28 November 1998
After the anti-climax of the blue car not being ready on time, at least the day started well - blue sky and sunshine - apart from starting too early. Still, with helmet, race suit and 20 litres of avgas in the boot, I headed north at about 7.30 am. There was little traffic, and I was running a bit late, so the 200 k trip took an hour 40, and was a lot of fun. Well, you have to prepare the car for what lies ahead, don’t you?
They are pretty laid back at Timaru. The documentation, etc taken care of, I waited for scrutineering. As it turned out, my car was checked after its first race!
Anyway, on with the race wheels (Hankook Z2000s), at which time club members from Christchurch and Dunedin started arriving. Great to met them all. And very helpful too. The jack would not fit under the front, but 3 MRtwoers each side soon fixed that - as another MRtwoer fed the little darling its diet of avgas. Thanks for all the help, guys - really appreciated.
Then - line up for practice. I have never seen, let alone driven on Levels before, so practice was a bit of an eye-opener. And, it is always daunting to arrive to a field full of purpose-built race and rally cars, when your car is totally stock. As one of the guys pointed out, my little white MR2 was the only car there with just road seat belts, and without a roll cage! The car I used is MR2 Number 3, bought for my son Billy to start into motorsport (but I told him he couldn’t have it till the day after Levels :-)), and I only picked it up a few days before. It used to belong to club member Craig Nicolson, and Craig delivered it in very tidy and serviced condition. But, all I had time to do to it before racing was fit a new set of Metal King brake pads to the front, and of course, fit the race tyres. I still don’t know which way the wheels point - although it runs very nicely on the road, so is fine. I would have prefered to adjust in maximum negative camber, though.
Levels is quite a complex track. There is one longish straight and two short straights interconnected by tight corners, and doubling back on itself. There two tight sweepers, and there is not much camber built into the surface. There are ripple strips on all the tight corners, and these can be a bit of a worry as well.
After 5 laps of practice, I was still really struggling to remember the corners, and consequently screwing most of them up. Entrants were divided into 3 groups, based on practice times. I was in Group 3 (the slowest) but there was not that much of a difference in the times - with a couple of exceptions. I don’t know which practice lap they timed, but I was credited with 1 min 28.56, and placed on the 5th row of the grid.
Race One: I was on the second last row of the grid. The flag dropped, and the two cars in front of me didn’t seem to do anything! I buttoned off, then figured I could fit between them just as they took off. The MR2 is good off the start line, and I drove through between them! From there it was a matter of keeping them behind me (a rally Starlet, and a race Avenger) and try and catch the guys in front, who happened to be 2 Holden HQs. I was still struggling with the track, but slowly reeled in the HQs. Man those things can be wide when it comes to passing! And it is almost impossible to line them up for a passing manouevre under brakes - they basically point at the apex and hang on tight! Anyway, on lap 3, I managed to get the first one under brakes at the end of the long straight. On lap 4, I got the next one, but he seemed very determined to keep me out (in fact, I am not sure he even knew I was inside him) so, discretion being the better part of valour, I backed off, and he went through ahead. Next lap, I was right up his exhaust pipe into the straight, and got him comfortably at the end of it. Result - started in position 9, and ended up 5th, and feeling a little more confident about the track.
Race two: We started in the same grid positions. Normal practice is to reshuffle based on last race results (so I would have been 5th) but that didn’t happen. AND - the Starlet and Avenger guys were wise this time - they closed up off the start line, and I didn’t fit! I was on the brakes about 5 times from the startline to the first corner (a tight right hander) and the guys said they were agonising as they watched the brake lights flashing on and off. The end result was that I was totally unsettled and off line for the first corner, and finished up last out of it! I got the Avenger and a couple of others during the rest of the first lap, and finished up hard on the tail of the Starlet, with a group of 5 in total that you could have thrown a blanket over, including the 2 HQs I had passed in the previous race. But, although I got right up inside a few times, I could not get past the Starlet. It was a very frustrating race for me, and I made a few mistakes as a result. Hitting the ripple strips hard can really throw one side of the car in the air, and it is a bit exciting afterwards :-) BUT, I persevered with the Starlet, and lined him up for the dogleg straight (taken flat) leading to the finish line. I got the front bumper in front of him just before the line! Result - started in position 9, finished 6th.
Race three: This was seen as an equaliser race. The grid positions were reversed, but there was no handicapping. After the first two races, I was really looking forward to this one. I started in position 3. Directly ahead of me was a race Mini (we had the inside line into the first corner), beside it was a rally Escort 2000 (very competitive), and beside me was the Starlet. Off the start line, I damn nearly finished up in the Mini’s back seat. I had two wheels in the grass, wanting past him, but he blocked me out. As a result, the Escort went in first, the Mini second, and because I was held up, the Starlet drove round the outside of me. Damn! - I really needed a good start, and it didn’t happen! I took care of the Mini in the first part of the long straight, and what followed was what I thought woiuld happen, given a clear run. The Escort, followed by the Starlet, followed by the MR2 (a blanket could have been thrown over us) simply drove away from the rest of the field. But, I could not make any impression on the Starlet, so was resigning myself to 3rd. Now, I have to say something about the Escort (by the way, the Escort and Starlet drivers are brothers, and very competitive) - it has interesting suspension. It was lifting its inside front wheel up to 6 inches off the ground through the tighter corners, as Escorts are wont to do. Looks spectacular, but is not the best for grip and stability. Well, with the MR2 sniffing the Starlets exhaust pipe, and the Starlet sniffing the Escort’s, maybe a little brotherly rivalry came into play, but the Escort overdid it on the tightest sweeper, and rolled on lap 4! Nothing serious, and no injury, but the race was stopped. When it was restarted, the Starlet and I were on the front row, and were told we had 3 laps to go. The MR2 performed brilliantly off the line, and I was first into the first corner, and although he was snapping at my heels all the way, that is the way it remained. The MR2 and Starlet drove away from the rest of the field, and finished hundreds of metres ahead of the next bunch. Result - started 3rd - WON !!!!!!!!!!!
The club guys that were there in support were ecstatic, and I was totally over the moon!!!!!! I am probably still on a bit of a high as I write this, but I have to say (seriously) that the MR2 is just brilliant. To take an essentially stock car and acheive what we did is nothing short of phenomonal. Its handling was what mostly shone. I was able to brake later than most (although I did have a number of interesting moments when I wondered whether I would run out of track!) and it was so stable through the corners that my confidence built quickly as the day went on. Not once did I feel that it was about to swap ends on me. It was drifting much of the time, but in a very controllable manner. And this is one of the stock cars. With the extra power of the blue car, and some suspension work, who knows what may be acheivable. Not many lap times were taken during the races, so I have only a few. The best lap I did in race 3 was 1 min 24.2. The only other times I managed to get were for a Race prepared Datsun 280Z (1 min 22.0) and a very fast classic racing Mini Cooper S (1 min 24.8). One of the club members timed the fastest car of the day (a Nissan 1800 turbo powered Corolla Sprinter with 350 bhp!) at 1 min 15.0 All round, a great day, and I am delighted that the results made the club members drive worthwhile.
Next events;
13 December - round 4 of the Otago Sports Car Club Speed Championship.
This is the Queens Drive bent sprint, and consists of a sprint through
the centre of town, to a turning point and then back again. It is
sealed, and fast from earlier years when I have watched it. Yet another
learning curve!
20 December - Grasskarna at Milton. I am hoping that Danny and Jason,
and a few others will enter this event. I will be there, as will son
Billy for his first event in his car. Four or five MR2s competing would
be Great !! They are well suited to this type of event, and should be
competitive, at least amongst the two wheel drive cars.
All in all, it is coming together quite nicely ..... :-)
Daryl Munro