Domain hill climb 09

This was my 3rd year in a row entering this event and it is such a great event that I would come back for another 3 years if possible. The car is not perfectly suited to tarmac setup having no sway bars in the front it tends to get a fair bit of roll around the corners. But it is still a good a fun car to thrash in the hillclimb.

First run was a wet run, and i was not confident at all in the car so I decided to take it very easy and not crash the car. Hillclimbs also run on your best time so there is no point pushing if it is a wet run when it will be dry later in the day. Fortunately the rest of the runs were dry. 

The second run i got into the groove and realised that Scotty Neuman in the Charade and myself were very close in the times so the battle began and we were fighting in times all day at one stage the time difference was one one-hundreth of a second. I am very competitive and took the challenge on, it came down to the last run and i beat scotty by a small margin of 0,2 seconds.

All in all great weekend and good times were had

Results: www.cmitas.org

Hellyer Rally Summary

Well just got back and glad to announce that Scott Newman did a fantastic job of driving his little Dihatsu Charade to 11th outright and first in class. The Rally was outstanding, the organizers did a great job and the whole day ran smoothly. 

On the start line we saw 23 cars turn up, which is really good for a TRS event. Walking around and looking at the cars I was amazed at the level of competition in the TRS at the moment, especially in the 2wd section. The most exciting car-driver combination was that of Lee Peterson and the Nissan Pulsar. This car really catches my attention and at the end of the rally it was really good to see Lee finish 3 rd outright and first 2wd. 

Our day ran really well and our goals were to finnish and just gather experience. Scotty tried some different driving styles and at the end of the day the in-car feeling was great, and the pace seemed to really improve throughout the whole day. The weather was a little bit cold and when it started to rain some stages became really slippery, but he kept it together and managed a solid finnish.

Results: http://nwcctas.net/docs/hellyer09.pdf

Hellyer Rally

This weekend the Shiftlock team will be heading up to Burnie for the unforgiving Hellyer Rally. This is the same rally I crashed out of last year. This year I will be enjoying the scenary from the passanger side as I navigate for Scott Newman in the Dihatsu Charade. Really looking forward to this rally, and it will be good to see how Scott goes. It will also give me a chance to have a look at road conditions before the Novice Rally that will take place shortly after Hellyer.

3rd Outright at MSCT Motorkhana

Another great day held by MSCT. This event saw a massive turnout of 27 entries. I was really happy with 3rd Outright first car under 2l.

The day was great but I did suffer a huge amount of understeer on the tight tracks due to my worn out tyres. Another improvement for future events will be the fitting of  a hydraulic handbrake for the really tight corners. But all in all stoked with 3rd from 27 entries. Enjoyed the close battle with Stephen in the CRX.

Results:

http://msct.com.au/results/Motorkhana/Motorkhana%20Results%2020%20June%202009.pdf

Now to continue with preparations for Novice Rally can't wait...

Gearing up for Novice Rally

I have began gearing up getting ready for the novice rallies being held on the the north west of Tasmania. The events will be run by North West Car Club. I am really looking forward to these event the first one is held out at Hellyer George. 

below: getting interior ready

These type of events will be a step up from Khanacross, Motorkhana's and Hillclimb and I beleive the car and myself is ready to go to the next level. Finishing each event will be number one priority though. 

Dates are: 8th August   Novice Rally - (Hellyer Gorge)

       19th September  Novice Rally - (Ridgley)

The second event on the 19th of September will be a Night event so that will definitely be an interesting experience.

So time to get car ready and find myself a navigator......

1st Outright at MSCT Khanacross

Well what a weekend. The khanacross was fantastic, the Powrana track is fairly challenging and it caught a few competitors out. I ended up using the rally tyres as the level of competition was too high to win on radials.

A large field of  cars turned up, which was good to see. The first run I had got the adrenaline going, and after I got out of the car I was shaking. Lucky for me I was the last car on the track and all the cars before me had swept most of the loose gravel off the track. 

The only issue I had throughout the day was dust coming into the cabin. I have to put silicon in all the holes before the next event. Overall though couldn't be much more happier with first in class and first outright.  pictures to come

RESULTS: http://www.msct.com.au/results/Khanacross/KhanaX%20Results%2023.05.09.pdf

Till next time.

Excel back out this weekend.

Excel will be racing this Saturday at MSCT Khanacross. Really looking forward to this at I missed the first khanacross. Will try to run it on radials rather that rally tyres we will see how that goes.

Targa Pics

1st in Targa Tasmania Rookie Rally

Well what an event... Phil House and myself in the navigators seat piloted a BMW E30 to victory in the rookie rally. An amazing achievement and something i am still yet to take in. The event started with reecie which we did Saturday, Sunday and Monday before the event. The event then kicked of in George Town with the prologue street stage.

The street stage was one of the highlights for sure, Phil managed to get the car sideways on most corners and put on a show for the spectators and also set very quick time.

Day one and Day two involved going through some of Tasmanians best roads. The BMW handled very well giving us some great stage times. We held the lead from Prologue to the last stage, with fierce competition from Ian Swan at the end of the event. The BMW was an amazing car and sitting in the navigators seat was quite a wild ride.

MSCT Gravel Hillclimb

Just got back from an action packed weekend in the forestry around retreat area. The Excel once again proved its worth by giving me a result of 1st in class and 14th outright. Which is not to bad considering it is a gravel hill-climb and the best combination for a hillclimb is a high powered rear wheel drive/four wheel drive, and the the Excel is everything but that.

The first run I was very cautious just trying to find grip levels and get used to the corners. There was a few corners that could catch you out, one including a 3rd gear long left hander. The track had two chicanes and getting into and out of them as quick as possible was difficult aswell. My second run I shaved over 6 seconds of and started to feel a little more confident in the car. Then I was slightly improving on my times throughout the rest of the runs. Throughout the day I was trying some different lines, finding not much time gain but some lines felt better inside the car than others. Overall the event was fantastic (thanks MSCT organizers and officials). The hillclimb was a good size with each pass taking a little under 2 minutes.

Results:

http://www.msct.com.au/results/Rally/Hillclimb%20Results%2018.04.09.pdf

2nd and 3rd for Excel at Cambridge

The Excel made its long awaited return to action. The car hasn't been raced for over 4 months. The event was run by 500 Car club and a strong field of 26 cars turned up. Scotty Newman and myself were in the Excel and we managed to get 2nd and 3rd outright.

At the end of the day Adrian Morrisby won in his Subaru Forrester (4-wheel drive), although I was only 4 seconds behind total. The car ran very well and the car got some attention with its newly added roll cage and exhaust system (thanks Simon). Next event is a gravel hill climb on the 18th of April.
Results:
http://stuff.johnnysmultimedia.com/suppregs/500cc_Khanacross_Round_2_Results.pdf

Big kick off for 2009

Motorsport events are starting up again after the summer break and I have been given the opportunity to navigate in the all tarmac round, Targa Tasmania. I will be competing alongside Phil House in his BMW E30. Phil has entered in the rookie rally, which is focused for first time targa competitors. The rookie rally consists of 2 days competition and the prologue.

I will update the blog with more info as Targa nears.

visit: www.targa.org.au   (for more info)

Update and break

I have got my car back from Simon Jansen at "Mufflers and More" in Hobart and he has done a great job with the exhaust system on the car. The sounds is great, there is a difference in the power as well.
To get a exhaust system on your race/road car, contact Simon through:
www.mufflersandmore.com.au


Now the building continues with the roll cage. I havn't done an event in the Excel for a while and I can't wait till the next event comes around.


During the break I have been doing alot of riding on my Scott Scale 50. I will be doing a few races on the bike this year but I will be using it mainly for riding to uni and work.

Also been doing some sailing races in the derwent river with some guys from work, I have tried doing some dinghy sailing and that is great fun.

Back in the workshop

The Excel is back in the workshop for a few updates and a small refreshment.

I have only got the chance to start working on the Excel this week but progress has been made.

First lets start on the E30 M3 this is my fathers car and he is still putting away at it. He has custom made some extractors, it took a very long time to make these due to the amount of effort gone into making each one almost equal length. The collectors look very good aswell.

The car body now needs to get welded together with a spot welder so that is the next thing on the list for the E30.

The Excel,

Spent 3 hours every night this week removing tar on the floor. I will have lost about 15-20 kg in tar. I have removed some of the audio system and all the carpet.

In the mechanical department, I have fitted some of my nolathane bushes to the front lower control arms. The gearbox oil has been replaced, and cv boots will be replaced tonight. I pulled the old exhaust system out and will be buying a mandrel bent exhaust system some time next week.

The cage probably won't go in until I get some more holidays which will be around easter or June/July. Next event on the calendar is probably a motorkhana in Northern Tasmania on January the 24th.

Old mate Nick O'neill from Victoria is keen to navigate for me in a few rally events mid to later this year. Plans are to do Auspine rally October 3rd which is a state rally round and possibly a few club level rally's during mid year.

Till then.