SO many cliches could describe what happened at the 2016 Snowy Mountains 1000, with talk of last chances and putting all your cards on the table sure to be associated with the final outcome – a brand new national record for Chris Thomson and his Nissan R35 GT-R – stopping the clocks at 336km/h and 16.55 seconds.
The result, recorded very late in the day, came after every Group 1 driver left everything they had on the track.
Defending champions and previous record holder Willall Racing would fail to fire after hurting their gearbox in the very first pass of the day. But for most of the day, their records stood, despite their own problems, with none of their rivals this year, including the Lamborghini Gallardo that came all the way from WA and the Precision Automotive prepped R35 of Aaron McGranahan.
It was McGranahan who would first take away one of Willall Racing’s records, pinching the 1000m time title with a 16.6 second pass, before Thomson himself would take the speed record with an astounding 332km/h pass (eclipsing the previous record by 4km/h).
With prevailing head winds, and cars struggling with wind and heat all over the place, not much hope was held amongst punters that anyone could go better, and that the two records would be headed to opposite sides of the country – but Thomson had other ideas.
We hope you enjoyed our coverage of the event, proudly presented by Little Hero Business Solutions.
We have included complete results.
OUTRIGHT FASTEST SPEED & OUTRIGHT QUICKEST TIME
1st QUICKEST TIME OVERALL – Chris Thomson, Nissan R35 GTR, 16.558
2nd QUICKEST TIME OVERALL – Jamie Heritage, Toyota TA22 Celica, 17.562
3rd QUICKEST TIME OVERALL – Matthew Davis, Nissan Skyline R32 GTR, 17.737
1st QUICKEST FEMALE SPEED OVERALL – Sally-Anne Hains, Porsche 997 Turbo, 19.332
1st FASTEST SPEED OVERALL – Chris Thomson, Nissan R35 GTR, 336.4km/h
2nd FASTEST SPEED OVERALL – Eddy Tassone, HSV GTO, 330.3km/h
3rd FASTEST SPEED OVERALL – John Kopcheff, Lamborghini Gallardo, 327.3km/h
1st FASTEST FEMALE SPEED OVERALL – Sally-Anne Hains, Porsche 997 Turbo, 269.7km/h
CLASS WINNERS
QUICKEST RWD – Darren Maxwell, Toyota Supra, 18.829
QUICKEST FWD – Alex Stevicic, Mazda 3 MPS, 21.243
QUICKEST 4WD – Chris Thomson, Nissan R35 GTR, 16.558
QUICKEST Rotary – Trent Crossill, FC RX7 22.358
QUICKEST 4 CYL NA – Matthew Jamieson, Daihatsu Moke, 29.460
QUICKEST 4 CYL FI – Paul Fisher, Mitsubishi Evo 8, 17.943
QUICKEST 5 CYL FI – Gabby Southwell, Ford XR5, 27.347
QUICKEST 6 CYL NA – Crispin Lyne, BMW Z4, 26.264
QUICKEST 6 CYL FI – Chris Thomson, Nissan R35 GTR, 16.558
QUICKEST 8 CYL NA – Martn Stevenson, Holden Torana, 20.311
QUICKEST 8 CYL FI – Jamie Heritage, Toyota TA22 Celica, 17.562
QUICKEST 10 CYL – John Kopcheff, Lamborghini Gallardo, 18.299
WINNER CLASS 1E – Martin Upenieks, G-Force Cobra, 26.361
WINNER CLASS 2D – Tate Healey, Datsun 1600, 21.447
WINNER CLASS 2E – Arthur Kalantzis, Porsche 930, 20.163
WINNER CLASS 3D – Wayne Penrose, VW Beetle Superbug, 22.686
WINNER CLASS 4D – Jake Sanderson, Mazda RX7, 23.872
WINNER CLASS 4E – Dustin Page, Nissan R35 GTR, 20.876
WINNER CLASS 5C – Blake Jones, Mitsubishi Colt, 26.741
WINNER CLASS 5D – Kurt Wilson, Subaru WRX, 18.737
WINNER CLASS 5E – Andrew Linton, Toyota Supra, 20.606
WINNER CLASS 6D – Luke Schulze, Nissan Skyline R33 GTS-T, 21.857
WINNER CLASS 6E – Manny Dalakakis, Nissan Skyline GTS-T, 20.847
WINNER CLASS 7D – Matthew Davis, Nissan Skyline R32 GTR, 17.737
WINNER CLASS 7E – Chris Thomson, Nissan R35 GTR, 16.558
