Event Wrap – NSW Motor Racing Championships Round 2

Round two of the NSW Motor Racing Championships was held over the weekend of May 17-18th utilising the full 4.5km Brabham circuit, which includes the new 800m “S” bend and “paperclip” windy-bendy sections up the top side of the track. 180 competitors fought out the eight classes, and in the usual action packed, bumper to bumper excitement there were many a fine duel and even a little fender bending between mates in the close proximity racing.
In race three, Graeme Watts (Nissan Silvia) touched up both Steve Devjak (Commodore)and John McKenzie (Commodore), the latter having his rear bumper eventually fall off due to the encounter. McKenzie was dragging the bumper for a couple laps and apparently didn’t see the black flag board for two laps which earned him a trip to the headmasters office for a chat. Watts had the best result over the weekend with a first and two second placings.
In the same race, Gavin Stevens (Mitsubishi Lancer) got himself all out of sorts and very crossed resulting in a spin at turn eight which saw him broadside the curb on drivers left, ending up with him flipping the car. I wish everyone could have heard the commentary over the two-way. Race control was flummoxed by the report from the sector marshall at turn eight. It went something like this:
Sector Marshall: “Car 37 has spun drivers left, and oh….he’s, he’s hit the curb and oh dear….he’s rolled over.” Pause… “Car 37 has continued on!”
Race Control (incredulity in voice): “Did I just hear you say “continued on? “
Sector Marshall:” Yes, Race Control. He rolled all the way over and drove on.”
The unbelievable upshot of this is that Car 37 ended up finishing the race in fourteenth place out of eighteen finishers. Solid effort Gavin!
Steve Lacey had high hopes for his beautiful new graphic designed livery on the Z28 Chevy Camaro he is racing this year. Its quite the looker! Unfortunately the script went to hell in a handbasket as he firstly suffered electrical problems throughout qualifying and in Race three drove the length of pit straight with a broken steering box, eventually ending up in the kitty litter on turn one. Steve acknowledged with a wry grin that it wasn’t how he had envisaged his weekends campaign finishing however with his usual even tempered nature he took the two DNF’s and third place in his stride.
Notably this weekend Sydney Motorsport Park was the venue for the launch of the worlds first electric race car. It was the first time ever that an electric race car has run in an official circuit race any where in the world. This caused a huge hubbub and as a result a large amount of international motorsport officials and media descended on the track to see for themselves the eco-race car of the future. In the body manifestation of a Radical vehicle, the ELMOFO electric racer can produce 300kw of power and achieve speeds of 265kph. Unfortunately, the manufacturers had a problem with the chemistry in their batteries, and the car only saw a limited amount of track time.
The very large Formula Vee field of thirty cars saw Dylan Thomas (Stinger 015) take two firsts and a second place. In the last race Simon Pace (Mako MkIII) pulled of a daring manoeuvre to win by 1/100th of a sec, and take away a clean series sweep for Thomas.

– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au