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Event Wrap – NSW Motor Race Championships Round 6

 

With spring in the air, an excited field of over 180 cars came out for Round 6 of the CAMS NSW Motor Race Championships. Despite NSW being in the grip of one of the longest wet spells in a while, the track dried out nicely in time for both Saturday and Sunday racing. For this event it was the Formula Ford’s turn to have a break from racing, whilst the Production Sports category took its turn to have their annual one-hour enduro.

Formula Vee’s started their program with a good field of 34 cars and the action was push and shove right from the start. Early in race one Craig Sparke expired billowing plumes of smoke from his exhaust at turn two, while Dylan Thomas spluttered to a crawl allowing Simon Pace to continue his determined climb through the field from 10th on the grid to a second place podium finish. Heath Collinson’s front wheel tried to climb aboard Ash Quiddingtons’ rear causing them both to spin losing places to the field. Race three was equally feisty with three safety car stints. Darren Willliams was enjoying his up the front of grid status due to his races one and two third-place podiums, but a spin early in race three put him smack dab in the path of Allan Harrison who t-boned him as Allan had nowhere to go but straight ahead. More disaster was to come Ash Quiddingtons’ way with a lost wheel at turn 1 whilst William Pym expired gracefully at turn two. Ash’s brother Mitch Quiddington suffered a “hands in the air” ignominious end to race three as Dan Stein clobbered him from behind pushing him through the dirt and right out on track again at turn two. This was the final straw and with these two cars requiring “all up lifts” the race petered out as the laps ran down.

Ryan Reynolds carried the day with two wins and a third, with Simon Pace having his best day all year with two seconds. Dylan Thomas bounced back from his earlier car troubles to salvage a spot of satisfaction with second place in race three. Our 2015 debutante Aaron Pace ( Jacer #86) had some valuable experience in the wet conditions on Friday. Trying to avoid Michael Kinsella, who spun and ended up facing the wrong direction at turn five, Aaron dodged when he should have weaved and lost his own backend smacking the stationery Kinsella and causing himself gear box damage and consequently gear change issues all weekend.

Out the front of Sports Sedans Grant Doulman was doing his usual quick flawless driving keeping a handy 4-5 seconds gap on the field. This regularity gave him all three race wins. Nice to see Birol Cetin back after missing last round. Cetin had an uncharacteristic moment at turn two spearing a direct course towards the ARDC sign through the field thankfully missing everyone.

In race three Cetin was the unfortunate recipient of a direction change from David Atkin (BMW3) as he was executing a passing manoeuvre at turn 3. After contact Birol lost his road grip in the big Camaro and veered sideways across the track eventually contacting the wall on drivers right halfway down the hill towards turn 4. With fiberglass bits strewn everywhere, a bonnet that resembled a wobble board and major structural carnage to the front end suspension, we hope that the car can be rebuilt in time for the years final racing championships at SMSP in late October. Prior to this mishap, Cetin had racked up two second places for the day. Steve Lacey drove his regular race and brought home three podiums including a second in race three.

Chris Jackson will be busy over the next couple weeks as huge smoke plumes from a lunched motor rose in the air at turn one as his burning Calibra looked more like a bonfire for a weeny roast.

While the HQ’s may not be everyone’s cup of tea and they may not go as fast or elegantly as some of the later model high tech race cars, they more than make up for this in their wobbling and rockin’and rollin’ racing demeanour. The speeds that they do with the uncouth manners that these cars display (not the drivers) is a real credit to the pilots who navigate these classic machines around the track.

Talented tacticians, it was a real privilege to watch the dog fight between John Baxter and Brett Osborn, as they worked hard not only to “outpsyche” each other playing a wonderful cat and mouse game, but the driving skill as they drove nose to tail and side by side using every ounce of skillful nouse they possessed, working the slip stream and blind spots to gain the upper hand. Races two and three were both the “Osborn and Baxter Show” (up front). They swapped the lead numerous times throughout the course of each race as they came through both turn 15 and turn 2, manhandling these cantankerous beasts and tryng to hold them strongly to a racing line.

As the brakes heated and lost efficacy this allowed both drivers to take momentary advantages in lapses of concentration or moments of vehicle mechanical uncertainty, allowing one or other to steal a small piece of real estate, reluctantly given up as each battle raged in the 21 minutes of war each race provided. Osborn won race two by three one-hundredths of a second. That’s 30 Milliseconds!!! That’s not even the time distance from the front bumper bar to the front wheel.

Not only that…. Baxter was leading coming halfway down main straight before Osborn wacked out a passing manoeuvre Ayton Senna would have been proud of!! Cojones the size of Mango’s. Race three wasn’t much different. Same two guys : same ferocious battle. Similar antics and lead changes. This time the separation at the chequered flag was 90 milliseconds. Nine one-hundredths of a second. Distance from bumper to back door. Thanks John and Brett for a fabulous stoush which was worth the price of admission right there.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Event Wrap – 2015 Muscle Car Masters

The Annual “Muscle Car Master” carnival rolled into town at Sydney Motorsport Park on Fathers Day weekend September 4 – 6. It was a wonderful weekend of celebration of all that is exceptional about Australian motorsport combining the best of both Australian and US motoring muscle. Evergreen celebrity drivers such as Bob Holden, Jim Richards, John Bowe, Glenn Seton, ( Happy Birthday, Glenn – who turned 50 this week), Charlie O’Brien, Andrew Mediecke, Leo Tobin and Rusty French got behind the wheels of  various brands of muscle cars and over the weekend reminded us all why we love these heritage marques.

Our past racing legends were oh so generous with their time and spent countless hours over the course of the weekend signing autographs, posing for photographs and chatting extensively, between racing commitments, with hundreds of fans many of whom recounted and relived exploits of these giants of Australian racing with blow-by-blow accounts of their favourite racing moments.

As well stellar examples of original and restored classic metal including 50 of the best examples of heritage vehicles (30 of which are original cars) that graced our race tracks in decades gone by. Each and every one of the shiny concourse prepared cars played a significant part in the fabric of our rich Australian racing history.  These cars carried our hopes and dreams as we watched our race suited gladiatorial heroes do battle in their brightly coloured liveries. Commonplace throughout our magnificent history these steeds had colloquial names which easily rolled off our tongues…names such as “XU-1, A9X, ‘Cuda, Charger, GTHO, ‘Stang as well as a myriad of letters meaningful to the motoring initiated such as VL, VS, VH and VK.

The headline feature category over the weekend is always the Touring Car Masters race series. This field is littered with racing masters, and 26 sensationally prepared hotted up V8 muscle cars. It was a surprise to see John Bowe in a Torana this weekend, especially as his most notable (and usual) ride was also running around in the field: Mustang Sally. This weekend she was in the capable hands on Neil Crompton. Although, one has to wonder how Bowe and Mustang Sally felt when Crompton got caught up in a mid field “nose to tail debacle which in fairness was not of his own doing. As it turned out Seton nudged Mediecke who spun 360 degrees right in the middle of the exit from turn two, and in the ensuing melee and bottleneck Compton had his front and rear crumpled. The carnage was not limited to him alone as some five cars all came back around the track sporting various assorted crumpled fenders and grills. The immediate resulting carnage at turn two looked like an untidy second hand car lot with cars pointing in all directions and those drivers trying to avoid the mess were mounting the ripple strips dodging and weaving through the infield to get some clear space to literally escape the blockage. In racing, John Bowe was sensational with three clear race wins in his personally race prepared Wilson Security Torana. This weekend brought John Bowe a double milestone. Firstly he celebrated his 200th career race win on Saturday and on Sunday competed in his 1000th career race event.  Congratulations John.

Almost equal favourite racing category over the weekend was the mighty Trans AM Sports Sedans category. Featuring more legends of Australian motorsport driving 5 Litre+ American muscle cars made popular in the 60’s and 70’s. With teeth rattling power plants, the field of Mustangs, Firebirds, Camaro’s, GTO’s and even a Plymouth Barracuda growled and fiercely fought for supremacy around the Eastern Creek GP circuit. Seventeen cars from Qld and four from New Zealand rounded out the field for this tribute series second appearance at MCM. Charlie O’Brien (Firebird) drove gangbusters all weekend and took all three race wins. Crowd pleaser Glenn Allingham got the crowd roaring with his wheel spinning “drifting” style of driving. Plenty of smoke and noise: What more could you want at MCM 2015?

The crowd was spoilt for merchandise choice as the semitrailers with TCM, Holden and other memorabilia were a part of the whole fantastic vibe. It was great to see the grandstand almost full and the rooftop above the pits was crammed with spectators cheering their heroes and enjoying all the racing that was on offer. This year there were three separate Heritage Hot Laps which meant their was ample time to see all your favourite cars of yesteryear. As well, a parade lap for the many car clubs that attended with their exquisitely prepared privateer vehicles was a marvelous sight with over a hundred cars. Featuring AC Cobras, classic Mustangs, Chargers, Corvettes, HSV Holdens, it was great to perve on some beautiful metal and chrome.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

 

 

Event Wrap: 2015 CAMS Supersprint Round 5

Round 5 of the CAMS Supersprint  run on August 9th at Sydney Motorsport Park was a very cold affair. Even when the temps started to climb, a chilly breeze kept the jackets and beanies on and engines and tyres took longer to attain optimum driving temperatures.

One hundred and twenty-one competitors took to the track and were rewarded with five sessions on track and it was great to see some new cars come along and enjoy the fun.

But wait! Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Robert Kolimackovski? Yes…after a two year hiatus our former back to back State Champion has returned bringing his mothballed Walkinshaw Commodore back to join us in Supersprint. Family commitments have kept him away and when asked how he felt about being back he said: “I am so excited. My whole family is coming out this morning to see me.“

Recuperating from heart surgery last year, Kerry Redfern (President of Manly-Warringah Car Club) has now had final word from his doctor that he will unfortunately not be allowed to return to competitive motorsport. This has come as a real blow to him, as he had spent 16 months with longtime “sprinter” Bob Muir in building their joint project, a pristine red Honda Civic, and he has never had an opportunity to drive it in a competitive environment. Kerry said “…I’ll still be part of supersprint and our car club, and I guess I’ll have to be content with the convivial and spirited friendly torment that my car club mates heap upon me.”

Carl Seaver’s Datsun 240Z transformed from its “desert dueller” outback dust buster mode and took on a more streamlined look for black top racing. Carl is an avid supporter of the Royal Flying Doctor Outback Car Trek, a trek that covers 6000kms over 12 days and raises over $1.4mil for charity. Today his car was stripped of its bull bar and full undercar stone tray and dirt tyres as these were replaced by officially sanctioned track equipment. Once Carl renewed his fire extinguisher he was given the thumbs up by our great group of official scrutineers to proceed on track.

Alan Nolan brought his Nola Chev 5Ltr out for a run around. Not a usual supersprinter, Alan has recently brought the big Formula 5000 out of retirement after 13 years, and is using every opportunity to prepare it for the Spring HSRCA meeting at Wakefield in September.

In racing, Andrie Tan was the fastest car of the day when he turned the tables on his arch rival Marek Tomaszewski and took back his Type 5 record with an amazing time of 1.25.628 in his Radical Supersport. Not to be outdone completely, Marek also put in a Class 5C record beating run of 1.25.705 in his Stohr, just under 8 hundredths of a second behind Andrie. Jason Wright was the fastest closed wheeler of the day in his green WRX Time Attack car, which he calls The Hulk, with a time of 1.32.141.

There were only two other records broken yesterday. Preston Peiris took back the Class 1C Record in his Mazda MPS3 from Michael Miller, which was only set at the last round, with a fabulous Type 1 time of 1.52.557 while Craig Donnell broke his own Class 2D Record in his supercharged Holden Clubsport with a time of 1.44.519.

The MX5 Club took out the Club Championship honours yesterday scoring 546 points, which brings their overall tally up to 2,937 points putting them well ahead of ARDC who are running second with 2,007 points. The HSV/HDT Owners Club are firmly holding 3rd place down with 1,236 points.

Text and photographs by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

Thanks to Bob Welsh for his contribution of statistics.

 

NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

The mid-winter round of the NSW Motor Race Championships for 2015 arrived back at Sydney Motorsport Park in direct contrast to the bleak, freezing conditions the state has been beset by over recent weeks. The weekend brought forth predominately sunshine-filled days and much warmer temperatures; ideal conditions for drivers comfort. Only around 160 entries came out for the weekend however, with the Production Sports category headlining the weekends event schedule with a one-hour , two driver enduro race. In fairness, some of the regular state competitors were otherwise engaged assisting in this major event.

The Production Sport enduro brought out some glamourous metal. No less than four Audi R8 LMS vehicles with their coloured headlights beaming their no-nonsense “get-out-of-my-way” message, mixing it with a large cadre of Porsche GT3 Cup smartly liveried beasts loudly purring in amongst the vast field. Rounding out the eye-candy were a Gallardo, GT40, E-type Jag, Elise/Exige’s, Monaro, MX-5 and a Commodore. The day surely went to Andrew McPherson (Porsche GT3R) who started second on the grid after qualifying. Constantly pushing Rod Salmon’s Audi Andrew’s team took race one as well as the enduro, with his co-driver Brad Shiels winning the second “driver B” race. Clean sweep! Rod Salmon and Neale Muston placed second and third respectively.

Listed as a competitor in the program, perennial “owner” of this category second places this year, Birol Cetin did not line up for racing this weekend. This allowed Steve Lacey to take a lock on one notch up the podium from his usual third spot. Grant Doulman did what he does best, and stayed out front for all three races with as much as a one minute lead during race two. Chris Jackson and Anthony Macready split the third places.

Formula Vee gave us all a bit of a nervous time. Race one had only just begun when six cars got all tangled up at turn two ( where else) leaving fibreglass debris of nose cones and torn away bits of race car on the track. This caused a 40 minute delay as CXC racing identity Matthew Bode (Stinger 010) was cut free from his car after a heavy t-boning of Gary Hook ( Jacer F2K4). Amazingly Hook’s car was driveable and went on to compete in the following races. As a precaution Bode was very gingerly extricated and fortunately whilst not taking part in any further racing, was walking around the pits the following day. Recovery was very busy with the Manitou, a tow truck and a flatbed all needed to clean up the tangled mess of non-working vehicles after the incident. Race one was ultimately abandoned. Dylan Thomas (CXC Racing) and Michael Kinsella (KE Power) shared the remaining race wins, whilst Tim Brook converted an ordinary qualifying result, starting from tenth on the grid, to finish race one and two with a couple of second place podiums. Ever-consistent Simon Pace rounded out the placings with a pair of thirds. Simon’s son Aaron is a debutante this year, under his dad’s watchful and encouraging eye. Aaron is showing excellent signs of talent after a short time in competition. Starting eighth after qualifying Aaron finished with a fifth and sixth place.

Improved Prod O2L is all in the hands of Graham Watts. From early Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon, his smooth driving style and excellently prepared Nissan Silvia purrs out the front of this category. Consistently lapping at 1:40/41’s, Graham kept a 30sec advantage on the field. Closest to him all day was John McKenzie, but in doing so John flaunted the new rules that prohibits drivers from drifting wide on turns like #5 and #15. If all four wheels cross the yellow lines, then a time penalty is awarded for each time this occurs. This has been judged to give a driver a “slingshot” advantage over other drivers. Whilst McKenzie got within 15sec of Watts, it came at a cost of 60sec’s worth of penalties. Paul White ( Mazda RX7) finished with a second and third place, sharing that distinction with Michael Posa ( RX3) in the reverse order.

Jason Grimmond from Queensland experienced SMSP for the first time, coming to Sydney combining a family holiday with getting some mid year track time. Jason said when asked what brought him to Sydney for this event ”…there are long gaps between events in Qld mid year, and I’m working on a new suspension setup, so this event gives me a chance to put some new thoughts into action.” He also commented that “….this is a big track. The corners are huge. Just when you think you through them, they keep on going.” Sam Maio was wanting to work on his understeer problem on Saturday evening, but this was put on the backburner as he ended up spending much of the night rebuilding his gearbox after problems on Saturday. He was back in his garage very early on Sunday morning tinkering with his setup to correct the understeer.

The NSW Motor Race Championships return to SMSP on Sept 26/27th.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

LIVE STREAM: Australasian Superbike Championship

Check out our live stream coverage of round 3 of the Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend.

The live coverage includes Sunday’s racing, which commences at 9:40am, plus a one hour Friday evening live panel show  and an exciting announcement on the series’ future from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.

CAMS SUPERSPRINT RD 3 JUNE 14, 2015

Supersprinters are a tough bunch, as was evident on Sunday June 14th, when 110 hardy souls braved the winter 5 degree early foggy chill to pull on race suits and strap on helmets with the idea of bettering their previous personal best times around the Sydney Motorsport Park North (Druitt) circuit. Great to see a bunch of new faces/cars that came out to experience the fun that supersprinting provides. This round was sponsored by the NSW Road Race Club.

There must have been something in the clear crisp winter air that both drivers and cars enjoyed, because when the final results for the day were tallied, records tumbled with PB’s exceeded in almost all categories. Some records were absolutely smashed by both new individuals, as well as incumbent record holders. Of note, Andrie Tan just gets smoother and smoother as he becomes one with his car, taking a further second off his already superb sub one minute Class 4D time to record a 0:57.584 lap, making him the fastest person on the track on the day. Richard Perini also took more than half a second off his own Class 4C record in his beautifully presented Porsche RSR with a 0:63.946.

Jason O’Meara (Honda Civic) in Class 3C broke the previous record of Rob Neal set last year by a further 0:16 seconds. Jason is the current record holder in three different classes, 2A, 3A and now 3C. He is one of only two drivers to currently hold more than one class record at SMSP Druitt and the only one to hold three records at one time. For those who are wondering what is Jasons’ competitive edge, it may have to do with his new paint job.
Anecdotally, Chris Muir, fellow Manly-Warringah club teammate, joked with Jason prior to racing on Sunday suggesting that Jason would likely be careful to keep away from other cars so as to not get his paint work scratched. You were correct Chris, he did… by driving quickly and staying right out the front of the pack. Chris also had a spectacular drive in Class 4B shattering the Ed Corey-held record by a massive three and a half seconds with a very impressive time of 1:12.737. Chris is the other multiple record-holder with both the 4A and 4B records. Ed Corey was also driving well, breaking his own record, but was unable to match it with Chris on the day.

Anthony Crott finally unveiled his new turbo MX-5 with updated livery. Featuring a silver grey base with orange and lime green striping, it is quite spectacular out on track. Willem Fercher had mixed fortunes with a fastest lap in category before a loud bang and huge puff of smoke saw his weekend end on the back of a flat top.

RECORDS
Class Records were broken in every Type with the exception of Type SV where all class records remained intact. All in all, 9 class records were broken.

Class 1C – Preston Peiris broke his own record set last year by just over a quarter of a second with a time of 1.17.307 in his Mazda MPS3.

Class 2D – Craig Donnell also broke his own record by just over a half a second in his supercharged Holden Clubsport with a time of 1.10.966.

Class 5C – Marek Tomaszewski. who also gets faster and faster, knocked a massive 2.848 seconds off his own record in his Stohr WFI with a sub one minute time of 58.854. Apart from Andrie in the Radical, Marek was the only other sub one minute performer on the day.

Class 5D – Andrie Tan broke his own Class 5D Record in his Radical Supersport with a time of 57.584.

Class 6A – Tony King shaved just under a quarter of a second of Samuel Hollier’s two year old Class 6A record in his Mazda MX5 with a time of 1.16.269

Class 6C – Troy Fraser reduced Jonathon McKinnon’s 2103 record by 1.598 seconds in his Nissan 200SX with a time of 1.07.269

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
The Mazda MX5 Club is surging away in the Club Championship scoring a massive 508 points on the day. They have now amassed a total of 1,859 Club Championship points and they are 765 points in front of the current second place ADRC, who have now a total of 1,084 points. The HSV/HDT Club is a further 338 points back with a total of 746 points. MX5 club have a handy lead, however with five rounds to go, the other clubs with an enormous effort, could still get their hands on the club trophy.

Thanks to Bruce Welsh for his in-depth statistics.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au