Search
START TYPING AND PRESS ENTER TO SEARCH

championships

Event Wrap: NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

Round 4 of the NSW Motor Race Championships returned to Sydney Motorsport Park with a mixed bag of conditions. Staring out dry on Saturday, a freakish storm cell with strong winds rolled through mid afternoon scattering tents and creating 15 minutes of havoc both on and off track. This left the afternoon sessions with a wet track with which to contend, though Sunday started cold and bleak, but the sun shone and thawed us all out for a great day of racing.

This round saw the Improved Production category take a mid-year break, and instead the round featured a one hour enduro by the Production Sports Racing Cars Association; a real treat to see many of these cars in their annual sojourn to SMSP.

Enduros are tough on both drivers and cars, and this race was no different with nearly a quarter of the field failing to go the distance. A marvellous effort by the Mawer/Lazaris (Lotus Exige GT3) team, starting from 12th on the grid and holding on to a half race lead in the closing stages to take the win. Not so lucky was Anthony Soole, who’s birthday was spoiled by a late in the race gearbox failure which saw him drift to a stop out of turn one and hand the Class B race win to Nick Cancion (Mazda MX5). Class C went to Rob Hay in another MX5, managing to hold off the McGann/Stannard (Porsche 944) pair who were only seconds behind during most of the race.
Formula Ford was a see-saw affair all weekend, with Hamish Hardeman (Mygale ST13) and Nick Rowe (Mygale SJ10A), swapping the honours in all three races. Hardeman took the race wins in race one and three and Rowe took home a first, second and third across the weekend, leaving Jacob Parsons (Spectrum 014) to be content with a second and two thirds.

Thundering Sports Sedans racing saw a determined Steve Lacey, who has suffered race ending steering problems over recent months, come out in a determined bid to get his championship aspirations back on track. He finished with two third place finishes in race one and two. Starting from fourth on the grid in race three, he took a very aggressive race line early in the race to first edge out Chris Jackson (Holden Calibra) and then a couple laps later he pushed Anthony Macready very wide to slip by and eventually hold on for second spot in his best finish in quite a while. Birol Cetin (Camaro) took two race wins and his consistency is holding him at the top of his class. Grant Doulman enjoyed a rare race win and a second place, before exiting early in race three.

The HQ racing was a family affair with the Heinrich brothers squaring off against each other. Grabbing four podiums between them they hogged the front end of the field for most of their events. Both Joel and Bruce had race wins and a third place each. They are a competitive pair, giving no quarter as they swapped a bit of paint with each other in race two at turn two.

Aaron Seton blitzed the field with three straight race wins in the Production Touring category in his EVO 10, and absolutely hammered it in race two to record a lap record pass of 1:42.72. Congratulations Aaron!

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

 

Event Wrap – NSW Motor Race Championships Round 3

A good field of 195 competitors enjoyed the first day of Round Three of the NSW Motor Race Championships under warm clear blue skies on Saturday June 21st. Early morning racing on Sunday however was thrown a curve ball with showers and a wet and slippery track with which to contend.
With both practice and qualifying sessions conducted on Friday and Saturday in fine conditions, and cars and drivers seemingly sorted and ready for more of the same for Sunday, it was unsettling for many to rethink the slicks and some didn’t have a backup plan.

First to face the slippery conditions were the Superkarts. With their amazing power to weight ratio on some parts of the track it became like a “ballet on ice”. Fortunately apart from some spins, no-one saw gravel time. Results were dominated by Anton Stevens (ART-PVP) with two race wins and a second, followed by Mark Robin ( Stockman MR125) with one race win and three thirds.

Improved Production O2L saw Graeme Watts continue his dominance of this category with three straight race wins. Looking extremely confident on track, Graeme clocked the fastest lap time in the class with a 1:41.71. Steve Devjak (Commodore) was consistently less than a second behind and scooped three second placings. Joe Lenthall (Mazda RX7) had a good campaign gaining valuable points with two third place finishes. Joes new red and white graphic designed livery goes really well with the spectacular metre and a half of flame he had shooting out of his exhaust late on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately this weekend John McKenzies’ regular podium finishes in this class came to a temporary end with a smokey exit from race two. John said: ”The smoke looked like it was being caused by oil leaking into a valve stem. “ He commented that it was time for an engine overhaul anyway.

Formula Vee featured a big field of 35 racers who were also racing for positional points in the Clemenger International Freight Australian Series. This categories results was on a knifes edge, as the lead was swapped regularly and the final race placings were evenly distributed across Michael Kinsella ( Jacer F2K10) with a first and second, Dylan Thomas with a first and a third, and Tim Brook (Jacer F2K4) with a first, second and a third.

While David Crighton enjoyed two race victories in Improved Production U2L , Graeme Cox settled for second and third placings. Bob Jowett was only a half second behind Crighton in race one, however Bob’s luck ran out in race two as he over cooked it into turn one and impacted heavily into a tire wall. That same tyre wall was responsible for the front end damage to Danny Castro’s Silvia S13, and it was last seen sitting sadly crumpled next to Bob Jowetts Honda Civic in the recovery yard.

With one and a half seconds out front of the field in race one and two Birol Cetins’ Yellow Camaro purred along consistently. However today, only two race wins for Birol, as he was forced to exit early in race three after what appeared to be an unfortunate accident with Steve Lacey. Steve has been having the worst luck lately with his (also) Yellow Camaro, as he has suffered steering failure in his last three outings. I spoke to Steve prior to race three and he was upbeat in his belief that he had solved the steering issue.

Unfortunately in race three Steve got only as far as turn two before his left front tyre, listing at an awkward angle under the wheel arch, uncooperatively dragged his big machine into the grassy verge on driver’s left in a pall of scraping tyre smoke.

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

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

NSW Motor Race Championships Rd 7, Nov 9-10 2013

The final round of the 2013 NSW Motor Race Championships was held at Sydney Motor Sport Park on November 9-10.
Over 150 competitors from the nine categories braved a mixed bag of weather conditions over the weekend, with Saturday’s hot and dry conditions changing to wet and windy for the Sunday. This affected team driving strategies, as well as tyre selection and of course the lap times, as driving rain and winds on Sunday, turned the track into a virtual skating rink.
The Superkarts had the worst of it, with their qualifying session and all three of their races being held on Sunday. Being open and so close to the ground, race organizers allowed them to wear rain covers over their driving suits for their races due to the conditions.
However, this didn’t help these powerful lightweight karts stay on the track, as the rain got heavier, the spinning ballet got worse, with karts sometimes two at a time facing the wrong way on turn two.
Robinson Transport had reason to be joyous on Sunday, as one of their newest recruits in the Formula R class, Rodney Brincat, qualified for the front row of the grid for race 2 on Sunday. Rod has only been in this car for part of the 2013 season. His fastest lap time was only 2.5sec off the fastest in his class. Warwick Robinson liked the wet conditions, posting two second place finishes to Garnet Pattersons win in all three races.
Calamity came to John McKenzie’s Lakewood Electrics team in Impoved Prod O2L, as a broken brake caliper saw John with no brakes coming into turn two on race one on Saturday. Repairs completed by Sunday morning, John was relegated to starting from the back of the grid. McKenzie said: I’ll wont be holding back, and we’ll see how far through the field I can get”.
McKenzie had sliced his way through the field of seventeen cars up into fifth place by lap six, until he aquaplaned out of turn one and through the gravel pits impacting heavily into a tyre wall. Bob Brewer took command of this category with a first, second and third place result.
Wayne Healey’s weekend didn’t get off the ground, as his HQ was shunted heavily on turn one, race one, lap one bringing his campaign to a close even before his engine had reached temperature. He was bitterly disappointed, but said he will be back.
After a spin at turn four, Rob Rowes’ Mondial M89S picked up an orange witches hat in his grill, and drove the whole race with it stuck firmly in place. It was returned to track marshalls at the end of the race.
– Words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

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 NSW Motor Racing Championships, Round 5

On a beautiful blue-sky weekend, 198 entrants brought Round 5 of the NSW Motor Racing Championship back to Sydney Motorsport Park on September 21-22.

Racing was spirited, and several competitors were sporting new livery and cars this round. Simon Pace in Formula Vee ( Mako MK111) had a new paint job, and his racing successes have continued strongly into this round with one second, one third and a fifth placing over the weekend. Steve Lacey (Sports Sedans) drove a very quick Camaro to a second and third place, but ended with an unfortunate DNF in the third race.

In the HQs, Tony Camilleri’s good-heartedness reached new heights as he helped his fellow category competitors to get (or keep) their cars on the circuit, including changing brake pads on Troy Hulbert’ #82, replacing a head gasket for Adam Leach in #42, loaning a carby to Chris Molle in the 23 car, and assisting to repair drivers side panel damage on John Baxters #51 car.

As usual, some campaigns came to a premature end, and Ahmed Bagdadi (Improved Prod) was unfortunate to have a power steering line rupture, and cause a weekend-ending fire in the VXSS Commodore. Misadventure plagued Tim Miller as well, after qualifying fastest, he finished second in race one, only to be sidelined for the rest of the weekend after a broken driveshaft left him standing motionless on the starting grid. Peter Foote shattered a gearbox on turn 15, leaving a legacy of oil on the track and gave an almighty scare to two competitors who were right on his hammer. It also caused a lengthy delay and subsequent shortening of race one.

Terry Robertson ( Reynard 913), who is currently supporting five entrants in the Formula R class, spoke enthusiastically about the probability of seeing up to seven competitors in this class for 2014. This class offers an economical entry into competitive racing on the back of a Dallara platform with a VW engine, providing incredible reliability and cost-effective racing.

Production Sports saw Russell Bayley win all three races in his flying 7-litre yellow Chev Corvette with Lachlan Higgins (Porsche 996) taking second in all three. Sports Sedans best performer was Birol Cetin (Chev Camaro) with a first and second placing, before he succumbed to a DNF in the third race.

Improved Production was hotly contested with a large field of 34 cars, the pointy end a battle between Mark Ruta ( Mazda 808) with two race wins, and John McKenzie ( Commodore) with two second places and a third.

Production Touring was ruled by the triumvirate of Gerry Murphy (EVO 10) with three race wins, Matthew Holt (HSV GTS) with two race seconds, and Bob Pearson (EVO 10) with three race third placings.

Formula Cars’ clean sweep went to Garnet Patterson ( Dallara 301), followed by Graeme Holmes (Dallara F3) recording two seconds and a third placing. Tim Reynolds ( Sabre 02) had two race wins in Formula Vee, while Tim Brook (LE 100) took the other win and a second.

As the sun started to set, the final session saw the ever popular vintage HQ’s dashing and spinning, with Troy Hulbert (#82) executing a graceful 360 degree spin at turn 15. With wickedly twitching rear ends disappearing into the distance, Jeff Mulligan (#69) piloted the Baxter Coaches sponsored car to two first places and a third. Brett Osborn (#86) was his closest rival with a second, third and fourth results.
– words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au