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Event Wrap: CAMS Supersprint Championship Round 3

Round 3 of the CAMS Supersprint Championship was held at SMSP North last weekend, and while rain threatened, apart from some fine misting, it didn’t really eventuate. Another plentiful roster of 117 eager competitors lined up in the eleven groups. No sooner had competition started when a lengthy delay occurred due to a full circuit oil spill from Paul Martens Clubman ( #63), had track maintenance staff dusting and blowing the track from the entrance to turn one all the way around to the entrance to the pits on the main straight – practically the entire track.
A long 40-minute wait had competitors on the dummy grid quite antsy. A funny side to it was when race control called to scrutineering to have a chat about the oil spill. The scrutineer apparently misheard the call and asked for a repeat of the car number involved. Race control replied”…go find car #63… it’ll be the clubman with no oil in it.”This is a good time to doff our caps to the maintenance and safety staff who do such a good job in preparing and maintaining the track, making it safe for us all to enjoy the sport. They worked tirelessly to get the track back in driveable order, and to clean up an oil spill stretching 2.8 km. I noticed that we have a new industrial broom, a forklift with a massive broom attached to the front. Very cool…and sweeps very fast.The delay resulted in the session being shortened by two runs, however the day was successful; records were broken in two Types and seven Classes as well.Again Andrie Tan was the fastest on the day in his Radical with the only sub one minute time of the day of 59.302. Steve Lacey brought his Chev Camaro to the Championship for the first
time. Steve has been a Championship competitor for many years. First in his white Torana, followed by his blue VK Commodore, but this Camaro is something else. Steve was the fastest tin top on the day with a time of 1.03.415, which broke the Type 4 and Class 4D
records. He previously held both those records in his VK Commodore Sports Sedan. Unfortunately, Steve suffered steering problems on his third pass, and was forced to retire. Paige Butchers had a scare when her bonnet flew up on turn one and scratched her windscreen pretty badly.
Warwick Morris was the other Type record breaker in his Porsche GT3. He recorded a time of 1.08.593, which broke the Type 2 and Class 2C records. Warwick has broken the Class 2C record at every track he has run this year and it is the second time he has broken the Type 2 record.
Other Class records broken were:
Class 1C – Preston Peiris took a second and a half off the Class 1C record with a time of 1.17.587 in his Mazda MPS3. Preston has broken the Class 1C record at every Round this year.
Class 4A – Chris Muir set a new Class 4A record in his new Honda CRX with a time of 1.16.401. Chris only unveiled his newly finished CRX today, was extremely happy with its performance.
Class 4B – Ed Cory broke the Class 4B record in his Mazda MX5 with a time of 1.16.250 Class 4C – Richard Perini broke the Class 4C record in his Porsche RSR with a time of 1.04.564. While they didn’t make the record books, it is worth noting that Bruce Hibbard (Porsche GT3), Adam Laura (BMW M3) and Matt Cole (Mazda RX7) also broke the Class 4C record yesterday.
Class 5B – Chris Kostakis broke the Class 5B records by about 3 seconds in his MNR Vortex with a time of 1.056.973. It should be noted that Chris has broken the Class 5B record at every Round this year.
The Mazda MX5 Club is leading the Club Championship by the barest of margins on 1226 points just ahead of ARDC who are just four points behind on 1222 points. Manly Warringah are in third place on 597 points.
-Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
Special thanks to Bob Welsh for specific race details

Event Wrap: 2014 CAMS Supersprint Championship Round 2

Round Two of the NSW CAMS Supersprint Championship on May 10th was run at Sydney Motorsport Park. The day started out foggy, and with a westerly breeze bringing in smokey conditions from the Blue Mountains hazard reduction burn.
This year CAMS NSW Supersprint organisers have found themselves with an enviable dilemma. The sport has grown in popularity to the extent that recent events have been fully subscribed. As well, this year it is only a seven event championship, not the usual eight rounds, due to track scheduling constraints. This has meant that they have had to institute a wait list for potential competitors wishing to gain entry to each event. Of course, not wishing to turn anyone away from enjoying the sport, organisers are however bound by track safety regulations.
Dennis Pietrobon, who was lucky enough to move from wait list to competition status, is a newcomer to the sport and is thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to test his skills in his Nissan Skyline.
It was great to see Kerry Redfern, president of the Manly-Warringah Sporting Car Club back at the track with his sense of humour. Following recent double bypass surgery, he is some time away from competition but was lending support to Robert Muir with the unveiling of their new “baby”, a Honda Type R which has been under construction for over a year. Apparently there is a another “under construction” vehicle coming out of the stables of the MWSCC, which will be seen in upcoming rounds. Stay tuned!
Garry Williams (1969 MGB) had a head shaking moment after his second pass of the day. Looking at his stats he found that his first “easy” run clocked him two seconds faster than his previous personal best yet he felt that his second run was quicker. Young Kyle Jackson pushed his personal limits and was having a day to forget as he spun twice in one session, and ended up in the kitty litter in another. Race control felt it necessary to have a chat.
Roger Heard’s usually smooth confident racing line received a nervous disruption late in the day as he dropped a 150m line of a slippery substance which caused him to do a couple 360 degree spins on turn four. In a spectacular cloud of smoke, Roger was almost completely obscured from view, which helped to cover his embarrassment. Later in the day, Roger commented that“…that was enough excitement for one day.”
One not so lucky to make it through the day was Jonathon McKinnon (Nissan 200SX) who sheered 6 head studs in the first session and headed to the showers early. Nice to see Supersprint veteran Luke Petrou (Datsun 260Z) with a new flashy livery this year. A large Gold foil checkerboard square pattern adorning both rear quarter panel sections. Looks great… is this Luke’s new strategy? Blind the competition?
Lap records were the biggest casualty of the day. Four out of seven Type records were broken, and a total of eleven class records fell.
In fear of repeating ourselves, Andrie Tan continues to grow his talent as he broke Type 5 and Class 5D records as well as being the only one to record a sub 1:30 sec time. Kim Tai was the fastest tin top of the day, shattering the Class 6D record by an amazing 10 seconds. Go Kim!
A cadre of Porsches who usually compete in their own competition came to up the ante in the Type 2/Class 2C category. Warwick Morris broke both the records with a time of 1:42.66 in his GT3. Warwick broke the record in this category at Wakefield in the first round. He is one to watch!
It should be mentioned that two other Porsches in the same category also broke the record. Here come the Porsches, boys!
Allan Marin broke Robert Kolimackovski’s record in Type 3 Class 3D. This might entice Robert back sooner than planned, as he is having a self-professed “gap year” this year. Jason O’Meara had a sweet victory today as he broke the 6-year mark of Benny Tran in class 3A with a 1:50.57 in his Honda 1600. Preston Peiris continues to break records with a 1:55 in class 1C. Adam Laura broke the Class 4C record in his beautifully prepared BMW M3 with a 1.39.82. Adam broke Tom Ainsworth’s old record by almost a second but Tom was nipping at Adam’s heels yesterday and was just over
1/10th of a second behind him. This was unfortunate as Tom also ran a sub 1.40 time also but it was just not good enough on the day.
Marek Tomaszewski lost one of his old records yesterday but came up with a new one in Class 5C by shaving over 10 seconds of the old
record. Again both Duncan Forrest and Al Palmer also shattered the old record with times of 1.30.900 and 1.35.712 respectively. Unfortunately only
Marek’s time will go into the Record Book. Chris Kostakis broke his own Class 5B record in his MNR Votrx with a great time of 1.37.90 and Blake Jones set a new Class 6A record in his Mitsubishi R-Colt with a time of 1.50.30.
ARDC still leads the Club Championship on 829 points just ahead of MX5 who are on 814 points. However, MX5 outscored ARDC on ARDC’s home turf by scoring 477 points to ARDC’s 437 on the day. Early days yet but it looks like third place will come from either Manly Warringah, HSV or the Clubman Drivers Club. Manly Warringah hold down a slim margin for 3rd place at the moment. At the conclusion of the days competition, the annual NSW CAMS Supersprint Championship presentation of the 2013 year trophies was held in The Garage.
President Mike Hicks conducted the official award presentations and a very healthy representation of the award recipients and supporters were on hand to receive their well earned trophies. Andrie Tan was presented with his NSW and Australian Supersprint Championship Trophies with his state and national special achievements from last year gaining special mention. Also singled out for notable mentioning was Kerry Butcher for his hard work and dedication.
– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley

 

Wrap: 2013 CAMS NSW Supersprint Championships

On Nov 29th, many of the competitors and officials involved in the CAMS NSW Supersprint competition gathered together to celebrate the conclusion of another great year of competition.

With a sturdy field of 179 Registrants throughout the year, of which 154 regularly competed in the seven categories , evenly split between Road Registered and Log Book Cars.

To win a championship, you must acquire the most points over an arduous eight rounds of competition. Indicating the popularity of Supersprint, seven of the eight rounds were fully subscribed with waiting lists. The organisers would like to thank all the competitors who supported the Championship.
The Championship rounds were hosted by clubs including the ARDC, NSWRRC, Mini Car Club and MX-5 Club. These clubs host the event rounds, and provide the officials for each event, ably assisted by Kerry Butcher, series Chief Scrutineer and Ian Bigg, series Chief Steward.

On a reflective note, we wish Brett Giles all the very best, as he steps down from his post of Supersprint panel member, and past chairman, after 20 years tireless service to the sport.

The championship, by category were awarded to:
Type 1 – Standard Road Cars – Tony Chan – Toyota Celica and Toyota 86.
Type 2 – Mildly Modified Road Cars – Alex Ball – Lotus Elise 111R
Type 3 – Improved Production Cars – Robert Kolimackovski – Holden Commodore VL.
Type 4 – Sports Sedans – Warwick Fuller – Holden Commodore.
Type 5 – Racing & Sports Racing Cars – Andrie Tan – Radical Supersports V8
Type 6 – Time Attack Cars – Jonathon McKinnon.
Type SV – Clubman, Special Vehicles and Highly Modified Road Cars – Allan Bugh – PRB Clubman.
Club Championship – the Australian Racing Drivers Club ( ARDC)
To further underscore the popularity and quality of the sport in NSW, NSW competitors represented 30% of the competitiors at the recently run Australian Supersprint Championship at Philip Island, Victoria, walking away with First, Second and Third place outright trophies. Andrie Tan, Duncan Forrest and Marek Tomaszewski did us proud. This was the first time the trophy was won by a driver outside the host state. An additional six “first place in category” trophies were awarded to our drivers as well. Congratulations to our NSW drivers.
We look forward to another safe and successful year in 2014.
– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au
Thanks to Mike Hicks for his assistance.

 

Event Wrap: CAMS NSW Supersprint Championships Rnd 8

Round 8 of the CAMS NSW Supersprint Championships was sponsored by the Mini Car Club NSW. It was run at Sydney Motorsport Park on Oct 26th, utilising the South Circuit ,including the newly built 800m track extension. For many of the full field of 90 competitors, it was a wonderful opportunity to drive the new track layout.

The overall fastest lap time was taken by Marek Tomaszewski (Stohr DSR) with a 0:530, closely followed by Duncan Forrest (Stohr WF1) with a 0:538, and Allan Bugh (PRB Clubman) rounded out the top three with a 0:59.

Fastest tin top was Allan Marin (VK Commodore) posting a time of 1:01 sec.

Early in the day Roger Beard wondered why his Clubman was a bit sluggish and upon returning to the pits found his inlet manifold dust cover stocking firmly ensconced inside an inlet tube. Once that was removed the car returned to its expected performance, bringing Roger a fourth place and a quick time of 0:59 sec.

As this was the final round of the 2013 Supersprint Championships, club championship honours went to ARDC with 1097 points, ever so slightly ahead of MX5 on 1090 points, with NSWRRC on 478 points and Manly Warringah on 471 points.

– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

Event wrap- 2013 Round 7 CAMS Supersprint Championships

On Sunday Sept 8, Sydney Motorsport Park hosted Round 7 of the CAMS Supersprint Championships using the North Circuit track layout. A solid field of 97 competitors in eight different classes had a fabulous day racing the clock.
Andre Tan ( Radical) bettered his previous outings result on this circuit by nearly two seconds recording a 0:58.77 fastest lap of the day. Alexander Kenny (Juno LMP3) and Marek Tomaszewski (Stohr WF1) battled for second place honours, with Kenny just pipping Tomaszewski by the narrowest of margins: 0.005 seconds. Tomaszewski lowered his April meetings quickest time by 2.5 seconds, but had to settle with third-fastest for the day.
Ben Porter was the fastest of the tin tops, with a 1:03.79. This was 4.22 seconds faster than the previous best time this year on the SMSP circuit , recorded in June by Alan Bugh in his Clubman. Bugh also lowered his Round 3 time by 1.5 seconds.
Supersprint always features its fair share of exotic street and custom vehicles, and today’s event was no different. Andrew McLaughlin brought his magnificent little flyer, the 5.7L ELFIN MS8 Clubman and Rudy Franz’s 1973 VW L-Bug boasting 330kW “at the wheels” flew down pit straight at 240kph. “Not enough horses”, said Rudy, who after today’s event has plans to replace the current engine with a WRX unit, with 450kW the anticipated result.
Mike Pritchett (Clubman) retired early with an electrical gremlin, Mike Hicks (MX5) was having fun with his new 6-speed gearbox, and unlike fine wine, Mike Loomes (Clubman) complained he wasn’t getting any better with age.
Evan Jones, Supersprint event controller, commented: “Supersprint timed racing is the best value for laps racing available. It is the most economical way to get time on a race track if you want to gain experience, or if you are seeking to upgrade your racing licence in order to compete in other styles of competitive racing.”
– Rob Annesley

 

CAMS announces FIA Academy at SMSP

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) is on the search for one young Australian driver who can take on the world.
CAMS will be hosting the Asia Pacific Region Selection Event for the 2013 FIA Institute’s Young Driver Excellence Academy in October with the search starting now for a young Australian driver who will become one of up to 19 from across the Asia Pacific region to converge on Sydney for three days of intensive testing, training and evaluation.
They will be here to stake their claim on the single guaranteed Asia Pacific position available on the FIA Institute’s global Academy.
The selection process for the Academy involves a series of five qualifying events in regions across the world to give as many drivers as possible the opportunity to participate.
Each of the qualifying events produces one winner to go forward to the 2013/14 Young Driver Excellence Academy with a total of eight participants in the final Academy training programme, which aims to help drivers develop their motor sport careers, while increasing safety skills and actively promoting the principles of safety, fairness and responsibility on and off the track.
The Asia Pacific Region Selection Event for the 2013 FIA Institute’s Young Driver Excellence Academy will be hosted by CAMS and will take place at Sydney Motorsport Park on 20-23 October.
CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos said “CAMS is delighted that the FIA Institute has asked us to organise and run its regional selection event. It is a great tribute to the expertise of staff at CAMS and we look forward to playing a continued role in the identification and development of young talent in our region for many years to come.”
The Australian Racing Drivers’ Club has partnered with CAMS to make the Asia Pacific Selection Event possible in Australia.
The program will be headed by CAMS ambassador and former V8 Supercar driver Cameron McConville who will develop a comprehensive elite program including involvement from the NSW Institute of Sport and recognised motor sport fitness experts.
They will oversee exercises designed to evaluate fitness and driving performance, media techniques, teamwork and psychology.
All Asia Pacific Region National Sports Authorities (ASNs) can nominate one driver each with the single Australian spot to be nominated by CAMS with the applicant having met the minimum criteria set out by the FIA Institute.
A selection panel consisting Geoff Morgan, Chairman, Australian Motor Sports Foundation (AMSF), Neal Bates as the Rally representative and CAMS’ Director of Racing Operations Tim Schenken will determine who of the Australian applicants will be successful.
Drivers aged 17-23 from circuit and rally disciplines, who have demonstrated excellence in competition so far, will be considered.