JK in a Subaru

 


2008 Tarmac Driver - Ray Vandersee

BEFORE THE SKELTA G-FORCE

Ray Vandersee started rally driving in 1973 campaigning an XU1 Torana which he drove with great success and finally snared a Queensland Rally Championship in 1977. Australian Rally Championship competition was soon on the competitive radar and following the purchase of a Datsun 120Y he toiled hard over the next five years. Ultimately the Toowoomba driver found the National championship way too expansive and due to a lack of substantial funding to remain competitive, he decided to retire from rally competition in 1982 to concentrate on business pursuits.

A 15-year hiatus from motor racing ensued, but feeling somewhat frustrated by his early exit from competition, Vandersee set about constructing a Lotus 7 type Clubman with the sole purpose of entering into various tarmac rally events throughout the country. The Clubman proved a five-month long project and was completed just in time for a first up appearance at the Internationally acclaimed Targa Tasmania event in 1999.

Continuing an over riding quest for more power and handling qualities from his vehicle, the Clubman proved a worthy test case and provided a major learning curve, as Vandersee set about making appropriate adjustments to the car's race set up. While he found the basic performance to be quite sound, there were a lot of shortcomings, particularly if he was to eventually succeed in becoming a consistent performer in tarmac road events like Targa Tasmania.

Modifications to the suspension, coupled with the addition of aerodynamic aids and devices, gave the Clubman a unique look and progressively had the car going faster and faster.

By 2002 Vandersee felt that he had significantly mastered a competitive level on par with the late model Porsches and Nissan GTR's that remained the dominate forces of Australian tarmac competition, but at the very same time there was also a realisation that there were limitations on any further development of the Clubman.

Maintaining a strong desire to have a vehicle produced, capable of upstaging the front-runners of tarmac rally competition, Vandersee set about creating his Skelta G-Force.

What has evolved is a revolutionary sports car that has the stamp of unprecedented success in International competition following Vandersee's first International tarmac rally podium (2nd place) secured at Targa New Zealand in October 2006 and a podium finish of First place at the 2007 Mt Buller Sprint.

Driver History

2008
Ray Vandersee
Bill Sullivan
Stephen Bradford

2007
Mark Clair
Brenton Kaitler
Trevor Douglas
Troy Nicholson
Ross O'Reilly
Langdon Patrick

2006
Nat Prusetto
Nigel Moore
Dean Price
Brenton Kaitler

2003-2005
Derek Reynolds
Chris Snell

2001-2002
Fabian Apps
Nigel Alves

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