July 2016
Event: Victorian Six Hour
Location: Phillip Island
Notes: The Victorian Six Hour is one of the hardest events to get into. There are a multitude of teams wanting to participate. Southern Sporting was lucky enough to get a team into the event for the first time this year.
I spent a lot of time preparing the car, making sure everything was as it should be. I didn’t want a failure to ruin my first Phillip Island Experience or more so,fail and let the team down.
Naturally only a few weeks before the event my Hilux, tow vehicle, blew a head gasket. I was fortunate enough to have a close friend lend me her Toyota Prado to get us to the event and back. And I’d like to send a big “Thank You” to her.
After a relaxing drive to the Island we dropped the cars off at the track on Friday night
and setup the garage. Saturday morning we were right to go.I ran conservatively being my first time at Phillip Is. Weather was a mixed bag of dark cloud and sunny patches, but all dry. No issues to report. Nominated a time of 2:07.
Race Day: Rained most of the night, but we were lucky to have a cool sunny day for the event. The track was still pretty wet when the green flag dropped. I was the fourth car to be running, so it was well dry by the time I rolled out.
Familiarity kicked in pretty quickly and I found I was breaking out by seconds. I clocked a 2:05 without trying and I was now having difficulty finding a groove to get be back to 2:07, it was a really weird feeling.
During my second stint my times were much better. I was dicing with a Lotus for a few laps running a similar pace. Coming down into MG, the Lotus behind me, I felt a massive shunt and the car lurched wide rounding the corner. I thought for a moment I had been tapped in the rear and remember thinking “That’ll be expensive for him”. But noted coming around the last corner the Lotus was well untouched. I flew into T1 and had problems on the turn in. I ran wide of my apex point. I was lucky to keep it on track, running right to the edge drivers left coming out of the corner. Something was up. Returning to the Pit I found the rear sway bar mount had broken. As luck would have it, I didn’t need to run again. The day concluded with our team coming in 20th place. Not reflective of our ability. We could do better.
If you get the chance to run at Phillip Island take it. Its a wonderful track, flows and is fast.
May 2016
Event 2: Supersprint Round 3
Location: SMP South
Notes: Great Event, I love the south circuit.
During preparation I noted some brake fluid on the FL calliper. Could be nothing.
Dave is being selective in his choice of events this year. So bragging rights are all mine by default.
Session 1 and traffic was the word of the day, together with a moment in T12. Managed to achieve a 1:08.024. Checked brakes after run, all G, so we were “eyes font”.
Session 2 and I managed to clear a number of slower cars early on, but had another moment in T12. Best time was 1:08.026
Session 3. Gave it a much more though T8,T9,T10 and changed my tactic in T11 achieving a 1:07.244
Session 4 and Wes in his Brock Commodore was giving me hell. He was on my ass out of the corners, but he couldn’t maintain speed in and around the tighter stuff. I wasn’t really trying anything other than staying on my line and not missing an apex. The Commodore sounds angry coming up behind so close. Did a 1:07.08 due to the panic 😉
The last session saw me catch some of the slower cars, so I was having fun just banking laps. 1:07.19 to finish the day left a smile on the dial and the car was all still in one piece.
Event 1: MTA Come & Try Day
Location: Logic Park
Notes: First Time on this track. I was lucky to be invited to MTA’s come and try day. Which forms part of the students course, as they run the event.
The track is 1.6km in length you’re around and working hard for the next lap in no time at all. So it’s quite busy and you’ve got to keep your head up look as far ahead as possible. The lines switch quickly and if you’re not looking you’re out of position for the next corner and suffering quickly in the times area.
I tried a few different lines and gear change points to achieve a PB. We were not keeping track of times today. But somewhere around a 1:00 is what we’re estimating. We noticed on the last lap the boost gauge had given up. But the car felt right, so I finished the session.
April 2016
Event: Test ‘n Tune
Location: Wakefield Park
Notes: So my brother has now built his own WRX, same model as mine and we can now play for bragging rights in our own buggies. There are some small differences. Dave’s running 18” wheels. A bigger set of front brakes (K-Sport).
First run out we were running fine when I gave room for David to overtake, once done, I couldn’t catch him. Looks like big brakes make a bigger difference than you’d think. Dave’s braking being so much later, means he was into the corner sooner and then on the power to get out earlier than me.
In our second session I was pushing hard chasing David when I touched a kerb in T4 and hand a mother of a tank slapper. Managed to keep it on the black stuff, pulled myself together and slowly built my times back up (Achieving 12’s). Brakes were a little hot and greezy at sessions end.
Third session and I heard a loud clunk. Returned to pits, unable to find the issue it may have been seat belt fittings flipping around. Back out and gently built my confidence backup.
In the fourth session I had a drive of David’s new buggy and our of the box did a 1:11. The whole setup is so much firmer, precise and the breaking is awesome. So we’re going to start looking at a BC suspension setup and bigger brakes.
Mar 2016
Event: NSW 6hr, Easter 2016 (NSWRRC)
Location: SMP Nth Circuit
Notes: Preparing for this event we found a few housekeeping items to take care of. And as luck would have it, with only 24hrs to go I finally noticed the cracks in the power steering line. Fortunately “Shire Hoses” was able to come to the rescue at the last moment. Great service, recommend them.
Mar 27 – At the track all went well. After a few runs we chose a 1:23. Very pleased with the days run and no issues.
Mar 28 – Race Day and wether was good. Sunny and 23 all day. It was a nervous first run. I struggled to find a rhythm, but achieved my target time (best time 1:22.9). The second run was much better, again getting my nominated time and clocking some points, by my third run my regularity was 2.65.
The car performed well, very happy. Our team finished 5th overall for the weekend and won Best Presented Team. I was please to have achieved the best regularity factor in the team and that was second overall on the day.
