The Race Car Toby Built

By Shane L. Montague

Toby, an only child, lives with his mother, a single parent. He has a close relationship with his grandparents and especially with Grandy. Looking for something to do during their school holidays, Toby and his friend decide to build a billy cart. With some welcome advice and a little assistance from Grandy, the boys work to overcome many setbacks and impediments and suffer some emotional highs and lows as their cart progresses to completion. During this time, Toby gets to spend weekends with his dad. Together, they share several exciting experiences that stimulate Toby’s imagination and determination. Eventually, the cart is completed. However, testing of the new “race car” doesn’t go quite as expected. The end result is surprising and quite unimaginable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Feb 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528992244

Shane L. Montague

Shane worked as a primary school teacher with the Western Australian Education Department for more than 20 years before transitioning into teaching English to speakers of other languages at a number of post-secondary campuses. He has a hands-on interest in art and has constructed several pieces of sculpture. He is a keen recreational woodworker with a broad interest in manual arts. He is an active member and volunteer with the Bus Preservation Society of WA. He is married with four children and has six grandchildren.

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About the Author

Shane worked as a primary school teacher with the Western Australian Education Department for more than 20 years before transitioning into teaching English to speakers of other languages at a number of post-secondary campuses. He has a hands-on interest in art and has constructed several pieces of sculpture. He is a keen recreational woodworker with a broad interest in manual arts. He is an active member and volunteer with the Bus Preservation Society of WA. He is married with four children and has six grandchildren.

Dedication

To my beautiful wife, Anne, who always supports and encourages me in every new endeavour I undertake.

Copyright Information ©

Shane L. Montague (2021)

The right of Shane L. Montague to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528992237 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528992244 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

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I’m travelling three wide going down the back straight and there are only two laps to go. I need to make my move right now if I want to catch the leaders. But if I go now, I’ll be forced four wide around the next turn, but that should put me in a better position entering the final lap. I’m going to risk it. I press the pedal all the way to the floor. The acceleration is instantaneous and awesome. The supercharged V8 roars and I can feel the vibrations going right through my chest. I’m being rocked from side to side and the seat belt is pressing strangely against my left shoulder.

Toby, Toby. Come on, love, it’s time to wake up.

As his mum leaves the room, Toby turns over, stares at the ceiling and briefly reflects on his most recent driving experience.

Toby lived with his mum in a small duplex not far from the city’s airport. He had no brothers or sisters but he did have five younger cousins he saw from time to time. His mum and dad were divorced, but they were still friends and talked with each other often during the week. Toby got to see his dad on Tuesdays when he picked him up from school and took him home for dinner. He also got to sleep over at his dad’s house every Friday night. His mum went to work each day, and when he wasn’t at school, Toby went to day care or his grandparents’ house.

Toby attended a government state school situated about a kilometre from his house. He had recently celebrated his eleventh birthday and, as a Year Six student, was in his final year of primary school. Toby’s mid-year school report described him as being ‘a reliable and trustworthy student whose work effort consistently met teachers’ expectations’. Academically, he was a capable, good all-round student, ‘competent in all subject areas’, though not necessarily outstanding in any particular subject. And no surprise to those who knew him, he was also ‘a popular and valued member of the class’ and ‘a pleasure to teach’.

Toby loved visiting his grandparents’ house, and he enjoyed spending time with his Nan and Grandy. When he was very little, Toby’s Nan looked after him often, with the result that there was a special bond between them. She always gave him lots of kisses and cuddles and spoilt him with plenty of tasty treats to eat. As he got older, she would play board games with him, and she taught him how to play card games like snap, concentration, rummy and more recently euchre.

Nan was a kind-hearted lady with a thoughtful and caring nature. She always had time to talk to people, and she made an effort to keep in touch with those she thought highly of and knew well. Likewise, Nan was held in high regard by close friends and acquaintances who valued her companionship and advice. She was much loved by her family and she enjoyed nothing more than spending time with them. She especially valued the time spent with her six grandchildren.

Toby’s Grandy taught him all sorts of things. He showed Toby how to throw a frisbee and a boomerang, how to fly a kite, how to bowl and bat in cricket and how to do different things on the computer. Grandy also let Toby use his tools in the garage, and he even made a kid-sized wooden workbench for Toby. Under Grandy’s tutelage, he learnt how to use the vice to hold wood for cutting, the correct way to start a saw cut and how to saw straight following a pencil guide line.

In fact, as he got older, Toby learnt more and more carpentry skills from his Grandy, until eventually he was able to make things on his own. The very first thing he made was an aeroplane. He knew a lot about all sorts of aircraft. He had been fascinated by planes ever since his Nan and Grandy took him to an air show at the regional RAAF base. He drew the outline of a plane on a piece of plywood and then cut it out with a fret saw. He marked out another piece of wood with the shape of wings. After carefully cutting around the outline with a jigsaw, he nailed the wings to the fuselage of the plane. Then he used a panel saw and a small wood chisel to cut a slot in the tail fin for the horizontal stabiliser. Finally, he painted it with some of Grandy’s leftover house paint.

Because it was far too heavy, the plane didn’t fly at all, but Toby didn’t mind. He was very proud of his aeroplane. While he played with it, he imagined himself as the plane’s pilot. He guided the aircraft around the backyard, swooping and diving through valleys and gorges, zooming over mountain ranges and then flying at low level across the surface of the sea. When he was older, he thought he might like to be a pilot in the air force.

Since that first effort, Toby had made other things using off-cuts of wood he found in Grandy’s workshop. He made several swords, including a Roman short sword, a pirate’s cutlass and a knight’s broadsword. Occasionally, Grandy would pretend to be the enemy and engage Toby in a controlled swordfight. A shield painted with a coat of arms, a rifle, a handgun or two, a truck and at least three or four cars were amongst his other projects. Grandy showed him how to use a hole saw attached to the electric drill to cut out wooden wheels. Toby loved seeing his creations zooming across the garage floor.

He imagined himself as the driver of a rally car skidding around sharp curves in the road, accelerating down narrow bush tracks, charging through flooded creeks and spinning out on blind corners. When he remembered, he pretended that Grandy was his navigator telling him what was ahead and what to watch out for. When he got his licence, he thought he might like to drive a Ford Focus in the World Rally Championship.

On a cold, wet Thursday afternoon, Nan and Grandy picked Toby up from school as usual. They took him home to their house from where his mum would pick him up later. He was absolutely starving, so Nan made him a hot drink and gave him a piece of her yummy fruitcake. While he ate, Toby told his grandparents about a special project they were doing at school.

We all have to research early pioneer life in Australia and build a model showing how people lived in colonial times, he explained. It’s due on the last day of term.

Well then, you had better hop on the computer and start looking for information, Grandy suggested.

Toby used different search engines to find images of the early pioneers. He was especially interested in the black and white photos showing the wooden slab huts people built for their homes. Eventually, he found some images he was sure were perfect for the task.

I’ve decided to build a farm house like the one in this photo. Grandy, can I print it out to use as my plan? asked Toby.

Yes, of course you can. Gee, that’s an interesting looking building.

Grandy always had lots of offcuts and various bits and pieces of different types of wood in the garage. Toby began hunting through the offcuts for pieces that could be used for the walls, roof and front door. Not long after, he walked back into the kitchen with an armful of wood. Toby held the pieces of wood up for Grandy to see and asked, Is it alright if I use these bits of wood for my model?

Grandy nodded his approval and Toby headed back outside. It wasn’t long before the sound of wood being sawn could be heard coming from the garage.

Toby’s mum arrived just before six o’clock, and she wandered out to the garage to see what he was doing. He told her all about his day at school and showed her the photo he had printed out. They stayed for dinner with Nan and Grandy before heading off home to their house.

For the next two weeks, whenever he was at Nan and Grandy’s house, Toby spent every spare minute in the garage working on his school project.

The following Thursday, Nan and Grandy picked him up from school as usual.

I can’t wait to get back to your house and work on my model, Toby declared excitedly. When they finally