News - Modified Production Number 8
Gympie 10th February 2007
I decided to venture up to Gympie to do some more laps on their track and try some new things on setup before the Queensland Title is held there in June. It's a very tricky track, and a hard one to master, but definately a ball of fun.
In heat one I started out of 6. I worked my way up to 3rd where I stayed until the last lap where I ran wide on the hairpin and dropped right back to 9th.
Heat 2 I started out of 6 again and they had just watered the track leaving us with a greasy racing surface. There were many cars spinning out in the hairpin and many re-starts to the heat. I moved forward a few spots, but lost those again throughout the race and finished in 6th.
The feature saw me starting out of 7. As I came out the gate onto the track and touched the brakes, the right hand rear caliper came off and rotated with the wheel, causing it to vibrate immensly and making the wheel turn out of balance. I was able to start the race but I had no brakes for the hairpin. I was struggling along, holding Royce Ernst up when the right hand z-bar broke leaving me stranded up against the wall with no steering.
Royce went on to finish the feature race in 7th and seemed to be handling the car and the tough track conditions well. Lack of vision and grip was making the going tough.
There is still a lot of work to be done for car 8 to match it with the locals at Gympie, and some reliablity issues that need to be addressed. We have a bit of work to do before our next race in Maryborough.