Thanks Steve. Yeah it was a good day!
Club Day 2 at Ruapuna last Sunday was even better! And saw me entering in the Unrestricted Club Saloons class which sported some frequently raced and well sorted cars. I was up against Porsche GT2 and GT3 cars and a gaggle of RX7 Batmans, the quickest of which was running V8 power.
Qualifying was relatively uneventful and I posted by best time yet at 1:32.124 to put me P4 on the grid. Beaten by a GT2 on 1:31.371, the V8 Batman 1:29.493 and a GT3 1:28.677. The plan for the race was to try and hang on to the black GT2 who was a second quicker than I was and hopefully to improve my lap times by trying to keep up with him over the 8 laps.
However as so often happens in motor racing the plan went out the window when the flag dropped. I got a real blinder of a start and managed to get past them all to lead into the first corner. Surely it would only be a matter of time until I got done by the faster cars. My mirrors were full of the white GT3 who had qualified 3½ seconds faster, and the other two cars were in close attendance also. This continued until the GT3 spun and his place was taken by the V8 Batman. I could hold them in a straight line but without the aero it was pretty hair raising in the turns and I was expecting a lunge down the inside every corner. The pressure was on and every completed lap had me wondering how much longer I could hold them out. The Last Lap board was shown and I had to try and hold it together for the last lap. It seemed like it would never end but onto the start finish straight for the last time and I was still in front and knew that it was mine. A win by ½ sec from the V8 Batman! A mighty race and even better my best lap time had come down to 1:30.391. Nothing like a bit of pressure!
Next race was a reverse grid race and I was off Grid 27 with one of those three fastest alongside me and the other two behind. For this 6 lapper I got another good start and managed to work my way through the field all the while expecting to be gobbled up by the quick cars. Didn't happen and I got past all the cars in front to win by less than ½ sec from the GT3. With the traffic, most of the laps were in the 1:31 range but my fastest was 1:30.723. Not too bad I felt.
The next race was a 6 lap handicap race and they had me off the back of the grid on 73 secs while the other three quicker cars were in front of me off 70 sec. This was going to be a hard nut to crack and I was really focussed on the job in hand and it took total concentration. The GT3 won it with a best time of 1:30.446 I finished 4th and was next fastest on 1:30.484.
However a big wake up call, I was that busy concentrating on what I was doing that I missed seeing a few critical flags and wound up getting penalised for passing a car under the yellow flag, two others under double waved yellows and ignoring a drive thru penalty. I never saw any of them. Quite justifiably I got hauled off to talk to the Stewards who fortunately must have been having a good day. Got a 60 sec penalty added to my race time so that relegated me to 14th. No monetary fine, no suspension. Very, very, lucky!
The last race of the day was a 6 lap scratch race combining all classic cars and club cars. No formal grid, first up best dressed. I managed to get out quickly and grab Grid 1. On flag fall I soon cleared out to a comfortable lead and I was getting a bit adventurous trying different lines, trying to go in deeper and cut later apexes so I could get the power down earlier. Well the theory was good but I wound up spinning it on the 2nd lap and collected a bit of damage so I decided to head for the pits and call it a day.
Not too bad though, first spin this season. The car is really predictable and I can get it out of shape and it will come back, unlike last season when the merest indiscretion saw it heading for the kitty litter or worse...
When I first started building this car I had my eyes firmly on the Classic Sports/GT lap record which at the time was 1:30.5 held by a T70 driven from memory by American Tom Malloy. I can now comfortably go under that but in the intervening years that has been lowered to 1:29.5 by NZer Murray Sinclair in his beautiful wee Chevron B16. So that is another challenge. I think when I get a bit more used to the car that it will be doable. Time will tell.
Levels Raceway this weekend where I will again be running in the Club Saloons class. Another Sunday only meeting. Although there are some fibreglass and front subframe and radiator repairs to do before that! One day we'll just be able to polish it between races, I hope.
, and have never ever built or raced a car with their 'own' money, one guy told me recently that they are so clever that eventually they will run race meetings without cars or people, thats the sort of mentality we are dealing with...
