.
Oh, so he's yeah, yeah stillhere now getting old and great,
like the rest of us, so wasthere any real big hang-ups in
the build of it?
Andrew Sinclair (21:00):
He probably only tells me 10% of what I need
to do.
It's probably, some of thosetimes, better that I concentrate
at work, because you know likeI say we go through highs and
lows in the economy.
Allison Volk Dean (21:11):
Yeah, you're focused on it.
Andrew Sinclair (21:12):
I've got to keep funding it and, to be fair,
I'm really good at pullingstuff apart.
I'm not so good at putting itback together.
So I used to go down there onweekends and stuff and he'd have
a list of I call them numbnutsjobs like clean this, take this
off, that sort of stuff.
(21:32):
So I never really got anythingtoo technical to do.
Yeah, but that's okay with me,because you know you've all got
strengths and weaknesses andI'll stick to mine, that's right
?
Allison Volk Dean (21:41):
Yeah, I think , knowing your place, is a good
thing sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, so this is 2008,and then?
Andrew Sinclair (21:52):
Yeah, it was 15 when we started building 2015.
Allison Volk Dean (21:54):
Okay, yeah, 2008 was when you first came out
, so 2015 is when you firststarted, and then you make your
first trip out to Bonnevillewith the car.
Andrew Sinclair (22:03):
Also in between times, I think we'd I'm just
trying to remember we came outin 12, I think as well.
We came out for a look, andthen we came 17, 18, and 19.
Allison Volk Dean (22:12):
Oh, so you guys had been coming out, okay.
Andrew Sinclair (22:14):
Yeah, but that was like one trip was at the
start of the event, our firstthree or four days, you know, to
see what the scrutineering wasor the tech was like see what
the briefings were like and justtrying to learn.
And then another event we cameright at the end to see what
happens at the end yeah.
Because we were building the car, but we were also making
decisions about things andlogistics as well, obviously a
(22:37):
big part of it.
So that was a whole learningthing, obviously walking around
talking to people, taking photosof cars and little things, what
you can and can't do which hasbeen an interesting journey as
well.
Allison Volk Dean (22:48):
Which makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, yeah, it's not like youare just, you know, coming down
the road and you know fromCalifornia, or even from you
know anywhere in the States,because you, yeah, you need to
know all the details before youget over here.
Andrew Sinclair (23:04):
We saw, you know, just in the movie how hard
it was for Bert.
You know like just coming infresh and cold and all that sort
of stuff and not knowing allthe stuff.
So it's like, well, let's tryand minimize, we're going to
make mistakes for sure, let'sjust try and minimize.
Allison Volk Dean (23:16):
We're going to make mistakes, for sure.
Let's just try and minimize,minimize them.
Andrew Sinclair (23:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, yeah.
So those were those three tripsand in 19, we had the car.
We tested the car.
It wasn't painted or anythinglike that, but we tested it at a
local airstrip and I had about10 little.
I had a lower set of diff gearsin, just so I could.
I didn't need a push truck, um,I didn't have my parachutes on
or anything like that, so it wasjust sort of a 400 yard run and
then and then slow down and um,about first, I mean, it's the
(23:42):
most powerful car I've everdriven in my life, you know so
the first half a dozen runs ismy eyes were as big as dinner
plates you know, yeah, I had theshakes and yeah, it was like
wow, but by about run numbereight or nine, you know, just a
just a little short little run,I was like wow, this thing wants
to go.
I just want to pull anothergear.
It was such a cool feelingAbout run number 10, we broke
the quick change.
(24:03):
But you know, in fairness, itwas how we bought the
componentry, you know, like thestuff, like the diff, and that
we'd bought it in 2015 when wefirst started.
So you know, technology hadmoved on to 19.
And so we found out, yeah,there's an upgraded shaft, you
know, for the quick change.
So we put that in and then wetook the car back, stripped it
(24:26):
all back down again, got it allfinal painted In 2020,.
We had a launch of the car, hada whole lot of people around,
we had everything booked.
We had 70 supporters comingwith us big supporters club it
was huge had a travel agent justabout full time on all the
people.
Allison Volk Dean (24:43):
You had 70 supporters coming with you to
the Salt Flats in 2020 oh mygosh.
Andrew Sinclair (24:50):
So we had our big launch and it was about mid,
early February, I think youknow, and the world was a great
place and we were all excitedand it was all going to happen,
oh yeah, and then kaboom yeah,yeah, shoot March 2020,.
The whole world changed.
Allison Volk Dean (25:06):
Yeah, yeah, shoot, Wow.
So it got put on hold for ayear or two.
Three yeah three.
Andrew Sinclair (25:14):
Which is sort of going back, that's.
I bought the.
You know we went later travelor anything like that, and so
it's like what are we going todo?
So I ended up buying a TA2,which is a class it's a Howe
chassis from USA here, astandard class that's run all
around the world, basicallypretty much.
So I bought one of those justas an interim measure, which is
(25:36):
why I stopped the muscle carracing as well.
So, but yeah, so we had to justsit there on our laurels for a
couple of three years.
Allison Volk Dean (25:46):
And so what was it that you bought?
I'm sorry, you said.
Andrew Sinclair (25:48):
It's called a TA2.
So you have them here, theyrace them.
So ours is a Howe chassis,which in New Zealand we only
have.
Howe there's about.
I think you have five chassismanufacturers in the US who make
the standard chassis for theclass.
Allison Volk Dean (26:04):
But they raced all over the world.
So it's just a different typeof racing then.
No road course still, it'sstill road course, just a
different type of car.
Andrew Sinclair (26:09):
So it looks like a sort of a current NASCAR
sort of in terms of shape, butit's got a four-speed dog box, a
winter quick change and we'reall running the same LS engines
and yeah, so it's a standard.
It's in Europe and Asia andAmerica and Australia and New
Zealand.
Allison Volk Dean (26:25):
So you kept yourself busy.
Yeah, yeah, kept my hand in ineffect?
Andrew Sinclair (26:28):
Well, I didn't.
At the time, none of us knewthat we'd ever be travelling
again Right right, becauseobviously we're a tiny little
nation at the bottom of theSouth Pacific, we basically have
to fly everywhere we go, soairports were a major problem.
So yeah anyway.
So we were sitting there readyto go and we got to 2023, we
were allowed to travel again, soeverything was ready.
(26:49):
So here we come, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (26:52):
Darn it.
So you come out to Bonnevillein 2023.
But before, oh, and is thisokay?
So you come, but is this whenyou met everybody in 2023?
Yeah, okay, I want to hearabout that, though, really
quickly.
Okay, in 17.
Andrew Sinclair (27:07):
So, yeah, we've jumped past that.
Yeah, that's all right.
Allison Volk Dean (27:09):
We can go back, so that's quite a good
story too, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (27:11):
So in 2017, we were here and I'd been walking
the pits all day and you knowwhat it's like when you're and
probably dumb Kiwi I wasprobably in flip-flops and I was
knackered.
I was really tired at the endof the day and Mandy had been
over to the Save the Salttrailer and she'd talked to this
(27:32):
lady at the Save the Salttrailer and had convinced her to
come to the gala.
Obviously, it was the Wednesdayof Speed Week, the two-club
dinner.
So she's come back to me andsaid oh, we're going to this
Gala makes it sound way toofancy Okay.
Yeah, so we're coming to thegala.
I said, no, we're not.
No, no, I'm not in the two-club.
I haven't done anything yet,I'm not going.
And you know what happens whena husband and wife have a
(27:55):
disagreement the husband ends uplosing.
Allison Volk Dean (27:59):
I got these tickets.
We are going, we are going.
Andrew Sinclair (28:02):
Okay.
So I was actually sort ofembarrassed, you know, because
just to go there when I don'tdeserve to be there, sort of
deal, anyway.
So we walk in the door at theNugget there, and then I go well
, what does this lady look like?
And Mandy goes oh, I can'treally remember.
Well, next thing, this person'sup at the very front of the
(28:23):
room waving her arms around yousee and it was Mel Nish and it
was like, oh yeah, okay that'sher, yeah, that's her.
So we go over and that was ourintroduction to the Nish family.
Allison Volk Dean (28:34):
Aren't you glad you listened to Mandy?
Absolutely, she was 100%correct.
Andrew Sinclair (28:39):
I will put my hand up now and say it's been
the most amazing meeting andmeeting of a wonderful group of
people that we've ever had inour lives.
Allison Volk Dean (28:48):
Yeah, and I think with the two club, I've
heard multiple people say thatlike, oh, I don't deserve to go,
and it's really what it is isto recognize the new two club
members.
That's all that event is reallyfor.
It's not even I mean, it's alittle bit about the current
members, but it's just torecognize new members.
(29:09):
I think it's great for peoplewho are interested in racing or
yeah, who want to go or you knowlike are interested in becoming
members of the Tube Club, to gosee it and see how it is.
Andrew Sinclair (29:20):
For sure.
And the other thing, I findthat the history of it too,
though, the guys standing aroundand women in that room who have
achieved so much, you know, andtheir household names in
motorsport componentry and thatsort of stuff, and you just have
access to them, just standingright there and you can.
Yeah, it's great.
So yeah.
So that was our very firstmeeting and obviously you know
(29:43):
Larry I don't think you were atthe head table then, but Larry
was at the head table so yeah.
So, along with the Nushas, wemet the Valks, and it's just
snowballed from there.
It's been an incredible journey.
Allison Volk Dean (29:55):
Oh, that's so fun, cool.
Yes, so yeah.
No, in 2017, I wouldn't havebeen.
I was kind of partially helpingrun.
I was probably running the clubat the time, like me and Angie
were kind of sharing duties andI would have been in charge of
that event at that year, so Iwas probably busy running around
(30:18):
.
Yes, um, okay, so that.
So you meet Mel and and so in20 and and Jeff and and they,
they.
That's been helpful to knowthem in terms of when you, you
know, just logistically settingHelpful will be the biggest
understatement in the world.
Andrew Sinclair (30:38):
I can't imagine having done what we have done
without the help of the niches,especially in the Volks.
You know it's been it's justbeen an incredible journey with
the family group and yeah, wetalked about it the other day
the boys and just imagine if wedidn't have the shop and we
didn't have that and we didn'thave that and we didn't know
(30:59):
that and we didn't know that.
Allison Volk Dean (31:01):
Yeah, you guys, you got a lot of knowledge
just in how things operatethere.
So, okay, so 2023, it comesaround and you guys have it, and
, of course, then we get toSpeed Week.
So 2023,.
Andrew Sinclair (31:16):
We decided and Jeff said look, speed Week's a
really big event.
You know, the salt has been abit of a feed.
Why don't you come for World ofSpeed and World Finals?
Let's do that one.
So I listened to him, and so we.
Allison Volk Dean (31:29):
so we came over and and that's right,
because we did have a little bitof a, but you were here, right?
No, we went for a speed week.
Andrew Sinclair (31:36):
No, we know we flew just a few days before okay
, wheel to speed.
Yeah, well, actually.
And so we're sitting at home.
I think we had our bags packed,ready to go.
The crew had already left.
They were up and doing a littlebit of touristy stuff in denver
.
Get the call from Jeff.
It's cancelled.
Oh man, what are we going to do?
Like the car was already heresitting in the niche car park,
(32:00):
the container, what are we goingto do?
So it's like, oh, we've justgot to do it, yeah, we've just
got to come.
So we came and did touriststuff, obviously, went out and
stood at knee-deep water at theend of the road and stuff like
that, and you know such is life,Stared off into the distance
Like so close?
So then we did touristy stufffor a few weeks and, to be fair,
(32:23):
that's been a really cool partof what we've done.
You know, we've gone north,south west and, and, um and done
some really fun things.
I mean, I'd obviously muchrather be racing at the salt,
but um, we've, we've, we've seenparts of this part of america
that we absolutely love.
You know, it's been such a lotof fun and we really love small
town america and and the and thedifferent sites we can see so
(32:45):
yeah so yeah, so that's that was.
That was a lot of fun.
And then, so obviously, thesalt started drying out, and
then we all started getting keenin between you know, and we
actually snuck the car out for aphoto shoot on a trailer and
just did photos and stuff likethat and it was starting to look
good.
You know, the boys were allthere ringing up.
(33:06):
So right, get the streamlinerready.
It's actually it's coming.
Good, you know.
And where were we?
We were in.
Were we in Tahoe?
In between, we were ready tocome back for world finals and
guess what?
Allison Volk Dean (33:18):
Right right again.
Andrew Sinclair (33:20):
It's cancelled again, so it's like yeah, yeah,
Anyway but on the positive sideof that we got to do the tourist
things and also got to practicethe logistics side of stuff and
learning.
And there was no pressure ofthe racing because I know what
the pressure of racing addedthis year.
Allison Volk Dean (33:39):
Oh yeah, Just logistically getting it here,
getting it to.
Because you use the there's ashop.
You just have a shop that youget access to.
There's a shop.
The niches have a shop that youget access to.
Andrew Sinclair (33:50):
So we built a 40 foot container because
obviously my planning back in 15is we wanted to come here but
also go to Lake Gardiner, whichis obviously a whole lot closer
to where we live but probablytwice as hard logistically to
get to, and there's nothingthere.
So we wanted to be completelyself-sufficient.
So I didn't want to get to year8 or 10 of doing this racing
(34:11):
and go, gee, I wish I had abetter shade, or gee, I wish I
had a better system for doingthat.
So, um, we sort of went in atthe front end.
So, yeah, so I'm set up in the40 foot container.
It's got a kitchen in the front,oh it's rad, the container's
rad works really well, you knowum, and obviously decent canopy
to go under and all that sort ofstuff.
Allison Volk Dean (34:31):
Oh, a canopy that can handle a microburst at
the salt flats, which isimpressive, yeah it was.
Andrew Sinclair (34:35):
Actually there was plenty of easy ups who were
destroyed and the canopy wasstill there, so it was really
good.
So yeah, so that's you know.
The logistics of getting thatinto Nish's and Andy and Jeff
have been great, you know.
Letting me just put thecontainer in Andy's car park
which he continually reminds meabout.
(34:57):
So yeah, so that was a goodlearning curve for us in 23,
even though it was frustrating.
Allison Volk Dean (35:02):
Yeah yeah, okay.
And then that leads us up tothis year 2024.
Andrew Sinclair (35:06):
Yeah, wow, what a year eh, did you guys?
Allison Volk Dean (35:08):
go back and make any changes or anything, or
just kind of like left it.
Andrew Sinclair (35:14):
Oh yeah, we had a few.
Well, you know, we thought we'dpickled the motor properly and
stuff like that and we thoughtwe'd protected it.
But the salt is its own thing,isn't it?
So we had a little bit ofengine damage from salt and
stuff.
Mandy's writing me a note here.
Allison Volk Dean (35:37):
You can just say it, Mandy.
Andrew Sinclair (35:39):
Actually no, the other thing was, yeah, the
Nish has put on a barbecue andevents, and so two of the
biggest things on the car sideof things was we had one night
or actually BJ was there, so BJBirkdahl a couple of nights, and
then we had Tom Birkland thereone night as well.
Come in and just stand aroundthe car and just talk about
(36:01):
stuff and talk about minimumsand rules.
Allison Volk Dean (36:07):
Oh, like explain it to you guys, kind of.
Andrew Sinclair (36:09):
Yeah, well, for me it was just like look, you
know, here's the, here's theclass record, here's what the
fastest car in your chassisclass has done.
Here's, here's probably whereit's heading.
If I was going to go that fastin that car, this is what I
would do, and so.
So between, at separate times,basically both of basically both
(36:29):
of them came up with the samesafety additions that they would
make Well in excess of the rulebook, but when they explained
stuff to us it was a no-brainer.
So, yeah, we did go back andmake a number of changes.
Safety related to the car.
Allison Volk Dean (36:48):
Yeah, that was a fun barbecue too.
That was great.
Yeah, that was a fun barbecuetoo.
That was great.
Yeah, it was good yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (36:54):
Another example of the hospitality and the
welcomeness of the niches?
Allison Volk Dean (36:59):
Yeah, they're great people.
So you made a few changes thatway.
So what changes did you make?
Andrew Sinclair (37:05):
So probably the major one was we put some and
that was probably from BJ afterLisa Celio's crash, you know.
Oh yeah, that we put some bigskid plates up under the front
of the car in the air dam.
So if we did lose a tyre or geta flat tyre or whatever debris
the tyre goes flat the car wouldactually just drop down onto a
(37:28):
couple of skid plates and notthe rim.
They were built so the rimwouldn't dig in.
Okay, yeah, so that was quite achange to the front of the car.
Allison Volk Dean (37:39):
We made a big so the rim wouldn't dig into
the tyre.
Andrew Sinclair (37:42):
No, the rim wouldn't dig into the salt.
So it would actually it wouldsledge Like a sledge rather than
actually digging in and tippingit over.
Okay, gotcha, that was majorand then a big scatter shield
around the supercharger.
So if we did lose asupercharger it wouldn't take
out all the fuel system andeverything.
A few other more minor changesto how the window net worked and
(38:06):
stuff like that.
But everything takes time andmoney, so yeah.
So Bic worked away on the carand we brought it back with
those changes.
Allison Volk Dean (38:15):
Okay, and so you bring it out here for 2024.
And how long does it take forit to get over here from the
container?
Andrew Sinclair (38:24):
It's three weeks on the ship, so all the
ones that come out of NewZealand run up to Seattle first
and then back down to Oakland.
Okay, okay, so you come out ofSeattle when you get here no it
gets unloaded at Oakland andthen it gets driven across, not
in Oakland, california.
Sorry, it's the O and the A.
Allison Volk Dean (38:42):
So it goes to Oakland and then you have
somebody pick it up and bring ithere.
Okay, so three weeks and a fewdays.
Andrew Sinclair (38:49):
Yep, yep.
And two day touch wood, thecustom cider thing, and all
that's been fine, so it's workedreally well.
So, yeah, a day and a half sortof across to here, and then we
get to have a lovely local mancalled George Montgomery who
picks it up for us on a slidetrailer and brings it to the
race shop.
Allison Volk Dean (39:08):
Yeah, so, and then he brings it from Seattle
or from Oakland.
Andrew Sinclair (39:12):
No, Intermountain brings it from
Oakland to Salt.
Lake City, and then George getsit and brings it to the race
shop.
Oh, and George brings it fromSalt Lake City to the salt, and
then salt back to Salt Lake Cityin between, Okay and then.
Allison Volk Dean (39:25):
So that's kind of the logistics of how you
get it back and forth and then.
And so how soon do you guys getout here before the races?
Andrew Sinclair (39:34):
So we're normally here a couple of three
days um you know, before theraces.
So it sort of takes us a coupleof days.
Well, the first, obviously,when we get it shipped over.
It's just got no fluids in itwhatsoever, so you know oil,
water, anything.
So probably the very first time, when later it's probably more
of a three-day exercise to becompletely ready, and when we
(39:56):
break it down at this end thatwe've just done, it's probably
another three-day exercise, butthe ones in between when we're
just running back and forth tothe salt, it's probably only two
days of clean.
Obviously there's a day ofcleaning chucked in, there,
isn't there and you guys like itclean.
Allison Volk Dean (40:14):
That's been amazing, very impressive.
Andrew Sinclair (40:15):
Yeah, no matter how much we clean it, we pull
it out and do something with it.
And there's some more.
There's some more salt.
The salt grows, yeah, I reckon.
Allison Volk Dean (40:24):
So you guys get to the salt.
What was going through?
Tech like the first time.
Andrew Sinclair (40:32):
That was pretty good actually.
I mean, obviously we were lucky.
We had, during the build of thecar, we had Kiwi Steve, whose
parents lived in Napier, whichis basically halfway down the
country, and he'd fly intoAuckland to see his parents and
actually on the way past he'dcall into Bic's race shop where
he was building the car him tosee his parents and actually on
the way past he'd call him toBic's race shop where he was
building the car.
(40:53):
So he could just show him whatwe're doing and how we're doing
it.
So there was a top official whoknew a lot about the car.
Allison Volk Dean (41:02):
That's nice.
Andrew Sinclair (41:03):
Bob Ellis was at the time living in Cambridge
and he'd pop over a couple oftimes as well, so we could also
get somebody to look at it andsay, well, I think you probably
should do this or that orwhatever.
So that whole process wasunderstood by people in the CTA.
Allison Volk Dean (41:19):
That's really nice.
Yeah, lucky.
Andrew Sinclair (41:23):
So no, tech was fine.
It was good Nerve-wrackingobviously because you've got
people looking at it, probablymore for BIC than me.
Me, because my answer would beoh gee, I don't know ask Bic.
Where's such and such.
But Bic was good, he in thefinal assembly took a whole lot
of photos, so he's got a file oftech photos basically.
(41:45):
So you can't see it now becausethe seat's in the way or
whatever, but here's a pictureof it, you know.
So the tech guys can beconfident that it is in the car
and has been done.
Allison Volk Dean (41:56):
Yeah, okay Well, did anything kind of
surprise you about any of it?
Andrew Sinclair (42:03):
Or was there anything that was….
Do we get into controversy or?
Allison Volk Dean (42:06):
not Well, you drive first before you get into
controversy, right?
Do you set a record before youget into controversy?
Or not set a record, butqualify.
Andrew Sinclair (42:15):
Qualify.
The controversy was obviouslyour rear spillplates during tech
.
Allison Volk Dean (42:22):
Oh, this is during tech During tech.
Andrew Sinclair (42:23):
Yeah, they looked at them and they ummed
and they ahed and Bic stoodthere with the rule book with
them and obviously all thesetimes you know, we think we're
right and they think hard andBic stood there with the rule
book with them and obviously allthese times we think we're
right and they think they'reright.
But we passed tech and wentthrough, and this is the rookie
learning thing about how thisprocess works.
(42:44):
You know, like we don't knowwhat we don't know, so we just
carried on as we were.
Allison Volk Dean (42:50):
But tech's kind of just there to make sure
you're safe more than so theysay more than anything it gives.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah butthat's okay.
Andrew Sinclair (43:00):
You know, like I, I this journey, I I want to
get to a point where I can saythat I've been through every,
every single life experience outthere that we have you know and
have to do it.
I don't want to have anythinggiven to me for free.
So this was just part of thatjourney.
So, yeah, did my licenses.
That was another learning.
(43:21):
I have a GPS Speedo which hadbeen working absolutely
perfectly, and so my very firstlicense went out and the Speedo
stopped working.
So because we hadn't I hadn'tsat there and I knew
approximately what my RPM shouldbe.
You know the first.
You know the D license 150,.
I was about five grand, youknow in third gear.
So you know I did about that andI was coming one mile an hour
(43:45):
over.
So but lucky Dallas, yourbrother, who's been our
fantastic push truck driver he'samazing he came with me and we
had a talk to Nick and I dideverything else right.
You know, I pulled the chutethe right time, turned out the
right way and everything else.
So Nick sort of looked at meand frowned at me and says, all
right, well, don't do it again.
(44:05):
So yeah, the licensing runswere all good, yeah, without any
drama.
I guess the only drama for uswas the queues.
You know the amount ofcompetitors and that very first
one.
Allison Volk Dean (44:19):
The lines is what he meant yeah, sorry, no,
no, you can say queues.
I'm just clarifying.
Yeah, kiwi talk.
Andrew Sinclair (44:25):
Yeah, especially that first one.
It was a bit of a mix-up at thestart line and there was about
three or four of us who actuallygot put in our gear and put in
the car and we were sitting inthere for like three-quarters of
an hour and my cool suit hadstopped working Another salt
gremlin, which we've fixed since, but man, it was hot, I mean
we've— it was extremely hot.
(44:46):
Yeah, yeah, Talking for us, theCelsius at 47 degrees.
I've never been anywhere nearthat in my life.
Oh, really, and for sitting in acar.
It's an hour in the suit andthe helmet oh yeah, it's
miserable.
Allison Volk Dean (44:59):
I was just about done, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (45:03):
And, as we saw through the week, you know, even
when locals start falling overfrom heat stress you know it's
hot, it was very hot.
That was the single type of thecar was.
It was fine, you know, but justthe heat and the lines.
So, anyway, it's another partof that journey of having to
experience every single part ofwhat's going on.
So, yeah, so we got throughthat and then we started sort of
(45:27):
you know, giddy up which itsays on the back of the car,
started getting into it a bitmore and then we started sort of
you know giddy up which it sayson the back of the car started
getting into it a bit more.
That's true, and yeah.
So then well, let's have a lookat my note here.
We went 240 for my A licenceand then on the AA licence I
qualified as well, so intoimpound.
Allison Volk Dean (45:45):
Oh, you qualified, and what's the record
on that?
Andrew Sinclair (45:47):
So the record we're chasing is 249.
249.
Allison Volk Dean (45:50):
I think 0.192 by memory Okay, and so you
qualify at 250, okay.
Andrew Sinclair (45:56):
Yep 251,.
I think on that one, oh 251,okay, yep, for your AA.
Yep, and so into impound forthe first time.
Allison Volk Dean (46:07):
And that's where that little controversy
about the rear spill platescomes.
That's where people questionyou.
Andrew Sinclair (46:10):
Yeah, it comes back into play so you know, we
still believed we were correct,but the officials had another
view.
So that's fine, that's how thecookie crumbles.
So the boys?
So we took it out of impound,so back out of impound Back out
of impound back under the coverand the boys did an amazing job
of a Kiwi number eight wirebodgy job on the wing.
(46:30):
It didn't look as good as itcould because obviously we had
quite a gap between the rearwing and the spool plates now.
But anyway, that's how it had tobe, went back out the next
morning and qualified againfaster.
Intro (46:43):
So it was good.
Andrew Sinclair (46:44):
It was good.
I think that was partially theattitude of the driver.
Maybe I don't know.
So, yeah, back into impoundagain for the second time.
So we were probably lookingback.
Allison Volk Dean (46:56):
I probably didn't appreciate and not the
last.
Intro (46:58):
Yeah not the last either.
Andrew Sinclair (47:01):
What a great achievement that was.
You know, when you're in themiddle of it, it's man, it's the
hardest place.
Temperature, adrenaline.
You know it's suckingeverything out of you completely
.
Allison Volk Dean (47:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (47:16):
So yeah, friday we went for a record run and
there's probably three or fourreasons, but I just didn't go as
quick.
I'd been running on course twothe whole time over to course
one for the Friday and it was abit rutted and I saw it.
I saw the state of the trackahead of me and probably wasn't
(47:38):
rolling onto the throttle aswell as I should have been
because I was seeing what wasahead of me.
But the car actually wentthrough it really nicely.
So in hindsight if I'd haveprobably turned around and done
it again, I would have gonebetter.
But anyway, shoulda, woulda,coulda.
Allison Volk Dean (47:51):
Yeah, and you're learning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,linespeed learner, yeah, exactly
.
Andrew Sinclair (47:56):
You got it so yeah, so that was Speed Week.
Allison Volk Dean (47:59):
Yeah, so you qualified twice, but you didn't.
The first time you got kickedout of impound and then the
second time you just didn't getit quite back it up.
Yep, so, and those lines are solong you just couldn't get in
at least.
Andrew Sinclair (48:12):
Well, that was a Friday and I think we were
probably spent yeah, yeah, wewere done by the time you got.
Allison Volk Dean (48:18):
Yeah, yeah, so you didn't get Okay, so now
you yeah, that you do.
Andrew Sinclair (48:25):
You just are kind of like and then you know,
Right, well, it was that, and mycrew had been out in those
conditions for that period oftime and I just couldn't
physically hardly do it myself,let alone make it.
Allison Volk Dean (48:35):
At the end of that minute, you couldn't even
think anymore, you just couldn'teven.
Andrew Sinclair (48:38):
You were just like done.
Intro (48:39):
Yeah toast.
Allison Volk Dean (48:40):
Yeah, okay, so you guys go and you guys fly
back to New Zealand.
Andrew Sinclair (48:49):
Yep, yep.
So we flew back home a coupleof weeks of work and then we
flew back for World of Speed.
Okay, by then we had a fewlittle changes to the car that
Bic had been obviously all night.
He thinks about it and what hecan do and a few little tweaks
and all that sort of stuff.
So we played with the car alittle bit again and came out at
World of Speed.
And it was.
(49:10):
You know, the car was good.
It's funny you start doingthings without realizing the
impact on other things.
You know, and so we were makingthe car better in one way, but
what we didn't know was that wewere probably affecting it
another way.
Allison Volk Dean (49:28):
You, because a vh 1972 valiant charger never
been 250 miles an hour oh yeah,ever so, yeah, oh, that's so,
yeah, yeah, oh, that's cool, Ididn't yeah really cool, okay,
so, uh, so you, you guys arekind of tweaking it and playing
with it, seeing how it changesthings.
Yeah, you never know where itchanges one thing.
It's all kind of connected, yepyep, so so I didn't.
Andrew Sinclair (49:51):
So the first run in world of speed, um, we,
we were just under, we're 246,but you know I was okay, right,
oh so we, you know, we got afour-day event.
We're, we're good to go.
Uh, and because we obviouslyhad those timing, the timing
light issues with the, with thatevent yeah so yeah, so there
was big queues again, so we onlyreally got one run per day and
(50:12):
went out the next day andqualified again.
So back into impound and Ithought, oh, we're getting
pretty good at this impoundthing.
The boys got organised prettyquickly and I sort of, you know,
been looking at the data and Iknew sort of what I had to do in
terms of what my improvementswere required.
So, yeah, went out the nextmorning and got into it hard
(50:36):
because Larry Lawson, you knowthe crew chief from Royal Purple
Streamliner, he calls mePussyfoot Come on Pussyfoot.
Intro (50:44):
What are you doing?
Andrew Sinclair (50:46):
So I got into it pretty hard and knowing too
that you know five mile an hourat the first gear change is five
mile an hour all the waythrough, just about you know
it's hard to get it back, so Igot into it hard, First to
second shift.
Kaboom turned my driveshaftinto a pretzel.
Larry, look what you made me do.
(51:09):
Yeah, so that was gutting, butsuch is life.
We've broken lots of stuff inour motorsport careers, so it
was just another piece of thecomponentry to break.
Allison Volk Dean (51:20):
Okay, and that was World of Speed.
You guys got that, gosh.
That just seems like that wasjust yesterday that that
happened, so you guys got that.
All yeah, so we got it fixed.
Andrew Sinclair (51:28):
I mean we had to get in line because lots of
other people had brokendrivetrain componentry on that
event too.
So that's sort of telling yousomething.
The grip was really good andeverything.
So, yeah, back all the partsand the universals and stuff.
And in hindsight, when welooked at it too, we'd hurt the
rear output shaft of the gearbox.
So we couldn't.
(51:53):
Even if we'd had got anotherdrive shaft somewhere, we
wouldn't have been able to runagain because that gearbox had
to come out and new output shaftand stuff like that.
But anyway, so Cease at J&MInnovative, another Jeff Nish
volunteer, but he put thegearbox back together for us
while we were traveling.
So we did it.
In between those two we did aweek and, really lucky, flew
(52:15):
into Memphis and caught the edgeof that hurricane it wasn't too
bad, just rain had a beautifulweek, went to the IndyCar race,
went to the a week later theBristol NASCAR race, and got out
of there and then, man, lookwhat's happened to the place now
.
Allison Volk Dean (52:29):
Yeah, man, it's just horrible.
Andrew Sinclair (52:31):
Terrible, yeah, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (52:32):
You guys are lucky.
Andrew Sinclair (52:34):
Yeah, really lucky.
Allison Volk Dean (52:35):
So we didn't even know, you know like didn't
even realize that that sort ofstuff could happen up there.
Yeah, you don't think about ithitting and affecting right
there quite as bad, yeah, butyeah, well, okay, so you get
back from your travels, backeast, well, southeast, and then
it's World Finals.
Yep, and what happens duringWorld Finals?
Andrew Sinclair (53:00):
Yeah, so World Finals.
The car was really mechanicallyperforming really well, but I
was having just such troublemyself at the end of the run,
you know, sort of once the sortof car was getting up to about
240.
And so the first run, I thought.
Allison Volk Dean (53:15):
What was happening?
Andrew Sinclair (53:18):
It would just start like everybody's car does.
It would start sort ofwandering on me, but it would
wander more than and I've only,you know, by this time, I've had
10 runs on the salt.
You know I've done 250 likethree times and so I'm still
learning about.
You know everybody's telling me, just follow the car and all
that sort of stuff and and Imean I know what it's like in in
(53:41):
in terms of a car was was lackof grip and that sort of stuff
for my road course racing andthat we do a lot of wet racing
in New Zealand it's alwaysraining, um, but I sort of, I
sort of thought to myself it's,it's, is it me or is it the car?
You know, like you, you secondguess yourself about, about what
it's doing, so run, and it wasonly 2.35, and it was really
(54:02):
quite squirrely and.
I had to pull the chute becauseI thought I was going to go
around.
Then the next run, I went.
No, the first one, that's right.
What happened I actually?
It went sideways on me and Iwent around the wrong side of
the four-mile marker.
I got it.
It went completely across thetrack and outside the marker.
(54:23):
So I didn't hit the marker,which is good.
And then I've come back in andgot back on the track, but my
run is done, obviously because Ihaven't gone through the four.
So that was that one.
And then the next run, I cameout.
The second run, I came out andman, it just snapped on me real
quick, you know like 250.
It just and it's crazy to watchthe video, and I would have
(54:44):
sworn that I went left first,but watching the video, it
obviously went right a littlebit first, but it just went back
back to the left.
So quickly and so round, I wentand joined the famous spinner
club you got your spin pen.
Allison Volk Dean (54:58):
Yes, I did.
Andrew Sinclair (54:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but again, that's another
part of the journey and anotherthing to experience.
So, yeah, but it spins a longtime at 250, doesn't?
Allison Volk Dean (55:07):
it, oh yeah, even with the shoots out, I
can't even imagine.
Andrew Sinclair (55:11):
So yeah.
So then we sat and again, thisis where Jeff and the guys come
into it, because, like anymotorsport thing, it's really
easy to do stuff by committeeand you've got to be really
tough about not doing it bycommittee because you'll get 10
different opinions on what'sgoing on.
So Jeff was really good and satdown with Pick and you know
(55:32):
between the two of them, said,okay, look, this is what we
think the car is doing, wentback through some old data and
stuff like that and yeah, okay,all right, I think that's
probably right.
So made a couple of changes.
Yeah, we, obviously we can't doanything um aero wise to the
car because of the a theclassroom and b the time we have
available.
Um, so it was all mechanicalstuff for the car and um, so I
(55:54):
went back out on the next runand qualified again and had my
best best ever exit, so speed,um, so that was.
That was really pleasing for meas a driver, just to give me
confidence that, okay, I know Ican actually.
Allison Volk Dean (56:06):
Came back.
Andrew Sinclair (56:07):
I can roll the throttle on through that period
when I've been sitting theretrying to control the car.
Allison Volk Dean (56:11):
You know, yeah, and what was the speed?
Andrew Sinclair (56:14):
I qualified at 250, but I went out at exit at
255.
Okay, so I knew I was actuallystill.
For the first time I was stillaccelerating, you know.
Allison Volk Dean (56:22):
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (56:24):
So yeah, and I was also.
I was 20 miles an hour down onmy earliest speeds because I was
still, mentally, I think,trying to look after the
drivetrain, you know, and justthink I could get it back.
But when I sat and looked at itI thought, well, no, I can't
get it.
It's really hard.
I did but I had to work at it.
So let's make the job easierfor myself and get that 20 mile
an hour back again.
So I went out the next day on arecord run.
(56:45):
The track was just beautifuland just got into it 20 mile an
hour, up on the two, the two anda quarter and the three.
So it was getting there andthen, boom, popped the head
gasket.
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (56:59):
So bugger, oh , shoot, so and then that was
kind of the last part of themeet right, that was, that was,
that was um um tuesday morningyeah, so she's she's all over.
Red rover yep oh, so what didyou think?
Um, I mean, that is hardbecause it's you were close to
getting that record, gettingthat red hat, and but, um,
(57:22):
that's racing and again.
Andrew Sinclair (57:24):
I say again it's part of that journey.
You've got to deal with thehighs and the lows.
You've got to deal withofficials, you've got to deal
with weather, you've got to dealwith crew.
You've got to everything, andwhen you do achieve something,
it's all more worthwhile.
Allison Volk Dean (57:39):
Yeah, yep, absolutely.
Well, that's awesome.
Anything else that you want to?
Anything else, did you get allthe things that you wanted to?
Andrew Sinclair (57:47):
I just I can't reiterate enough the assistance
and the friendship from theNishas and the Valks, you know,
bj and OP and Tom Birkland,everybody's so helpful.
There's probably people I havefailed to mention, but just
(58:08):
awesome, just the most awesomegroup of people that I've ever
met in my life, you know.
Allison Volk Dean (58:13):
And the wonderful assistance from your
New Zealand people too that comehere your crew that comes here
with you.
Andrew Sinclair (58:20):
Yeah, I have some great crew that have been
in and out.
Obviously, I've got Bic, who'sbuilt the car and he's a
fantastic engineer andeverything else, and half the
time he doesn't sleep becausehe's laying there thinking about
it at night.
I've got great engine buildersback in New Zealand Landon
Motorsport who build all mymotors for all my cars now
(58:42):
because they do such a fantasticjob.
So a couple of mad scientists,Dean and Warren, but they
produce a really good engine.
So I'm really happy with thatand obviously my wife.
Allison Volk Dean (58:57):
Yes.
Andrew Sinclair (58:58):
Who is?
Yeah, I don't know.
You couldn't do it if youdidn't have the support of your
spouse.
Allison Volk Dean (59:07):
And she's a racer.
She's a racer as well.
Andrew Sinclair (59:08):
Yeah, she raced her own car for a number of
years.
She had a couple of big crashes, one in particular in Australia
.
So she's lucky she's still herewith us, yeah, but yeah, I mean
the support of your wife isjust critical, so I couldn't
have done it.
But yeah, she's geneticallyfrom a racing family anyway, so
that side of it comes naturally.
Her brother, paul, who got uson the 2002 journey he's
(59:34):
actually here crewing thisweekend as well.
And Mandy's sister Lisa and herhusband Graham.
They're just fantastic as well.
Just he's a jack of all trades.
Allison Volk Dean (59:45):
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (59:46):
Where I'm a bit rough as guts and I just like
wing stuff, you know, and makeit up.
Graham looks at it and makessure it's done properly.
Allison Volk Dean (59:52):
He's analytical?
Yeah, he does.
Andrew Sinclair (59:55):
So as a parachute packing team we're a
really good team because I'mrough and ready and he makes
sure I do it properly, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:08):
He a really good team because I'm rough and
ready and he's he's make sure Ido it properly.
Andrew Sinclair (01:00:10):
So yeah he's kind of those still waters run
deep.
Yeah, well, cool.
Well, thank you so much fortaking the time.
That was a great interview.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:13):
Thanks, alison and we'll see you in uh
2025.
Yes, are you guys gonna be back?
That was what I was gonna askabsolutely yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (01:00:17):
yeah, we're not , we're not done.
We've got, you know, our teamGSD Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:22):
Yeah, all right, your team is GSD.
Andrew Sinclair (01:00:26):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:26):
Which stands for Get Shit.
Done, all right, perfect, allright.
We'll talk to you guys later,thanks, thanks, thanks for
listening to Land Speed Legends.
Intro (01:00:35):
Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future
episodes.
In the meantime, keep up withthe show on Facebook and
Instagram under LandspeedLegends.
Until next time.
Welcome to Landspeed Legends, a podcast talking to
the men, the women, the legendsthat make land speed racing
great.
Discover the stories of theseordinary people whose passion
for land speed racing has madethem legendary.
And now here's your host theBonneville Belle, the High Boy,
(00:23):
honey, the salt princess, alisonVolk-Dean.
Allison Volk Dean (00:30):
Okay, so we were talking about we had the
legendary Andrew Sinclair, whowants to be called a land speed
learner, not a land speed legend.
But I was saying it's prettylegendary to come all the way
from New Zealand to race at theBonneville Salt Flats and it
takes a lot of work.
But you were telling me youfirst started racing in the
(00:52):
beginning when you started kindof like 18, not with land speed
racing but with some other typesof racing.
So what was that?
Andrew Sinclair (00:58):
Yeah.
So thanks, alison, for givingme this opportunity, and I am a
learner for giving me thisopportunity and I am a learner.
My journey with racing started,obviously with lots of people,
with my dad, and he had raced inthe late 60s and early 70s,
firstly in offshore powerboatracing in New Zealand and then
moved on to circuit racing withan outboard-powered hydroplane.
(01:20):
In actual fact, he was thefirst one to successfully go 100
mile an hour with an outboardin New Zealand.
A guy did it about five minutesbefore him and flipped as he
went through the end of the kilorun.
Um, so dad did it successfully,um, and so, yeah, so so from
that we uh I think I was about,yeah, 18 and you know you're
(01:41):
getting a bit bored and you'resort of playing with cars and
you're and you're doing stuff.
We we built a beach buggy andthen we had another VW car, so
we used to swap engines out andhot them up and went to the drag
strip a couple of times with itand just sort of fun stuff.
Allison Volk Dean (01:55):
Now, when you say beach buggy, what do you
mean by that?
Volt-tweak and power fiberglassbody?
Andrew Sinclair (02:00):
Okay, and so we cut to about and Dad was still
friends with a few of the guyshe'd raced offshore powerboats
with and I sort of come home onenight and said, look, we've got
to do something here.
You know like we're all gettingitchy feet and business was
good at the time.
So yeah, we convinced Dad tobuy a boat and we started
(02:23):
Offshore Powerboat Racingseriously again.
It was about 1983, and we racedreally continually probably the
family for another 10 years.
I went into a boat with Dad,then I had a boat myself, then
my brother got a boat and Dadgot a bigger boat and you know a
(02:45):
bit like land speed, howeveryone gets a car and stuff
Went to the world champs in 88in Sweden, two-liter, and the
European champs on that sametrip, two-liter.
Not my boat, I was crewing foranother guy.
So yeah, we had sort of 10 goodyears as a family and different
.
You know, I was involved in theclub and the committee and that
(03:07):
sort of thing and runningevents and stuff like that.
So we were the 1.3 litre champstwice, the 2 litre champ once
and the 6 litre champ once.
Allison Volk Dean (03:18):
Wow.
Now, what kind of speeds arethose when they're, what kind of
speeds are those when they'reso?
Andrew Sinclair (03:23):
my little 1.3 was a little 65 Yamaha and I
think, I did about 60 mile anhour on a really good day, up to
the six-liter boat, we weredoing just on 100 mile an hour
racing.
Allison Volk Dean (03:38):
Is that drag boat racing?
Andrew Sinclair (03:40):
No, no, this is where you start out in the
ocean and you head off and youmight do three laps for a
100-mile race.
Oh, okay, and the spectatorsnever see you and you're out and
it could be flat, calmconditions, or it could be
20-foot waves, you know sort ofdeal.
Allison Volk Dean (03:53):
Yeah, wow.
Andrew Sinclair (03:55):
So yeah, we used to wreck some gear A bit
like land speed actually.
We used to break a lot ofcomponents.
But then, yeah, had dad hadthat with bigger engines on and
for a couple of years andrunning the, we had the world
champs down in new zealand so wehad a number of american boats
come over um and he run that.
That boat averaged 100 mile anhour in one race so he was
probably running 120 sort ofthing.
(04:15):
So that's the sort of speeds wewere doing.
Allison Volk Dean (04:16):
So, yeah, not like they do now, but um yeah,
but that's still, and it's kindof almost like maybe like racing
, kind of like fit out on thewater type thing.
Andrew Sinclair (04:25):
For sure, I was six foot three before I started
racing.
Oh, that's funny.
Allison Volk Dean (04:33):
And so you guys were doing that like in 88,
you said right, yeah, that'swhen you kind of….
Andrew Sinclair (04:37):
Through to sort of early 90s.
Yeah, I mean what happens withus?
We were in the constructionindustry back home and it's very
up and down, it's so lumpy, andso we sort of go.
We have a few good years, 10good years, and we race and then
the economy turns to custardand we have to just pull our
horns in and just stop and justwork, you know, and to make
(05:00):
enough money again.
So that's sort of how we've runon these cycles.
But of course you have familyas well, you know, when you
start having kids and that sortof stuff, and so it's hard to do
everything at the time.
Oh yeah, so, yeah.
So we didn't actually startback again, so we had a sort of
a 10-year break in early 2000s,about 2002, started getting
itchy feet again, work had comeright, we'd got through all the
(05:29):
bad periods, the GFCs and whathave you, and so, yeah, we went
to Lake Taupo, which is ourbiggest lake in New Zealand, and
actually Mandy's brother wasracing, as my wife and her
brother was racing a car, and soobviously all the cars we run
New Zealand and Australian carswas a smattering of American.
So he was running an XA Falcon.
Oh, sorry, no, that was the XE,sorry, xe Falcon in that time.
(05:54):
And there was an offshorepowerboat race at the lake at
the same time.
So we went down for the weekendand we got right.
Are we going to go back to boatracing or are we going to go
car racing?
Allison Volk Dean (06:06):
Big decisions ?
Yeah, it was actually.
Andrew Sinclair (06:08):
But we went to the lake and they were way short
on numbers and there wasn'tmany big boats there and it was
a bit of a flop.
And we went to the racetrackthe road course, what do you
call them and it was great thenoise, all the V8s and the cars,
the type of cars we loved.
So it was a no-brainer.
So you know, I went out a weeklater and bought a car and
(06:29):
started my car racing journey.
Allison Volk Dean (06:31):
It was 2002.
Now, what did you say?
You call it, and what do wecall it?
Andrew Sinclair (06:34):
We call it just a track and I like to call it a
track, but you call it a roadcourse.
Allison Volk Dean (06:38):
Oh, a road course.
We obviously don't have anyov's in New Zealand.
Yeah, okay, all our tracks areroad courses.
Okay, okay.
So this is like road courseracing and this is like in 2002.
Andrew Sinclair (06:49):
Yep 2002 we started Yep, yep, so yeah.
So I bought a car, sort ofabout six months later my
brother bought a car.
Probably another six monthslater we bought a car for Mandy.
Allison Volk Dean (07:03):
So did you meet Mandy at that race?
Andrew Sinclair (07:05):
No, so the meeting of my wife was we were
powerboat racing and her dad anduncle actually bought an
offshore powerboat Previous tothat.
We didn't find out until afterwe'd met that as little kids we
were down holding our dad'sboats in the water because,
obviously, circuit boats, youlaunch the boats and you sit
(07:25):
there waiting for your next raceto occur.
So we were kids holding ourdad's boats.
You know pretty much at thesame time, if I'm not
interesting.
Intro (07:33):
But, anyway.
Andrew Sinclair (07:34):
so they bought an offshore powerboat and we
were racing offshore then and wemet at Wellington for the first
time at a race.
She'd bussed down to be withher dad and uncle and we were
there and love at first sight.
Allison Volk Dean (07:45):
Two racers yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (07:48):
So, yeah, their family, and obviously you'll
see as the story goes on.
It's really important becauseMandy's family is full into
racing as well.
They'd race cars and boatsprevious to that time as well.
Allison Volk Dean (08:00):
Yeah, and so her brother was there racing a
car, and so you're like okay,alright, so yeah, what are we
going to do?
So we did it and so that's, andthen so her brother was there
racing a car, and then so you'relike, okay, yep, all right, so
so, yeah, what are we gonna do?
Andrew Sinclair (08:06):
so we did it and so we got into it and, yeah,
we sort of jumped in, um, rightinto it and we had a track day
in it with, you know, with twocars in the, in the, in the
trailer, and a big warning thatcame out that we fit five cars
under.
And we had, we had a whole.
At one stage we did have fivecars, which was getting to be
logistically quite a trick.
Allison Volk Dean (08:25):
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (08:26):
Between all the family members.
So yeah, two brothers me, mybrother Mandy and my two
brother-in-laws, so there's fiveof us operating out of it.
Allison Volk Dean (08:34):
And you guys all were driving.
Yes, we were all having cars.
Andrew Sinclair (08:39):
Yeah, we sort of formed about a third of the
class sometimes.
But it was great awesome time.
That sounds like a blast, yeah,but it was great, awesome time.
That sounds like a blast yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (08:44):
Yeah, and what kind of car?
I mean, what were the carsagain that you said?
Andrew Sinclair (08:48):
So yeah, easiest way, like the most
similarity is there was quite afew 69 Mustangs, 69 Camaros at
that time, but we had local cars.
So we had a General Motors.
It was called a Commodore, sowe had a few of those a
four-door sedan running anywherefrom a five-liter to a
six-liter engine, depending onwhat the rules were at the time
(09:10):
and what we could afford, andthat sort of stuff.
And then the Falcon series, theFord Falcons, which were
Australian designed.
So right from XA through to XE,that 70s through to mid-80s.
Allison Volk Dean (09:26):
And is that like the same Commodores and
Falcons that we have here?
No, it would be different, yeah, quite different Okay.
Andrew Sinclair (09:33):
So we have a smallish four-door sedan running
that size engine, so we're amuscle car.
Class is how we define it overthere, which we're still running
now today.
Allison Volk Dean (09:42):
And so how long did you guys do that?
For which?
Andrew Sinclair (09:45):
we're still running now today, yeah, and so
how long did you guys do thatfor?
So we started in 2002 and we'vebeen racing pretty much full on
up until last year, sort ofthing.
Okay, I haven't run theCommodore because in the
meantime I bought a TA2 as well.
Just that's another part of thestory.
So the muscle cars have sort ofsat there in the last 12 months
(10:06):
, sort of thing, but before thenwe've run them.
Allison Volk Dean (10:09):
Okay.
Andrew Sinclair (10:10):
And sometimes two different classes, one based
in Auckland and one based incentral New Zealand.
Allison Volk Dean (10:15):
Okay, and Auckland's a part of New Zealand
as well.
Andrew Sinclair (10:18):
Yeah, Auckland's our biggest city.
Allison Volk Dean (10:19):
Okay yeah, just because Auckland's a city.
Andrew Sinclair (10:22):
Yeah, it's Oakland with an A, not O-A-K.
Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (10:26):
And that's the only other racing that you
guys were doing was, or did yousay there was another type in
there as well?
Andrew Sinclair (10:32):
No, no, just the road course racing Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (10:35):
And then you guys, what got you interested in
land speed racing?
Andrew Sinclair (10:40):
Well, it was probably.
You know, we always knew aboutit because we're petrolheads,
you know, but really it wasprobably the movie you know,
2005, and it was like, wow,we've got to go and see this
place, you know.
Allison Volk Dean (10:57):
And you're talking about the world's
fastest Indian, of course.
Which he was from New.
Zealand.
Andrew Sinclair (11:05):
Funny aside, I've got a couple of little tin
boats, aluminium boats, so we gofishing in and one's called
Burt with an E and he was afamous New Zealand guy, but for
the wrong reasons.
And then the other boat is Burtwith a U for Burt Monroe.
Allison Volk Dean (11:20):
Oh cute.
Andrew Sinclair (11:23):
Standing family joke.
Yeah, for Bette Monroe.
Oh, cute Standing family joke.
So, yeah.
So we first came in 2008 with agroup of guys that we were
racing road course racing with-Just to check it out, check it
out.
It was a trip to, yeah, amotorsport trip.
Allison Volk Dean (11:36):
Like a bucket list trip kind of thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (11:38):
Huge trip.
We drove into Vegas and I thinkwe had Mandy and Lisa's 40th
birthday the night before weflew out, so we had about two
hours sleep that night, and thenwe got on the plane and we
enjoyed ourselves socially allthe way here and all the way to
Vegas.
So by the time we got toWendover I think we'd probably
had about 10 hours sleep inabout four days, but anyway it
(11:59):
was great.
Allison Volk Dean (11:59):
That's a brutal drive too.
Andrew Sinclair (12:01):
Lucky, we were a lot younger then.
So we came up with the guys andwe watched the event and just
you know, for me personally itwas the sound, you know, the
sound of those big cube carscoming at you at 7, 8,000 RPM is
just like wow, I've got to dothis.
So I don't know how I can, butI'm going to try and do this.
Allison Volk Dean (12:22):
So you weren't coming out as like to
check it out, to see how to doit, you were just kind of coming
to check it out, but then itwas like the bug bit you right
away.
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (12:31):
It's funny.
We've got a friend of ours fromdown the middle of the country
and he had this special skill hecould stand on because we were
all RVs, so he would stand ontop of the RV and he would just
get the speed within five milesan hour of every run.
It was just incredible, it wasgreat.
So, yeah, we had a really goodtime, lots of fun and said,
right, we've got to do this.
Allison Volk Dean (12:49):
And this was 2008.
2008.
And did what?
Any cars or anything?
What meet was it that you cameout to?
Was it Speed Week?
Andrew Sinclair (12:56):
Yeah, it was Speed Week.
Allison Volk Dean (12:57):
Okay.
Andrew Sinclair (12:57):
Yep, and I think we did about three or four
days.
You know sort of I can't.
I also remember whether it wasthe start or the or the or the
last bit, or whatever.
Allison Volk Dean (13:06):
Where you're at in the.
Did any cars stand out into youin particular that you can
remember it was cool.
Andrew Sinclair (13:11):
Then it was Got Salt, I think was the was the
the Leicester.
Allison Volk Dean (13:17):
Yeah, that's a great car, yeah yeah.
So that was probably the onethat that stands out for me the
most, and their shirts are great.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, still got it.
Andrew Sinclair (13:25):
Oh, I see, Mandy, she chucks out my good
shirts.
Allison Volk Dean (13:28):
You need to keep them and make quilts out of
them.
You can make those quilts outof them.
No, it's like oh, you'll haveto get Frank to get you a new
one, so the salt one wasn'tgoing on.
That is a great one to standout.
So you get the bug.
And Mandy, you were there atthis event wasn't you?
Andrew Sinclair (13:45):
No, no, it was a boys' trip.
Allison Volk Dean (13:46):
Oh, it was just a boys' trip.
Andrew Sinclair (13:47):
Boys' trip.
Allison Volk Dean (13:47):
Okay, okay, okay.
So you just had celebrated yourguys' birthday.
Andrew Sinclair (13:51):
Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (13:52):
And so you come out and it's like, oh man,
I've got to do this yeah got todo this.
Andrew Sinclair (13:55):
And then, of course, we get home and we're
still cars at the time and, uh,you know, 2008, 2009, 2010 was
shocking.
It was, you know, um theeconomy and back home and so and
so we just had to.
Even even running our roadcourse cars was hard enough and
and we probably dropped, youknow, didn't do full seasons and
(14:17):
stuff like that um, like I said, you know, so, so lumpy our
economy.
Um, and yeah, it wasn't untilsort of about late 2010.
We actually had an Australianmate who has since been out here
with us at Speedweek and wewere drinking red wine one night
at a race meeting and sayswe're going to stop sitting here
(14:37):
just talking about this stuff.
We've got to actually do it,you know.
And so we shook hands andbecause when we shake hands on
something, it's got to be done,no matter how, when or why.
Allison Volk Dean (14:47):
That's the legendary part of it.
Right there, you guys, youexecuted it.
Andrew Sinclair (14:53):
Yeah, shook hands with Paul Stubber, and so
we started right and he said,look, I've got a and there'll be
some Australian terms here aone tonne, which is a pickup a
small pickup, quite a robustlittle truck.
He's got one of those.
He's got a HQ Monaro sittingthere, he can make up all it.
He had a whole lot of SB2.
(15:13):
He was one of the first ones torun SB2s in New Zealand in our
class, and so he had a whole lotof those spare laying around
and he said I'm going to buildup this car, what are you going
to do?
And I said, oh, I love myMopars, I'm a Mopar guy.
So what do we have in NewZealand that fits the bill?
And so we only have.
Back in the 70s they wouldbring in in kit sets Valiant
(15:37):
Chargers into New ZealandChrysler and they were
assembling them in Wellingtonand then selling them into New
Zealand as a family car.
So I said, well, that's got tobe one of those, you see.
So that was how the decisionwas made to get a Valiant
Charger and stick a Hemi in it.
Allison Volk Dean (15:55):
Okay, so now you weren't looking at classes,
you were just looking at carsmore, and then how to fit it
into.
You fit it into class later.
Andrew Sinclair (16:02):
That's right, it was probably completely back
to front, I mean if I was smart.
Intro (16:06):
I should have looked at records and started working
backwards, but we're not thatsmart.
Andrew Sinclair (16:11):
So, yeah, we wanted something a cool car, you
know and something thatreflected New Zealand and
something that had some historyin New Zealand and stuff like
that.
So that's where we started.
Allison Volk Dean (16:20):
Okay, and your Australian friend is Paul.
Andrew Sinclair (16:23):
Paul Stubber yeah, and that's who came out.
Yes, the Speedway yeah, withthe rat rod, he finally got it
done.
He finally got it on the tracktoo.
Allison Volk Dean (16:32):
Yeah, it was a fun car.
Yeah, okay, so you got theCharger and then what did?
So?
You decided to build that or torestore that or buy it.
Yeah, yeah, you already haveone.
Andrew Sinclair (16:44):
Yeah, we started hunting and I knew what
we were going to do.
Our initial thought was this isthe whole rookie thing.
Right, let's just build the carand then, when I'm finished
land speed racing, we can turnit back into a road course car.
Allison Volk Dean (16:58):
So that's how the journey started.
Now he's over here justlaughing.
Andrew Sinclair (17:02):
Yeah, it morphed it definitely did morph.
So, yeah, and I didn't want todo that to really because
they're quite valuable back homenow, you know, like any classic
car is, and so I really didn'twant to do it to something nice.
I thought that would just besacrilege.
So we hunted around forsomething, ended up getting one
for 1500 New Zealand dollars,which is about you know, 800
(17:23):
American at a barn in Taupo.
That had been, someone hadattacked it with all sorts of
things, there was rats living init.
It was.
Yeah, it was.
It was the perfect startingpoint.
Yeah, just except for thebodywork.
They were.
They were made at the time.
Yeah, just except for thebodywork.
They were made at the time.
They came out originally with aSlant 6.
And so to get them to becompetitive for racing in New
Zealand back in the day inproduction racing, they were
(17:45):
very light.
They were a really light car.
So you know better on tyres andbetter on fuel and stuff like
that for the long distance races.
So they were quite thin.
Intro (17:54):
So they didn't age at all .
Well, oh yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (17:56):
So they were quite thin, so they didn't age
at all well, oh yeah, so gettingguards and stuff like that was
a real problem, but anyway, wemanaged it.
Allison Volk Dean (18:03):
Yeah, and then you decided to pick a class
from there.
Andrew Sinclair (18:07):
Yeah, that was really difficult actually.
We sat around with the rulebook for lots and lots of times
and when you first start reading, it was all the different
categories and everything likethat.
The first thing, like cool,it's got to have a Hemi and want
to be 500.
So okay, let's put it justunder the 500.
And so, okay, it's going to bean A car.
Then it's going to right whatare we doing for chassis?
(18:29):
And we did kick around that forages and ages to look at it.
And when I tell people whatclass I'm in, they go oh boy,
you've really jumped in there,haven't you?
Allison Volk Dean (18:40):
Yeah, well, I didn't know what I didn't know
did.
I no, and so what class did youpick?
Andrew Sinclair (18:46):
So we're classic blown fuel altered.
Yeah, that's tough, but ofcourse we know there's a really
good car in that class.
That's set a lot of records too.
Allison Volk Dean (18:58):
And good car in that class that set a lot of
records too.
Andrew Sinclair (18:59):
So uh, and you're running a a yeah, okay,
yeah, and who?
Who is it that you?
It's, the beast has got well,the beast is like he's got all
the el mirage records.
Yeah, yeah, like it.
Yeah, yeah so the less.
Allison Volk Dean (19:08):
Less like it, not the not the photographer
leslie like it yeah yeah, okay,so, yeah, so Leslie Leggett and
right, yeah, that's a solid yeah, that's fast car record.
Andrew Sinclair (19:23):
So yeah, so we started building it okay, well,
how did the build go?
so that was so obviously MikeAnderson pick in the
conversation.
He'd built.
He'd been over in Americaworking IndyCar teams and then
Le Mans prototype teams cameback to New Zealand to raise his
family and he was actuallyworking for a guy I know in
(19:45):
terms of the local, our localtouring car scene and he'd built
a couple, three cars for him,was running his team and then he
went out on his own.
So his first job when he wenton his own after I'd met him,
was my first car that I gotbuilt for road course racing.
Up until then we just boughtother people's cars and raced
them.
So yeah, so Bic built thatfirst Commodore for me and then
(20:07):
over time he built quite a fewother cars you know hot rods and
stuff like that for us and thenwe're, you know, crew chief the
car at race meetings.
So yeah, so it was him.
I mean, he went to Taupo andpicked the car up and started
cutting it up straight away.
So yeah he was the one who hasdriven the whole fabrication and
(20:29):
build of the car.
Allison Volk Dean (20:31):
And you were working with him when you were
like picking the class, yeah,together.
Andrew Sinclair (20:34):
Yeah, together.
Allison Volk Dean (20:35):
Yeah, yeah, you guys were kind of like
looking over it, okay, and thenum, and is he your?
Is he your engine guy too, ishe?
Andrew Sinclair (20:43):
yeah, yeah, so he builds the engine, yeah,
being with us since, yeah,basically we started at 2002,
right?
Allison Volk Dean (20:48):
right on road course racing, right, right.
Oh, so he's yeah, yeah stillhere now getting old and great,
like the rest of us, so wasthere any real big hang-ups in
the build of it?
Andrew Sinclair (21:00):
He probably only tells me 10% of what I need
to do.
It's probably, some of thosetimes, better that I concentrate
at work, because you know likeI say we go through highs and
lows in the economy.
Allison Volk Dean (21:11):
Yeah, you're focused on it.
Andrew Sinclair (21:12):
I've got to keep funding it and, to be fair,
I'm really good at pullingstuff apart.
I'm not so good at putting itback together.
So I used to go down there onweekends and stuff and he'd have
a list of I call them numbnutsjobs like clean this, take this
off, that sort of stuff.
(21:32):
So I never really got anythingtoo technical to do.
Yeah, but that's okay with me,because you know you've all got
strengths and weaknesses andI'll stick to mine, that's right
?
Allison Volk Dean (21:41):
Yeah, I think , knowing your place, is a good
thing sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, so this is 2008,and then?
Andrew Sinclair (21:52):
Yeah, it was 15 when we started building 2015.
Allison Volk Dean (21:54):
Okay, yeah, 2008 was when you first came out
, so 2015 is when you firststarted, and then you make your
first trip out to Bonnevillewith the car.
Andrew Sinclair (22:03):
Also in between times, I think we'd I'm just
trying to remember we came outin 12, I think as well.
We came out for a look, andthen we came 17, 18, and 19.
Allison Volk Dean (22:12):
Oh, so you guys had been coming out, okay.
Andrew Sinclair (22:14):
Yeah, but that was like one trip was at the
start of the event, our firstthree or four days, you know, to
see what the scrutineering wasor the tech was like see what
the briefings were like and justtrying to learn.
And then another event we cameright at the end to see what
happens at the end yeah.
Because we were building the car, but we were also making
decisions about things andlogistics as well, obviously a
(22:37):
big part of it.
So that was a whole learningthing, obviously walking around
talking to people, taking photosof cars and little things, what
you can and can't do which hasbeen an interesting journey as
well.
Allison Volk Dean (22:48):
Which makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, yeah, it's not like youare just, you know, coming down
the road and you know fromCalifornia, or even from you
know anywhere in the States,because you, yeah, you need to
know all the details before youget over here.
Andrew Sinclair (23:04):
We saw, you know, just in the movie how hard
it was for Bert.
You know like just coming infresh and cold and all that sort
of stuff and not knowing allthe stuff.
So it's like, well, let's tryand minimize, we're going to
make mistakes for sure, let'sjust try and minimize.
Allison Volk Dean (23:16):
We're going to make mistakes, for sure.
Let's just try and minimize,minimize them.
Andrew Sinclair (23:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, yeah.
So those were those three tripsand in 19, we had the car.
We tested the car.
It wasn't painted or anythinglike that, but we tested it at a
local airstrip and I had about10 little.
I had a lower set of diff gearsin, just so I could.
I didn't need a push truck, um,I didn't have my parachutes on
or anything like that, so it wasjust sort of a 400 yard run and
then and then slow down and um,about first, I mean, it's the
(23:42):
most powerful car I've everdriven in my life, you know so
the first half a dozen runs ismy eyes were as big as dinner
plates you know, yeah, I had theshakes and yeah, it was like
wow, but by about run numbereight or nine, you know, just a
just a little short little run,I was like wow, this thing wants
to go.
I just want to pull anothergear.
It was such a cool feelingAbout run number 10, we broke
the quick change.
(24:03):
But you know, in fairness, itwas how we bought the
componentry, you know, like thestuff, like the diff, and that
we'd bought it in 2015 when wefirst started.
So you know, technology hadmoved on to 19.
And so we found out, yeah,there's an upgraded shaft, you
know, for the quick change.
So we put that in and then wetook the car back, stripped it
(24:26):
all back down again, got it allfinal painted In 2020,.
We had a launch of the car, hada whole lot of people around,
we had everything booked.
We had 70 supporters comingwith us big supporters club it
was huge had a travel agent justabout full time on all the
people.
Allison Volk Dean (24:43):
You had 70 supporters coming with you to
the Salt Flats in 2020 oh mygosh.
Andrew Sinclair (24:50):
So we had our big launch and it was about mid,
early February, I think youknow, and the world was a great
place and we were all excitedand it was all going to happen,
oh yeah, and then kaboom yeah,yeah, shoot March 2020,.
The whole world changed.
Allison Volk Dean (25:06):
Yeah, yeah, shoot, Wow.
So it got put on hold for ayear or two.
Three yeah three.
Andrew Sinclair (25:14):
Which is sort of going back, that's.
I bought the.
You know we went later travelor anything like that, and so
it's like what are we going todo?
So I ended up buying a TA2,which is a class it's a Howe
chassis from USA here, astandard class that's run all
around the world, basicallypretty much.
So I bought one of those justas an interim measure, which is
(25:36):
why I stopped the muscle carracing as well.
So, but yeah, so we had to justsit there on our laurels for a
couple of three years.
Allison Volk Dean (25:46):
And so what was it that you bought?
I'm sorry, you said.
Andrew Sinclair (25:48):
It's called a TA2.
So you have them here, theyrace them.
So ours is a Howe chassis,which in New Zealand we only
have.
Howe there's about.
I think you have five chassismanufacturers in the US who make
the standard chassis for theclass.
Allison Volk Dean (26:04):
But they raced all over the world.
So it's just a different typeof racing then.
No road course still, it'sstill road course, just a
different type of car.
Andrew Sinclair (26:09):
So it looks like a sort of a current NASCAR
sort of in terms of shape, butit's got a four-speed dog box, a
winter quick change and we'reall running the same LS engines
and yeah, so it's a standard.
It's in Europe and Asia andAmerica and Australia and New
Zealand.
Allison Volk Dean (26:25):
So you kept yourself busy.
Yeah, yeah, kept my hand in ineffect?
Andrew Sinclair (26:28):
Well, I didn't.
At the time, none of us knewthat we'd ever be travelling
again Right right, becauseobviously we're a tiny little
nation at the bottom of theSouth Pacific, we basically have
to fly everywhere we go, soairports were a major problem.
So yeah anyway.
So we were sitting there readyto go and we got to 2023, we
were allowed to travel again, soeverything was ready.
(26:49):
So here we come, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (26:52):
Darn it.
So you come out to Bonnevillein 2023.
But before, oh, and is thisokay?
So you come, but is this whenyou met everybody in 2023?
Yeah, okay, I want to hearabout that, though, really
quickly.
Okay, in 17.
Andrew Sinclair (27:07):
So, yeah, we've jumped past that.
Yeah, that's all right.
Allison Volk Dean (27:09):
We can go back, so that's quite a good
story too, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (27:11):
So in 2017, we were here and I'd been walking
the pits all day and you knowwhat it's like when you're and
probably dumb Kiwi I wasprobably in flip-flops and I was
knackered.
I was really tired at the endof the day and Mandy had been
over to the Save the Salttrailer and she'd talked to this
(27:32):
lady at the Save the Salttrailer and had convinced her to
come to the gala.
Obviously, it was the Wednesdayof Speed Week, the two-club
dinner.
So she's come back to me andsaid oh, we're going to this
Gala makes it sound way toofancy Okay.
Yeah, so we're coming to thegala.
I said, no, we're not.
No, no, I'm not in the two-club.
I haven't done anything yet,I'm not going.
And you know what happens whena husband and wife have a
(27:55):
disagreement the husband ends uplosing.
Allison Volk Dean (27:59):
I got these tickets.
We are going, we are going.
Andrew Sinclair (28:02):
Okay.
So I was actually sort ofembarrassed, you know, because
just to go there when I don'tdeserve to be there, sort of
deal, anyway.
So we walk in the door at theNugget there, and then I go well
, what does this lady look like?
And Mandy goes oh, I can'treally remember.
Well, next thing, this person'sup at the very front of the
(28:23):
room waving her arms around yousee and it was Mel Nish and it
was like, oh yeah, okay that'sher, yeah, that's her.
So we go over and that was ourintroduction to the Nish family.
Allison Volk Dean (28:34):
Aren't you glad you listened to Mandy?
Absolutely, she was 100%correct.
Andrew Sinclair (28:39):
I will put my hand up now and say it's been
the most amazing meeting andmeeting of a wonderful group of
people that we've ever had inour lives.
Allison Volk Dean (28:48):
Yeah, and I think with the two club, I've
heard multiple people say thatlike, oh, I don't deserve to go,
and it's really what it is isto recognize the new two club
members.
That's all that event is reallyfor.
It's not even I mean, it's alittle bit about the current
members, but it's just torecognize new members.
(29:09):
I think it's great for peoplewho are interested in racing or
yeah, who want to go or you knowlike are interested in becoming
members of the Tube Club, to gosee it and see how it is.
Andrew Sinclair (29:20):
For sure.
And the other thing, I findthat the history of it too,
though, the guys standing aroundand women in that room who have
achieved so much, you know, andtheir household names in
motorsport componentry and thatsort of stuff, and you just have
access to them, just standingright there and you can.
Yeah, it's great.
So yeah.
So that was our very firstmeeting and obviously you know
(29:43):
Larry I don't think you were atthe head table then, but Larry
was at the head table so yeah.
So, along with the Nushas, wemet the Valks, and it's just
snowballed from there.
It's been an incredible journey.
Allison Volk Dean (29:55):
Oh, that's so fun, cool.
Yes, so yeah.
No, in 2017, I wouldn't havebeen.
I was kind of partially helpingrun.
I was probably running the clubat the time, like me and Angie
were kind of sharing duties andI would have been in charge of
that event at that year, so Iwas probably busy running around
(30:18):
.
Yes, um, okay, so that.
So you meet Mel and and so in20 and and Jeff and and they,
they.
That's been helpful to knowthem in terms of when you, you
know, just logistically settingHelpful will be the biggest
understatement in the world.
Andrew Sinclair (30:38):
I can't imagine having done what we have done
without the help of the niches,especially in the Volks.
You know it's been it's justbeen an incredible journey with
the family group and yeah, wetalked about it the other day
the boys and just imagine if wedidn't have the shop and we
didn't have that and we didn'thave that and we didn't know
(30:59):
that and we didn't know that.
Allison Volk Dean (31:01):
Yeah, you guys, you got a lot of knowledge
just in how things operatethere.
So, okay, so 2023, it comesaround and you guys have it, and
, of course, then we get toSpeed Week.
So 2023,.
Andrew Sinclair (31:16):
We decided and Jeff said look, speed Week's a
really big event.
You know, the salt has been abit of a feed.
Why don't you come for World ofSpeed and World Finals?
Let's do that one.
So I listened to him, and so we.
Allison Volk Dean (31:29):
so we came over and and that's right,
because we did have a little bitof a, but you were here, right?
No, we went for a speed week.
Andrew Sinclair (31:36):
No, we know we flew just a few days before okay
, wheel to speed.
Yeah, well, actually.
And so we're sitting at home.
I think we had our bags packed,ready to go.
The crew had already left.
They were up and doing a littlebit of touristy stuff in denver
.
Get the call from Jeff.
It's cancelled.
Oh man, what are we going to do?
Like the car was already heresitting in the niche car park,
(32:00):
the container, what are we goingto do?
So it's like, oh, we've justgot to do it, yeah, we've just
got to come.
So we came and did touriststuff, obviously, went out and
stood at knee-deep water at theend of the road and stuff like
that, and you know such is life,Stared off into the distance
Like so close?
So then we did touristy stufffor a few weeks and, to be fair,
(32:23):
that's been a really cool partof what we've done.
You know, we've gone north,south west and, and, um and done
some really fun things.
I mean, I'd obviously muchrather be racing at the salt,
but um, we've, we've, we've seenparts of this part of america
that we absolutely love.
You know, it's been such a lotof fun and we really love small
town america and and the and thedifferent sites we can see so
(32:45):
yeah so yeah, so that's that was.
That was a lot of fun.
And then, so obviously, thesalt started drying out, and
then we all started getting keenin between you know, and we
actually snuck the car out for aphoto shoot on a trailer and
just did photos and stuff likethat and it was starting to look
good.
You know, the boys were allthere ringing up.
(33:06):
So right, get the streamlinerready.
It's actually it's coming.
Good, you know.
And where were we?
We were in.
Were we in Tahoe?
In between, we were ready tocome back for world finals and
guess what?
Allison Volk Dean (33:18):
Right right again.
Andrew Sinclair (33:20):
It's cancelled again, so it's like yeah, yeah,
Anyway but on the positive sideof that we got to do the tourist
things and also got to practicethe logistics side of stuff and
learning.
And there was no pressure ofthe racing because I know what
the pressure of racing addedthis year.
Allison Volk Dean (33:39):
Oh yeah, Just logistically getting it here,
getting it to.
Because you use the there's ashop.
You just have a shop that youget access to.
There's a shop.
The niches have a shop that youget access to.
Andrew Sinclair (33:50):
So we built a 40 foot container because
obviously my planning back in 15is we wanted to come here but
also go to Lake Gardiner, whichis obviously a whole lot closer
to where we live but probablytwice as hard logistically to
get to, and there's nothingthere.
So we wanted to be completelyself-sufficient.
So I didn't want to get to year8 or 10 of doing this racing
(34:11):
and go, gee, I wish I had abetter shade, or gee, I wish I
had a better system for doingthat.
So, um, we sort of went in atthe front end.
So, yeah, so I'm set up in the40 foot container.
It's got a kitchen in the front,oh it's rad, the container's
rad works really well, you knowum, and obviously decent canopy
to go under and all that sort ofstuff.
Allison Volk Dean (34:31):
Oh, a canopy that can handle a microburst at
the salt flats, which isimpressive, yeah it was.
Andrew Sinclair (34:35):
Actually there was plenty of easy ups who were
destroyed and the canopy wasstill there, so it was really
good.
So yeah, so that's you know.
The logistics of getting thatinto Nish's and Andy and Jeff
have been great, you know.
Letting me just put thecontainer in Andy's car park
which he continually reminds meabout.
(34:57):
So yeah, so that was a goodlearning curve for us in 23,
even though it was frustrating.
Allison Volk Dean (35:02):
Yeah yeah, okay.
And then that leads us up tothis year 2024.
Andrew Sinclair (35:06):
Yeah, wow, what a year eh, did you guys?
Allison Volk Dean (35:08):
go back and make any changes or anything, or
just kind of like left it.
Andrew Sinclair (35:14):
Oh yeah, we had a few.
Well, you know, we thought we'dpickled the motor properly and
stuff like that and we thoughtwe'd protected it.
But the salt is its own thing,isn't it?
So we had a little bit ofengine damage from salt and
stuff.
Mandy's writing me a note here.
Allison Volk Dean (35:37):
You can just say it, Mandy.
Andrew Sinclair (35:39):
Actually no, the other thing was, yeah, the
Nish has put on a barbecue andevents, and so two of the
biggest things on the car sideof things was we had one night
or actually BJ was there, so BJBirkdahl a couple of nights, and
then we had Tom Birkland thereone night as well.
Come in and just stand aroundthe car and just talk about
(36:01):
stuff and talk about minimumsand rules.
Allison Volk Dean (36:07):
Oh, like explain it to you guys, kind of.
Andrew Sinclair (36:09):
Yeah, well, for me it was just like look, you
know, here's the, here's theclass record, here's what the
fastest car in your chassisclass has done.
Here's, here's probably whereit's heading.
If I was going to go that fastin that car, this is what I
would do, and so.
So between, at separate times,basically both of basically both
(36:29):
of them came up with the samesafety additions that they would
make Well in excess of the rulebook, but when they explained
stuff to us it was a no-brainer.
So, yeah, we did go back andmake a number of changes.
Safety related to the car.
Allison Volk Dean (36:48):
Yeah, that was a fun barbecue too.
That was great.
Yeah, that was a fun barbecuetoo.
That was great.
Yeah, it was good yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (36:54):
Another example of the hospitality and the
welcomeness of the niches?
Allison Volk Dean (36:59):
Yeah, they're great people.
So you made a few changes thatway.
So what changes did you make?
Andrew Sinclair (37:05):
So probably the major one was we put some and
that was probably from BJ afterLisa Celio's crash, you know.
Oh yeah, that we put some bigskid plates up under the front
of the car in the air dam.
So if we did lose a tyre or geta flat tyre or whatever debris
the tyre goes flat the car wouldactually just drop down onto a
(37:28):
couple of skid plates and notthe rim.
They were built so the rimwouldn't dig in.
Okay, yeah, so that was quite achange to the front of the car.
Allison Volk Dean (37:39):
We made a big so the rim wouldn't dig into
the tyre.
Andrew Sinclair (37:42):
No, the rim wouldn't dig into the salt.
So it would actually it wouldsledge Like a sledge rather than
actually digging in and tippingit over.
Okay, gotcha, that was majorand then a big scatter shield
around the supercharger.
So if we did lose asupercharger it wouldn't take
out all the fuel system andeverything.
A few other more minor changesto how the window net worked and
(38:06):
stuff like that.
But everything takes time andmoney, so yeah.
So Bic worked away on the carand we brought it back with
those changes.
Allison Volk Dean (38:15):
Okay, and so you bring it out here for 2024.
And how long does it take forit to get over here from the
container?
Andrew Sinclair (38:24):
It's three weeks on the ship, so all the
ones that come out of NewZealand run up to Seattle first
and then back down to Oakland.
Okay, okay, so you come out ofSeattle when you get here no it
gets unloaded at Oakland andthen it gets driven across, not
in Oakland, california.
Sorry, it's the O and the A.
Allison Volk Dean (38:42):
So it goes to Oakland and then you have
somebody pick it up and bring ithere.
Okay, so three weeks and a fewdays.
Andrew Sinclair (38:49):
Yep, yep.
And two day touch wood, thecustom cider thing, and all
that's been fine, so it's workedreally well.
So, yeah, a day and a half sortof across to here, and then we
get to have a lovely local mancalled George Montgomery who
picks it up for us on a slidetrailer and brings it to the
race shop.
Allison Volk Dean (39:08):
Yeah, so, and then he brings it from Seattle
or from Oakland.
Andrew Sinclair (39:12):
No, Intermountain brings it from
Oakland to Salt.
Lake City, and then George getsit and brings it to the race
shop.
Oh, and George brings it fromSalt Lake City to the salt, and
then salt back to Salt Lake Cityin between, Okay and then.
Allison Volk Dean (39:25):
So that's kind of the logistics of how you
get it back and forth and then.
And so how soon do you guys getout here before the races?
Andrew Sinclair (39:34):
So we're normally here a couple of three
days um you know, before theraces.
So it sort of takes us a coupleof days.
Well, the first, obviously,when we get it shipped over.
It's just got no fluids in itwhatsoever, so you know oil,
water, anything.
So probably the very first time, when later it's probably more
of a three-day exercise to becompletely ready, and when we
(39:56):
break it down at this end thatwe've just done, it's probably
another three-day exercise, butthe ones in between when we're
just running back and forth tothe salt, it's probably only two
days of clean.
Obviously there's a day ofcleaning chucked in, there,
isn't there and you guys like itclean.
Allison Volk Dean (40:14):
That's been amazing, very impressive.
Andrew Sinclair (40:15):
Yeah, no matter how much we clean it, we pull
it out and do something with it.
And there's some more.
There's some more salt.
The salt grows, yeah, I reckon.
Allison Volk Dean (40:24):
So you guys get to the salt.
What was going through?
Tech like the first time.
Andrew Sinclair (40:32):
That was pretty good actually.
I mean, obviously we were lucky.
We had, during the build of thecar, we had Kiwi Steve, whose
parents lived in Napier, whichis basically halfway down the
country, and he'd fly intoAuckland to see his parents and
actually on the way past he'dcall into Bic's race shop where
he was building the car him tosee his parents and actually on
the way past he'd call him toBic's race shop where he was
building the car.
(40:53):
So he could just show him whatwe're doing and how we're doing
it.
So there was a top official whoknew a lot about the car.
Allison Volk Dean (41:02):
That's nice.
Andrew Sinclair (41:03):
Bob Ellis was at the time living in Cambridge
and he'd pop over a couple oftimes as well, so we could also
get somebody to look at it andsay, well, I think you probably
should do this or that orwhatever.
So that whole process wasunderstood by people in the CTA.
Allison Volk Dean (41:19):
That's really nice.
Yeah, lucky.
Andrew Sinclair (41:23):
So no, tech was fine.
It was good Nerve-wrackingobviously because you've got
people looking at it, probablymore for BIC than me.
Me, because my answer would beoh gee, I don't know ask Bic.
Where's such and such.
But Bic was good, he in thefinal assembly took a whole lot
of photos, so he's got a file oftech photos basically.
(41:45):
So you can't see it now becausethe seat's in the way or
whatever, but here's a pictureof it, you know.
So the tech guys can beconfident that it is in the car
and has been done.
Allison Volk Dean (41:56):
Yeah, okay Well, did anything kind of
surprise you about any of it?
Andrew Sinclair (42:03):
Or was there anything that was….
Do we get into controversy or?
Allison Volk Dean (42:06):
not Well, you drive first before you get into
controversy, right?
Do you set a record before youget into controversy?
Or not set a record, butqualify.
Andrew Sinclair (42:15):
Qualify.
The controversy was obviouslyour rear spillplates during tech
.
Allison Volk Dean (42:22):
Oh, this is during tech During tech.
Andrew Sinclair (42:23):
Yeah, they looked at them and they ummed
and they ahed and Bic stoodthere with the rule book with
them and obviously all thesetimes you know, we think we're
right and they think hard andBic stood there with the rule
book with them and obviously allthese times we think we're
right and they think they'reright.
But we passed tech and wentthrough, and this is the rookie
learning thing about how thisprocess works.
(42:44):
You know, like we don't knowwhat we don't know, so we just
carried on as we were.
Allison Volk Dean (42:50):
But tech's kind of just there to make sure
you're safe more than so theysay more than anything it gives.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah butthat's okay.
Andrew Sinclair (43:00):
You know, like I, I this journey, I I want to
get to a point where I can saythat I've been through every,
every single life experience outthere that we have you know and
have to do it.
I don't want to have anythinggiven to me for free.
So this was just part of thatjourney.
So, yeah, did my licenses.
That was another learning.
(43:21):
I have a GPS Speedo which hadbeen working absolutely
perfectly, and so my very firstlicense went out and the Speedo
stopped working.
So because we hadn't I hadn'tsat there and I knew
approximately what my RPM shouldbe.
You know the first.
You know the D license 150,.
I was about five grand, youknow in third gear.
So you know I did about that andI was coming one mile an hour
(43:45):
over.
So but lucky Dallas, yourbrother, who's been our
fantastic push truck driver he'samazing he came with me and we
had a talk to Nick and I dideverything else right.
You know, I pulled the chutethe right time, turned out the
right way and everything else.
So Nick sort of looked at meand frowned at me and says, all
right, well, don't do it again.
(44:05):
So yeah, the licensing runswere all good, yeah, without any
drama.
I guess the only drama for uswas the queues.
You know the amount ofcompetitors and that very first
one.
Allison Volk Dean (44:19):
The lines is what he meant yeah, sorry, no,
no, you can say queues.
I'm just clarifying.
Yeah, kiwi talk.
Andrew Sinclair (44:25):
Yeah, especially that first one.
It was a bit of a mix-up at thestart line and there was about
three or four of us who actuallygot put in our gear and put in
the car and we were sitting inthere for like three-quarters of
an hour and my cool suit hadstopped working Another salt
gremlin, which we've fixed since, but man, it was hot, I mean
we've— it was extremely hot.
(44:46):
Yeah, yeah, Talking for us, theCelsius at 47 degrees.
I've never been anywhere nearthat in my life.
Oh, really, and for sitting in acar.
It's an hour in the suit andthe helmet oh yeah, it's
miserable.
Allison Volk Dean (44:59):
I was just about done, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (45:03):
And, as we saw through the week, you know, even
when locals start falling overfrom heat stress you know it's
hot, it was very hot.
That was the single type of thecar was.
It was fine, you know, but justthe heat and the lines.
So, anyway, it's another partof that journey of having to
experience every single part ofwhat's going on.
So, yeah, so we got throughthat and then we started sort of
(45:27):
you know, giddy up which itsays on the back of the car,
started getting into it a bitmore and then we started sort of
you know giddy up which it sayson the back of the car started
getting into it a bit more.
That's true, and yeah.
So then well, let's have a lookat my note here.
We went 240 for my A licenceand then on the AA licence I
qualified as well, so intoimpound.
Allison Volk Dean (45:45):
Oh, you qualified, and what's the record
on that?
Andrew Sinclair (45:47):
So the record we're chasing is 249.
249.
Allison Volk Dean (45:50):
I think 0.192 by memory Okay, and so you
qualify at 250, okay.
Andrew Sinclair (45:56):
Yep 251,.
I think on that one, oh 251,okay, yep, for your AA.
Yep, and so into impound forthe first time.
Allison Volk Dean (46:07):
And that's where that little controversy
about the rear spill platescomes.
That's where people questionyou.
Andrew Sinclair (46:10):
Yeah, it comes back into play so you know, we
still believed we were correct,but the officials had another
view.
So that's fine, that's how thecookie crumbles.
So the boys?
So we took it out of impound,so back out of impound Back out
of impound back under the coverand the boys did an amazing job
of a Kiwi number eight wirebodgy job on the wing.
(46:30):
It didn't look as good as itcould because obviously we had
quite a gap between the rearwing and the spool plates now.
But anyway, that's how it had tobe, went back out the next
morning and qualified againfaster.
Intro (46:43):
So it was good.
Andrew Sinclair (46:44):
It was good.
I think that was partially theattitude of the driver.
Maybe I don't know.
So, yeah, back into impoundagain for the second time.
So we were probably lookingback.
Allison Volk Dean (46:56):
I probably didn't appreciate and not the
last.
Intro (46:58):
Yeah not the last either.
Andrew Sinclair (47:01):
What a great achievement that was.
You know, when you're in themiddle of it, it's man, it's the
hardest place.
Temperature, adrenaline.
You know it's suckingeverything out of you completely
.
Allison Volk Dean (47:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (47:16):
So yeah, friday we went for a record run and
there's probably three or fourreasons, but I just didn't go as
quick.
I'd been running on course twothe whole time over to course
one for the Friday and it was abit rutted and I saw it.
I saw the state of the trackahead of me and probably wasn't
(47:38):
rolling onto the throttle aswell as I should have been
because I was seeing what wasahead of me.
But the car actually wentthrough it really nicely.
So in hindsight if I'd haveprobably turned around and done
it again, I would have gonebetter.
But anyway, shoulda, woulda,coulda.
Allison Volk Dean (47:51):
Yeah, and you're learning.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,linespeed learner, yeah, exactly
.
Andrew Sinclair (47:56):
You got it so yeah, so that was Speed Week.
Allison Volk Dean (47:59):
Yeah, so you qualified twice, but you didn't.
The first time you got kickedout of impound and then the
second time you just didn't getit quite back it up.
Yep, so, and those lines are solong you just couldn't get in
at least.
Andrew Sinclair (48:12):
Well, that was a Friday and I think we were
probably spent yeah, yeah, wewere done by the time you got.
Allison Volk Dean (48:18):
Yeah, yeah, so you didn't get Okay, so now
you yeah, that you do.
Andrew Sinclair (48:25):
You just are kind of like and then you know,
Right, well, it was that, and mycrew had been out in those
conditions for that period oftime and I just couldn't
physically hardly do it myself,let alone make it.
Allison Volk Dean (48:35):
At the end of that minute, you couldn't even
think anymore, you just couldn'teven.
Andrew Sinclair (48:38):
You were just like done.
Intro (48:39):
Yeah toast.
Allison Volk Dean (48:40):
Yeah, okay, so you guys go and you guys fly
back to New Zealand.
Andrew Sinclair (48:49):
Yep, yep.
So we flew back home a coupleof weeks of work and then we
flew back for World of Speed.
Okay, by then we had a fewlittle changes to the car that
Bic had been obviously all night.
He thinks about it and what hecan do and a few little tweaks
and all that sort of stuff.
So we played with the car alittle bit again and came out at
World of Speed.
And it was.
(49:10):
You know, the car was good.
It's funny you start doingthings without realizing the
impact on other things.
You know, and so we were makingthe car better in one way, but
what we didn't know was that wewere probably affecting it
another way.
Allison Volk Dean (49:28):
You, because a vh 1972 valiant charger never
been 250 miles an hour oh yeah,ever so, yeah, oh, that's so,
yeah, yeah, oh, that's cool, Ididn't yeah really cool, okay,
so, uh, so you, you guys arekind of tweaking it and playing
with it, seeing how it changesthings.
Yeah, you never know where itchanges one thing.
It's all kind of connected, yepyep, so so I didn't.
Andrew Sinclair (49:51):
So the first run in world of speed, um, we,
we were just under, we're 246,but you know I was okay, right,
oh so we, you know, we got afour-day event.
We're, we're good to go.
Uh, and because we obviouslyhad those timing, the timing
light issues with the, with thatevent yeah so yeah, so there
was big queues again, so we onlyreally got one run per day and
(50:12):
went out the next day andqualified again.
So back into impound and Ithought, oh, we're getting
pretty good at this impoundthing.
The boys got organised prettyquickly and I sort of, you know,
been looking at the data and Iknew sort of what I had to do in
terms of what my improvementswere required.
So, yeah, went out the nextmorning and got into it hard
(50:36):
because Larry Lawson, you knowthe crew chief from Royal Purple
Streamliner, he calls mePussyfoot Come on Pussyfoot.
Intro (50:44):
What are you doing?
Andrew Sinclair (50:46):
So I got into it pretty hard and knowing too
that you know five mile an hourat the first gear change is five
mile an hour all the waythrough, just about you know
it's hard to get it back, so Igot into it hard, First to
second shift.
Kaboom turned my driveshaftinto a pretzel.
Larry, look what you made me do.
(51:09):
Yeah, so that was gutting, butsuch is life.
We've broken lots of stuff inour motorsport careers, so it
was just another piece of thecomponentry to break.
Allison Volk Dean (51:20):
Okay, and that was World of Speed.
You guys got that, gosh.
That just seems like that wasjust yesterday that that
happened, so you guys got that.
All yeah, so we got it fixed.
Andrew Sinclair (51:28):
I mean we had to get in line because lots of
other people had brokendrivetrain componentry on that
event too.
So that's sort of telling yousomething.
The grip was really good andeverything.
So, yeah, back all the partsand the universals and stuff.
And in hindsight, when welooked at it too, we'd hurt the
rear output shaft of the gearbox.
So we couldn't.
(51:53):
Even if we'd had got anotherdrive shaft somewhere, we
wouldn't have been able to runagain because that gearbox had
to come out and new output shaftand stuff like that.
But anyway, so Cease at J&MInnovative, another Jeff Nish
volunteer, but he put thegearbox back together for us
while we were traveling.
So we did it.
In between those two we did aweek and, really lucky, flew
(52:15):
into Memphis and caught the edgeof that hurricane it wasn't too
bad, just rain had a beautifulweek, went to the IndyCar race,
went to the a week later theBristol NASCAR race, and got out
of there and then, man, lookwhat's happened to the place now
.
Allison Volk Dean (52:29):
Yeah, man, it's just horrible.
Andrew Sinclair (52:31):
Terrible, yeah, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (52:32):
You guys are lucky.
Andrew Sinclair (52:34):
Yeah, really lucky.
Allison Volk Dean (52:35):
So we didn't even know, you know like didn't
even realize that that sort ofstuff could happen up there.
Yeah, you don't think about ithitting and affecting right
there quite as bad, yeah, butyeah, well, okay, so you get
back from your travels, backeast, well, southeast, and then
it's World Finals.
Yep, and what happens duringWorld Finals?
Andrew Sinclair (53:00):
Yeah, so World Finals.
The car was really mechanicallyperforming really well, but I
was having just such troublemyself at the end of the run,
you know, sort of once the sortof car was getting up to about
240.
And so the first run, I thought.
Allison Volk Dean (53:15):
What was happening?
Andrew Sinclair (53:18):
It would just start like everybody's car does.
It would start sort ofwandering on me, but it would
wander more than and I've only,you know, by this time, I've had
10 runs on the salt.
You know I've done 250 likethree times and so I'm still
learning about.
You know everybody's telling me, just follow the car and all
that sort of stuff and and Imean I know what it's like in in
(53:41):
in terms of a car was was lackof grip and that sort of stuff
for my road course racing andthat we do a lot of wet racing
in New Zealand it's alwaysraining, um, but I sort of, I
sort of thought to myself it's,it's, is it me or is it the car?
You know, like you, you secondguess yourself about, about what
it's doing, so run, and it wasonly 2.35, and it was really
(54:02):
quite squirrely and.
I had to pull the chute becauseI thought I was going to go
around.
Then the next run, I went.
No, the first one, that's right.
What happened I actually?
It went sideways on me and Iwent around the wrong side of
the four-mile marker.
I got it.
It went completely across thetrack and outside the marker.
(54:23):
So I didn't hit the marker,which is good.
And then I've come back in andgot back on the track, but my
run is done, obviously because Ihaven't gone through the four.
So that was that one.
And then the next run, I cameout.
The second run, I came out andman, it just snapped on me real
quick, you know like 250.
It just and it's crazy to watchthe video, and I would have
(54:44):
sworn that I went left first,but watching the video, it
obviously went right a littlebit first, but it just went back
back to the left.
So quickly and so round, I wentand joined the famous spinner
club you got your spin pen.
Allison Volk Dean (54:58):
Yes, I did.
Andrew Sinclair (54:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but again, that's another
part of the journey and anotherthing to experience.
So, yeah, but it spins a longtime at 250, doesn't?
Allison Volk Dean (55:07):
it, oh yeah, even with the shoots out, I
can't even imagine.
Andrew Sinclair (55:11):
So yeah.
So then we sat and again, thisis where Jeff and the guys come
into it, because, like anymotorsport thing, it's really
easy to do stuff by committeeand you've got to be really
tough about not doing it bycommittee because you'll get 10
different opinions on what'sgoing on.
So Jeff was really good and satdown with Pick and you know
(55:32):
between the two of them, said,okay, look, this is what we
think the car is doing, wentback through some old data and
stuff like that and yeah, okay,all right, I think that's
probably right.
So made a couple of changes.
Yeah, we, obviously we can't doanything um aero wise to the
car because of the a theclassroom and b the time we have
available.
Um, so it was all mechanicalstuff for the car and um, so I
(55:54):
went back out on the next runand qualified again and had my
best best ever exit, so speed,um, so that was.
That was really pleasing for meas a driver, just to give me
confidence that, okay, I know Ican actually.
Allison Volk Dean (56:06):
Came back.
Andrew Sinclair (56:07):
I can roll the throttle on through that period
when I've been sitting theretrying to control the car.
Allison Volk Dean (56:11):
You know, yeah, and what was the speed?
Andrew Sinclair (56:14):
I qualified at 250, but I went out at exit at
255.
Okay, so I knew I was actuallystill.
For the first time I was stillaccelerating, you know.
Allison Volk Dean (56:22):
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (56:24):
So yeah, and I was also.
I was 20 miles an hour down onmy earliest speeds because I was
still, mentally, I think,trying to look after the
drivetrain, you know, and justthink I could get it back.
But when I sat and looked at itI thought, well, no, I can't
get it.
It's really hard.
I did but I had to work at it.
So let's make the job easierfor myself and get that 20 mile
an hour back again.
So I went out the next day on arecord run.
(56:45):
The track was just beautifuland just got into it 20 mile an
hour, up on the two, the two anda quarter and the three.
So it was getting there andthen, boom, popped the head
gasket.
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (56:59):
So bugger, oh , shoot, so and then that was
kind of the last part of themeet right, that was, that was,
that was um um tuesday morningyeah, so she's she's all over.
Red rover yep oh, so what didyou think?
Um, I mean, that is hardbecause it's you were close to
getting that record, gettingthat red hat, and but, um,
(57:22):
that's racing and again.
Andrew Sinclair (57:24):
I say again it's part of that journey.
You've got to deal with thehighs and the lows.
You've got to deal withofficials, you've got to deal
with weather, you've got to dealwith crew.
You've got to everything, andwhen you do achieve something,
it's all more worthwhile.
Allison Volk Dean (57:39):
Yeah, yep, absolutely.
Well, that's awesome.
Anything else that you want to?
Anything else, did you get allthe things that you wanted to?
Andrew Sinclair (57:47):
I just I can't reiterate enough the assistance
and the friendship from theNishas and the Valks, you know,
bj and OP and Tom Birkland,everybody's so helpful.
There's probably people I havefailed to mention, but just
(58:08):
awesome, just the most awesomegroup of people that I've ever
met in my life, you know.
Allison Volk Dean (58:13):
And the wonderful assistance from your
New Zealand people too that comehere your crew that comes here
with you.
Andrew Sinclair (58:20):
Yeah, I have some great crew that have been
in and out.
Obviously, I've got Bic, who'sbuilt the car and he's a
fantastic engineer andeverything else, and half the
time he doesn't sleep becausehe's laying there thinking about
it at night.
I've got great engine buildersback in New Zealand Landon
Motorsport who build all mymotors for all my cars now
(58:42):
because they do such a fantasticjob.
So a couple of mad scientists,Dean and Warren, but they
produce a really good engine.
So I'm really happy with thatand obviously my wife.
Allison Volk Dean (58:57):
Yes.
Andrew Sinclair (58:58):
Who is?
Yeah, I don't know.
You couldn't do it if youdidn't have the support of your
spouse.
Allison Volk Dean (59:07):
And she's a racer.
She's a racer as well.
Andrew Sinclair (59:08):
Yeah, she raced her own car for a number of
years.
She had a couple of big crashes, one in particular in Australia
.
So she's lucky she's still herewith us, yeah, but yeah, I mean
the support of your wife isjust critical, so I couldn't
have done it.
But yeah, she's geneticallyfrom a racing family anyway, so
that side of it comes naturally.
Her brother, paul, who got uson the 2002 journey he's
(59:34):
actually here crewing thisweekend as well.
And Mandy's sister Lisa and herhusband Graham.
They're just fantastic as well.
Just he's a jack of all trades.
Allison Volk Dean (59:45):
Yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (59:46):
Where I'm a bit rough as guts and I just like
wing stuff, you know, and makeit up.
Graham looks at it and makessure it's done properly.
Allison Volk Dean (59:52):
He's analytical?
Yeah, he does.
Andrew Sinclair (59:55):
So as a parachute packing team we're a
really good team because I'mrough and ready and he makes
sure I do it properly, yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:08):
He a really good team because I'm rough and
ready and he's he's make sure Ido it properly.
Andrew Sinclair (01:00:10):
So yeah he's kind of those still waters run
deep.
Yeah, well, cool.
Well, thank you so much fortaking the time.
That was a great interview.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:13):
Thanks, alison and we'll see you in uh
2025.
Yes, are you guys gonna be back?
That was what I was gonna askabsolutely yeah.
Andrew Sinclair (01:00:17):
yeah, we're not , we're not done.
We've got, you know, our teamGSD Okay.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:22):
Yeah, all right, your team is GSD.
Andrew Sinclair (01:00:26):
Yeah.
Allison Volk Dean (01:00:26):
Which stands for Get Shit.
Done, all right, perfect, allright.
We'll talk to you guys later,thanks, thanks, thanks for
listening to Land Speed Legends.
Intro (01:00:35):
Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future
episodes.
In the meantime, keep up withthe show on Facebook and
Instagram under LandspeedLegends.
Until next time.
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