A Return to Action

We had a big return to action on November 7th with Dad and myself driving the e12 at Wakefield Park in the final round of the BMWDCNSW Supersprint Championship. Wakefield Park surprised everyone with a beautiful day of 25 degrees with no rain (or snow, ice, etc). The practice session was very disappointing with the car understeering everywhere with both Dad or I at the wheel. An inspection after showed that the front tyres were work down to the canvas with a big flatspot on the passenger front. We quickly swapped out the rears for the front (even though they are the wrong size and rubbed on the springs!) and we were back in action. The "new" front tyres weren't much better, but at least we could get around the track.

The afternoon sessions started to heat up and times started to fall. We were down in the 1:20 - 1:22 range but the main competition was in the 1:21's. As the day wore on, the engine sounded less and less healthy. The GPS telemetry showed a dramatic drop off in acceleration compared to the previous round. It was the equivalent to having about 300 kg dumped in the boot (I know this because I went out with Dad in one session and the drop off from engine performance was about 3 times more than with my added 100 kg).

The time crept down in the final sessions and I managed to break into the 1:19's and Dad down into the 1:21's. Sadly, neither of us bettered our times from previous rounds. I'm putting this down to work tyres and low engine power. As a reality check, I previously did a 1:19.0 on road tyres prior to the new injection system. I'm convinced that once we get the engine tuned and new tyres, there will be an easy couple of seconds for the taking.

Over all and excellent day despite the troubles. I couldn't stop smiling all the way back to Sydney. We couldn't of done it without Matt and Mum who were out pit crew and changed transponders and numbers for us.