Race Car Experience Drive

2005 has started with a flurry of motorsport activity. On 17 January 2005 we conducted the first experience drive day at Queensland Raceway. The three lucky participants had an absolute ball.

We assembled at the circuit early to do some car familiarisation, seat fitting and gear shift instruction. This was followed by gear shifting practice in the car park. We took a few slow laps around the circuit in a road car to demonstrate approach, cornering technique, car placement and lines.

Our two hour track hire window then opened and it was time to hit the track in the Formula Ford. Each participant had three sessions of about ten laps. The gap between sessions allowed enough time for reflection and coaching so that each time out on the track was an improvement.

All three left the track absolutely beaming.

Formula 3

On Wednesday 19 January I went to Eastern Creek to drive a Formula 3 car. It was the Dallara 398 TOMS Toyota owned by Mike Beeley. What a great experience. After the five lap shake-down I brought the car in thinking 'I can't do this! I don't know where I am, I don't know what gear I am in....'

I took the car back out for twelve laps during which a number of things happened. I flat-spotted a tyre. In the F3 when you slow the car under heavy braking it becomes lighter as the down-force reduces. I locked up the right front brake which flat-spotted the tyre. It quickly became worse with every application of brake because the brake would nip at the same point on the tyre every time. Now I understand what flat-spot induced vibration is like!

Secondly with the additional cornering force my neck muscles turned to absolute mush. I had to do a "Jenson Button" holding my helmet as I went around. I managed to circulate in the 1m 38s bracket. At the beginning of the day Mike said that if I managed to get into the 1m 35s bracket I would be doing well. The car was set up with plenty of wing, lower gear ratios and a propensity for front end push (for a rookie basically - me).

We made up what has become known as my "big poofter's pillow" for a head rest. This really did the trick and quickly got into the 1m 35s bracket next time out. I went out again with a couple of outcomes. I broke through the 1m 34s bracket to bring home a personal best of 1m 33.6s. I was ecstatic. I also built up to taking turn 1 flat. Now that is an experience. Even bumped the rev limiter on one occasion through there.

A minor run-off at turn two was the only blot on the copybook of an otherwise perfect day. Something I will not forget for a long time.

Queensland State Championships Round 1

Round 1 of the state championships was held at Morgan Park on the weekend of 19-20 February. We arrived in style in bf racing's new Iveco transporter.

The fresh engine showed its strength but we did not qualify as well as anticipated due to a few incidents on the part of others. I started well in race 1 taking back three places from the start only to lose them due to a re-start. I was bemoaning this until I started even better in the re-start to run second behind Trent Usher. A deep braking move by Will Cavalino on the second last lap brought me across the line in third place.

Race 2 saw another good start with me holding second spot again behind Trent until a mistake mid-race cost me a very quick two places. I regained one place at the conclusion of the race to again come home third this time behind Nigel Barclay.

The two third places have me currently holding second outright in the championships. I will be working overtime to hold that position with a handful of sharp competitors snapping at my heels.

Queensland State Championships Round 2

Round 2 of the Queensland State Championships was held at Morgan Park Warwick on the weekend of 16-17 April 2005. Conditions were good although it was still a little hotter that I like it.

On the Friday practice session we ran some old tyres that we thought were better than they really were. The plan was to practice on them and race on the tyres that were new for Eastern Creek last year. We ended up having to run on what were going to be the race tyres that afternoon and hope that we could have new rubber fitted in time for qualifying Saturday morning. We put down some impressively quick times spending a fair amount of time circulating in the 1m 06sec bracket for the first time. Better than we thought we could ever achieve.

TyreTech were there early and we had the new rubber fitted for qualifying. Our qualifying strategy was to warm the tyres up in three laps, come in and check pressures and then go for it. Good plan except that we ended up only getting one quick-ish lap in before a heap of oil was dumped on most of the circuit by another Formula Ford. It was enough however to have us starting in P3 on the grid for race 1.

Race 1 on Saturday afternoon went well with us finishing where we started in P3. Race 2 saw us holding fourth position until a mechanical problem in the car in front gave us another P3 finish in the second and last state championship race for the meeting.

The overall result is that we are retaining second in the state championships to date with the all-important round 3 scheduled for Queensland Raceway at Willowbank last weekend of June. We need to bag maximum points to keep our position strong for this year's championship.

In both championship races I was involved in fights for third place that demonstrated all of the classic moves imaginable. There was slip-streaming, deep braking moves and switch-back moves all over the place. It was terrific.

We had a disappointing fifth place finish in the first race but recovered for a third place finish in the second championship race. I was even on points over the two races with another competitor, but because I beat him over the line in the second race, I was awarded the trophy for third place for the weekend. I also picked up the Race Elements "Hard Charger' award for making up the most positions during a race.

Next outing will be at the National round for Formula Ford at Queensland Raceway 22-24 July. We run as a support category for the V8 Supercars that weekend. Now that is a meeting not to miss.

It was another weekend of great Formula Ford racing at Queensland Raceway in the National round of the championship! The atmosphere racing as a support category to the V8 Supercars was quite something. You don't notice the crowd while you are on the track, but they were certainly there in their tens of thousands.

We qualified the car quite well among the state level competitors toward the rear of the field. When the racing started, it was full on throughout the field like the world was at stake. I raced again particularly well tussling fiercely and executing every move in the book. I am getting so much better at my race craft in terms of close contact racing and thinking half a lap ahead and positioning myself accordingly.

We came a little unstuck in the last race however when my planning was thwarted by an unexpected move at close quarters by another competitor. The result was minor damage but more importantly to me an opportunity to improve even further lost. Oh well, it has made me more determined to find just how much more is left in the current combination of me and car.

We did have a personal best on two fronts though. These were further improved race craft and a personal best lap time. I am now right up there with the quickest of my fellow state title competitors.

An added bonus for the round was a guest appearance of the 2006 Carrera Cup car!

We race next at Morgan Park Warwick on the weekend of 27-28 August for round four of the state championship. We are currently holding onto second place and looking to improve on that. Let's see what we can do.

We raced on the weekend of 26/27 August in the fourth and penultimate round of the state Formula Ford championship. Is was a cool but fine weekend at Warwick, ideally suited to motor racing. Engines developed maximum horsepower with the denser air and cooler track temperatures did not overheat tyres.

Friday practice was very useful in getting "back in the groove" not having driven at Morgan Park since round 2 in April. We managed a personal best time in the second practice session clocking a 1m 06.09s lap. We were hunting down a 1m 05s lap but were thwarted by a slower car entering the track. One thing we did achieve was to capture some on-car footage through strapping a small camera onto the roll hoop of the car. I hope I can show you the footage sometime soon. It will give you a good impression of what it is like out there.

On Saturday we qualified third fastest for the start of the first championship race Saturday afternoon. The lap time was 1m 06.48s. We raced in the afternoon with me starting from third position on the grid. A mistake in turn 6 lost me third place so I finished fourth. Sadly this meant that I started fourth on the grid for the second championship race on Sunday. Well, we started 1-2-3-4 and finished in the same order.

Not my best performance, but enough to retain second place overall in the championship with the final round at Queensland Raceway Willowbank late November. Over the four racing car races for the weekend I ended up doing well enough to take home a small third place trophy.

Well, that's it for another round. Here's pushing for a strong finish to the 2005 season at Willowbank in November.

We set out at the beginning of the final round at Queensland Raceway on the weekend of 19/20 November needing only to finish moderately well in both championship races to clinch second place in the championship. I really thought that I would qualify better than we did, but had to settle for 5th fastest of the Formula Fords.

Total disaster struck approaching turn two of the first race. I was hustling for position approaching the turn when I saw Tim Blanchard spin over on the right hand side of the track a few cars ahead of me. I thought OK, I'll head over the left and keep the pace well and truly on. Tim's car was facing 90 degrees across the track with the back of the car pointing outward when his tyres "gripped-up" and shot the car backward across my path. We collided with me travelling at the best part of 150kmh. It is quite fortunate that I didn't cleanly T-bone him mid-ship; that would have spelled some serious consequences for both of us. The impact was taken by my right front wheel onto his right rear wheel. Tim Suffered some suspension damage that was repaired overnight. My Vector lost the whole right front corner including damaging the upright for which we didn't have a spare. That was it for our weekend. Zero points.

Damien Flack scored in that race 12 points thereby passing me for second place in the championship. He had a four point lead. The complete irony was that during the second championship race on Sunday, his Van Diemen just stopped running and he couldn't finish the race. All I had to do to regain second place was to be there and finish! Not to be. My immaculate collection third place trophies remains intact.

For the weekend of 3-4 December 2005 I leased a Mazda MX-5 race car to compete in the 1 hour race with co-driver Steve Morcombe. Steve's 1 min 54.25 sec qualifying lap got us 29th place on the starting grid. We decided that I would do the opening stint of the race.

The lights went out and I gained a few places at the start. The next two laps became the busiest motorsport period of my career so far. It was cut and thrust hustle all the way until the safety car was deployed due to a high speed incident at the notoriously fast turn 1. Six laps later it was all go again leaving me to experience some of my best racing to date.

At the thirty minute mark I brought the car in for the mandatory driver change. We executed a blistering 15 second driver change for Steve to bring us home in 19th place after our combined racing efforts. The fastest lap in the race was a 1min 54.07sec completed by yours truly. The overall result was a third in class trophy. My immaculate collection of third place trophies remains intact.

That was it for another great year of racing in 2005.