Team 40 to NZ
- Thread starter ross nicol
- Start date
That's just a drawback of a new system. A year ago you wouldn't have had ANY info!
I haven't got my program but from memory the other fast cars :-
15 TVR Tuscan 302 V8
123 JRM Special (U2 type car)
721 Lotus Elan
46 Ferrari 206 Replica
169 911
888 TR8 Grinnal
989 911 RSR (Guy Stewart MD Skope Industries- Meeting sponsor)
232 MGBGTV8
769 911
I haven't got my program but from memory the other fast cars :-
15 TVR Tuscan 302 V8
123 JRM Special (U2 type car)
721 Lotus Elan
46 Ferrari 206 Replica
169 911
888 TR8 Grinnal
989 911 RSR (Guy Stewart MD Skope Industries- Meeting sponsor)
232 MGBGTV8
769 911
As Russ has pointed out we cannot really help much with that unless they were to scan & post their program so you could relate times etc to car type. J.O. in the TVR for example was running in two class's ( Harold Heasley / Stanton Bros ) plus two invitation races as well, which gave him around 12 races in total. In past years they wouldnt allow this.
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Ross Nicol
GT40s Supporter
Seems like I can almost get away without posting, thanks guys for your contributions really adds to the experience I reckon. Basically I had a weekend to remember for mostly the wrong reasons. Everything went well for the practice on thursday, and friday practice was going well, but 2 laps in I had the rear trying to swap ends with the front coming out of the hairpin. I managed to slow down and control it and get back to the pits. What we found when we opened the rear clip was a broken lower rear wishbone. As luck would have it my new pit crew Russ Noble and Lim ( fresh from a failed attempt to finish the Kiwi 40) dismantled the control arm and bent radius rod and shot off back to Russ's workshop to carry out repairs. I had about 2 hours up my sleeve before qualifying and the boys arrived back just in time. We got it together and I qualified 6th.
Saturday dawned and it didn't seem as hot as friday. The morning race was an 8 lapper and I bogged down off the start and lost places but managed to recover for 5th I think.
The 5 lap race in the arfternoon was a cracker but I was having trouble with the starting lights. In OZ all the lights come on together and go out within 5 secs and we're off , but these ones came on one by one and they seemed to mesmerize me into jumping the start. Anyway I didn't get pinged and got a good start behind Jac Mac ( I know its not really Jac Mac but it is his motor making that TVR of Jack Ondrack's so bloody fast) so to me the TVR is Jac Mac, get it? Anyway I was in 2nd place for a while until John in his quick little yellow thing got past me and I settled in to finish 3rd and that was my podium finish.
On a high Nicol and Noble had a speights beer in the Chris Amon lounge and then headed off to the Marquee for the dinner and presentations. Upon walking through the door we were confronted with a very charming young girl who asked if we would like a glass or a bottle of wine, so to help her out we took a bottle each and a free glass. When we left Noble jumped in the Range Rover with me and decided that he would leave his MX5 at the track and that if I was pulled up by a cop it wouldn't matter as I would be back in OZ before the summons arrived.
Sunday and I pick up Noble and we head off to the track. Only problem he'd left his entry ticket in the MX5. Russ smiled at the gate lady and she melted as I tried not to run over her foot, Rangy's are heavy. " I'll come back with the ticket " Russ shouted.
Ok back to racing, I got a good start but still trying to go too early, managed to do a better time but about 3 laps in under brakes coming into the hairpin something broke and sent me helplessly heading for a bank and tyre wall. It got fairly close and I could see people clapping as I pulled up short of the bank. Back to the pits and found a Rod end broken on the front right upper wishbone. That's 2 suspension failures in 3 days and Noble is beginning to cast doubts on Nicol's pre shipping preparation. Anyway he heads off for a while and comes back with a replacement and it's duly installed.
The final race was to be a lollipop start where cars start at the same time but faster cars start at the rear of the slower ones. I got away ok and fresh with the Noble advice ringing in my ears I tried to muscle past the slower cars. As I passed an MGB I felt a bit of contact but thought no more about it until a lap later the rear was wallowing round again and was forced to slow. Another MGB this time a blue one decided to ram the back and it was quite heavy contact. In my mirror I could see him going off but no comfort for me as I was back to the pits with a buggered tyre and rear damage to the clip. So that was the Skope Classic and now we move on to Timaru. As you can see from russ's post I was hard at it today working on the car and thanks to Russ and Lim it will be stronger in the suspension dept.
Ross
Saturday dawned and it didn't seem as hot as friday. The morning race was an 8 lapper and I bogged down off the start and lost places but managed to recover for 5th I think.
The 5 lap race in the arfternoon was a cracker but I was having trouble with the starting lights. In OZ all the lights come on together and go out within 5 secs and we're off , but these ones came on one by one and they seemed to mesmerize me into jumping the start. Anyway I didn't get pinged and got a good start behind Jac Mac ( I know its not really Jac Mac but it is his motor making that TVR of Jack Ondrack's so bloody fast) so to me the TVR is Jac Mac, get it? Anyway I was in 2nd place for a while until John in his quick little yellow thing got past me and I settled in to finish 3rd and that was my podium finish.
On a high Nicol and Noble had a speights beer in the Chris Amon lounge and then headed off to the Marquee for the dinner and presentations. Upon walking through the door we were confronted with a very charming young girl who asked if we would like a glass or a bottle of wine, so to help her out we took a bottle each and a free glass. When we left Noble jumped in the Range Rover with me and decided that he would leave his MX5 at the track and that if I was pulled up by a cop it wouldn't matter as I would be back in OZ before the summons arrived.
Sunday and I pick up Noble and we head off to the track. Only problem he'd left his entry ticket in the MX5. Russ smiled at the gate lady and she melted as I tried not to run over her foot, Rangy's are heavy. " I'll come back with the ticket " Russ shouted.
Ok back to racing, I got a good start but still trying to go too early, managed to do a better time but about 3 laps in under brakes coming into the hairpin something broke and sent me helplessly heading for a bank and tyre wall. It got fairly close and I could see people clapping as I pulled up short of the bank. Back to the pits and found a Rod end broken on the front right upper wishbone. That's 2 suspension failures in 3 days and Noble is beginning to cast doubts on Nicol's pre shipping preparation. Anyway he heads off for a while and comes back with a replacement and it's duly installed.
The final race was to be a lollipop start where cars start at the same time but faster cars start at the rear of the slower ones. I got away ok and fresh with the Noble advice ringing in my ears I tried to muscle past the slower cars. As I passed an MGB I felt a bit of contact but thought no more about it until a lap later the rear was wallowing round again and was forced to slow. Another MGB this time a blue one decided to ram the back and it was quite heavy contact. In my mirror I could see him going off but no comfort for me as I was back to the pits with a buggered tyre and rear damage to the clip. So that was the Skope Classic and now we move on to Timaru. As you can see from russ's post I was hard at it today working on the car and thanks to Russ and Lim it will be stronger in the suspension dept.
Ross
Ross,
I like the look of your pit crew uniform from Russ's pictures, especialy the footware. It reminds me of someone else's school uniform on this site in another thread. Good to see your having fun and have a pit crew that works for beer,
Dave
I like the look of your pit crew uniform from Russ's pictures, especialy the footware. It reminds me of someone else's school uniform on this site in another thread. Good to see your having fun and have a pit crew that works for beer,
Dave
Never really did like the 3mm plate for the top spring attachment. Upgraded to a 5mm plate, but still not on the road to try it out yet.
Keep up the good work Ross.
Clayton
Ross, I hope you will modify all suspension parts before the next race, or you will run behind the fact's continuously. Now you have good help at hand and for Russ and Lim it maybe is a comparision for their suspension strenth.
Racing just has it's ups and downs, the downs cost a lot of money while the ups are mostly for free!
Racing just has it's ups and downs, the downs cost a lot of money while the ups are mostly for free!
Well done to Ross and team, and thanks to Maurice for posting the program
Dave
Dave
It has been interesting to make comparisons between the two cars....
Do not confuse weight with strength. My car is designed and built very differently to most of the production kits out there. The loads that caused Ross' failures do not exist in my design.
Never the less Ross' car has done four years hard racing with good reliability but as he gets faster and forces increase it will be necessary for him to introduce a strict regime of replacement and inspection. He is embarking on that path now and we are also doing some upgrades at the same time.
Meeting Photos: Flickr: Search
Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
Congratulations on the podium Ross.:thumbsup: And as always you are gentlemen relieving the Hostess of the weight of a couple of bottles. Well done.
Ross alluded to some contact with an MG at Ruapuna........
The guy shut the door on Ross even though the MG was receiving waved blue flags and managed to clip the back of the GT40 with his front guard as Ross was going through. That was OK, just a racing incident which cost Ross a race finish and a $700 tyre. Below is a photo of the MG proclaiming "laidback MG racing" which was all very well until he came over wound up as tight as a spring and accused Ross of running into him! I don't think I have seen anyone less laidback. LBMGR would seem to be something of an oxymoron......
The guy shut the door on Ross even though the MG was receiving waved blue flags and managed to clip the back of the GT40 with his front guard as Ross was going through. That was OK, just a racing incident which cost Ross a race finish and a $700 tyre. Below is a photo of the MG proclaiming "laidback MG racing" which was all very well until he came over wound up as tight as a spring and accused Ross of running into him! I don't think I have seen anyone less laidback. LBMGR would seem to be something of an oxymoron......
Attachments
I was worried that the signage might have been a bit too small and discreet and gone un-noticed, but no, at the end of practice an official visit from the CRO (Competitor Relations Officer), who was trying to keep a straight face, informed us someone had laid a complaint! Could we please do something about the sign? Nothing's a problem.....
