Small racers deliver big thrills as Steve’s penchant for performance takes flight

The Moss Vale Network Partner of the Hydraulink hose and fittings organisation that provides support for the Americas Cup yachting event has turned his support to another form of racing at blistering speeds – microracers.

James Haddow, Principal of the Moss Vale Hydraulink branch, sponsors his customer Gill Transport’s Steve Gill in pursuing his penchant for high performance through micro-racers weighing just 300kg – less than some 

motorcycles – and powered by some of the world’s most advanced racing motorcycle engines, including those of the Honda CBR and Yamaha R6.

“Steve takes a stock motorcycle racing engine – already rated by the manufacturer at 160kw (214hp) in the case of the CBR – and turns it into a fire-breathing thrilling beast revving to more than 16,000 rpm on the short 400m tracks they use,” says James, who sees racing as both improving the automotive breed with precision engineering and supporting the local Southern Highlands community which supports his business.

Steve Gill says when he is finished with modifying the race-bred engines, and measuring outputs at the back wheels, the real power-to-weight ratio is phenomenal – “You are hanging on for dear life when you are rocketing around a short circular short track at more than 100kph, on clay and crushed granite.

“Once we have added fuel injection and tuned the engines to run on Methanol – plus our own special features – you get a real power-to-weight that embarrasses top road-going sports cars,” says Steve, who campaigns his racer throughout NSW and further afield, as opportunities arise.

James Haddow says Gill Transport’s and Hydraulink’s customers love the spectacle of the raunchy little racers’ bark of power and blur of speed as they rocket around in incredibly close contests.

“I know Hydraulink NZ shares this support for sporting excellence, because all the yachts in the current America’s Cup feature hydraulic hoses and fittings tuned to the special needs of their pedal-powered racing systems. They also sponsor road-racing events.”

“We at Hydraulink Moss Vale go for more of a local flavour up here in the Southern Highlands, where it does tie in directly with our support for our big markets, including diesel trucks and trailers such as Steve’s, as well as the agricultural and other machinery up here that depends absolutely on its hydraulic systems to function safely and reliably.”

Moss Vale is the heart of much of the Southern Highlands’ Industry. As well as being a centre for agriculture, many light and medium industries are found in and around Moss Vale, including national-name manufacturing and distribution centres.

Hydraulic hoses are also intrinsic to the safety of racing cars, packing a lot of power into compact packages. Formula One race cars take advantage of this feature with great success.