37KBDon Svendsen’s SC road car, Steve’s Turbo support vehicle, and "Twitchy" - our SC race car
Well, I suppose its only fitting that the only guy to be dug out of the kitty litter should report on this event. I guess I got to see the event in more depth than most ... but more of that later.
While we were displaying our freshly polished and beautified cars at the Whenuapai Wings and Wheels Festival, the MR2 Club in general was invited to participate in a dual sprint event run by the Escort Car Club. The invitation was extended pretty much at the last minute so there wasn’t a lot of warning for any of us, but we did try to give the club some notice which included writing the last newsletter in a single evening so that we could get it out in time to give you at least a few days notice.
Anyway, seeing as we’re trying to sort out the race car, Ade and I were keen for another excuse for a skid (a figurative term that became all too literal) and seeing as Taupo is the track we’re kinda happy with, it was decided that we were going, come hell or high water. That was until we realised that the forecast for the 15th of March was decidedly dodgy! It sounded like the high water option. The met service cheerfully informed us at every opportunity that March 15 would supply thundery rain in the morning easing to showers in the afternoon for the Taupo region. Damn!! We were both apprehensive but were convinced to get into gear by an ever-keen Malcolm, so with some trepidation we headed off for a weekend in Taupo with the race car and my 93 Turbo as a support car with driving to be shared by Malcolm, Ade and me.
I won’t bore you with the details of the journey from Auckland to Taupo, let’s just say that our subconscious reluctance to race in the rain was amply exhibited by the fact that our carefully packed racing overalls and one helmet got left in the garage at home ..... D’ohhh!!!!
37KB
Don Svendsen’s SC road car, Steve’s Turbo support vehicle, and "Twitchy" - our SC race car
As it turned out, the weather in Taupo wasn’t as bad as predicted. It wasn’t exactly pleasant standing on the side of the track during one of the too-frequent rain squalls, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Because there were only 15 entrants, we were allowed to run 3 drivers in the one car which was just as well, because I certainly didn’t want to enter my road car (least she get damaged or embarrassed). This did mean, however, that the drivers who were sharing cars had to stand on the side of the track near the starting grid all day to facilitate speedy driver changes.
Our previous outings at Taupo in the race car had been dogged by spongy brakes and a general lack of faith in the car’s stopping abilities (at least on my part) and that provided a perfect excuse for lap times that weren’t earth shattering. In the interval between then and now, we had worked on the brakes, installing new Mintex race pads, rebuilding the master cylinder, cleaning up and re-greasing the calipers and changing the fluid (yet again) to a high temperature heavy duty brake fluid. We’re getting really good at bleeding brake systems!! We were really hoping that all our work (well mostly Ade’s) had fixed the spongy pedal feel and had improved the entire braking system. Travelling down to Taupo on the Saturday confirmed that the brakes were much improved, but we wouldn’t know how much better they were until they were tried under racing conditions.
The event was sanctioned by Motorsport NZ and was attended by a MNZ steward. In accordance with the MNZ requirements, all cars were scrutineered to ensure safety and each driver was required to demonstrate that they held a MNZ clubsport grade (or higher) licence. Application forms for a clubsport licence were available. After scrutineering and the driver’s briefing, a practice session was held to establish each driver’s lap times to allow for pairing cars up for dual sprints.
Perhaps I should explain the dual sprint concept. Two cars (drivers) of approximately equal speed are lined up on the starting grid side by side and are flagged away to sprint for 3 laps (in this case) around the track competing against each other. Three pairs of cars are released onto the track in each grid to help get through the number of drivers quicker. Now, while this may seem like a fairly simple procedure, the range of cars and drivers present tended to complicate matters making it very difficult to get even pairings except among the Escort fraternity. Cars ranged from 1300 and 1600 cc Escorts through Lancer Evolution I and MR2s to fully race prepared SS2000 class race cars (complete with slicks). It was pleasing to see Trevor and Barbara’s MX5 Turbo (a regular sight at the Taupo circuit), though the only place I could actually see any part of it other than its rear end was in the pits and on the starting grid just before the flag dropped (Don’t laugh, its a seriously quick car driven by two very experienced drivers ... 46 seconds around a dry Taupo track is nothing to be sneezed at!!)
Despite worrying about racing in the rain, I quickly found out that its possible to have a heap of fun on the track in the wet, as long as you’re conscious of the changing conditions and make allowances for the wet track. The practice session was almost finished for the morning and I had built up a fair degree of confidence in the car, the tyres, my own abilities and especially the brakes. They were performing brilliantly!! With barely a few minutes between 3 lap sessions, the brakes showed no signs of fading or sponginess and were arresting the car’s forward momentum at an alarming rate.
48KB
Twitchy needing a wash after Steve came off the back straight and into the kitty litter. A 4WD was needed to tow her out
Well, they say pride comes before a fall and I guess that’s exactly what happened. I was determined to push my braking points convinced that I was being too conservative. I had theorised that although the track was greasy, I should be able to use the dry weather braking points I had used during my last visit to Taupo seeing as the brakes at that stage weren’t very good. I survived the first lap and the second lap each time leaving the braking later and later until I got to the end of the longest straight at Taupo on my third lap. The corner at the end of the straight is a left hand 90 degree corner that can be taken at around 100 kph. I left my braking until the car was about 30 metres from the turn-in point before attempting to scrub off about 65 kph. Knowing that I didn’t have a lot of room I must have jumped on the brake pedal a bit hard and I locked up both front tyres. I immediately eased the brake pedal to stop the lock-up, but rapid reassessment of my current speed and the ever-decreasing distance to the corner had me jamming my foot back on the pedal pretty quickly. That I was going to leave the track was never really in any doubt I suppose, but I was optimistic that I’d be able to gather it all up again and carry on and with some luck nobody would even notice that I’d stuffed it up. Ha!!! After another of my rapid re-assessments I realised that I was sideways, on the grass and heading for a sandtrap! I think they may notice this. I managed to enter the sand trap relatively straight and I can remember thinking how like a BTCC game on the Sony Playstation it all was and making a mental note to congratulate the authors of that game for their realistic sound effects.
After the car came to a halt I climbed out to inspect the damage. I was dreading having to face Adrienne after destroying the race car, but to my relief there was very little damage to be seen. Perhaps that was because there was very little car to be seen. "Twitchy" (our little pet name for the race car) had done a Titanic act and had sunk fairly deeply into the soft earth of the sand trap. After suffering the ignoble fate of being towed out of the sand trap backwards by a 4x4, we quickly discovered that any damage the car had sustained was minor and all it really needed was a good hosing to remove the dirt and a small adjustment to the left front panel.
As it turned out the only other car to leave the track during the day was the other MR2 racing. Donel Svendsen had a "moment" when he left the track directly in front of the clubrooms and headed towards a bank. Luckily the sand halted his progress relatively quickly and he was able to re-join the track without having to be towed. As far as I know the only other casualty to a driver’s pride was the SS2000 car spinning at the same corner I had trouble with ... mind you, he was on slicks on a wet track chasing Ade.
Despite the "off" I had a ball and I’m pretty sure both Malcolm and Ade were equally impressed - if the size of their grins had anything to do with it. The brakes performed flawlessly, the car completed just about every lap of the event without a problem (well, almost) and we drove the car home to Auckland at the end of it. You can’t ask for better than that.
At the end of the day, I had learned a few things.
If you get the opportunity and you’d like to try your car out on a race track, and I believe there’s another Escort Car club dual sprint day at Pukekohe in May, I’d strongly recommend a low level club event like a dual sprint. It’s fun!!!
Steve White
Back to Racing Page Back to Newsletters Page Back to Events Page Back to Main Page