2001/2002 Race Results

This is the first season for the team and the car. In fact, it has only been entered in events since August 18, 2001. The car is performing quite well considering the horsepower difference alone between this car and the rest of the cars in the field.

Race 1 - Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW, 18 - 19 August 2001, 2.20 Km circuit

The limited slip differential and Holley fuel pump were added in time for the Queensland race.  This alone should improve lap times at Wakefield for the next round.

Race 2 - Queensland 500 - Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, Qld, 25 - 26 August 2001, 3.12 Km circuit

There was a maximum grid of 40 cars for the races at Queensland Raceway, so qualifying in the top 40 was very important.  Saturday presented fine weather, but we we not so lucky on Sunday.  We were 3rd out Sunday morning and track conditions were wet and oily. Turns 2 and 3 were ice-rinks because of the combination of oil and water on the track. I had the misfortune of getting off-line in Turn 2 in the second-last lap and ended up in the gravel trap.  I didn't have enough speed to drive out of the trap and was caught there for the remainder of the race. The only damage was to the new front spoiler which was pretty much totalled.

Race 3 on Sunday afternoon followed a Red-flagged race for the V8's due to extreme wet conditions. The sun came out for our race, however the track did not dry out in time. As in the previous race, a little too much aggression on the second last lap in Turn 8 saw me slide off into the gravel where I stayed for the remainder.

Race 3 - Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW, 15 - 16 September 2001, 2.20 Km circuit

This weekend at Wakefield was much more pleasant than the previous. The sun was out, the wind was light, and there was no sign of rain. The new differential and gear ratio proved itself in qualifying with a lap time faster than anything I had done previously.  The first two races also saw a significant improvement. The fastest cars were running at around 1:08 lap times, with most of the pack doing 1:09 or 1:10's.  I bought some new front tires for Race 3 and it showed in the lap times. I don't see being able to improve the lap times too much more without some major changes to the car, especially in the horsepower department.  

Race 4 - Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW, 20 - 21 October 2001, 2.20 Km circuit

It was a great weekend at Wakefield Park. The sun was shining, and the days were warm (except for the bitter cold first thing in the morning, but we won't dwell on that). The car performed fairly average, with a few minor mechanical issues throughout the weekend. The front brake callipers need a rebuild as they are not releasing properly any more, and there is a loud squeal coming out of the rear brakes under heavy braking. It looks like there will be a fair amount of work done to the car before the 6-hour in a couple of weeks.

My pit crew was out showing off the new crew shirts that she designed for my birthday. They looked great... Click on the logos to see a larger image.

Race 5 - AROCA 6-Hour Relay - Eastern Creek, NSW, 3 - 4 November 2001, 3.93 Km circuit

The AROCA 6-Hour Relay race is the endurance event for club cars roughly equivalent to the Bathurst 1000 for the V8's. I joined the EM-Powered Racing Team with 4 other cars. The team will be split up in to two smaller teams for the event with some cars cross-entered. Three of the cars are various models of BMWs, and one is an Audi.

Lap Times:

The following are the official lap times for the 40 minute session that I ran. My nominated time was 1:59.00, so I tried to get as close to it without going under.

2:00.34    2:01.39    2:00.12    2:01.71    2:02.49    2:00.72    2:00.73    2:00.51       2:02.92    2:02.76    2:01.82    1:59.96    2:01.50    2:00.89    2:01.55    2:01.22    2:00.06    1:59.58    2:07.15

All the lap times for all drivers and teams can be found on the NatSoft site.

Race 6 - Eastern Creek, NSW, 18 November 2001, 3.93 Km circuit

It was bound to happen sometime. My first D.N.S. (Did Not Start), and that was quite literal!  Qualifying went well with a 10th out of 14 cars, and a time of 2:17.18 in the wet! The fastest car was Scott Fleming with a 2:08.37.

Race 1 went well in the dry with a fastest lap of 1:58.64 and an 11th place finish. Race 2 was where all the trouble began. The car was a little hard to start in the garage and it ran a little rough. I stopped the engine at pre-grid to check for loose spark plus etc. There didn't seem to be anything wrong. Unfortunately, the car would not restart when we were signalled to start our warm-up lap and I had to push the car back into the garage. It turns out the engine had flooded.

Ric Shaw happened to stop by and we pulled the carb apart and adjusted the float level for race 3.  Unfortunately, we had no way to test it before the race and it turned out to be adjusted a little too far. The car had no top-end power and was horrible to drive. I retired the car after 7 laps.  What a way to finish the season.

All the timing information for my car as well as the other, can be found on the RaceTime website, and this race can be found here under "Improved Production Touring Cars Over 2L.".

A special thanks to my good friend, Rick James, who spent so much of his vacation Downunder assisting me with all the preparation and helping out as Pit Crew Member #2.

2002 Season

Race 1 - Eastern Creek, NSW, 9/10 March 2002, 3.93 Km circuit

This season didn't start off so well with a rear brake cylinder coming apart in turn 11. It's always exciting coming into a corner at full throttle and finding no brakes! Luckily Eastern Creek has lots of run-off areas and after a quick trip off-track to mow the grass, I was back on-track and headed for the pits. I managed to put in three timed laps so I qualified for the race. After pulling the rear brakes apart it was a mad dash to find replacement parts. It was first-time lucky as the local auto parts store had both the wheel cylinder and brake shoes in stock.  I'll be very glad when the new rear-end goes in with disc brakes instead of drums. 

Race 1 went fairly well with a lacklustre result. Lap times averaged around the two minute mark and the car was running OK. Race 2 on Sunday was a great improvement with lap times consistent through out the race around the 1:57.6 mark. The car was running well and the upgrades to reduce flooding have done the job. 

Race three was the most interesting race of the weekend with lots of action in turn two on the first lap. Cristy and Scott went off on the inside of turn and bounced off each other sending Cristy back across the track in my direction. I veered off to the right and punch the accelerator to avoid being t-boned on the passenger door and left the melee behind. Race three saw three RX-7's parked trackside because of various problems. Lap times were consistently in the 1:58's, with my fastest lap at Eastern Creek happening in lap 2.

That's it for this year.  Due to our upcoming trip around Australia that was my one and only race of the year. The car is going in to storage for a while and will be shipped back to Vancouver with the rest of our stuff in August. There are already plans underway to enter the car in a couple of races at the tail end of the 2002 season in Vancouver so stay tuned.